01 Working With Projects.

Chapter 1: Working with Projects
CHAPTER 1: WORKING WITH PROJECTS

Objectives
The objectives are:
• View the list of projects.

• Edit project details.
• Change project group.
• Specify project ID numbers.
• Define project hierarchies.
• Review report sorting fields.
• Understand the work breakdown structure.
• Use the Project Copy Wizard.
• Set the project stage.
Introduction
This chapter introduces you to the project management and accounting module of
Microsoft Dynamics® AX and presents the methods for creating and managing
projects.
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Project Essentials in Microsoft Dynamics® AX 2012
Overview
Use the project management and accounting module to plan, create, manage,
control, and complete projects for your organization. Customer-focused projects
can be set up on a time and materials or fixed-price basis. You can also use the
module to manage costs for internal and investment projects.
For external projects, you can create project quotations that can be converted to
projects. You create project contracts with one or more funding sources that will
be invoiced for project costs and fees.
Each project that you create can have one or more subprojects and activities that
are made up of the project work structure. You can create financial forecasts and
budgets for cost control and to measure project performance.
You can assign attributes for project skills and experience to workers to enable
you to search for and assign workers to a project that is based on skills and
availability. For additional project planning flexibility, you can integrate the
projects with Microsoft® Project Server.
During project execution, employees and contractors can enter project timesheets
and expense reports. Required items and services can be procured and charged
back to the customer.
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Project managers have a variety of reports and analytical tools to examine project
performance from a variety of perspectives. The following figure provides an
overview of the project management and accounting module.
FIGURE 1.1 PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ACCOUNTING MODULE

OVERVIEW
Project List
The project list contains the list of all projects in the current company and will be
used frequently by project managers. Open Project management and
accounting > Common > Projects > All projects.
FIGURE 1.2 PROJECT LIST
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By default, only active projects are shown in the list. To see all projects,
including those with project stage of completed, select All in the Show projects
filter.
In addition, a project will be listed along with its subprojects. To collapse project
hierarchies, set the Show levels filter to Top.
Creating a Project
Projects can be created by using or without a template project. To create a new
project without a template, open Project management and accounting >
Common > Projects > All projects. On the Action Pane, select the Project tab.
Then click Project in the New group.
FIGURE 1.3 CREATE PROJECT FORM
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Lab 1.1 - Create Project

In this lab, you will create a new time and materials project.
Scenario
Contoso wants to create a new time and materials speaker installation project for
the Kiwi Conference Center. The terms of the new project will be covered by the
existing project contract.
Challenge Yourself!
Create a new project with the existing project contract.
Need a Little Help?

From the project list page, click the Project button on the Action Pane under the
Project tab in the New group.
Step by Step
1. Open Project management and accounting > Common >

Projects > All projects.
2. On the Action Pane, select the Project tab. Then, in the New group,
click Project.
3. From the Create project form, in the Project type list, select Time
and material.
4. Enter the Project ID “KIWISP1”.
5. Enter the Project name “Kiwi Speaker Installation”.
6. From Project group, click TM1.
7. From Project contract ID, click 100201 Kiwi Conference Center.
8. The project Customer field is automatically defaulted.
9. Click OK.
NOTE: If you are creating a fixed-price project, you have the option of creating
a new Estimate project. Estimate projects are discussed in the Advanced Project
management and accounting course.
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Project Details
You can edit the properties of an existing project by using the project details
form. To edit an existing project:

2. Select the project you want to edit.
3. From the Action Pane, select the Project tab. Then, in the Maintain
group, click Edit.
FIGURE 1.4 PROJECT DETAILS FORM
The following properties are displayed on the General tab of the project details
form:
Field Description
Project ID Display the project ID.
Project name Enter a name for the project.
Project group Display the project group to which the current project
belongs. To change the project group, click Project
group in the Set up group on the Action Pane.
Project type Display the project type. The project type is selected
when you create a project. Project types are discussed in
the next chapter.
Project stage Display the status of the current project. To change the
status of the project, click the Project stage in the
Maintain group of the Action Pane and select a new
status.
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Field Description
Project contract Select the project contract ID to which the project will be
ID attached.
Account Select the delivery customer account for the project.
E-mail Enter the customer e-mail account.
Sales manager Select the sales worker in charge of the project. This will
cause the project to appear on the user’s My projects list
page.
Project manager Select the person in charge of the project. This will cause
the project to appear on the user’s My projects list page.
Project Select the person who is financially responsible for the
controller project. This will cause the project to appear on the
user’s My projects list page.
Date of creation Automatically display the date when the project was
created.
Projected start Enter the date that you expect the project to start.
date
Actual start date Select or enter a project start date.
Projected end Enter the date that you expect the project to end.
date
Extension date If the project was extended, enter the date that you expect
the project to end.
Actual end date Select or enter a project end date.
Project Group
You change the project group for a project by clicking Project Group on the
Action Pane. Changing the project group may also change the project type.
FIGURE 1.5 CHANGE PROJECT GROUP FORM
Project types and groups are discussed in detail in later chapters.
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Project Numbering
Specify the format and behavior of Project IDs in the Number Sequences tab of
the Project management and accounting parameters form. Click Project
management and accounting > Setup > Project management and accounting
parameters. When you set up the number sequence, consider the following:
• Whether you will manually specify project IDs or have them

automatically generated
• How you want to sort projects
• The depth of the project hierarchies you will use
• Which characters you will use as separators between the levels in the
project hierarchies
• How many projects you will create later
Variable Digit Numbering

Whereas you can set up project IDs with a variable number of digits (for
example, PROJ#), this may cause problems when sorting projects. That is
because project IDs are sorted alphabetically, not numerically.
For example, creating a new project with a single digit number sequence gives a
project ID of 1. As you continue to create more projects, the system functions
correctly until it reaches the tenth project. Project number 10 will be sorted only
under project number 1.
This means the sorting of the projects appear out of order, as shown in the
following table.
Order of created project Actual sort order

Project 1 Project 1
Project 2 Project 10
Project 4 Project 2
Project 6 Project 3
Project 7 Project 4
Project 8 Project 5
Project 9 Project 6
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One solution is to create a number sequence with leading zeros (padding) as

follows.
• Smallest number: 0001

• Largest number: 999999
Number of Projects
The previous example affects how many new projects can be created in the
project management and accounting module.
Allocate a higher number as the smallest number if there will be several projects.
By increasing the smallest number to 0001, a total of 9999 projects can be

created at the top level. If it is not a concern, ignore the described sorting issue
and use the numbers 1 to 9999999999.
Depth of Project Hierarchy

When you build the project hierarchies:
• Every level uses one character of the 10 characters available in the

project number.
• If the number sequence is set up to start with 0001, the first
subproject of the first project (that is, the first level) receives the
numbering 00011.
• The second level allocates the numbering 000111, and so on.
• The original project can be considered level zero
Using Characters as Separators

Instead of viewing a subproject ID made up as the one depicted previously—
000111—you can insert characters to separate the levels.
When you specify characters in the format of the projects, the project ID can be
easier to read and levels easier to decipher.
The example could then be changed into 0001-1-1, visually reflecting the
different levels.
Because the project ID can only contain 10 characters, this limits the level of
hierarchies. Now there are 9999 projects remaining that can go as deep as three
levels. It allows for only nine subprojects at each level (because the number of
characters per level is one). Or, 9999 projects can be created by using only two
levels. It allows for 99 subprojects at each level.
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Extending the Length of the Project ID Field

If many projects and subprojects are needed, change the standard length of the
project ID to contain more than 15 characters. Perform this with the initial setup
of Microsoft Dynamics AX or later versions when it is necessary.
Project Hierarchies
Some projects can easily be processed as one large project for planning and
accounting where the need for subprojects and complexity is very low. Other
projects gain more overview when distinct phases of the project's activities are
split into separate subprojects. For example, if a large project has several phases
such as a design phase and an implementation phase a separate subproject can be
created for each phase.
Use subprojects to:
• Achieve a project structure that reflects the different project

initiatives.
• Process special accounting situations.
Examples include the following:
• Invoicing expenses and materials on a fixed-price project

• Keeping track of internal time consumption as part of the preparation
for an external project.
All project types can be combined in a project hierarchy, and more subprojects
can be added as a project progresses. Project hierarchy properties appear in the
Project hierarchy tab on the Project details form.
Subproject ID Format
The Subproject ID format field defines the next level in a project hierarchy.
When a subproject is created, the subproject ID is formed by appending a
numeric sequence onto the parent Project ID.
To specify the next level, specify the character number that lets the system know
how to designate the project ID for the subproject, and whether it should have a
suffix. The suffix also consists of a number. The format field is closely
connected to the project ID field.
You can specify the default subproject ID format in the Project management
and accounting parameters form.
By default, the project ID number contains only 15 characters. The number of

characters entered in the format field is appended to the project ID number. The
length of the combined fields cannot exceed the maximum number of characters
specified for the project ID number.
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EXAMPLE: Project Hierarchy

A project with a project ID of 0001 is set up, and subprojects are also required.
The project hierarchy is specified in the format field on the top-level or parent
project and set up as "-#."
The new subproject is automatically created by using the following project ID
0001-1, the next is 00001-2, and so on. Overall, up to three levels can be created
in this hierarchy (0001-1-1-1) if the same format is retained because there are 10
characters in the number (remember, a dash is considered a character).
Creating Subprojects
Create subprojects by clicking Subproject on the Action Pane on the Project tab
in the New group.
Parent Project
You can view the parent project ID of a subproject on the Project hierarchy tab
on the Projects form.
Header Projects
Selecting the Header project check box on the Project details form designates
the project as a header project. Header projects summarize only, and no
transactions can be posted to a header project.
A header project must be created at the top level of a hierarchy. Projects cannot
be added to a header project after its creation.
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Viewing the Project Hierarchy

Open Project management and accounting > Common > Projects > All
projects. Double-click a project from the list that is a member of a project
hierarchy.
FIGURE 1.6 PROJECT DETAILS WITH HIERARCHY
The projects in the project hierarchy can be viewed and navigated in the left
navigation pane.
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Lab 1.2 - Create a Subproject

In this lab, you will create a subproject.
Scenario
Project 10001-2 Contoso Retail Portland has run over cost and requires a change
order. The project account manager wants to track this change order on a time
and material basis as a subproject under this project.
Challenge Yourself!
Use the information provided to create the new subproject with the project group
TM1.
Need a Little Help?

On the Action Pane under the Project tab in the New group, click Subprojects.
Step by Step

2. Double-click project 10001-2 Contoso Retail Portland.
3. On the Action Pane under the Project tab in the Maintain group,
click Edit.
4. On the Project hierarchy tab for Subproject ID format, type "-#".
5. On the Action Pane under the Project tab in the Maintain group,
click Edit.
6. On the Action Pane under the Project tab in the New group, click
Subproject.
7. Select TM1 for Project group, and type "Change Order" for Project
name.
8. Click OK.
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Report Sort Fields

For each project, you can specify up to three values as a sorting key for projects.
The sorting information is optional and can be added at any point, even after
transactions have been registered to a project. These values are maintained in the
Report Sorting tab of the Project details form.
FIGURE 1.7 REPORT SORTING TAB PROJECT DETAILS FORM
The sorting codes in the Project management and accounting module resemble
the financial dimensions. However, unlike financial dimensions, they do not
allocate expenses - instead they provide an option for segmenting projects for
analysis.
To define the available sorting criteria for projects, open Project management
and accounting > Setup > Project report sort fields.
Three sorting criteria can be set up for each project. The information is for
statistical use only—no business logic is tied to these fields.
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Lab 1.3: Set Report Sort Fields

In this lab, you will specify sorting for a project and print the project profit and
loss report.
Scenario
Contoso wants to analyze project profitability by region. Use the project sort
field and the Project profit and loss report to achieve this.
Challenge Yourself!
Set the sort field on two projects and run the Project profit and loss report.
Need a Little Help?

Set the Sort field 2 on one project to WestCoast and another to EastCoast before
you run the Project profit and loss report with the project view set to Sort field 2.
Step by Step

2. Select 10001 Contoso Retail Los Angeles and then click Edit.
3. On the Report sorting tab, set Sort Field 2 to WestCoast.
4. Click Close.
5. Select 10002 Colorado Airport, and then click Edit.
6. On the Report sorting tab, set Sort Field 2 to EastCoast.
7. Click Close.
8. Click Project management and accounting > Reports > Profit
and loss > Project profit and loss.
9. Check Time and material under Include project types.
10. Check Hour under Include transaction types.
11. In Project view under Layout – rows, click Sort Field 2.
12. Click OK.
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Work Breakdown Structure

The project work breakdown structure (WBS) defines the set of tasks performed
on projects and can be used for fine-grained tracking of hour, expense, and item
consumption and forecasting. To track the total cost for a specific task, specify
the activity associated with the project transaction when the project transaction is
entered through a project journal.
To set up activities, open Project management and accounting > Common >
Projects > All projects. Highlight the project for which you want to set up an
ABS. In the Action Pane, select the Plan tab. In the Activities group, click Work
breakdown structure.
FIGURE 1.8 WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE FORM
Activities are set up using an activity hierarchy, in which subactivities are created
as smaller tasks within one large task or phase of a project.
Activities are set up using an activity hierarchy, in which subactivities are created
as smaller tasks within one large task or phase of a project.
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The following information relates to working with activities:
• Because activities are specific tasks that are performed on a specific

project, they are always project-specific and not shared between
projects.
• Each project transaction can be associated with an activity in the
WBS. This is covered later in “Working with Project Transactions.”
• Both project budgets and project forecast can refer to activities in the
WBS. Forecasts are discussed in the course, Advanced Project
Management and Accounting.
• The WBS is extended for resource scheduling by the project
management and accounting add-in. This functionality is discussed
in the course, Services Industries.
To create a new activity, from the Work breakdown structure window, click a
specific activity and then click New.
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Lab 1.4 - Create a Work Breakdown Structure

In this lab, you will create a work breakdown structure.
Scenario
The project manager for an internal project wants to create an activity hierarchy
for the first phase of the project. The phase will consist of three tasks and two
subtasks:
• Develop project plan

• Pick project team
• Project kick-off
o Contact client
o Book travel
Challenge Yourself!
Create the WBS for the project.
Need a Little Help?

Click New while on a top level task to create the sub tasks.
Step by Step

2. On the action pane under the Project tab in the New group, click
Project.
3. Select “Internal” for the Project type.
4. Enter a Project ID of “INT001”, a Project name of “Contoso Internal
Project”, and select “Internal1” for Project group.
5. Click OK to create the project.
6. On the action pane under the Plan tab in the Activities group, click
Work breakdown structure.
7. Click the top level of the hierarchy (INT001).
8. Click New.
9. Call the new activity "Develop Project Plan", and then press Ctrl+S
to save the record.
11. Click New.
12. Call the new activity "Pick Project Team"", and then press Ctrl+S to
save the record.
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14. Click New.

15. Call the new activity "Project Initiation" ", and then press Ctrl+S to
save the record.
16. Select "Project Initiation" and click New.
17. Call the new activity "Contact Client"", and then press Ctrl+S to
save the record.
18. Select "Project Initiation" and click New.
19. Call the new activity "Book Travel"", and then press Ctrl+S to save
the record.
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Use the Project Copy Wizard to:
• Create new projects, or project hierarchies.

• Transfer set up values from an existing project.
• Enable a project to act as a template for other projects created later.
The following values can be copied from the template project:
• Hour costs and sales prices

• Expense cost and sales prices
• Fee sales prices
• Activities
• Line property setup
• Ledger posting
• Validation rules for categories and workers
The setup of validation rules is covered separately in Advanced Project

Management and Accounting.
Working with the Project Copy Wizard

A prerequisite for using the wizard is to select the Project template check box
on the Hierarchy tab on the Project details form on an existing project.
• When the Project Copy Wizard is used, all projects selected as

templates are available for selection.
• To make a project structure available for copying, all projects in the
hierarchy must be defined as a project templates.
• Selecting a project as a template does not prevent additional editing
in that project.
NOTE: While a project designated as a template project can be altered and the
next project created based on the new template contains the change, any
previously created projects do not update with the template's changes.
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Procedure: Creating a New Project Using the Project

Copy Wizard
Follow these steps to create a new project with the Project Copy Wizard.

2. On the Action Pane, select the Project tab. In the New group, click
Copy project.
3. Select the template to use.
4. Determine whether the project is a subproject of an existing project.
5. Decide how to name the new project.
6. Select the project contract to use. An existing project contract can be
used, a new one can be generated, or it can be copied from.
7. Select the information from the General tab to be copied over from
the template. Enter address information to overwrite the address
from the template project.
8. Select the sorting fields and dimensions to overwrite the sorting and
dimension settings from the template project.
9. Select what relations to copy from the template. Only the options set
up on the template are available. A summary of the selections
appear together with the transactions to be added.
10. Review the overview of the projects to be created.
11. Click Finish to create the new project(s).
Project Stages
Project stages determine what types of operations can be performed on projects.
Each project is associated with one of the following stages:
• Created
• Estimated
• Scheduled
• In process
• Finished
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In addition, you are provided three optional user-defined stages.
Even though project stages are set up for the different project types, you can
move to the next stage by changing the current stage to a following stage, or by
changing it back to a previous stage.
You can only post transactions to a project with the status of In process or one of
the user-defined stages.
Stages can be customized from the Project management and accounting

parameters form.
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Lab 1.5: Creating and Renaming Project Stages

In this lab, you will create and rename project stages.
Scenario
Contoso Ltd has decided that for time and material projects it needs more control
over what tasks take place during certain stages of the projects. The company has
to use all five default project stages, but during the “Estimated” stage, the only
task that should be able to be completed is the creation of a forecast. The
company also wants to rename the “Estimated” stage to “Forecasting.”
Challenge Yourself!
Configure the Project management and accounting module to meet the new needs
of Contoso.
Need a Little Help?

Use the Project stage rules window to control which tasks can take place during
a project stage.
Step by Step
1. Open Project management and accounting > Setup > Project

management and accounting parameters.
2. Click the Project stage tab.
3. In the Time and material column, make sure that the following
check boxes are selected: Created, Estimated, Scheduled, In
process, Finished.
4. Click the Estimated line, and then click Rename.
5. In the Text field on the first line, type "Forecasting".
6. Click OK.
7. Click Project stage rules.
8. Set Project type to Time and material with only Create
forecast/budget selected.
9. Click Close.
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Summary
The Project management and accounting module in Microsoft Dynamics AX
includes several methods for creating and managing projects.
• Project creation
• Project hierarchies
• The Project Copy Wizard
• Sorting for projects
• Project ABS
• Project stages
As soon as you have created projects, you are well prepared to continue into
more in-depth topics like choosing project types and performing transactions.
1-24
Test Your Knowledge

Test your knowledge with the following questions.
1. Which of these fields is not used together with project hierarchies?

( ) Subproject ID format
( ) Transaction format
( ) Parent project
( ) Header project
2. In which of the project stages is it possible to enter transactions? (Select all

that apply)
( ) Created
( ) In process
( ) Scheduled
( ) User defined
3. Project sort fields are useful for which of the following?

( ) Ledger posting
( ) Reporting and analysis
( ) Customer invoicing
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Quick Interaction: Lessons Learned

Take a moment and write down three key points you have learned from this
chapter
1.
2.
3.
1-26
Solutions
Test Your Knowledge
1. Which of these fields is not used together with project hierarchies?
( ) Subproject ID format
(•) Transaction format
( ) Parent project
( ) Header project
2. In which of the project stages is it possible to enter transactions? (Select all

that apply)
( ) Created
(√) In process
( ) Scheduled
(√) User defined
3. Project sort fields are useful for which of the following?

( ) Ledger posting
(•) Reporting and analysis
( ) Customer invoicing
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Chapter 1: Working with Projects

CHAPTER 1: WORKING WITH PROJECTS

• View the list of projects.

FIGURE 1.1 PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ACCOUNTING MODULE

FIGURE 1.2 PROJECT LIST

FIGURE 1.3 CREATE PROJECT FORM

Lab 1.1 - Create Project

Need a Little Help?

1. Open Project management and accounting > Common >

1. Open Project management and accounting > Common >

FIGURE 1.4 PROJECT DETAILS FORM

FIGURE 1.5 CHANGE PROJECT GROUP FORM

Project types and groups are discussed in detail in later chapters.

• Whether you will manually specify project IDs or have them

Variable Digit Numbering

Order of created project Actual sort order

One solution is to create a number sequence with leading zeros (padding) as

• Smallest number: 0001

By increasing the smallest number to 0001, a total of 9999 projects can be

Depth of Project Hierarchy

• Every level uses one character of the 10 characters available in the

Using Characters as Separators

Extending the Length of the Project ID Field

Use subprojects to:

• Achieve a project structure that reflects the different project

Examples include the following:

• Invoicing expenses and materials on a fixed-price project

By default, the project ID number contains only 15 characters. The number of

EXAMPLE: Project Hierarchy

Viewing the Project Hierarchy

FIGURE 1.6 PROJECT DETAILS WITH HIERARCHY

Lab 1.2 - Create a Subproject

Need a Little Help?

1. Open Project management and accounting > Common >

Report Sort Fields

FIGURE 1.7 REPORT SORTING TAB PROJECT DETAILS FORM

Lab 1.3: Set Report Sort Fields

Need a Little Help?

1. Open Project management and accounting > Common >

Work Breakdown Structure

FIGURE 1.8 WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE FORM

The following information relates to working with activities:

• Because activities are specific tasks that are performed on a specific

Lab 1.4 - Create a Work Breakdown Structure

• Develop project plan

Need a Little Help?

1. Open Project management and accounting > Common >

14. Click New.

Use the Project Copy Wizard to:

• Create new projects, or project hierarchies.

The following values can be copied from the template project:

• Hour costs and sales prices

The setup of validation rules is covered separately in Advanced Project

Working with the Project Copy Wizard

• When the Project Copy Wizard is used, all projects selected as

Procedure: Creating a New Project Using the Project

1. Open Project management and accounting > Common >

In addition, you are provided three optional user-defined stages.

Stages can be customized from the Project management and accounting

Lab 1.5: Creating and Renaming Project Stages

Need a Little Help?

1. Open Project management and accounting > Setup > Project

Test Your Knowledge