Engineering Company Improves Project Management and Aligns Accounting with Dynamics AX 2012 R2 Implementation

Business Need

A specialized engineering company actively engaged in conceptual design, feasibility studies, front end engineering and design (FEED), engineering, procurement, and installation and commissioning (EPIC) is a major supplier of products and services to oil and gas, marine, petrochemical, and utility companies; they also service engineering consultants and major energy petroleum contractors.

They provide engineering and project management solutions to clients in developing new facilities, including integrated offices for bids/proposals, design, engineering and execution of projects, as well as effectively applying efficient technologies to upgrade and expand their existing facilities.

Dealing with regional as well as international clients, their business was growing fast, and project tracking, management, estimation, and costing were starting to become major concerns.

In order to maintain accurate tracking and proper management of the EPC projects undertaken while efficiently handling accounting for each of them, they were in need of a handy solution. Since they were also planning for business expansion, both regionally and internationally, the client sought to implement an ERP system that would help them carry out project tracking, estimation and costing, and manage financial accounting for their departments and legal entities.

Solution and Approach

The client engaged Synoptek (formerly Indusa) after selecting Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 to address their growth challenges.

After thorough review of the client’s current needs and an analysis of where they were looking to grow, Synoptek consultants developed an implementation plan that included delivery of the following modules:

• Full-fledged financial management for all legal entities, and consolidation of those entities
• Human Resources Module
• Supply Chain Module
• Project accounting, management, and budgeting, employee self-service
• Expense management
• Quality management
• Inventory management
• CRM

The client’s solution would also include configuration of business intelligence (BI), key performance indicators (KPIs), role-centers, and implementation of enterprise portal functionalities.

Previously, the client did not have a mechanism that observed standard practices for fixed asset management, financial statements, and quality.  Dynamics AX was customized for all their internal standard practices and processes. They also wanted to utilize core functionalities of Dynamics AX including multiple languages, time zones, multi-currency, and fiscal calendars.

Synoptek leveraged the Sure Step Methodology in addition to Microsoft Dynamics accelerators (Best Practice Configuration Accelerator and Implementation Accelerator) to execute the project.

With the use of the Sure Step methodology, the client received value-added quality of services, along with a cost-effective approach for their Dynamics AX implementation. The implementation accelerator provided a cloud-based collaborative workspace that was used to manage the project.

Business Results

This flexible end-to-end solution, based on their requirements and designed specifically for the client, gives critical insight into each of their projects while supporting procurement procedures, project management, financial management and reporting.

With project revenue recognition and identification of variances (at various stages of the project) made possible by Dynamics AX, the client team is now able to carry out better project cost control.

In addition to this, they now have a dashboard of KPIs including visual status indicators to highlight project cost tracking and variances to ensure standardization of their processes for easy operation across global locations.