Comparison

Linetrack vs.
ERP project module

Almost every ERP system ships with a project module. Its strength is the cost side: the work breakdown structure is where you calculate how many hours and how much cost each WBS element may incur. This comparison shows where that strength ends, why scheduling still ends up somewhere else, and how Linetrack takes over the hour budgets from the ERP instead of replacing them.

Linetrack compared with the project module of an ERP system for scheduling and capacity planning based on the project costing

In short

An ERP project module and Linetrack answer two different questions. The ERP calculates on the work breakdown structure how many hours and how much cost each WBS element may incur, and books actual costs against it. Linetrack plans when those hours are worked: with tasks, dependencies and a critical path, and with the load on every department across all projects. So it is not either-or. Linetrack is connected to the ERP, takes over the hour budgets and puts the schedule behind them. The budget per WBS element becomes a real load on the departments.

39 %

of customers with a live interface
have connected their ERP

56 %

had a live interface running
within the first six months

1512+

industrial projects
managed in parallel

10 days

median to the first
self-planned project

*Every figure on this page comes from a full survey of all live Linetrack implementations, as of August 2026.

Starting point

What the ERP project module was built for

The ERP project module lives in the work breakdown structure. Every WBS element gets a costing: planned hours per cost centre, material, subcontracted work and the resulting cost. As the project runs, actual hours and actual costs are booked against exactly those elements. For quotation costing, budget control and project controlling this is the right place, and that is where these figures belong.

The project module knows how many hours a WBS element may cost. It does not know in which week engineering can work those hours when twenty other projects need the same people. How the other system categories fit in is covered in the software comparison.

Planning levels

Where the ERP project module sits in planning

Industrial projects are planned on three levels: project planning with a resource forecast, detailed and staff scheduling in the departments, and task tracking by staff. The ERP project module sits next to the top level. It calculates the project costs and books the actual costs against them. It is not built for the dates on the three levels.

Next to the ERP, three more islands therefore usually appear: a schedule, department sheets and a task tool. Linetrack replaces those three, takes over the hour budgets from the ERP and sets the reported actual hours against them in a plan-vs-actual comparison. The ERP integration page lists which data flows.

Sales and project management
Project planning and resource forecast
A schedule across the project duration and a forecast of which department needs how many hours, and when.
Typically used:
- MS Project
- Primavera P6
- Excel
Cost side:
- ERP project module (this comparison)
The forecast goes to the departments as resource demand.
Department heads
Detailed and staff scheduling
Each department plans its share in detail and assigns staff a few weeks before the work starts.
Typically used:
- Detailed scheduling system
- Excel sheets
Staff scheduling becomes the task: person, activity, due date.
Staff
Task tracking
Work through the tasks and report back. The feedback turns the planned status into an actual status.
Typically used:
- Trello
- Asana
- Monday.com
- Stackfield
- Microsoft To Do
The actual status goes back into project control: plan vs. actual, scenarios, rescheduling.

Linetrack connects all three levels on one data basis

The forecast lands directly in department planning
Staff scheduling creates the tasks
Feedback via the app updates the plan
Plan vs. actual and scenarios in project control

Today each level often works in its own system, reconciled by email, meetings and Excel sheets.

Breaking point

Where cost logic reaches its limit

The limit of the project module is not the costing. It is the point where hours are supposed to turn into dates.

None of this is a flaw in the ERP. The project module is built for the cost side and does it well. The scheduling side needs a different structure: tasks with dependencies and capacity across all projects. How that fits together is described on the scheduling and capacity planning page.

Hours have no date. The costing says electrical engineering gets 320 hours. Whether those fall in March or in May, and whether the department is free then, is not in it.
Scheduling in the ERP is laborious. Tasks and dates can often be represented in the project module, but maintaining them is complicated and the overview is poor. In practice, dates therefore move to Excel or a separate planning tool.
The ERP records what has already been decided. If scheduling happens elsewhere, the project module only books after the fact. For the question of whether a new delivery date will hold, that information comes too late.
Hours are costed per project but needed across all of them. Every project has its own hour budget. Whether the budgets of all projects land in the same week for one department is something no single project costing shows.
Departments rarely work in the project module. Interface and roles are cut for controlling and project management. Engineering, production and assembly therefore usually report their status some other way.

Core argument

The ERP costs, Linetrack schedules

Comparing an ERP project module with Linetrack means comparing two halves of the same job. The cost side belongs in the ERP: costing per WBS element, booking actual costs, budget control. Linetrack changes nothing about that.

The scheduling side needs the same hours, but with a date and a department. Linetrack takes over the hour budgets from the ERP and puts the schedule behind them. The budget per WBS element becomes a load per department and week.

The test: ask whether engineering is overbooked in March. The ERP knows the hour budgets of every project, but not when they fall. The answer only exists once every budget hangs on a task with a date.

When actual hours come back, the loop closes: plan and actuals sit side by side, without entering anything twice. That is what the plan-vs-actual comparison shows.

From budget to load

ERP project moduleCosting per WBS elementHour budgets and cost per cost centre
LinetrackSchedule behind itTasks, dependencies, critical path
DepartmentReal loadHours per week across all projects

Actual hours flow back and produce the plan-vs-actual comparison.

Side by side

ERP project module
versus Linetrack

Seven points where the difference in scope shows up day to day. This is not about feature lists but about what each system is built for.

The table describes a division of labour, not a replacement. Orders, project numbers, cost centres and master data stay in the ERP and are kept in sync. Which fields that covers in detail is set out on the ERP integration page.

Aspect	ERP project module
Planning object	WBS element with costing and cost centre	Task with date, duration and dependencies
Core question	What may the project cost, what did it cost?	When is the work done, and is there enough capacity?
Hours	Budget per WBS element and cost centre	Taken over from the ERP and spread across tasks and weeks
Capacity across projects	Not the core of the module, budgets sit per project	Capacity histogram per department across all projects
Scheduling	Possible, laborious to maintain	Bar chart with critical path, shifts ripple through the chain
Who works in it	Controlling, project management, accounting	Project management, departments and suppliers with their own roles
Actual data	Actual hours and actual costs are booked	Actual hours via the integration, producing the plan-vs-actual comparison

Security & Trust

Your data. Secure in Germany.

Linetrack runs entirely within the EU – hosted with an ISO-certified partner, fully encrypted, and backed up regularly.

Made in the EU

GDPR-compliant

Hosted in Germany

Application, database, and backups run exclusively with Hetzner in the Falkenstein data center.

Fully GDPR-compliant

Your data is processed and stored exclusively within the EU.

ISO/IEC 27001:2022-certified data center

Our hosting partner operates the data center to the internationally recognized ISO/IEC 27001 security standard.

Encrypted in transit and at rest

Data transmission via TLS 1.2/1.3, storage secured with AES-256 encryption.

Multi-tier backups

Hourly, daily, and monthly backups with a typical recovery time of under one hour.

Honest boundaries

When the ERP project module is enough on its own

Not every company needs a planning system next to its ERP. Four cases in which the project module is sufficient:

Project controlling is the actual job. If the focus is costing, budget control and post-calculation, and dates are not coordinated across departments, the ERP is the right and only place.
Few projects, little shared staff. If only a few projects run at the same time and they hardly share people, the coordination effort that Linetrack resolves does not arise.
Dates in the ERP are actually maintained. If project management and departments already work reliably in the project module and the schedule there is current, a second system adds nothing.
Series production without a project character. Where production runs without a project structure, what is needed is production planning out of the ERP, not project planning.

Work breakdown structure in Linetrack with work packages, tasks and responsible departments

The case where Linetrack makes the difference: many parallel projects whose hour budgets sit in the ERP, but whose dates are coordinated in Excel lists and meetings. If the question is how work is spread across machines and staff in production, the comparison with the detailed scheduling system fits better.

Integration

How Linetrack is connected to the ERP

The integration takes over what is created in the ERP: orders, project and order numbers, cost centres and master data are synchronised into Linetrack, together with the hour budgets from the costing. The project structure is therefore not maintained twice.

Which fields are transferred in which direction is matched to the configuration of each ERP system. The connection itself is built and in production use. Details are on the ERP integration page, the overview of all systems under interfaces and integrations.

Scheduling and resource planning in Linetrack based on the hour budgets from the ERP

An ERP integration is not a prerequisite for getting started. In the first six months, 56 % of customers had a live interface; the rest planned without one. The median time between kick-off and the first self-planned project is ten working days. The process is described on the implementation page.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Still have questions?

Book a meeting with our team.

What is the difference between an ERP project module and Linetrack?

The ERP project module calculates on the work breakdown structure how many hours and how much cost each WBS element may incur, and books actual costs against it. Linetrack plans when those hours are worked: with tasks, dependencies and a critical path, plus the load on every department across all projects. The two systems complement each other; Linetrack takes over the hour budgets from the ERP.

Does Linetrack replace the project module in the ERP?

No. Costing, cost booking and budget control stay in the ERP. Linetrack adds the forward-looking scheduling and capacity view and is connected for that purpose.

Which data does Linetrack take over from the ERP?

Orders, project and order numbers, cost centres and master data are kept in sync, together with the hour budgets from the costing. The exact scope is agreed per project and ERP system. More on the ERP integration page.

Why not simply do the scheduling in the ERP?

Because it is laborious to maintain there and the overview is missing. In practice, dates therefore usually move to Excel or other systems, and the ERP only records after the fact. Linetrack starts at exactly that point, with the hour budgets from the ERP as the basis.

Does Linetrack need an ERP integration to get started?

No. Multi-project management and scheduling and capacity planning also run without an integration. In the first six months, 56 % of customers had a live interface in use; the rest worked without one during that time.

Is there a plan-vs-actual comparison with the hours from the ERP?

Yes. When actual hours come back from the ERP, Linetrack sets them against the planned hours, without entering anything twice. What that looks like is shown in the plan-vs-actual comparison.