Business Central for Professional Services
Business Central for service and project firms: project, time and profitability tracking. See our implementation services.
Professional Services companies face specific processes that an out-of-the-box system covers poorly. We implement Business Central so it fits your reality — not the other way around.
Industry challenges
- No visibility into project profitability
- Manual time and expense tracking
- Delays in invoicing
- Hard to plan team utilization
How it works in your industry
In services, profit hides in details: unlogged hours, out-of-scope work, late invoicing. Business Central stitches the chain: timesheets link to project tasks, costs hit the project immediately, and the client invoice builds from actuals in one step.
WIP and revenue recognition are systematic, so the project's financial picture is honest at any moment — not “found out after completion”. Resource planning shows who's overloaded and who's idle.
The project lifecycle inside the system
| Stage | What the system records | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Opportunity | Pipeline, estimated value and probability | Resourcing decisions start before the contract is signed |
| Project setup | Tasks, budget, billing method | Everyone bills against the same structure |
| Resource plan | Who is allocated, at what rate, for how long | Utilisation is planned rather than discovered |
| Timesheets | Hours against project and task | Unbilled time surfaces in days, not at quarter end |
| Work in progress | Costs incurred and revenue recognised | Fixed-price work shows its true position mid-flight |
| Invoicing | Bills raised from actual time and expenses | The invoice matches what the client can verify |
The three problems that come up most
Time that never gets billed
Every services firm loses margin here, and it is rarely deliberate. Timesheets tied to project tasks, with a weekly approval step, turn leakage into something measurable. Measuring it is usually enough to reduce it.
Fixed-price work that quietly goes over
Job budgets track cost against plan as the work proceeds, so a fifteen per cent overrun is visible at week three rather than at final invoice. Detail in project accounting.
Utilisation nobody can state
Billable against available hours per person and per team, from the same data that produces the invoices. Two figures that agree, rather than a finance number and a delivery number that never quite match.
Decisions to make before you start
- Job structure — how deep the task breakdown goes before it becomes admin overhead.
- Billing models you actually use: time and materials, fixed price, retainer, or a mix.
- Timesheet discipline — frequency, approver, and the cut-off.
- The WIP and revenue recognition method, agreed with your accountant before go-live.
- Dimensions for practice, client and delivery team.
Key BC capabilities
Project & job accounting
Time tracking & expenses
Project-based invoicing
Resource planning
Frequently asked questions
Will I see profitability per project?
Yes. Business Central calculates revenue, cost, WIP and margin per project in real time.
How is time tracked?
Through timesheets linked to project tasks that flow automatically into cost and client invoicing.
Can we plan team utilization?
Yes, resource planning shows specialist availability and load by period.
How is the profitability of a single project calculated?
Time at charge rates, direct costs and subcontracting post to the project; revenue is recognised by milestone or by time actually spent. Margin is available at any moment, not only after closing.
Which billing models are supported?
Fixed price, time and materials, milestone billing and mixed schemes. The system shows how much completed work is already ready to invoice.
Deeper material on the processes behind this industry.
Ready to modernize your business?
Leave your details and we'll send the details of a free process audit. We reply within one business day.
or write directly: info@nbcs365.com · +380 98 107 5878