What can Dynamics NAV 2018 – Project Management do

Microsoft Dynamics NAV offers you extensive possibilities in the area of Project management. You have an overview of ongoing projects, responsibilities, and resources used, and can manage them in a clear way.

However, in order to manage your ongoing projects, you first need to create the resources, work schedules, and projects in Dynamics NAV. We’ll show you how to do this step by step.

Establishing resources

To be able to properly manage your resource activities, the establishment of resources with associated costs and prices is required. In the project card, the master data record of the respective project, the project-specific prices, discounts, and cost factor rules are created. Costs and prices can be specified for individual resources, for predefined resource groups, or for all available resources of the company.
Resources can be both people and machines. When a specific resource is used within a project, the consumption is calculated based on the prices/costs you have set.
As a rule, the amount per hour is specified in the resource setting. However, it is also possible to specify it in person-days or units.

Setting up work schedules

With the so-called work time schedules in Dynamics NAV, the time spent on a resource, whether it be employees or workstations, can be recorded. Furthermore, the so-called work schedule manager can approve the reported times and thus maintain an overview of the work performed on specific projects.
The time is recorded weekly, and a work schedule table includes the possibility of reporting for a week.
You determine how you want to set up and configure the work schedules, depending on your company's needs.
After you have set up the work schedules, you can specify who is authorized to approve them (work schedule managers), with the following options:
– assign one or more NAV users as time schedule administrators and approvers for all time schedules, or
– set up a time schedule authorizer for each resource separately.
After the work schedules have been set up, you can create them for the resources you need, assign them to the project planning lines, and book work schedule lines, for example at the end of each month. You then bill your expenses to the respective projects to the debtors.

Setting up projects

To have an overview of all ongoing projects, it is first necessary to create the projects in Dynamics NAV in the form of project cards. The project card contains all important basic data for the project. The debtor to whom the invoice is to be charged can also be entered. In addition, individual project tasks can be set up, if desired, with a time limit. This way you can see which hourly quota is available for the respective project task and how much of it has already been used up.
Project prices can be set for the resources as well as the project items, which will then be automatically delivered when calculating the costs.
You can also assign the respective project booking groups.

Functions of project management

After you have set up the resources, work schedules, and projects, you can now use your NAV environment for project management administrative tasks.
For example, you can configure a project and plan the necessary resources. Furthermore, you can now control budget and status. As a project manager, NAV gives you a good overview, not only of individual projects, but also of the distribution of employees, machines, and other resources used in all projects.

Below you can see a summary of the Core functions, which is available to you in Project management Available:

▪ Create projectsCreate projects, assign project tasks, and prepare project planning sheets.
▪ Use of resources for projectsAssign the projects with the required or used resources and manage the associated resource prices.
▪ Use of work schedules for projectsCreate work schedules with integrated project tasks, as well as planning lines, and book work schedules in the project book sheet.
▪ Managing project budgetsAnalyze the current resource consumption to plan the usage more efficiently for future projects and thus improve cost efficiency.
▪ Recording of the Consumption in projectsKeep track of the consumption for different sections of the project. By entering information about projects, project billing sheets, and project invoices, this is continuously updated.
▪ Managing project deliveriesPlan the purchase of project deliveries through purchase orders or invoices.
▪ WIP methodsLearn more about your current WIP (Work In Process), the circulating inventory, through a function that ensures accurate financial assessments and allows you to estimate the financial value of ongoing projects.
▪ Monitoring of project progress and performance: Book the material consumption, resources, and other costs in the inventory (WIP) to monitor the financial value and guarantee correct financial evaluations when you book project expenses.
▪ Creation of the InvoiceCapture project costs (resource consumption, material costs, or project-related purchases) on an ongoing basis by invoicing the customer – this can be done at the end of the project or according to your current billing schedule, which can also be uploaded.

If you would like further information about project management or other areas within Dynamics NAV, we are happy to advise you by phone at +49 (89) 21 111 848 or by e-mail at vertrieb@br-ag.com.