This is an 8-part blog series on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance vs Adeaca Project Business Automation. The purpose is to analyze the Dynamics 365 ERP for the functional support you will need as a project-based company. Discover what is included in D365F and what you may need to supplement your implementation of it as a project-driven organization in the construction and engineering, ETO manufacturing, or professional services industries.
1. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations Was Not Built for Project Businesses
2. Budget Management: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance vs. Adeaca PBA
3. Month-End Process: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance vs. Adeaca PBA
4. Cost Control: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance vs. Adeaca PBA
5. Project Scheduling: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance vs. Adeaca PBA
6. Issue and Risk Management: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance vs. Adeaca PBA
7. Resource Management: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance vs. Adeaca PBA
8. Project Insight and Analytics: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance vs. Adeaca PBA
Whether you’re building an airplane, ship, satellite, or specialized equipment, you are managing a unique Project Business. Unlike traditional business industries where it’s a lot easier to apply technology to standardize processes and data in order to automate and accelerate production, it’s not so easy for Project Businesses such as construction, engineering, ETO manufacturing and professional services.
The fact is Project Businesses have unique products and business processes that are not uniform. Buying into a traditional cloud-based ERP application that was not built with projects in mind, means Project Businesses end up purchasing additional third-party solutions for critical business processes.
The second blog in our eight-part blog series comparing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance project management and accounting to Adeaca Project Business Automation (PBA) analyzed the budget management project functionality. This blog will look at another specific project financial functionality: the month-end process.
Check out this updated Whitepaper on Dynamics 365 Project Operations – the recent release from Microsoft that is an enhancement and combination of the previous D365 Finance project management and accounting module (PMA) and Project Service Automation (PSA).
This whitepaper provides a high-level overview of the functionality contained in Project Operations and compares it to Adeaca Project Business Automation. Understand exactly what capabilities are included, what you need, and how to get them.
More Than a Typical Month-End Process
By “month-end process” we mean any process or checklist that companies must complete on a monthly basis. These processes are mostly tied to closing out monthly financials so companies can recognize revenue, report profits and start the invoicing process. There may be additional operational checkpoints as well, such as closing outstanding issues or change sets.
As much as we love Dynamics, after all Adeaca PBA Project Financials is built on D365F, the month-end process is entirely not supported in D365F. So really, regarding this project functionality, there is no comparison.
Adeaca PBA provides structure and format to the month-end process. The period close framework allows Project Businesses to set up mandatory risk reviews and checklists to complete before a project is closed off for the month. In addition, the costing sheet must be completed and signed off along with the work breakdown structure (WBS) change sets and recent developments in project health indicators. This allows Project Businesses to apply a standardized and consistent month-end process across the entire enterprise not only creating a repeatable business model, but also yielding reliable and comparable performance KPIs.
Improved Month-End Process Capabilities with PBA
Adeaca PBA combines actual costs and commitments with quantitative progress indicators, enabling controllers to analyze critical performance metrics such as productivity indicators, completion degrees, budget variances and margin at completion. Real-time data tracked against a multilevel cost breakdown structure means variances are instantly identified.
Adeaca PBA adds the following capabilities (and more) to the month-end process:
- Operational and financial check lists
- Operational and financial risk reviews
- Operational and financial period status
- Period close workspace
- Costing sheet status tracking
- Sensor point delta tracking
- Work breakdown structure change approval
- Real-time reporting of committed costs from procurement and production
- Automatic synchronization of commitments and actuals from procurement
Successful Project Businesses understand the importance of continually evaluating project productivity, schedule and cost performance indexes, and comparing trends to previous month-end results. Access to real-time tracking of costs and commitments from production, procurement, time sheets, expense reports and inventory consumption gives you visibility into the status of individual projects and what’s going on inside your company overall.
Adeaca PBA is built for sophisticated Project Businesses that demand a more robust system to meet their ever changing and complex needs. We’ve created this solution to support the entire value chain for Project Businesses.
