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Dynamics GP to BC: Project Accounting

 

Project Accounting in Dynamics GP vs. Business Central: A Side-by-Side Comparison

When comparing Dynamics GP Project Accounting (PA) with Business Central Projects (Jobs), the differences become much clearer when you see both the conceptual structure and the transaction flows.

Dynamics GP and Business Central take very different approaches—yet both aim to give businesses the tools to manage costs, billing, and profitability effectively. For organizations considering the move from GP to Business Central, it’s important to understand not just the terminology changes, but also how the overall project accounting flow shifts. In this post, I’ll walk through a side-by-side comparison of GP’s contract and cost category structure versus Business Central’s job, task, and planning line approach—complete with flow diagrams, key features, and links to official Microsoft documentation to help you navigate the transition with confidence.

Visual Flow Comparison

Dynamics GP – Project Accounting Flow

Key highlights:

  • Customer ➝ Contract ➝ Project hierarchy.
  • Costs are categorized (labor, materials, overhead, etc.) under Cost Categories.
  • Transactions feed into cost categories: timesheets, expenses, inventory transfers, purchase orders, misc. logs.
  • Fees and Budgets control billing and recognition.
  • Revenue Recognition and Billing drive the GL postings.

Business Central – Project Accounting Flow

Key highlights:

  • Job (Project) is broken down into Tasks.
  • Planning Lines define budget, usage, and expected invoicing.
  • Costs come from Item Journals, Job Journals, Timesheets, Purchase Orders.
  • Invoices are generated directly from Planning Lines.
  • Work-in-Progress (WIP) methods handle revenue recognition and GL postings.

Migration Tips for GP → BC 

  • Map your GP cost categories and contract types to BC Project Tasks / WIP / billing methods.
  • Evaluate how your payroll / labor cost data will transfer into BC Resource or Employees Timesheet.
  • Revisit reporting requirements; leverage Dimensions, Job Analysis Views, and Power BI in BC.
  • Use Microsoft’s Walkthrough: Managing Projects article as a guide to how projects function in BC. Microsoft Learn
  • User testing to get accustomed to the flow differences.

Full Video Recording:

    • Project Accounting Flow Chart - GP vs. BC
    • Project Setup, Posting Groups
    • Creating Project 
    • Copying Project - Tasks and Planning Lines
    • Record usage of resources, items, and PO
    • Calculate and post WIP
    • Billing customers
    • Project monitoring T-Account
    • Reporting 
    • Reports > Others > Analyze Projects 
    • (Project ad-hoc analysis)

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