Setup on Product Documentation

Setup

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Purpose

The Professional Services setup defines the foundation for contract management, recurring billing, service processes, and ticketing in Business Central. This page consolidates the key setup areas so the solution can be rolled out in a clear and business-oriented sequence.

Prerequisites

Professional Services is installed and licensed in Business Central.
Core Business Central settings for customers, vendors, projects, posting logic, and number series are prepared.
The target model for sales contracts, billing types, service execution, and ticketing has been aligned from a business perspective.

Recommended order

Define general Professional Services settings, contract behavior, and default values.
Configure number series and templates for sales contracts, billing types, SLAs, contingents, work orders, and tickets.
Define billing logic for service billing, project journals, and default billing types.
Complete ticketing, API, and property-related settings for operational use.
Use initial data, demo options, and standard pre-/post-texts only in a controlled test or rollout context.

Setup components

Core parameters and contract control

In the Professional Services setup, you first define the core control parameters of the solution. These include the default task for consumption, the use of project prices in sales lines, whether c/o addresses are mandatory, and the date formula for expiring contracts.

Master-Data Templates

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Purpose

Master-Data Templates help Professional Services predefine billing types, SLAs, and contingents directly on resources, customers, or items. This means recurring contract models are not built from scratch in each document, but transferred consistently from the underlying master data.

Prerequisites

templates for billing types, SLAs, and contingents are defined from a business perspective
the relevant master data such as resources, customers, or items is maintained
it is clear which templates should be transferred automatically during document creation

Functional focus

Templates on resources

Resources can store templates for billing types, SLAs, and contingents. When a contract-related document is later created for that resource, the required contract elements are already prepared.

Initial Data, Demo Data, and Licensing

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Purpose

Initial Data, Demo Data, and licensing functions support the first-time provisioning of Professional Services in a new company. They help provide a usable base setup, import demo master data for testing, and review the licensing state of the installed modules at the same time.

Prerequisites

a new or otherwise suitable target company exists
it is clear whether only the base setup or additional demo master data is needed
the existing Business Central configuration is understood so productive tables are not overwritten unintentionally

Functional focus

Initial data for the base setup

The Initial Data function can import setup tables, sales setup, customer setup, posting matrix data, and other core configuration elements for Professional Services. This option is suitable when a company should become operationally ready without creating additional demo master data.

Standard Pre- and Post-Texts

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Purpose

Standard Pre- and Post-Texts standardize the text flow in quotes, orders, and other document types in Professional Services. They reduce manual maintenance during document creation and control which texts are automatically reused, replaced, or reset when one document type creates another.

Prerequisites

the affected document types and their business text blocks are defined
it is clear for which document transitions existing texts should be reused or overwritten
standard texts are aligned with business and legal requirements

Functional focus

Standard texts per target document type

For each target document type, you can define which pre- and post-texts apply when a new document is created. This is especially relevant when, for example, a quote becomes an order or another source document creates a follow-up document.

Invoice Import for Consumption-Based Billing

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Purpose

The invoice import setup supports consumption-based billing scenarios in which price-list or invoice data is taken over from external sources. It provides the technical basis for transferring imported data into items, price lists, and downstream billing processes in a controlled way.

Prerequisites

the underlying import interface and the target billing model are defined from a business perspective
number series for imported documents and price lists are prepared
item templates, price lists, and required billing-type templates already exist or are defined

Functional focus

Number series for imported documents

Dedicated number series are maintained for imported invoices and imported price lists. This keeps imported records separate from manually created documents and makes them easier to trace during daily operations.

COP Catalog Setup

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Purpose

COP Catalog Setup is used to take over item data from supplier catalogs into Professional Services. This makes it easier to feed external product information into purchasing-related processes and prepare it for later contract, pricing, or service contexts.

Prerequisites

a suitable supplier or catalog interface is available
it is defined which item data should be taken over from external catalogs
downstream purchasing and pricing processes in Business Central are prepared

Functional focus

Import external item data

The catalog setup allows item data to be imported from supplier catalogs. This provides information from external sources in a form that can be maintained and reused in later purchasing processes.

Calculation Matrix

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Purpose

The Calculation Matrix is used to determine an appropriate percentage for billing-type templates automatically. It is based on the combination of calculation type code and periodic calculation code, so business pricing logic does not have to be duplicated across many nearly identical templates.

Prerequisites

the calculation types and periodic calculation codes in use are defined from a business perspective
billing-type templates for the relevant delivery models exist
it is clear in which documents the automatic percentage logic should apply

Functional focus

Combination of calculation type and periodic calculation

The Calculation Matrix evaluates the combination of calculation type code and periodic calculation code. For each relevant combination, a predefined percentage can be stored and later applied automatically when a document is created.