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Manage project-based leads

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Applies To: Project Operations for resource/non-stocked based scenarios

Project-based leads can be managed and qualified in Project Operations. The process of lead management includes creating work-based leads and qualifying those leads.

In the Sales section, in the left navigation pane, open the Leads list page to view a list of all lead records in the system. The list of leads shown are work-based and other types of leads that can be created if you also have the Dynamics 365 Sales or Dynamics 365 Field Service applications.

You can create a filtered view to see only project-based leads by creating a filter on the Type value. For example, you can select to show only work-based leads.

Create a new project-based lead

When a project-based lead is qualified, an opportunity and an account are created. A project-based opportunity is the starting point for sales pursuit activities in the Opportunity phase. Project-based opportunities have unique capabilities that are required for selling project work. These capabilities include:

  • Time and material and Fixed Price billing methods
  • Multiple date effective price lists for human resources, expenses, and material incurred on projects

For qualified lead to automatically create an opportunity, set the Type attribute to Work-based when you create the lead. If you choose a different type, the lead won't create a project-based opportunity when it is qualified. If the project-based opportunity isn't created, the project-specific capabilities won't be available in the downstream sales processes.

The following table includes important field information for a lead, and the downstream implications of those fields.

Field Location Description Downstream impact
Topic General tab This text field should contain a short description of the deal. The topic of the lead will default as the topic of the Opportunity, and the Name of Quote and Project contract.
Type General tab This option set field has the following options:
- Work-based (available only when Project Operations is installed)
- Item-based (available only when Project Operations and Sales are installed)
- Service maintenance-based (available when Field Service is installed)		 When the value of this field is set to Work-based on the lead, the lead is qualified to create a Project-based Opportunity. A project-based opportunity is required to enable all project-specific extensions and functionality in the downstream sales process for this deal.
First name General tab First name of the prospect's contact When the lead is qualified, an account, contact, and opportunity are created. The first name of the contact is the value set here.
Last name General tab Last name of the prospect's contact When the lead is qualified, an account, contact, and opportunity are created. The last name of the contact the value set here.
Company General tab Name of the prospect customer's company When the lead is qualified, an account, contact, and opportunity are created. The name of the account created the value set here.
Currency Details tab Prospect customer's currency When the lead is qualified, an account, contact, and opportunity are created. The currency of the account created is the value set here.

Qualify a new project-based lead

Leads that have the Type value set to Work-based are called project-based leads. When a project-based lead is qualified, the following is created:

  • An account that uses the Company field from the lead.
  • A contact record associated to the account based on the values in the First Name and Last Name fields on the lead.
  • A project-based opportunity that has the Type field set to Work-based.

For more detailed information on qualifying leads, see Qualify or convert leads.

When you run Project Operations using the deployment mode, Project Operations for resource/non-stocked based scenarios, each customer and opportunity will require having the Owning Company field set. The Owning company is a legal entity in your organization that owns the delivery of the project. Each customer, or account with relationship type of customer, must have the Owning Company field value set to the legal entity that contracts and negotiates with this customer. A customer can only be in one legal entity.

When a lead is qualified, the customer and opportunity records created will have the Owning Company field set to the company of the current user's bookable resource record.

If the current user's bookable resource record is empty, then the Owning Company field value on the user record is used to default on the customer and the opportunity records.

Business process flow for project-based deals

The following business process flows are supported for project-based deals in Project Operations:

  • Lead to Opportunity business process
  • Opportunity sales process

The Lead to Opportunity business process supports the following stages:

Stage name Mapped entity Functionality
Qualify Lead Qualify the lead to create an account, contact, and an opportunity.
Develop Opportunity Develop the opportunity to add more information on the work involved, key stakeholders, and competition.
Propose Opportunity Develop the proposal and get approval from the internal review team.
Close Opportunity Win the opportunity to close the deal.