Utilizing Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Dynamics NAV for Professional Services

 
4 min readReading Time: 4 minutes

Digital transformation can be a long process to achieve. And in many cases, businesses don’t feel the need to make the switch because they feel that many types of software will not meet their specific needs. When working in the professional services profession, it is important to always be on and accessible from anywhere. Fortunately, today there is a plethora of professional services management tools to support the industry. Also known as professional services automation (PSA) tools, this software is more intuitive, modern and scalable to the changing needs of firms. A sophisticated and comprehensive PSA solution not only automates critical tasks such as resource and project management, but it also provides deep insights into areas including resource utilization and project profitability. With a PSA solution powered by 360 Visibility you will receive:

  1. Effective resource and project management

With 360 PSA, your business can effectively track human capital, equipment, inventory items and all other types of project resources so you can manage all expenses accurately.  Easily define resources and setup individual forecasts on resources and measure their performance against the budget. And with 360 PSA, the main project feature will provide your business the ability to tie several projects together in a dynamics hierarchy for Project Portfolio Management.  This provides the ability to send one invoice to customers for multiple projects.

  1. Easy budgeting and accounting

Manage the progress of your project budgets from creation through completion. With clear visibility, 360 PSA supports creating budgets for resources, resource groups, items and expenses. And by utilizing simple tools to put together quotes and projects, you can copy budgets from previous projects or budget templates to speed up the beginning budget process, create and view budgets to compare profitability at different expense levels, and generate Sales Orders based on specific activities and estimates created by budgets and budget revisions.

  1. Project cost tracking and expense management

Because a billable hour is the most perishable piece of inventory, you can now easily manage project costs and get deeper insight on project status, productivity, resource costs, expenses and invoicing. With tighter control over your project costs you can track, view, and analyze costs and revenue for individual projects that are still in progress. Take advantage of flexible project structures, billing rates, and more to make your project run efficient and effective. Costs are collected and charged to individual projects within a single integrated solution.

  1. Built – in analytics and forecasting

Bring all of your project data together in a personalized dashboard and use predictive analysis to drive smarter decisions. With extensive data views you can view project data in a project summary, drilling down to view underlying information to get specific details about project transactions. In addition, 360 Professional Services Software enables project managers to analyze information more effectively by presenting project and task data in familiar profit and loss (P&L) formats.

  1. Cloud and mobility

The benefits of hosting a cloud solution for a professional services organization is a more cost effective, flexible and secure solution for an all in one accounting and productivity software. Because so many professional services professionals travelling from one client to another, mobile capabilities are a must have business tool!

This blog series addresses some of the common features professional service firms should look for in a software solution and how a business solution from Microsoft helps keep you on the path of growth. To read the next posting on how Professional Service firms can use Microsoft Dynamics NAV check out: Microsoft Dynamics NAV for Project Driven Consulting Firms

Barbara Allen
Barbara Allen
Throughout her career, Barb has held various key leadership positions as ERP Team Leader, Project Manager, Consultant and Business Systems Implementer. She has successfully implemented ERP systems such as Microsoft Dynamics, Deltek Maconomy and WorkBook in organizations of all sizes; from start-ups companies with 2 users, to Fortune 500 companies with over 1400 users.
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