MB-230 Microsoft Dynamics 365 – Microsoft Dynamics 365 Project Service Automation Module Overview

1. Dynamics 365 Project Service Automation Important Terminologies

Alright, so welcome to this new module. This is all about project service automation in Dynamics 365. So first I’m going to explain you the important terminologies and again then I’m going to show you the process flow and finally the application demo. So let’s look at the different terminologies. So the first term you should be aware of is project contract. So project contract is created when you won the quotation for your project. So it explains that what exactly the deliverables are. You can generate the invoices from the contract and you can monitor your project performance. So when you start with your sales process there you create an opportunity and an opportunity has quotations. So when you run the quotation, which is for the specific project, then it automatically creates a project contract. So project contract is created when you won any quotation for the project. The next is the project template. So project template saves time for the company if you are creating a similar kind of project again and again, or if you are frequently bidding for a project again and again. So you can create a template and it allows you to define what is your estimated time for the particular project.

So one of our projects, we do it frequently, which takes about 21 days and there we know that how much effort is going to be required. So we define that what is the estimated time for the particular project. It also has a work breakdown structure which explains that what is a step by step process as a calendar, so what activities I need to perform and what will be the next activity, how much time it is going to take. So I create a complete work breakdown structure there. And also you can define the project team who is working best for that particular type of project. So once you have these template ready, when you create a new project, you can use this template and it automatically pulls all the information that you need for that specific project. So you don’t have to re enter it again and again and you can utilize this template.

So there you define project templates. The next is project. So project allows companies to plan, execute and close assignments with their customers. So the project can be created directly. It means you can manually create a project and you can start executing that or it can automatically be created once the quote is one. Once you won any quote, then it is going to create the project and it has a default process flow that as you have seen in the previous modules like Sales has process flow, customer Service has process flow, it also has a process flow and it helps in finishing projects on time and within budget. So project allows you to manage your end to end projects in Dynamic 65. The next one is invoices. So invoices are created to bill your customers based on the invoice schedule of the project. So when you define a project there you define the invoice schedule. It means when do you want to bill what’s the frequency that you are going to build your customer. So you can create an invoice from the project contract and when you create an invoice it is built on the actual time and expense that is spent. So when you execute a project your team is keep on entering the time they spend on the project and what expenses they make on the project.

So once the invoice schedule comes you can just create the invoice and system is going to automatically pick the actual time spent and the expense spent and give the invoice to the customer. So once you know that the time has come for raising the invoice, you can change the status of the invoice to ready for invoicing. And once the invoicing is ready, you create the invoice system is automatically going to take the expense and time spent and it automatically updates the contract, which is that okay, how much invoice I have already raised for this particular project. So invoices allows you to build your customers on the effort that you have spent on the project. The next one is resources. So resource entity allows companies to capture all kind of resources that are required for projects so it can be a user, it means the user who is working it can be for example a project manager, a team lead or a developer so that user will be available or a contact or account.

It means if you are using any services from contacts or accounts you can include that as a user. It can also be a generic equipment or a group. So when you choose generic or equipment or group you need to manually enter there that what exactly this generic is or what exactly the equipment is or what is a group is right? So you can define that as a resource. It allows defining the resource skills. So for example the project manager should have the certifications called say PMP or Prints two or any technical consultant say Dynamic CRM technical consultant should have a certificate of customization and configuration. So those kind of resource skills you can define and any certifications they have you can define it there and it also allows you to define the roles that our resource can play. So the resource can play a role of project manager in some projects or it can be the team leader in some project or delivery head in a particular project so you can define the different roles and also you can define a default role. By default the user will play right?

So there you can capture resource and their skill set and everything that allows you to choose the right resources for the project so that you can complete this on time. The next is time entries. So resources are required to capture the time spent on any project activities so user can enter their time spent on the periodic basis. It can be daily. It can be weekly, right? So how much time they have spent on the particular project and the activity. And it is used for project billing because once you know that resource is working on a project and how much time they are spending this is a billable thing to the customer. And once they enter their time spent, then based on their daily rate or hourly rate, the system is automatically going to calculate the total amount that you need to build to the customer. Once the user enters the time entries, it needs to be approved by the project manager. Right? So this is how the time entries works and it allows you to capture the actual time spent on the project. So let’s move to the next one.

The next one is expenses, where the project expenses are entered by the project team members on the specific project. So the actual expense that is done on the particular project will be captured and entered here and submitted for approval. And expense receipts can also be attached. So if you are using any cab, any travel or any airfare you have done, or any lunch you have done and then you think that it’s a billable thing, you need to claim that expense. You can attach the receipt of that particular expense for the references. So once you have submitted the claim and it has not been approved, you can again recall it in case if you are done by mistake. So you can recall it, you can make changes again, you can submit it and every user can see the expense summary. So project manager can see the complete expense details and every user has the capability to see that how much expense he has submitted and how much is approved. So the complete summary can be seen in the screen.

So this is what the expenses is for the project. The next is a scheduled board. Scheduled board allows booking of resources and shows the validity of each resource. So you can use schedule board for identifying that what resources are best for the project and you can schedule those resources for your projects. But before you use the scheduled board, you need to configure the schedule board for using it and it shows all the resources that are available. You can also see the map view where all the resources are located and it gives you the complete utilization overview that a particular resource, how much you are utilizing them and what exactly the work they are doing. This is one of the most important screen where you can use to manage your resources. All right, so these are the different terms. Again you will see accounts, contact leader codes which are there in the sales module. So here you will see the link of those entities. Right? So this is all about important terminologies. I hope this gives you the basic idea. So in the next video, I’m going to explain you the process flow of project service automation.

2. Dynamics 365 Project Service Process Flow

Okay, so welcome to this training video. In this video you will learn about project service process flow. So in the previous video you learned about the important terminology. So now you know what exactly is covered in project service. In this video you will learn about the process flow. So let’s start with that. So the first step in the process flow is to have an opportunity or quote, when you are working on any opportunity or you’re sending a quotation to the customer, then you can include that what is the production that you are giving them and what is the service that you are offering to them. So service could be say one time consulting fee or a time and material resource that you are going to deploy to the customer. So those things you can define in the opportunity and quotations.

So once you do that, the next step is to do project planning. So you make plan for your project, that how the project will be executed. Once the project planning is done and quote is one the project contract is created. So there you have the complete terms and conditions and everything for the project. That how the project will be executed. So there you define the project timelines and all the other details that are required for the project. Then you also identify the resources that what resources are going to work, which are the resources you need. Whether it can be a users, it means the project manager, a technical consultant, functional consultant or a tester or a system testing guy, right? So all the resources you need plus you might also need some products or consumables that you might need for the project. So you define all the resources that you need and you allocate those resources for the project.

And then finally once you have the project initiated, then you perform the activities that are as per WPS work breakdown structure and when the users are working on that particular project, they record their time and expense on daily basis or the weekly basis as per the company’s requirement. So once they record their expenses or time so manager is going to approve or reject their expenses. So the resources spend about 20 hours in three days then project manager is going to review and approve it and if they have submits any expenses, for example conveyance expense or food expense or cab expense so those kind of expenses can be submitted and it will be approved by the project manager.

So once it’s approved then on the periodic basis the invoicing is done to the customer for that particular period. So when you define the contract, you also define that what is the invoicing frequency or the invoicing schedule. So when you will send the invoice to the customer for billing, right? So there you define the project contract and as soon as the time comes you create the invoice system is automatically going to take the time spent the expense done and calculate it all and give it in the invoice. So this invoice can be sent to the customer, and customer makes payment for that particular invoice and you continue to execute the project till it’s closure. So this is a standard process of project service flow. And in the next video, I’m going to show you how the application works. In Dynamics 365.

3. Dynamics 365 Project Service Application Navigation

Right? So now you understand the project terminologies, you know the process of project service. Now let me take you through the application. So this is how the project service application looks like. It has sales, planning and delivery, billing, resources management and the complete administration of project service is different. So that is available. So let me walk you through the application. So here we are in project service. This is a dashboard. So similar to sales, marketing, customer service, project service also has a dashboard. This is a practice management dashboard which says what is the current versus prior month. So it explains that what is the total cost and current one was the prior month gross margin, the prior month total sales cost, the utilization of rows and total hour by month at how many hours have been spent on projects for the particular month, right?

So here it is, the dashboard. You can choose the dashboard. The next one is let’s see here. So we are in project service. These are the customers, same as the sales and marketing or service module. These are the sales activities. So you also have option to create quotations and opportunities related to project. So there’s a default one that comes with the different product or services that you sell. But if you are working on a project, then you need to create opportunities and course which are specific to projects. So let me just show you that. So when you go to the opportunities and you click new opportunity, there you have option to choose the form. So I’m going to use project information and you will see that it’s a project information now and all the other information have changed. The process is there. And here you can specify the project baselines, right?

And here you can define your project baselines. Here you can define your product baselines and the quotation. So in the default quote you just have the products and the price list. Here you have product as well as the services, right? So you can define those things here because it’s a different view. And when you want this opportunity or when you create a quotation, everything will be moving in the project space now, okay, so this is where you can create opportunity. Similarly there is an option to create quotation. So when you create a quotation, so you click on new code and by default you have code form and there you can choose project information. You will see the form layout has changed. So this is the project quote and it gives all the information about the project. So what is the price list, what is the requested delivery date, code expires on and all the things, right? So this you can do. Then you have projects. So in the projects, you can see all the projects here. So all the projects that are available and what is the stage that the project in.

So for example, let’s open this close out take and there you can see the project. So it’s the project information. So everything about the project, what is the estimated cost, the actual and there you have three tabs, one is the sales, other is team and the status. So sales means what you have committed to the customer. So here you have the time and material which is POS and what is the amount. And there you can see the quotation that you have sent to the customer and also the project opportunities that you worked on that. So when you have a project created, you will see that what opportunity it has come from, what quotation you have sent and what is the project contract that is in place. Once you see that, the next thing is team. So who are the people involved in this project?

You can define that and what is their requested hours. So you just click plus and there you can choose the bookable resource. So for example the user and what is the role of the users? By default, whatever role is available will come here. You can also change the role and from which date to which date then are you going to use it full capacity or percentage or by hours? Or is this person a project approver? Right? So when you add a project manager you need to make this as yes. So I’ll just put yes here and click save. So here you can see that the architect is added and from which date to the from date to date. And here we have that.

What is the number of book hours that are required. So you have team. You can define all team members here and then also status. So it shows the complete status of the project. So what is the progress of the project and how much is the cost, consumption happened and also role wise things you can see in the report. So this gives you the complete information of how the activity of the project is happening, right? So there you can define project. The next is project templates. So you can create project templates. For example, if you are executing the project frequently you can create that as a project template. This is a giant template and it gives like what is estimated hours, what is the team that is going to work on this project?

Yes, you can define there. So what is the work breakdown structure for this project? So it gives you the work breakdown structure where you have the start and end date of each activity and how much is the effort and what resource is required. So you can see this completely here. In case you want to make changes, you can do that. So you have this template. Also you have project estimates that how much effort is going to be required for this project for each role, from the particular date for a particular activity, how much is the effort that is required and also you can define the project team members, the members who are going to work on this project.

So those things you can define in here. So once you have defined the project template, all you need to do is when you create a project, you choose the project template and all the things that are captured here will be saved to project automatically. So this is where you can do that. The next is project contracts. So project contracts are created when the quote is one. So you can see the different project contract here, let me just show you.

So when the quote is one, then whatever information you have captured in the quote will go into the contract. So you can see complete information, you can see the project contract performance, how it is going on, what is your overall contract or what is the margin that you are getting, what is the project based times. So these are the contract lines, what are the products that will be delivered to the customer. So you can see the complete order information here, right? So these are project contracts. The next one is project contract milestones.

You can define the milestones here once you have done the expenses. So here you can book all the time entries. So let me just show you that. So click on time entries. And to book the time entries you can just click on plus. The duration spent is for example 4. 4 hours, the work, what project, any tasks that is involved. So you can see all the tasks that are involved in the project. Then what is the role? And you paste the internal comments you can put which will be available to project manager. So we’ll just say internal and what are the external comments which will be visible to everyone else. So external and there you can just click save.

So you can see here that the effort is spent and it shows that how much is the effort you have spent. Here again you’re going to click plus similarly you can add number of hours it’s work, whether it’s work, absence or vacation. So I’ll just say absence. Say was sick and click Save. And this shows that okay, this month was the absence and this much was the effort that is spent. The total you can see here, you can see the chart here. And once you have entered all your timesheet, you can just click on submit. So I’m just going to change this to work again for testing purpose only. And I will just put work and save it. So once it is done, you can click on Submit and you can choose which one you want to submit and click Submit. So entries are submitted in case if you want to make any changes. So when you double click, you cannot make any changes now.

But if your case, if you want to make changes before the approval, you can just recall it and you can make changes and submit again. So the project manager goes there in the project approvals and project approval the person will see so they can open this particular record for the approval. So the person is going to review that and just click approve. So this is done, the approval is done and when you go to time entries again there you can see that different status. So here when you click on this it says the status as approved and the other one is currently submitted, right? So this way you can book the time entries for the project and similarly you can book the expenses as well. So whatever expenses you have done so you can capture those kind of expenses here and you can again submit.

So here you can see all the information. So expenses includes only the amount, the time include all the effort that you have done in the project. Once you have captured all the expenses and time sheet for the particular project then you can send the invoices to the customer and customer is going to pay then you have scheduled board. So it is a schedule board where you will see all the resources and you can schedule their activities. So here you can see the resources. So for example this resource is available in this project and how much is the effort. So which project, how much effort is required and what is the percentage utilization.

So you can see currently it’s 113% which is over utilized and you can see for each resource how much they are utilized and you can make changes to it. So in case if you want to make any changes you can go to this activity and there you can change the team and you can change the effort. So this gives you the complete overview of what the team is doing and how much they are occupied plus you can also see the skills of that resource. So you can see that the skill of this resource is agile mythology. For this resource if I hover you can see that the resource has multiple skills accounting, agile, budgeting, CRM, project management and what is the level? So it’s a proficient good or proficient good? Proficient so you can see all those things and what is their role.

So for each resource you can define those things and this helps you choose the right resource for the project that you have. The next is source utilization. You can see the complete resource utilization on this screen, okay, so it shows all the percentage of utilized so you can see the 93% is there, this is 75%, this is 62%. So all the percentage resource wise you can see on weekly basis or daily basis or you can also see monthly basis, right? So this gives you the complete picture of what is happening. Similarly the resource request in case if you want to request any resource for the project requirements resource booking, then what are the resources you have? You can define it here, so you can create new resources. So when you create new resources, you have multiple options. That what this kind of resource is. So whether it’s a generic or a contact or user or equipment or account or a group. So as you choose it, you need to choose the specific record.

So if I choose this contact, this becomes contact. If I choose this as account, it becomes account. If I choose this as equipment, then I need to enter the name of the equipment. Then what skills this equipment or what skills this resource has, what is their role of the resource. So those kind of things you can capture in the resources, right? Again, you can define roles. These are masters skills proficiency methods. And before you use the application, you need to set up certain things. So you need to set up the Organization Unit. So there you can have multiple Organization units. So you click on the Organization unit, you may have multiple locations that deals in multiple currencies.

So if you have office in India, it will work in you will do billing in Rupees. If you have office in Australia, you will have Australian dollar as the currency for that particular thing. So here you can define the currency as well as the price list that you will charge to the customers, right? So you define the Organization unit and there are different setups you need to work on before you can start working on this. So it’s a very big module and it gives you entire functionality of managing your projects. So I’m going to cover this in detail when we go specific to this module in the other courses. So that’s it for this video. And in case if you have any questions, feel free to get back to me. So that’s it for this video and I will see you in the next tutorial.

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