Top 6 Benefits of using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central with Progressus for Engineers

Engineers will continue to face challenges in 2024 including rising material costs, inflation, supply chain volatility, and skilled-labor shortages, while still needing to respond quickly to customer demands. Speed and quality are the two top priorities that customers expect from their engineering and construction partners. To meet these demands, engineering firms must invest in Industry 4.0/Internet of Things technologies to stay competitive and boost efficiency.  The American Society of Mechanical Engineers says that, the combination of artificial intelligence and automation makes for better product designs and “smart” production lines. Engineering firms are finding that they can operate much more efficiently with project-centric software.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central with Progressus

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is a comprehensive, cloud-based ERP solution for small to midsized businesses, connecting sales, service, finance, and operations to work smarter, adapt faster, and perform better. It has the best ROI in the business – a recent Forrester study shows that organizations typically experience 162% ROI with Dynamics 365 Business Central over a three-year period.

But Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central alone doesn’t have all the functionality that engineering firms need. Progressus is purpose-built on top of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central to provide firms with the tools they need to ensure every project is profitable.

Progressus for Engineers helps you make data-driven decisions with real-time visibility into project operations and full control over every aspect of your projects. Here are the top six benefits for engineers.

1. Enhance Business Growth

Interest rates are still high, increasing the price of engineering equipment and materials such as steel and aluminum. This pressures engineering firms and their manufacturing partners to contain costs and keep prices on finished products as low as possible. “With the trade talent shortage remaining tight and inflation continuing to surge, industry professionals will need to be diligent with their workforce to keep individuals motivated while also ensuring they are on the cutting edge of technology to keep both customers and employees satisfied,” according to PM Engineer.

Retaining and securing clients is a big focus for any engineering firm, but especially when materials are costly. You might have a dedicated team or role that includes responding to RFPs, as well as finding and retaining clients for future projects. Even with a dedicated team, the whirlwind of work that’s attached to gaining a new client can disrupt ongoing projects or slow down workflows.

Progressus helps streamline the RFP and bid process to drive more business. Resource planning helps coordinate all subcontractors involved in your projects to better evaluate proposals, review bids, and select the right consultants for each job.

2. Seamless project lifecycle from quote to cash

Engineers face issues of sustainability, supply chain disruption, and inflation, which are too complex to solve alone. A collaborative approach is key.

Progressus enables better ways of communication and collaboration, allowing teams to contribute anytime, from anywhere – imperative when it comes to supporting the hybrid, post-pandemic workplace.

In this collective environment, the shared language is data. To ensure data is usable by everyone, the team needs to be able to access it in an intuitive, centralized, and interoperable way. Data is becoming more important in the decision-making process, helping engineers reach better outcomes to solve complex societal challenges. Data will improve collaboration by boosting trust and transparency in the team and facilitating more constructive dialogues with the client, municipality, or internally, benefiting the whole project lifecycle.

3. Simplified Accounting

Progressus has built-in billing to automatically apply payment due, project details, engineer name, application number, contract date, and summary of work. You can also bill multiple projects on a single invoice and tackle change orders. You can navigate your project finances using the Progressus Project Accounting feature. It simplifies complex accounting tasks, offers real-time cost insights, and ensures efficient billing. You can then empower your decisions and elevate your project’s financial management to the next level. You can also support defined scopes of service, multipliers, and fees.

4. Ensure Financial Accuracy

Low utilization and billable hours are a clear sign that engineers’ roles and responsibilities are not distributed fairly or efficiently. For instance, some employees may be spending more time on admin work, while others are overloaded with client projects. Another issue might be having too many or too little resources assigned to a task.

With too many professionals on one project, some may have extra time in their day for admin work. As a result, utilization falls below the ideal threshold of 85%, indicating that workloads may need to be better balanced.

Progressus helps engineering firms manage fees, forecast accurately, and reconcile planned vs. actual labor, ensuring you’re on the right track.

5. Optimize Contract Processes

Depending on the type of contracts you’re using, Progressus helps you efficiently manage them with streamlined reviews, secure document storage, and easy onboarding in crucial areas. Once you’ve secured the client and contract, you can use the Project Wizard within Progressus which fills in the details automatically and without errors, saving 90% of project creation time.

6. Generative AI Functionality

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is a big buzz word for engineering firms. AI and automation will play a greater role in the design process by, for example, predicting outcomes and automating tedious tasks such as number crunching or sourcing data, while freeing up more time for engineers to focus on design work.

The integration of Microsoft Copilot to Business Central allows Progressus to utilize AI and natural language processing to enable business users to create content faster. Along with other Microsoft productivity tools, users can complete routine and time-consuming work tasks with minimal effort, eliminate many manual processes, and streamline business processes like never before.

Conclusion

As you can see, most major challenges for engineers come down to communication, collaboration, and planning. The good news is that the right processes and tools can address all three. Firms that embrace change, try out different solutions, and improve workflows can see these challenges resolved quickly.

With more than 33 years of implementation experience, Velosio gets your software up and running—effectively and efficiently—as quickly as possible. Our teams of application consultants and project managers, who are among the best in their field, are ready to help your business keep its commitments while investing in the latest technological advances. We guide your technology roadmap on a schedule that meets the demands of today’s fast-moving marketplace.

Velosio has helped over 4,000 clients with systems modernization projects and is the top Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central partner and 2023 Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central US and Worldwide partner of the year. Velosio developed Progressus for project-based organizations like engineering firms succeed. We can evaluate your current systems and develop a roadmap to upgrade any lingering legacy systems. To learn more about Progressus, visit the Progressus site here.