Microsoft Dynamics 365 Project Operations: Deliver profitable projects with effective project planning and productive operational workflows

✍ Scribed by Robert Houdeshell

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 298
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Discover the endless capabilities and end-to-end project management functionalities of Dynamics 365 Project Operations to drive your firm's project success and ensure rapid business growth in the competitive digital economic world

Key Features

• Deliver successful projects via improved collaboration, visibility, and teamwork using Microsoft Project Operations solutions
• Gain real-time data insights to modernize business strategies to increase market share
• Build the right project operations models to meet business needs with an optimized budget

Book Description

Dynamics 365 Project Operations is a game-changing solution set for project-driven businesses that allows you to deliver commercially successful projects in a timely and cost-effective manner, keeping the project teams productive and collaborative. With this book, you'll find out how you can bring more value to the business by winning new projects and driving exponential revenue growth.

Starting with the key principles of Project Operations, you'll understand how it improves project planning and execution. You'll then learn how to successfully deploy Project Operations along with different integration strategies and get to grips with the best approach for sales through project opportunities, project contracts, and pricing workflow implementation. This book will guide you through setting up direct staffing and centralized staffing models and enable you to manage project changes confidently by getting hands-on with project timeline management, pricing management, resource assignments, and modifications. In the final chapters, you'll find out how to use Project Operations effectively for project accounting and finance.

By the end of this book, you'll have gained the confidence to deliver profitable projects in a well-connected organization through efficient decision-making and successful customer-client relationships.

What you will learn

• Configure key elements of Project Operations to drive improved collaboration with your customers
• Discover how Project Operations is interconnected with Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 Platform
• Understand the Project Opportunity-to-Quote-to-Contract workflow and its implications for selling
• Find out how to set up and utilize direct staffing and centralized staffing models
• Explore Project Timeline Management using Task, Board, and Timeline views
• Find out how information flows to finance and operations in Project Operations

Who this book is for

This book is for project managers, project leads, business consultants, and business leaders who want to gain a competitive edge by delivering successful projects in a shorter time span with the help of effective operations and workflows across different teams within projects. Knowledge of Microsoft 365 and a sound understanding of business acumen and sales through the delivery process is necessary to get the most out of this book.

Table of Contents

1. Introducing Project Operations
2. Using the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Framework for Success
3. The How-Tos of Setting Up Project Operations
4. The Account Manager – Project Selling
5. Project Contracts and Pricing
6. Practice Manager Functions – We Won the Contract! What Now?
7. Resource Manager – Staffing for Success!
8. Managing the Project to Success
9. Team Member Activities
10. Approvals and Exceptions
11. Project Accounting and Operations

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Title page
Copyright and Credits
Dedication
Contributors
Table of Contents
Preface
Section 1: Foundation and Framework of Project Operations
Chapter 1: Introducing Project Operations
Key principles and concepts for project managers
Project businesses at a glance
The value of the Microsoft Project Operations solution
Understanding an end-to-end solution with Microsoft Dynamics 365
Customer relationship management (CRM)
Work breakdown structure
Statement of work
Project Operations' impact on profitability
Team member time and expense entry
Project accounting and ERP functionality
Data analysis and presentation
Bottom-line benefits for the company
Summary
Questions
Chapter 2: Using the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Framework for Success
The Microsoft 365 framework
Learning about the history of Microsoft 365
The licensing of Microsoft 365
The Microsoft Power Platform framework
Power BI
PowerApps
Power Automate
Power Virtual Agents
Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE
Let's rewind to 2003…
Fast forward to today…
Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE – sales functionality
Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations
The Unified environment – Project Operations apps
Summary
Questions
Further reading
Chapter 3: The How-Tos of Setting Up Project Operations
Technical requirements
Understanding the deployment approach
Microsoft 365 framework question
Microsoft Dynamics questions
Organizational questions
Non-dynamics integrated approach
The CE Sales and Project Operations scenario
The third-party CRM and Project Operations scenario
Upgrade path for existing customers
Setting up Dynamics 365 CE Sales
Advanced settings
System Settings
Security setup
Navigation notes
Personal settings
Sales entities
Setting up Project Operations
The Resource Manager view of Project Operations
The Sales/Account Manager view of Project Operations
Project Operations system settings
Dynamics 365 CE – Sales customizations
Customizations and configurations
Data import
Integration strategies
Summary
Questions
Further reading
Section 2: Project Sales through Delivery
Chapter 4: The Account Manager – Project Selling
Understanding the lead to opportunity workflow
Creating a new lead
Maximizing project opportunities
Business process flow
Collaboration and document management
The quoting process
Creating a quote
Summary
Questions
Chapter 5: Project Contracts and Pricing
Technical requirements
Understanding the workflow from opportunity to project contract
Implementing project contracts and contract lines
The project contract
Project contract lines
Not-to-exceed limit
Developing price lists and custom price lists
Selling rates
Costing rates
Exploring roles and role types to control pricing
Non-chargeable roles
Complimentary roles
Summary
Questions
Chapter 6: Practice Manager Functions – We Won the Contract! What Now?
Technical requirements
Understanding direct staffing models
Working with backlog tracking
Building resources and roles
Skills and certifications
Understanding centralized staffing models
Direct versus centralized staffing models
Using resource forecasting
Using revenue forecasting
Resource utilization tracking
Summary
Questions
Chapter 7: Resource Manager – Staffing for Success!
Technical requirements
Staffing projects for success
Generic resources
Specific patterns
Generating requirements
Submitting a request
Generating bookings
Direct bookings
Booking types
Booking statuses
Booking allocation methods
Maximizing the Schedule board
Configuration and settings changes
Requirement for bookings
Resource utilization management
Summary
Questions
Section 3: Project Delivery through Operations
Chapter 8: Managing the Project to Success!
Technical requirements
Managing the project timeline and activities
Project Summary tab
Tasks tab
Substituting resources
Changing orders to costs and selling price
Managing risks, status reports, and change orders
Collaborating through Microsoft Teams and Outlook
Time entry considerations
Summary
Questions
Chapter 9: Team Member Activities
Technical requirements
Entering time
Requirements of time entry
Using Teams and Outlook time entry
Time entry – Outlook
Time entry – Teams
Entering expenses
Submitting and recalling time and expenses
Summary
Questions
Chapter 10: Approvals and Exceptions
Technical requirements
Understanding the approvals and actuals process
The approval process
Recalling time and expense
Using time corrections and exception handling
Time corrections
Exception handling
Summary
Questions
Chapter 11: Project Accounting and Operations
Technical requirements
Recap of our learning
Getting an overview of the billing process
Billing methods, contract types, and invoicing
Finance and Operations integration
Learning about reporting and analysis
Project Operations Dashboards
Power BI Reporting
Summary
Questions
Assessments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Why subscribe?
Other Books You May Enjoy
Index