A brief on Project Service Automation

Microsoft Dynamics 365 provides an end to end service that helps in sales and marketing of billable projects on time and within the budget too. It helps you with project service automations which basically-

1. Estimates, quotes and contracts work.
2. Plans resources.
3. Enables collaboration.
4. Captures expenses, time and progress reports for real time accurate invoice.

This application has following features-

1. Project based contracts- They basically measure contracts on the basis of profitability and feasibility. They are responsible for relating quotes, labour pricing, billing and estimation etc.

2. Project planning- There has to be some planning and estimation done before passing a contract which majorly includes automatic tasks of scheduling, predecessors, sales distribution and cost information which is performed by Microsoft Dynamics 365 Project Service Automation.

3. Resource management- This section majorly deals with skills and proficiencies of workforce. The right person must be chosen for the right kind of work based on the availability of resources and requirement of job. Tracking resource utility and metrics is also a part of this.

4. Time utilization and collaboration- For multiple projects, web or mobile services can be used to record time and cost involved. The new entries to be included must be checked by the manager and their financial implications must be worked upon. This software allows you to easily collaborate with Office 365 workspace.

5. Project billing- The invoices which are included are based on terms of contract and approved paperwork as well as expenses involved. All the expenses involving revenue, invoices, unbilled amount and real time costs are recorded for analytics and integration of financial systems.

There are currently two versions of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Project Service Automation -

1. In case you are using it on a desktop or laptop, the project service automation application is used.

2. And for the smaller screen such as tablets and mobiles we have project rescue hub application which is a modified version of project service automation application. This application which we use for smaller screens is basically designed on the unified interface framework, using responsive web designing principles. This enables multiple viewing options and gives a better interaction experience in different kinds of environments.

So, these are the basic features that you get with the project automation with Microsoft Dynamics 365.

Configure Dynamics 365 for Project Service Automation

It has been an eventful couple of past months when Microsoft finally pulled the plug on Microsoft Dynamics CRM and decided to reintroduce it as Microsoft Dynamics 365 through standalone applications such as Dynamics 365 for Sales, Dynamics 365 for marketing, Microsoft dynamics 365 for customer services, Dynamics 365 for Field Service Automation and Dynamics 365 for Project Service Automation.

All of these have their own specialties to offer and as it happens, make Dynamics 365 more powerful in terms of offering customer relationship management than anyone could have imagined possibly.

So if Microsoft Dynamics 365 were to be configured for Project Service Automation, then the procedure given below is to be followed so that the same happens successfully. Mind you, those having begun using Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Project Service Automation and those still contemplating, the app helps manage accounts, projects and resources.

1. Set Up Time Units. Configuring these in the product catalog is a must as these will be used as a base for scheduling and billing projects.
2. Set Up Currencies ad Exchange Rates. These again have to be set up for projects.
3. Create Organizational Units. Setting up groups which the organization uses to divide its business are again a must, something which happens mostly on the basis of geography, business function and other logical divisions.
4. Set Up Invoice Frequencies. Setting these time periods up is necessary as these are a prerequisite to bill clients.
5. Configure Transaction Categories. Doing these is necessary as consultants can that way charge their billable and unbillable expenses to.
6. Configure Expense Categories. These need to be set up again so that consultants charge their billable and unbillable expenses to.
7. Create Product Catalog Items. Doing this task is necessary as they enable end users to add products meant to be sold to the product catalog.
8. Create a Price List. Multiple ones have to be configured as this will help decide how exactly clients are supposed to be billed for every role their project requires.
9. Set Up Resources. Doing this will add skills, proficiencies, resource roles and other resource information necessary for projects.

Following these steps will ensure that you do end up configuring Dynamics 365 for Project Service Automation.