Dynamics 365 Project Service Automation

April 11, 2017

Project Service Automation (PSA) is an add-on solution to Dynamics 365 and was first available with CRM 2016 Update 1 Online

Project Service is designed to manage the life cycle of project-based opportunities from sales to delivery and offers collaborative tools to assist with:

  • Creating estimates, quotes and project contracts

  • Planning project tasks and building out the project team

  • Entering  time and expense records

  • Generating invoices

  • Visually tracking performance via key metrics and dashboards

Once Project Service has been installed, there are some configuration steps that need to be set up before creating projects.  Microsoft describes each step in this guide
A Project can be created at any point during the sales process.  The use of a project template will save time by providing standard roles, common tasks and estimates when managing similar projects. 



Account and project managers may collaborate to define the work effort on a project-based opportunity.  The project can then be associated to the quote and presented to the customer for approval.  When a quote is closed as won, Dynamics 365 will create a proposal contract, transferring all the details from the quote and transitioning from opportunity management to project management.



Project and resource managers may work together to assign resources in an efficient manner based upon project requirements, skill level and availability.          
                    

 
As project team members complete assigned tasks, the work can be recorded and expenses entered for multiple projects through a calendar or grid view then submitted for approval.



From the project contract, generate invoices for eligible time and expense items based upon the predetermined invoice schedule.  The actual transactions can then be pushed to the financial system being used.



For analytics, use the interactive dashboard to drill into projects, monitor sales, gross margin, estimated revenue, costs, hours and utilization.  The resource utilization will provide a summary of resources by hours, percentage and time frame with the ability to filter by types, teams and roles for example.  Monitor each project by viewing the project estimate to get cost and effort information.

 

Theresa Reitz
About the Author

Theresa Reitz
CRM Implementation Analyst

CRM / Scribe / Business Analyst – 25+ years' experience with information systems.  8+ years' experience with CRM versions 4.0 through 2016.  8+ years' experience with Scribe software and data integrations.

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