The ultimate ERP system for engineering firms. Manage complex projects, control fees and margins, and keep teams aligned on one connected platform.
Engineering projects become harder to control when data is scattered across spreadsheets, legacy systems and disconnected tools. Dynamics 365 Business Central brings your operations together so you can plan, deliver and bill work with confidence.
Dynamics 365 Business Central is a comprehensive ERP system for engineering businesses. It is an all-in-one platform that connects finances, projects, resource planning, purchasing and reporting in a single, easy-to-use system.
With it, you can replace multiple disconnected tools with one unified platform that is designed for small and medium-sized organisations. Business Central gives engineering leaders real-time visibility of project performance, cash flow and utilisation so you can make better decisions, faster. If you want to see what an ERP built around the needs of engineering firms can do, keep reading.
An ERP system that understands engineering will change how your practice works day to day. Here is how Business Central helps leaders and project teams stay in control.
Engineering firms often run projects from one system and finances from another, which makes it hard to see whether jobs are truly on track. Business Central connects project, finance and resource data in real time so you can understand profitability and risk at a glance.
Profitability in an engineering consultancy depends on how well you manage fee structures, write-offs and staff utilisation. Business Central gives you clear views of planned versus actual effort and costs, which helps you protect margins and reduce revenue leakage.
As firms grow, it becomes harder to see how different offices, disciplines and project teams are performing. Business Central provides real-time dashboards, standardised reporting and a single version of the truth so leaders can compare performance and act quickly when issues appear.
Engineering projects must meet strict standards, approvals and audit requirements. Business Central supports controlled workflows, approvals and audit trails that help your firm stay compliant with internal policies and external regulations, while reducing manual checks.
Whether you are a specialist consultancy or a multi-disciplinary engineering firm, Business Central can scale as you add new services, teams and locations. Because it is part of the Microsoft cloud, it integrates naturally with tools like Microsoft 365, Power BI and Power Platform, so your ERP can evolve with your business.
Data taken from a survey we commissioned in December 2024. Click here to view
of businesses are utilising an ERP
businesses are dissatisfied with their current ERP
of businesses say using an ERP has contributed to achieving business outcomes
Engineering firms face unique challenges, from managing long-running projects and frameworks to balancing fee pressure with growing delivery costs. Dynamics 365 Business Central is designed to address these challenges with tools that simplify project control, strengthen cash flow and give leaders better insight into how work is delivered.
Set up and manage projects with clear structures for phases, tasks and budgets. Business Central supports resource assignments, purchase orders and change control in one place, which helps project managers keep work on track and reduces unpleasant surprises at the end of a job.
In engineering, control and adaptability both matter. Business Central unifies and simplifies project, finance and resource processes, so your business can manage everything from small specialist jobs to complex, multi-year frameworks.
Track budgets, committed costs and actuals in real time so you always know the financial position of each project. This makes it easier to manage work in progress, recognise revenue correctly and have confident conversations with clients about fees and variations.
Build more accurate bids and proposals using standard templates and historical project data. Business Central helps you understand the true cost of delivering similar work so you can price competitively without eroding margins, then convert accepted bids into live projects with minimal rekeying.
Coordinate specialists from different disciplines across multiple projects and locations. By giving you a clear view of availability and skills, Business Central makes it easier to plan project teams, respond to changes in scope and keep clients informed about resourcing.
Capture time and expenses quickly and accurately so you have a reliable view of project performance. Business Central supports structured approvals for staff, contractors and subcontractors, which helps you control costs and minimise delays to billing.
Use out-of-the-box reports and visual dashboards to understand project, client and practice performance. With connected data, leaders can forecast revenue, utilisation and cash flow more reliably, then use those insights to shape hiring plans and investment decisions.
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Most trials drop you into a generic demo company that looks nothing like the way you actually work. Ours doesn't. We configure your free trial around your business and the use case you care about, so you and your team can test real scenarios with data and processes you recognise.
It starts with a short questionnaire about your industry, your current systems and what you want to prove out. Once that's back with us, your tailored trial can usually be made available within a few working days. Prefer a guided walkthrough first? A standard demo is still on the table - just tell us which you'd like.
Complete a short questionnaire covering your industry, processes and the things you most want to test.
We set up a Business Central environment around your use case, so you're not clicking through a generic demo company.
Your tailored trial is typically ready within a few working days of the questionnaire coming back to us.
These are the problems that come up again and again when we talk to engineering businesses about their systems. If two or three of them sound familiar, the issue is usually structural rather than a matter of trying harder with the current setup.
Engineering work is sold as a fixed price or a capped fee but delivered in hours, drawings, revisions and bought-in parts. Without live time and cost against the project, the first honest margin figure arrives after the last invoice.
Scope creeps through revisions and site queries. If variations aren't raised and valued against the project, the extra engineering hours are absorbed rather than billed.
Chargeable versus non-chargeable time is the single biggest lever on profitability in an engineering business, and it's frequently tracked in a timesheet tool that finance can't easily report from.
Components ordered specifically for one project shouldn't behave like free stock, but they often end up either in a general stock pool or off-system entirely.
Three situations that reflect the patterns we see most often in engineering. Each one describes a type of business, the problem it started with and what changed once Business Central was set up around it.
These are anonymised, illustrative scenarios built from common patterns in the sector. They aren't customer stories, and no figures here are attributed to any individual organisation.
Mechanical and electrical consultancy, around 80 engineers
Illustrative scenarioDesign and build engineering firm, around 45 staff
Illustrative scenarioSpecialist engineering contractor with a small fabrication shop
Illustrative scenarioLicensing is published and predictable. Implementation isn't, because it depends on what you ask the system to do. Here's the licence position, then the things that genuinely move the number in this sector.
£6.20per user / month
Read, approve, enter time and expenses. No full transactional access
£61.50per user / month
Finance, sales, purchasing, projects, basic stock and warehousing
£84.60per user / month
Everything in Essentials plus manufacturing and service management
Microsoft UK list prices, per user per month on an annual subscription, correct at the time of writing. Check the current figure on Microsoft's pricing page.
Engineering businesses typically licence project and finance users on Business Central Essentials, which covers jobs, resources, time entry and project WIP. Firms with an in-house fabrication or manufacturing capability need Premium for the production and service modules. Engineers who only book time can frequently be handled through a Team Members licence or a timesheet integration rather than a full seat.
The heaviest part of an engineering implementation is usually revenue recognition, not the ledger. Agreeing how progress is measured, and getting the finance team and the project leads to agree, takes longer than configuring it.
To learn more about Business Central, or to see what an ERP for engineering looks like in practice, get in touch via this short form.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is a modern ERP and finance system that helps engineering firms manage projects, time, expenses, purchasing and reporting in one connected platform. It gives leaders, project managers and finance teams a shared view of performance so they can run a more predictable and profitable business.
Business Central gives project managers clear visibility of budgets, scope, resourcing and progress in one place. They can track planned versus actual effort and costs, manage variations and approvals, and see how decisions will affect margins and deadlines before issues escalate.
Yes. Business Central includes time and expense entry that links directly to projects and jobs, so you can see the true cost of delivering work. This helps firms bill more accurately, reduce revenue leakage and understand which projects, clients or services are most profitable.
Business Central is well suited to small and mid-sized engineering consultancies that have outgrown spreadsheets or entry-level accounting software. It offers the control and visibility of an enterprise ERP system in a solution that is scalable and manageable for growing firms.
Because Business Central is part of the Microsoft cloud, it integrates closely with familiar tools such as Outlook, Excel, Teams and Power BI. This makes it easier for engineers and project teams to work with project data inside the tools they already use every day, and to extend the system with low-code apps if needed.
Yes. You can model projects in Business Central with phases, tasks and milestones that reflect the way your firm delivers work. This makes it easier to plan, track and report on performance at each stage of a project lifecycle.
Business Central is licensed on a per-user, per-month basis, with different licence types for full users and lighter users. Your total cost will depend on the number and type of users, any required add-ons and the scope of your implementation, so it is best to discuss pricing with a Microsoft partner that understands engineering firms.
Implementation timelines vary depending on firm size, data complexity and how many processes you want to bring into the system from day one. Many engineering consultancies start with core finance and project accounting, then phase in more advanced capabilities over time, which helps manage risk and change.
Yes. Business Central runs in the Microsoft cloud and benefits from enterprise-grade security, compliance and data protection capabilities. Role-based access controls mean users only see the data they need, and you can work with your implementation partner to align the system with your security and governance policies.
Business Central is an all-in-one ERP solution that combines finance, project and operational capabilities in a single system, which makes it a strong fit for many small and mid-sized engineering firms. Larger or more complex organisations might also consider other Dynamics 365 applications, such as Dynamics 365 Finance or Dynamics 365 Project Operations, and a Microsoft partner can help you decide which option best fits your needs.
Looking at Business Central beyond engineering? See the full Dynamics 365 Business Central overview for features, pricing considerations and how implementation works, or read our guide to choosing a Business Central partner.
