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Estimate project contracts

Applies to: Dynamics 365 Project Operations

This article provides a guide on using Dynamics 365 to estimate project contracts, detailing the steps and best practices for efficient contract management. It's based on a business process that is part of the Manage project contracts business process area in the Project to profit end-to-end scenario.

In today's dynamic business environment, having an efficient process for estimating project contracts is essential. This business process helps make sure that all contractual obligations are clearly defined and understood by all parties involved, which mitigates risks associated with contractual disputes. Dynamics 365 offers robust features that enable businesses to manage these processes effectively, ensuring accuracy and compliance.

The estimation of project contracts should be defined at the initial stages of an implementation project. This business process is closely linked with other processes such as procurement, sales, and project management. Understanding how to manage contract estimation in Dynamics 365 can significantly influence the configuration and customization of related modules, ensuring a seamless integration and efficient workflow.

Estimate project contracts stakeholders

The creation of a project contract involves several key stakeholders, each playing a crucial role in the process:

  • Sales team: They provide insights into customer needs and negotiate contract terms, ensuring the solution aligns with sales processes.
  • Project managers: They define the project's scope and objectives, which are crucial for setting accurate contract terms and conditions.
  • Contract managers: They oversee the contract creation process, ensuring all necessary elements are included and that the contract aligns with project goals.
  • Legal team: They review the contract to ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations, protecting the organization's interests.
  • Finance team: They assess the financial aspects of the contract, including payment terms and budget considerations.
  • Senior management: They provide strategic oversight and final approval, ensuring the solution aligns with the organization's overall goals.
  • Clients or external partners: Their input is essential during the requirements gathering phase to ensure the solution meets their needs and expectations.

Estimate project contracts business process flow

The following diagrams illustrate the business process for Project Operations Core and for Project Operations Integrated with ERP.

Flow diagram for the business process, which is explained in the paragraphs after the image.

The estimate project contracts business process flow diagram covers the following steps for the contract manager role in Project Operations Core and for Integrated with ERP deployments. Deployments with Project Operations for manufacturing are more complex as described in the section Deployment scenario 3.

  1. Start
  2. Create quote
  3. Determine products
  4. Identify resources
  5. Present to customer
  6. End

Implement the estimate project contracts business process

Use the following tables to guide you in estimating a project contract.

The following tables show the configurations available, and the sequence recommended for setting up the configurations from top to bottom. Learn more about the terms used in the table at Business processes, steps, and how to find things.

Deployment scenarios 1 and 2

This section describes the configuration for the business process in deployments with Project Operations Core and for Project Operations Integrated with ERP. The following table shows the configurations available, and the sequence recommended for setting up the configurations from top to bottom. Use the links in the Process step column to learn more about the component. The Process stage column includes three values that are separated by semi colons (;). The first value indicates the project phase when a configuration or step should be completed. The second value indicates the type of configuration, and the third value indicates if the step is a configuration or an operational step. The Process modifiers column is used to further describe other attributes for each step. The Application: Navigation and Entity column uses abbreviations to indicate the user interface or application with the navigation path after the colon. First, we list the navigation to the relevant forms. Next comes the name of the entity for importing or exporting data in either the Dataverse (DV) or with Data Management Framework (DMF). We use the abbreviations to indicate the type of entity, followed by the name of the entity after the colon.

Process step Process stage Process modifier Application: Navigation and Entity
Create project contract Develop; Fundamental; Operational Continuous; At least one Sales: Sales > Project Contracts
Import Data: Order
Create project Develop; Fundamental; Operational Continuous; At least one Projects: Projects > Projects
Import Data: Project

Deployment scenario 3

This section describes the configuration for the business process in deployments with Project Operations for manufacturing The following table shows the configurations available, and the sequence recommended for setting up the configurations from top to bottom. Use the links in the Process step column to learn more about the component. The Process stage column includes three values that are separated by semi colons (;). The first value indicates the project phase when a configuration or step should be completed. The second value indicates the type of configuration, and the third value indicates if the step is a configuration or an operational step. The Process modifiers column is used to further describe other attributes for each step. The Application: Navigation and Entity column uses abbreviations to indicate the user interface or application with the navigation path after the colon. First, we list the navigation to the relevant forms. Next comes the name of the entity for importing or exporting data in either the Dataverse (DV) or with Data Management Framework (DMF). We use the abbreviations to indicate the type of entity, followed by the name of the entity after the colon.

Process step Process stage Process modifier Application: Navigation and Entity
Project management and accounting parameters Develop; Base; Configuration Early; Gold FIN: Project management and accounting > Setup > Project management and accounting parameters > Number sequences tab > Project contract ID
DMF: Number sequence code V2 & Number sequence references V2
Create customers Develop; Fundamental; Operational Continuous; At least one FIN: Accounts receivable > Customers > All customers
DMF: Customers, Customers V2, Customers V3
Create operating unit Develop; Fundamental; Configuration Early; At least one FIN: Organization administration > Organizations > Operating units
DMF: Operating unit
Create grant1 Develop; Optional; Operational Continuous; At least one FIN: Project management and accounting > Grants > Grants
DMF: Project grants V2
Create project contract Develop; Fundamental; Operational Continuous; At least one FIN: Project management and accounting > Projects > Project contracts
DMF: Project contract headers & Project contract lines
Create project Develop; Fundamental; Operational Continuous; At least one FIN: Project management and accounting > Projects > All projects
DMF: Projects V2

Caution

The configuration that's marked with 1 can't be changed once transactions exist.

Next steps

If you want to implement Dynamics 365 solutions to assist with your Estimate project contracts business processes, you can use the following resources and steps to learn more. (Links are added when the articles are ready.)

  1. Develop project strategy

  2. Manage project contracts

    1. Estimate project contracts. (The article you're currently reading.)
    2. Negotiate project contracts
    3. Finalize project contracts
    4. Maintain project contracts
    5. Process project change requests
    6. Define project stakeholders

  3. Plan projects

  4. Manage project delivery

  5. Manage project financials

  6. Analyze project performance

You can use the following resources to learn more about the Estimate project contracts business process in Dynamics 365.

Contributors

This article is maintained by Microsoft. It was originally written by the following contributors.

Principal author:

Other contributors: