Planning & Control for Architecture, Engineering & Construction Industry

Planning & Control

for
Architecture, Engineering & Construction

With AXtension^® Planning & Control, you can be in control of your planning and budget for both project and production.

Prevent margin erosion, control a healthy project cashflow and manage your project based on real time data collected from Procurement, Timesheets, Expenses, Production, Forecasts and much more.

“AXtension^® Planning & Control helps me to manage my entire project portfolio to protect margins and set out pro-active corrective actions based on management by exception insights”

Full earned value management system ✔
Reporting analysis of progress & cashflow ✔
Manage budget baselines, versions, adjustments and mutations ✔

“AXtension^® Planning & Control helps me to manage my projects by taking all constraints in consideration, resource availability, budget status & supply chain dependencies.”

✔ Filter tasks across projects based on management by exception
✔ Full supply chain integration and dependencies
✔ Version management, baselines & critical path management

“AXtension^® Planning & Control helps me to manage my resources in the most effective way possible. I can see the pipeline impact on my resources, manage absences, control subcontractors and make sure the engineering work is delivered according to expectations.”

Filter tasks across teams to validate the readiness to start ✔
Assign resources via drag & drop and validate capacity ✔
Short- and long-term capacity load on teams incl. pipeline demand ✔

“AXtension^® Planning & Control helps me to estimate projects while considering feasibility. Schedule backwards from delivery dates and validate resource availability on group level. I cannot only estimate project costs, but also production estimates are included in my estimation.”

✔ Estimate based on templates while taking feasibility in consideration
✔ Include production costs as part of project estimation
✔ Validate resources based on group of people with set of capabilities

Should I execute my planning inside my ERP system?

Planning inside Microsoft Dynamics for Finance & Supply Chain Management, using AXtension^® Planning & Control, will be fully constraint based. The effect of a project change will result in:

Update the requirement date for materials and subcontracted services to procurement

Update project cashflow information

Update expected costs in a period also known as Planned Value

Update resource forecasts and assignments automatically impacting timesheets

Schedule intercompany resources with automated intercompany invoicing

Build relationships and links between projects & sub-projects and show intercompany projects

And so much more…

Who should be involved in evaluating a project planning & control solution?

Everyone who is involved in delivering successful projects should evaluate out of their best interest. Think about the following:

Project Manager – Planning, scoping, constraints, resourcing, progress & forecasts

Project Controller – Budget validations, Revenue recognition, Changes and approvals

Sales Estimator – Proposals and estimates, Budget specification, Resource forecasting

Project member (Engineer) – Timesheets, Expenses, Scheduling, Progress

Human resources – Resource load forecasting, Recruitment, Education

Accounts payable and procurement – Vendor invoices, Requirement dates, Contractor agreements

Does your solution support Earned Value Management?

Yes, the terminology and functionality used in the product are aligned with the PMI standards for Earned Value Management. The main KPI’s like CPI, SPI & TCPI are available. Within an analytical workspace a full-blown embedded PowerBI is available to generate s-curve reports or analyse the EAC based on different methods.

What is the added value of your solution compared to MS Project?

The solution is fully integrated in your Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance & Supply Chain environment and considers all constraints and influences all related processes. Changing a project plan is no longer a stand-alone process but will influence all related disciplines in the organization. Everyone working with ERP will be able to look at the project plan and focus on their challenges using management by exception filters like “tasks over budget”, “tasks with delayed material supply” or “tasks with overloaded resources”.

What is the difference between your solution and the Microsoft PSA product?

AXtension^® Planning & Control focusses on bringing typical ERP information into your project plan and improving the decision process based on this information, like:

Impact on supply chain

Production budget as part of project budget

Cashflow analysis

Budget impact

Intercompany resourcing

Manage subcontractors

etc.

It depends on your goals and ambitions to decide which one fits your purpose best.

How can I get a better grip on my margin?

When using AXtension® Planning & Control, you’ll get full control over the evolution of your margin throughout the project lifecycle. Each period you create a snapshot of estimated revenue. This snapshot is compared to the budgeted margin and therefore corrective actions can be taken instantly to prevent margin erosion before it’s too late.

Get in touch

Would you like to receive more information about AXtension^® Planning & Control or other AXtension solutions? No problem. Please fill out the form and get in touch with the AXtension team.