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Guide to NetSuite Project Management and Project Creation
Most firms still find project management to be a difficult and time-consuming task. Because getting all of the necessary elements together to ensure successful project management can be difficult for most businesses.
Services organizations can use NetSuite's Project capability to manage jobs, projects, assign resources, bill clients, and track profitability. This set of modules is ideal for distribution companies with a service component, as well as service companies looking for a robust management toolkit.
For this article, we will be taking a look at NetSuite project management, its benefits, and how you can create a NetSuite project of your own.
NetSuite Professional Service Automation
NetSuite Project Management is a prominent professional services automation (PSA) system that helps firms manage people, resources, budgets, and projects all in one place. NetSuite project management software provides project managers with critical insights and control, allowing them to allocate the appropriate resources to projects. When resources, tasks, and estimations need to be allocated to the proper projects, it allows users to manage their teams.
By automating manual operations, the PSA module eliminates the need for several systems to handle projects, boosting the project team's performance. NetSuite can also be used in conjunction with other third-party systems due to its broad integration capabilities.
What are the offers?
NetSuite project management software provides project managers with accurate real-time analytics. Managers' ability to deal successfully with all project components is greatly enhanced as a result of this. The following are just a few of the modules and features included:
Resource management
Businesses may have clear visibility and tracking of all resources, as well as stay up to date on which resources are available, with effective resource management. Businesses can also use resource management to create and track KPIs and milestones in order to get the greatest potential results and profits from their initiatives.
Expense management
Managers can design workflows and approval processes to fit project objectives using the expenditure management tool. The expense management solution may be linked to project management and accounting modules, allowing for easy and precise project KPI tracking.
Analytics
The reporting and analytic tools in NetSuite's project management software make it simple and practical for project managers to keep track of the project's overall status, development, and performance. Managers may quickly communicate information about budget estimation and profit margins thanks to the analytical and reporting feature.
Project management
The project management module is readily linked with NetSuite Financials, allowing organizations to track project spending precisely, manage revenue recognition swiftly, and keep track of other project financials. Businesses can use the NetSuite project management module to manage various types of basic projects at the same time.
Billing and Invoicing
The module makes it easier to generate invoices based on time and expenses recorded against projects. It facilitates billing for project work which is especially relevant to services projects or industries with flat fee, fixed price milestone, time and materials, and subscription billing.
How to Create a Project in NetSuite
Use the Projects tool to keep track of information regarding customer projects, such as time, contacts, and transactions. You may track time related to a project on the project record. You can also construct project-related transactions, as well as CRM data such as activities and communication.
To create a project record, Go to Lists > then click on Relationships > Customers and click "View" next to the customer that you want to create a project for.
Click the "Create New" icon and select "Project"
You should now be viewing the Primary Information page.
- Untick the "Auto" checkbox if you would like to designate your own Project ID. Alternatively, you can leave it on to allow NetSuite to assign one for you. You may then other relevant information such as:
- Project ID
- Project name
- Start date
- Project-specific email address
- Project-specific phone number
- Then in the "Status" field, choose the appropriate option to reflect the progress of this project.
- Click save
And there we have it! Your NetSuite project record is ready to go.
Other Aspects of NetSuite PSA Project Function
Businesses may use NetSuite's Project capability to manage jobs, project tasks, assign resources, charge clients, and track profitability. It does, however, have more in-depth factors.
Users establish project tasks, allocate them to resources, and determine billing rates and personnel costs inside the project's work breakdown structure.
Once a project plan is in place, but before work begins on the project, the project module also allows users to create a baseline.
Project managers can use a baseline to find disparities between expected and actual project outcomes.
The project task start date field, for example, changes depending on the project task's state. When time is recorded against a task, the start date becomes the day the time is entered for the first time.
The start date baseline field, on the other hand, stays unchanged.
Dependencies between project tasks can also be defined by project managers. This allows subsequent task start dates to be updated based on the dependence description.
Dependent tasks update as changes are made to tasks earlier in the work breakdown structure, such as changing the amount of time or staff availability.
Parent tasks
Setting parent tasks is another component of the project work breakdown structure. Parental qualities such as the parent's start date, end date, and percent complete influences the child task's project templates and project information.
These are then rolled up at the project level, allowing customers to track percent completion as real-time project records are submitted against budgeted activities.
There are two types of task resource assignments available in NetSuite. Tasks can be allocated to resources that have capacity available based on other tasks that resource is assigned to in the basic resource assignment.
Resource allocation
A project manager or resource manager assigns a resource allocation record for an employee to a specific job with resource allocations and logistics.
Although this adds to the project management overhead, it also gives project managers a higher level of precision in terms of knowing which resources are working on a project at any one time. Potential issues in logistics and inventory can also be more quickly spotted.
Job costing
A firm can specify project expense types and construct a project cost variance account to record variations to a project cost variance account using NetSuite's job costing function.
The system then offsets this account instead of the employee's usual expense account during payroll processing and time tracking billing. This permits job time entries to be applied directly to the job.
Conclusion
Collaboration, easy information access, and financial impact visibility are all possible with NetSuite's PSA module. Knowing where your money is flowing out can enable you to make sound business decisions. The most significant factor is how and when it will arrive.
The best part is that it is readily integrated into existing NetSuite software. You only need to pay an additional charge to have it activated.
Afterward, it's a question of NetSuite implementation and customization. It is recommended to get a NetSuite partner to help you get familiar with this module.
