Project management and accounting

Important

This content is archived and is not being updated. For the latest documentation, see Microsoft Dynamics 365 product documentation. For the latest release plans, see Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform release plans.

Applies To: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Feature Pack, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

Use Project management and accounting to plan, create, manage, control and complete projects for your organization. Customer-focused projects can be set up on a time and materials or fixed-price basis. You can also use the module to manage costs for internal and investment projects.

You can create project quotations that can be converted to projects. You create project contracts with one or more funding sources that will be invoiced for project costs and fees. Funding sources can include customers, internal organizations, and grants. A project contract can have one or more projects assigned to it. Each project that you create can have one or more subprojects and activities that comprise the project work structure.

For flexible project planning, you can integrate the project management and accounting module with Microsoft Project Server.

You can create and monitor project budgets for cost control. Employees and contractors can enter project timesheets and expense reports to record project-related time and expenses.

You can create service industry-focused projects that consist primarily of worker services by drawing on features such as contract management, quotations, budgeting, project policies, project parameters, and categories.

You can assign attributes for project skills and experience to workers. You can also search for and assign workers to a project based on worker skills and availability, or based on the requirements for a project.

You can assign indirect costs, define the calculations for indirect cost amounts, and allocate indirect costs to a project. Indirect costs are calculated based on worker hours that are added to a project.

You can record invoiced amounts that are retained by a customer until the progress on a project reaches an agreed-upon stage. You can also retain a percentage of vendor invoices until you confirm the quality of work by a vendor who is a subcontractor on a project, or until you receive payment from a customer or other funding source.

You can set up billing rules that track progress on a project, and define when and how to calculate customer invoice amounts for advances, project milestones, completed units, amounts retained by customers, and administrative fees.

Project managers can view reports that provide project details and analyze project financials from a variety of perspectives.

Business processes

Project management and accounting at a glance

Important tasks	Primary forms	Popular reports
Create a project contract	Project management and accounting parameters (form)	Project cash flow report (ProjCashFlowProject)
Create a project	Project quotation (form)	Project profit and loss report (ProjProfitLossProj)
Create a project quotation	Estimate projects (form)	Project WIP report (ProjWIPProj)
Manage project forecasts	Project contracts (form)	Category hour utilization - billable rate report (ProjBillUtilCategory)
Create and submit an original project budget	Projects (form)	Worker hour utilization - billable rate report (ProjBillUtilEmpl)
Create and post invoice proposals	Create invoice proposals (class form) Invoice proposals (form)

Integration of Project management and accounting

Project management and accounting can be integrated with the following modules and Microsoft programs:

• Accounts payable

• Accounts receivable

• General ledger

• Budgeting

• Cost accounting

• Fixed assets

• Cash and bank management

• Travel and expense

• Compliance and internal controls

• Human resources

• Set up procurement and sales category defaults for projects

• Product information management

• Master planning

• Production control

• Inventory management

• Sales and marketing

• Service management

• Microsoft Project Server

• Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services

• Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services

• Microsoft Excel

• Microsoft Outlook

See also

Setting up and maintaining Project management and accounting

Working with Project management and accounting

Microsoft Dynamics AX reports