Case study · Construction
Know a job's margin before it is finished
Contractors often discover a job lost money months after it ended, because committed costs, subcontractor claims and valuations sat in different places. This is how we brought them together in Business Central so every job shows its real position every month.
Project overview
Business Central job costing extended for construction.
- Industry
- Construction
- Client
- Confidential
- Solution
- Job costing and valuations
- Platform
- Business Central
- Timeline
- 14–22 weeks
- Team
- 4 people
- Commercial model
- Fixed price and variations
- Special rules
- Retentions, CIS / withholding tax
- Deployment
- Business Central online
Expected business outcomes
What the client set out to achieve
The value is in seeing committed cost early. These ranges depend on how consistently site teams raise purchase orders.
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Monthly
Cost-to-complete per job
Actual, committed and forecast cost per job every month, instead of at final account.
Depends on purchase orders being raised before orders are placed
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30–50%
Less time on valuations
Valuations and applications for payment are prepared from job data rather than rebuilt in spreadsheets.
Target range after the first three valuation cycles
-
Near zero
Unapproved supplier invoices
Invoices match to purchase orders and goods receipts, so nothing is paid that wasn't ordered.
Where three-way matching is enforced
Business challenges
How job costing worked before
Site and office each have part of the picture, and nobody has all of it.
Buying
Site managers order materials by phone; the office finds out when the invoice arrives.
Subcontractors
Applications and retentions are tracked in a spreadsheet per job.
Valuations
Quantity surveyors prepare valuations in Excel from their own records.
Accounts
The accounting package records costs by supplier, not by job and cost code.
Management
Margin per job is only known at final account, too late to recover a loss.
Proposed solution
What the Business Central build covers
Business Central Jobs, extended where construction works differently from standard project accounting.
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Jobs and cost codes
Every job with a cost breakdown by trade or cost code and a budget from the tender.
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Purchase commitments
Purchase orders raised against job and cost code, so committed cost shows before the invoice.
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Subcontractor ledger
Subcontract orders, applications, certifications and retentions per subcontractor and job.
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Valuations and applications
Applications for payment prepared from job progress, with retention and contra charges.
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Cost-to-complete
Actual, committed and forecast to complete per job and cost code, reviewed monthly.
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Site requisitions
A simple mobile form for site teams to request materials against the right job.
Project requirements
What the client asked us for
The request was 'one system instead of three spreadsheets', but the real need is committed cost: knowing what has been ordered before the invoice arrives.
That means the process change matters as much as the software. Site teams have to raise requisitions, so we make that easier than phoning a supplier.
What the project had to deliver
- 01Committed cost visible per job
- 02Subcontractor retentions tracked automatically
- 03Valuations from the same data as the accounts
- 04Monthly cost-to-complete reviews
Key challenges & considerations
What made it harder, and what we did
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Site teams used to ordering by phone
What we did
Site requisitions were put on a phone and kept to a few taps, so raising an order was quicker than phoning it in.
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Variations agreed on site and recorded late
What we did
Variations were recorded on site as they were agreed, then priced and approved in the same flow.
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Retentions held for years on old jobs
What we did
Retentions on old jobs were loaded before go-live, each with its release date and a reminder.
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Industry tax schemes for subcontractors
What we did
Subcontractor tax deductions were configured and tested against real payment runs before the first live one.
What we watched for
- Make site requisitions quicker than a phone call
- Load retentions for old jobs before go-live
- Agree cost codes with commercial, not just finance
- Review forecasts monthly or they go stale
Development process
Built around the monthly job review
The project is designed backwards from the cost-to-complete review the directors hold every month.
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Cost structure
Cost codes, budget templates and job setup agreed with commercial and finance.
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Buying and requisitions
Purchase order approvals and the site requisition form, piloted on two live jobs.
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Subcontractors and retentions
Subcontract orders, applications and retention release rules configured and tested on historic cases.
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Valuations and go-live
Valuations moved onto job data, with opening balances for every live job.
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Monthly reviews
The first cost-to-complete reviews run with the directors, then refined.
Technology stack
Business Central Jobs, extended for construction
Standard jobs and purchasing, with an AL extension for subcontractor and retention rules.
ERP
- Business Central Jobs
- Purchasing and approvals
- AL extensions
Site
- Power Apps requisition form
- Mobile approvals
Reporting
- Cost-to-complete reports
- Power BI
Integration
- Business Central APIs
- Document capture
Quality assurance & deployment
Proved on the client's own data before go-live
An ERP is trusted when the numbers agree. Configuration and extensions were tested in a sandbox on the client's own data, and finance signed off the figures before cut-over.
- Sandbox testing of every process on the client's own data
- User acceptance testing with key users, by scenario
- Migration rehearsals, reconciled to the old system
- Automated tests for extensions, run before each release
- Permission sets checked role by role
Deployment
- 01Valuations and go-liveValuations moved onto job data, with opening balances for every live job.
- 02Monthly reviewsThe first cost-to-complete reviews run with the directors, then refined.
- 03Cut-over planA rehearsed cut-over with a checklist, opening balances signed off by finance, and a rollback point.
- 04Hypercare and warrantyConsultants on hand through the first month-end, and six months of free bug fixing.
Final deliverables
Every job's position, every month
Directors review each job's actual, committed and forecast cost monthly, and problems are discussed while there is still time to recover them.
Quantity surveyors prepare valuations from the same data finance uses, so the two stop disagreeing about what a job has cost.
- Committed cost before invoices arrive
- Subcontractor retentions tracked to release
- Valuations from job data
- Monthly cost-to-complete per job
Handed over to the client
- 01Configured Business CentralProduction and sandbox environments
- 02ExtensionsSource code and documentation
- 03Migrated dataReconciled and signed off
- 04Key-user trainingWith process guides
- 05Six-month warrantyFree bug fixing after delivery
Success metrics
How success is measured
| Measure | Outcome | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|
| Cost-to-complete per job | Monthly | Depends on purchase orders being raised before orders are placed |
| Less time on valuations | 30–50% | Target range after the first three valuation cycles |
| Unapproved supplier invoices | Near zero | Where three-way matching is enforced |
Verified reviews
What clients say about our Dynamics work
Verified reviews from our clients on the same kind of work, published on Clutch.
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Custom Software Development
Web-Based Coupon App Development
The work produced by the team was of exceptional quality.
Jon Thies
CTO, Model Rocket Feb 2022 – Mar 2023
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Custom Software Development
Mobile & Web Platform Development & Design
Silver Scintilla was responsive, respectful, and enjoyable to work with, quickly addressing any questions or requests.
DeShawn Brown
CEO & Founder, Lithios Jun 2021 – Nov 2022
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Custom Software Development
Web-Based HRM System Development
Silver Scintilla provided the best solution with scalable functionality, personalized features, and robust security.
Suheb Khan
Director, Collaborative Insight Technologies Jul 2020 – Jun 2022
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