ERP for engineering and project-based companies: milestone budgets, hours, field installation, variance control and milestone billing (Business Central)

Bramvia — Business Central Experts

What an engineering firm or project-based installer needs from its ERP: budgets by phase and milestone, resource planning, equipment purchasing, engineering hours, field reports, variance control, milestone billing and maintenance contracts. With the whole cycle in 3D.

Short answer: an engineering or project-based company makes or loses money in two places: hours (engineering and installation) and the equipment bought for each project. The ERP has to post both to the project and phase the same day and compare them with the budget. It has to flag variance with an estimate at completion and bill each milestone as soon as it is reached. Walk through the whole cycle below and see what happens when design hours overrun.

The whole cycle of a project

1. Proposal and budget: hours by role, equipment, subcontractors and margin per milestone.
2. Resource planning: who works on what, and when.
3. Equipment purchasing charged to the project and task.
4. Engineering hours: weekly timesheets by project.
5. Installation and field reports: hours, material and photos from a phone.
6. Variance control: budget, actual and estimate at completion by phase.
7. Milestone billing as soon as each milestone is reached.
8. Commissioning and maintenance, with a service contract.

What the ERP has to do

• Projects with phases, milestones and budgets.
• Budget variance control with alerts, not a month-end report.
• Field installation and job reports: technicians log from their phones and the cost reaches the project.
• Milestone billing with a billing plan and an alert for milestones reached but not billed.
• Maintenance contracts with recurring billing after handover.

For WIP and revenue recognition on long projects, see job costing: meaning, methods and examples.

What Business Central has and what is added

Projects with tasks and budgets, timesheets, resources and capacity, purchases charged to projects, billing plans and service contracts are standard. A field report app with photos and signatures and custom variance alerts come from an add-on or Power Apps.

How we implement it

We start with a live project. We load its budget by phase and milestone, the hours and purchases charged so far and its billing plan. That gives the first estimate at completion, and usually a milestone that was reached and never billed. Then come resource planning, weekly timesheets and the field app for technicians. From then on, every project has a traffic light the project manager sees each week. You pay for each phase only after it is delivered and you accept that it works.

Signs you need it now: hours live in spreadsheets and are posted at the end; milestones are billed when someone remembers; or a project's real margin is known months after handover.

FAQ

Can Business Central bill by milestone? Yes, with a billing plan on the project: each milestone produces its invoice when it is reached.

How are engineering hours controlled? With timesheets by project and task, approved weekly and compared with budgeted hours.

Can installation reports be logged from a phone? Yes. Technicians record hours, material and photos, and the cost reaches the project the same day.

Related: job costing for construction contractors and the 13-week cash flow forecast.

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