Project accounting with Business Central for engineering firms

Phases, disciplines and fee budgets in Business Central for engineering firms

An engineering commission breaks into phases. Examples are study, schematic design, detailed design, tender support and construction administration. Each phase is a project task. You can nest tasks, so a discipline sits under a phase. Then you enter the fee for each as budget planning lines, by resource or as a lump sum.

You add extra services and variations as new tasks. You never bury them in the original scope. That keeps a clear record of what was agreed when. It also lets the project manager show the client which extra work was authorized and what it has cost so far.

Time capture in Business Central for engineering firms

Time is the raw material of a consultancy. Engineers fill in a weekly time sheet against project tasks. They add non-billable codes for proposals, training and leave. The project manager or line manager approves it. Approved lines then post to the project at each person's cost rate and billing rate.

You hold rates for each resource or resource group, such as principal, senior engineer, engineer and technician. A project can also have its own negotiated rates. Time sheets work in the browser and the mobile app. So site staff on inspections do not save up entries for the end of the month.

Fee invoicing in Business Central for engineering firms

Contracts differ by client and phase. You invoice lump sum phases from billable planning lines, by stage or by the share of the phase complete. Meanwhile, hourly work gets invoiced from posted time at the agreed rates. The detail is available as a backup report. Both can exist on one project under different tasks.

Hourly-to-a-cap deals need a watchful eye, since standard invoicing will not stop at a ceiling on its own. So we add a check that warns when billed plus unbilled time nears the cap. Also, reimbursable expenses, such as travel and printing, get coded to the project. You then invoice them with or without a mark-up.

Sub-consultants, surveys and lab costs

The lead consultant often carries surveyors, geotechnical labs and specialist designers under its own contract. You enter their invoices as purchase invoices with the project and task on the line. So the cost appears in the project beside staff time. You can pass it through on the next client invoice.

A purchase order for each sub-consultant agreement records the committed fee. That makes the remaining commitment visible before the invoices arrive. A firm may work in a joint arrangement across offices or legal entities. In that case, intercompany postings move time and cost between companies without duplicate entry.

Utilization, backlog and work in progress

Principals ask three questions every month. Are people busy on billable work? How much fee is left to earn? What is unbilled? Resource capacity against posted time gives utilization by person and team. Budget less earned fee gives backlog by project, client and sector.

Business Central works out work in progress for each project with a recognized method, such as percentage of completion based on cost. It posts the result to the ledger, so revenue matches effort. Power BI shows these figures on one page. An add-on serves resource planning beyond simple capacity, with skills and forward booking.

Business Central for engineering firms: partner questions

How is Business Central for engineering firms different from the professional services setup?

The foundation is the same projects module. Engineering firms lean harder on phase-based fees, sub-consultant pass-through and percentage of completion revenue. They also often work for public clients with set invoice formats. Our professional services page covers the general case for agencies and consultancies. We tune the setup to your own contracts and your own client forms.

Can it produce invoices in a public agency's format?

Yes, as a custom report layout. Agencies commonly want fee by phase with contract amount, previously billed, current billing and balance remaining. The data is in the project, so the layout is a reporting task. We build it in Word or RDLC layout, depending on how complex it is. Then we test it with your project managers using a real invoice.

Does it handle multiple offices?

Offices can be dimensions within one company. They can also be separate companies when they are distinct legal entities. Either way, staff from one office can book time to another office's project. Financial reports then show profit by office. Intercompany handles the cross-charge where entities differ. We help you choose the setup that suits your legal structure.

Which license do engineers need?

Staff who only enter time sheets and approve documents can generally use Team Members licenses. Project managers who create projects, planning lines and invoices need a full Essentials license. Premium is not required unless the firm also runs service orders or manufacturing. We count your users by role and tell you the mix that keeps license cost sensible.

Can it link to our drawing or document system?

You can share project numbers with your document system. Folders and drawings then follow the same code. Business Central stores files in OneDrive or SharePoint through its standard integration. A deeper link to a design data platform is an integration built on the APIs. We look at what your team does with drawings, then we suggest the lightest link.

Related pages for Business Central for engineering firms

Projects, time and people are the three records an engineering practice lives on. These pages explain each in depth, along with the general professional services setup. Read the one that matches your biggest gap. Then ask us how Business Central for engineering firms can fit your phases, your people and your clients. For the product detail, see Microsoft's guide to managing projects in Business Central.