Planning & Control for Professional Services

Planning & Control

for
Professional Services

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

Optimize resource utilization and increase their billability. Compare your latest planning to baseline budget & planning. All information is based on real time data collected from Procurement, Timesheets, Expenses, Forecasts and much more.

“AXtension^® Planning & Control helps me to manage my entire project portfolio to manage project milestones & constraints. I get all the input I need to talk to my customer and agree on activities and hours required to complete deliverables and tasks.”

Accurate and real time status reports ✔
Analysis of consumed hours and forecasted hours ✔
Manage project & budget versions & baselines ✔

“AXtension^® Planning & Control helps me to manage the project teams by having real time project insights across all projects. This way I’m always up to date when participating in steering group meetings to discuss required actions to deliver a successful project.”

✔ Filter tasks across projects based on management by exception
✔ Dependencies & constraints for internal activities as well as sub-contracted labor
✔ Real-time reports

“AXtension^® Planning & Control helps me to manage our resources in the most effective way possible. I can make sure people are working on the correct project each day. The solution improves my communication with the project manager since we have a single point of truth.”

Validate readiness to start a project task ✔
Drag & drop one or multiple tasks at once to a resource ✔
Validate capacity for a group of resources as well as individuals ✔

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.

I’d like to use drag and drop capabilities inside my ERP for planning of tasks and resources. Is this possible?

Yes, activities can be rescheduled in time and to resources using drag & drop. You don’t have to do things one-by-one, but you can easily select multiple tasks at once and drag & drop them as a group.

What is the advantage 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 organisation. 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”.

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.