Microsoft Dynamics SL vs. Planview ProjectPlace

For a small to mid-size business, MS Dynamics SL is effective. We are capable of managing our finances with a very low risk of error. We have worked with MS Dynamics for almost 15 years and have more than doubled the size of our business in that time with very few issues from the program. We have exponentially increased our revenue and reporting demands and have found SL to be very dependable and stable. The program does have the occasional glitch and those are sometimes outside of the realm of expertise of our IT department. SL support is excellent, but their timeliness is not as urgent as ours.

Incentivized

Planview ProjectPlace is a vibrant platform that manages all activities and schedules different roles based on their urgency, importance, and requests. Further, Planview ProjectPlace outlines the need for proper documentation with the aim of accurate referencing. Tasks are credibly shared, and proper reporting is enhanced to transform firms' work environment. ; Lastly, Planview ProjectPlace brings sustainable email integration for enterprises.

Incentivized

• Provides flexibility for complex project based cost accounting
• Strong and flexible allocation processer for cost allocations, markups, and pricing
• A "Flexible Billing" module under the project controller series that allows for multiple billing formats ranging from fixed price schedule of values, T&M or Cost Plus, and scheduled billing.
• Flexible reporting with options using Crystal Reports, SSRS, a Quick Query tool, and ability to tie into MS Office tools such as MS Access and MS Excel
• Tight integration with Financials, but also the ability to integrate with modules such as Sales Order, Inventory, and Field Service
• Customization abilities ranging from a VBA (visual basic for application) foundation to allow customizing existing forms to the ability to use the SDK (Software Development Kit) to build more complex customizations that integrate with Dynamics SL.

Incentivized

• Easy of use. Modules are well define.
• Navigation: Users can use the tool's search functionality to find what they are looking for easily. The home page is configurable to the users' needs.
• The knowledge center is a key function to understand the tool capabilities.

Incentivized

• Reporting in the Project module is lacking functionality. I understand that most companies have specific needs when it comes to tracking project information but the standard reports are not good.
• I would recommend a product like Management Reporter that is for Projects only. Project Reporter should allow users to pull in all Project related data into reports.
• Fixing suspended batches. Obviously all of us users have experienced this mess. SL knows what needs to be corrected and there could be some step by step fixes in a separate repair module to do the steps we do in Query Analyzer.

Incentivized

• Under the time tracking, it would be nice to have a set template that would load each week and not have to click a button to load the previous week's template.
• Somehow making it more intuitive.
• Having to add in each service line and each detail that I cover for every service line each week is a bit ridiculous.

Incentivized

Unfortunately, Dynamics' lack of ability to smoothly integrate with our CRM system is causing us to look at other solutions. The efficiencies that we gain by using Dynamics for our day to day accounting are lost in the constant headaches of getting sales quotes to import properly into the system for invoicing. Another major issue for us has been budgeting and reporting. We currently do all of our budgeting and board reporting in Excel, which is too time consuming and inefficient, especially when a system as robust as Dynamics should easily be able to handle this relatively simple task.

Incentivized

We're committed now & have >50 users on Projectplace. All our projects are now tracked in the tool. We this investment of time & training, the cost of maintaining Projectplace is relatively low for the benefit. So we will renew, even if there are some idiosyncrasies in the tool & there are opportunities for improvement.

Incentivized

I rate it a 10 because we have removed the fields we don't need so users can really crank the data into the system. The software was designed for the professional services firm in mind but does a tremendous job for construction firms and "blended" companies that are both distribution firms but project centric as well. Perhaps they drop ship inventory to a project where their employees or subs need to work on a project for example.

Incentivized

Easy to use platform and provides the user with an amazing experience and straightforward tools that empower and help execute tasks with fast performances that allow quick and easy service delivery. Easy on implementation and get started immediately with enterprise-ready Planview Projectplace and start to connect with teams and departments at once.

Incentivized

We have had only one unplanned outage for 2 hours in the last 30 months. We shut down for 30 min to 1 hour once a month, but that is for Microsoft OS updates to the servers. Being a 24/7 world wide operation, the reliability is really important. We do get an 8 hour window on the weekend that we can be down for a short period to install Microsoft Dynamics SL updates, but we do not have many of those. On our last version upgrade, we shut the users out at 9:30 am and were fully operational in less than 6 hours. The upgrade was New SQL server, New SL server and 2 new Citrix servers.

Incentivized

No downtime-issues since the implementation. It has been very stable

Incentivized

Support is only used when needed, so unfortunately ,they get all the odd issues. It's a difficult business, but Microsoft and our firm do a great job of meeting customer needs. We get routine feedback that our support services are very good.

Incentivized

I haven't needed to get in touch with support because the product is quite well structured and understandable. There were no issues initially when making payments or later for monthly payments. The project manager using the software is quite skilled in the software and has not needed much help. New licenses are easy to acquire, and there is no delay in getting them. I know there are several ways of support available, so that's a plus.

Incentivized

Just to let it take its course. The implementation for me once I became a part of my former organization was pretty seamless. Just get to know the basics and call the support team to ask questions if you need help on an issue, should they arise. They are ready, willing, and able to help!

Incentivized

create an extensive change management process to help folks embrace the change

Of the comparable mid-range ERP systems, Dynamics SL competes at the lower end based on price, but also above the high-end based on flexibility, data, and reporting. Being able to stay with the same core accounting from a $100 million dollar company to a $3 billion dollar company shows the range of capabilities.

Incentivized

[In my experience] Jira is more refined, better looking, and easier to become familiar with. Also, the massive market share of Jira helps in consultancy as you can switch between clients easily. Projectplace has many powerful tools but so does Jira, and Jira integrates with our suite of software much easier compared to Projectplace.

Incentivized

Since the backbone of the database is MS SQLServer, the database can be easily scaled.

Incentivized

It is a bit more difficult to fluently use in large scale implementations

Incentivized

• More time is spent on manipulating reports which can and should be automated.
• Lack of electronic invoicing process and other green technology features creates more cost on printing and storage costs.
• The lack of a user friendly interface requires more training and a bigger learning curve for staff.

Incentivized

• [We have the] ability to support remote work through projects that scale across multiple groups
• We have large-scale quarterly projects, so the ability to save and duplicate project templates are helpful for us to keep track of tasks down to the specific card

Incentivized