Industrial Equipment Manufacturing (IEM) for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central supports the customer-driven (pull) style of manufacturing.
The foundation of this style of manufacturing is creating visibility on the project. As the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) defines it, a project is temporary: it has a beginning and an end with a predefined result: a deliverable.
Budget
A project is temporary and creates a unique product: not a routine. For that reason, having a plan to measure against is essential: "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."
In Industrial Equipment Manufacturing, a budget is the baseline that ensures the project is calculated accurately to make the right quote, plan the correct material in the right quantities, and ensure the availability of your people: either in resource groups or as individual resources.
Timeline
Projects have a definite beginning and end. Within that time frame, you must realize what you planned in the budget. Based on customer demand or availability of material and people, you can plan forward (As Soon As Possible: ASAP) from a starting date, or backward from an ending date to deliver Just in Time (JIT).
Industrial Equipment Manufacturing supports both planning directions by calculating the critical path based on the estimated number of working days per project task, the sequence of those project tasks, and non-working days as specified in the project calendar. Because budget lines are created per project task, the budget is automatically applied to this timeline, making clear when costs can be expected.
Register
Once the budget is laid out along the timeline, correct registration maintains up-to-date visibility on the project and provides answers to questions such as: "Is the project progressing to plan?", "What is the earned value to date?", and "How much do we estimate to complete this project?"
Industrial Equipment Manufacturing binds supply orders to the project and shows inventory as earmarked for the project to make costs related to the project visible as soon as possible. For the same reason, resource tasks are automatically created from project tasks so resources can start and stop these tasks and have their time recorded directly on the correct project task.
Forecast progress
A wise man once said: "The ideal project does not exist, each time there is the opportunity to realize an approximation." This means that the more up to date your visibility on the progress of the project, the more opportunity you have to take corrective actions in time.
Industrial Equipment Manufacturing offers a flexible forecasting feature that lets the project manager compare budget to actual numbers at Anywhere Mobility Solutions time and calculate an estimate to completion on both values and quantities. The project manager can set the Progress % for each project task to further refine the forecast.