Full Sail Partners Blog

As the third quarter unfolds, accounting teams should shift into preparation mode for year-end. Q3 offers a strategic window to review financial performance, clean up data, and fix lingering issues—before the rush of the fourth quarter.

By taking time now to perform a thorough accounting review, firms can improve forecasting accuracy, avoid costly surprises, and set the stage for a stress-free year-end close. Below is a checklist of Q3 accounting functions every firm should prioritize.

1. Reconcile Balance Sheet Accounts

Before year-end, your books need to be airtight. Use Q3 to verify and reconcile all major balance sheet accounts:

• Bank accounts: Ensure monthly reconciliations are current and properly documented.
• Accounts receivable and payable: Tie subledger reports to the general ledger.
  • Do this by running the General Ledger (GL) Reconciliation report, located in Utilities in Deltek Vantagepoint.
• Unbilled revenue and work in progress (WIP): Confirm that earned revenue is recognized accurately.
• Prepaids and accruals: Review for proper allocation and timing.

Don’t wait for year-end to uncover discrepancies—identify and resolve them now while there’s still time to investigate.

2. Review Project Data and Statuses

Project-level accounting has a direct impact on financial reporting and profitability. Q3 is the time to:

• Validate project statuses and close out completed projects. This includes marking them as active, dormant, or inactive in Deltek Vantagepoint.
• Review on-going projects with project staff to ensure budgets and timing is accurate.
• Ensure all job-to-date labor and expense is recorded.

A well-maintained project database reduces billing delays, improves reporting accuracy, and supports better decision-making heading into Q4.

3. Clean Up Vendor and Client Records

Outdated or duplicate vendor/client data can create payment delays, compliance issues, and audit red flags. During Q3 is a great time to:

• Merge duplicate vendors and clients in your accounting system.
• Ensure there is a W-9 on file for all vendors and verify the proper tax classification is selected.
• Review payment terms and outstanding balances

Getting your vendor and client data in order now will simplify 1099 prep and reduce friction during the January crunch.

4. Audit Timesheets and Labor Cost Allocations

Labor is often a professional services firm’s largest cost, and any misallocations or gaps can lead to revenue leakage or compliance risk. Tasks to begin in Q3 include the following.

• Confirm all timesheets are submitted and approved.
• Audit for correct project/task assignments.
• Check for missing or duplicate time entries.
• Ensure labor costs align with billable and overhead expectations.

Regular audits also help with resource planning and team utilization analysis as you forecast Q4 and beyond.

5. Analyze Budget vs. Actuals and Forecast Year-End Performance

Q3 provides a crucial opportunity to assess how your actual performance aligns with your budget—and to adjust expectations accordingly. Recommended tasks are:

• Run YTD financial reports and compare to the annual budget.
• Identify underperforming or overperforming areas. /li>
• Update year-end forecasts based on real data.
• Communicate adjustments to leadership and project managers.

This not only helps course-correct for Q4 but also strengthens next year’s budgeting process.

6. Examine Unbilled Services and Revenue Recognition

Leaving revenue on the table is a common risk, especially for project-based firms. To avoid before year-end do the following:

• Review all open projects for unbilled time and expenses.
• Check for projects where work is complete, but billing hasn’t occurred.
• Ensure revenue recognition aligns with accounting policies and GAAP.

Addressing billing gaps now improves cash flow and ensures revenue is appropriately captured in the current year.

7. Evaluate Internal Controls and Approval Workflows

As your firm evolves, your internal controls should too. This includes:

• Reviewing user roles and system permissions.
• Testing approval workflows for purchases, timesheets, and billing.
• Confirming separation of duties and audit trails are in place.
• Tightening controls around sensitive financial areas.

Proactive control reviews can prevent fraud, errors, and compliance issues before they become audit findings.

8. Begin Preliminary Year-End Planning

While it may feel early, beginning year-end planning in Q3 can prevent bottlenecks later. Consider:

• Scheduling year-end close tasks and assigning responsibilities.
• Communicating deadlines for final billing, AP entries, and expense reports.
• Reviewing your audit prep checklist.
• Updating documentation for policies and procedures.

Firms that start planning in Q3 consistently report smoother closes and fewer surprises in January.

Q3 is Your Prep Season

Think of Q3 as your accounting “halftime.” It’s the perfect time to assess performance, fix gaps, and get your financial house in order—so when Q4 hits, you’re ready to sprint to the finish.

A disciplined mid-year review sets the foundation for a clean close, reliable reporting, and confident decision-making. The work you do now pays dividends in accuracy, efficiency, and peace of mind later.

Need an extra set of eyes—or hands?

If your Q3 checklist feels more like a mountain than a molehill, you're not alone. Our finance consultants are here to help you get ahead of year-end chaos with expert guidance, personalized training, and support tailored to your firm’s needs.

Whether it’s reconciling the tricky stuff, setting up reports in Deltek Vantagepoint, or diving deep into Navigational Analysis—we’ve got you covered.

📩 Reach out today to connect with one of our finance pros and start your smoothest year-end close yet!

As someone who uses project management and ERP tools on a regular basis, I’ve come to appreciate software that not only delivers on functionality but also makes day-to-day tasks easier and more intuitive. Deltek Vantagepoint has been that kind of platform for me. It’s full of thoughtful features designed to streamline workflow, reduce manual effort, and keep teams aligned. Here are a few of the things I particularly enjoy about using Deltek Vantagepoint:

1. Easy Navigation That Saves Time

Let’s face it—nobody wants to spend extra time clicking around a complicated interface. One of the first things I noticed and appreciated about Deltek Vantagepoint was its clean and intuitive navigation. Whether I’m jumping between projects, running reports, or updating timesheets, everything feels organized and accessible. The dashboard is customizable, the menus are logically structured, and the search functionality is responsive and smart. That means less time digging for information and more time focusing on work that matters.

2. Autofill Phases in Billing Terms: Small Feature, Big Impact

Billing can be one of the more tedious parts of managing projects—especially when every phase has to be manually entered or double-checked. That’s why I love that Vantagepoint includes an Autofill Phases feature in its billing terms. It’s a subtle but powerful tool that automatically populates project phases based on predefined structures. This reduces human error, saves time, and ensures consistency in billing setup across the organization.

3. PTO Approvals Sync with Timesheets and Plans

Keeping timesheets and project plans in sync with approved time off can be a real pain—especially in larger teams. What I appreciate about Vantagepoint is that it automatically adds approved PTO to both timesheets and resource plans. It’s one of those automation features that you don’t realize you need until you have it, and once you do, you can’t imagine going back. It helps prevent scheduling conflicts and gives a more accurate picture of team availability in real-time.

4. More Robust and Flexible Screen Designer

The upgraded Screen Designer in Vantagepoint is another feature that deserves recognition. It allows for greater flexibility in customizing forms and layouts to meet the specific needs of your organization. Whether it’s adjusting fields for data entry, refining the layout for better usability, or creating custom views for different roles, the robust screen designer makes it easier to tailor the system to how your teams actually work.

Final Thoughts

Deltek Vantagepoint isn’t just about tracking time or managing budgets—it’s about making daily tasks smoother, more automated, and less error-prone. From smart billing automation to seamless PTO integration and user-friendly navigation, these features might seem small on their own, but together they add up to a much better user experience.

If you’re using Deltek Vantagepoint, I’d love to hear what your favorite features are. And if you’re thinking about switching platforms, these might be a few good reasons to consider giving it a try.

Upgrading from Deltek Vision to Vantagepoint doesn’t have to be overwhelming—or take forever. Whether you want to go fast, take a strategic detour, or explore the full landscape of Vantagepoint, there’s an upgrade path designed just for you.

At Full Sail Partners, we offer three distinct service options to match your firm’s readiness, resources, and goals: Accelerated Advancement, Strategic Guidance, and Elevated Execution.

And yes—some firms can go live in just 4 weeks. 🙌

Accelerated Advancement: The Fast Track to Vantagepoint

If your firm is still on Deltek Vision, you’ve probably heard the message loud and clear—it's time to upgrade to Vantagepoint. But what if we told you that your firm might be the perfect fit for a faster, simpler, and more efficient upgrade process?

Introducing Accelerated Vision to Vantagepoint—a brand-new service from Full Sail Partners that gets your firm upgraded and operating in Vantagepoint in just 4 weeks. Yep, you read that right. Four. Weeks.

This service package is ideal for firms that want to maintain the same core features and functionality as their Vision system, without overhauling everything. With Accelerated Advancement, we handle the heavy lifting for you—configuring your system, training your team, and supporting your go-live.

Best for firms that:

• Are hosted by Full Sail Partners or Deltek SaaS
• Are using Vision 7.6
• Have fewer than 50 employees
• Do not have CRM (RP is okay if not active)
• Have a small upgrade team (2 people max)
• Can commit ~2 hours/week during the 4-week window

What’s included:

• Expert configuration to closely replicate your current Vision setup
• Targeted training on key functions like time, billing, and reports
• Checklists, testing, and live support
• Ongoing Q&A and post-live support to explore enhancements over time

Timeline:

4 weeks (not including prep/technical work)

Strategic Guidance: The Collaborative, Balanced Approach

Think of this as your moderate-paced, guided journey. With Strategic Guidance, you’ll explore new features and priorities while keeping your business running smoothly. We guide your team through training, testing, and configuration—at a pace that allows for thoughtfulness and growth.

Best for firms that:

• Have 40–150 employees
• Want to explore optimization opportunities
• Use CRM and/or Planning modules
• Need more detailed training and decision-making support
• Can commit to weekly or bi-weekly meetings and in-between tasks

What’s included:

• Consultant-led planning and testing
• CRM and Planning toolset setup
• Process improvements across departments
• Strategic introduction to dashboards, workflows, and reporting

Timeline:

12–20 weeks depending on firm size and goals as well as Full Sail Partners’ consultant availability calendar.

Elevated Execution: The Full Transformation

For firms ready to rethink how they operate from top to bottom, Elevated Execution is a deep-dive service offering. This path includes business process evaluation, systems redevelopment, and end-to-end support across finance, CRM, planning, and operations.

Best for firms that:

• Are highly customized or in the midst of change (mergers, acquisitions, etc.)
• Use multiple add-ons or multi-company/multi-currency features
• Have 150+ employees (or smaller, complex firms)
• Want to improve operations and adopt a fully modern project lifecycle

What’s included:

• Project lifecycle redevelopment
• Advanced configuration and custom workflows
• CRM and Resource Planning transformations
• Training programs, dashboard builds, go-live support, and post-upgrade triage

Timeline:

24–36 weeks depending on complexity.

How Do You Pick the Right Upgrade Approach?

It depends on:

• Your current setup (cloud or on-premise)
• Team size and structure
• Add-ons and level of customization
• Readiness and internal bandwidth

That’s where our Vantagepoint Readiness Report comes in. It’s our signature step to identify your starting point, reveal data cleanup needs, and map out your upgrade plan.

Start Here: The Vantagepoint Preparation Questionnaire

Before picking your upgrade speed, take 5–10 minutes to complete the Vantagepoint Preparation Questionnaire—it’s the easiest way to start your upgrade journey.

What is it?

• A self-assessment to evaluate your current Vision setup and upgrade readiness
• Identifies key areas like data cleanup, system configuration items, and process improvements
• Helps determine your firm’s best upgrade approach – Accelerated Advancement, Strategic Guidance, or Elevated Execution

Why Complete It?

• Pinpoints potential challenges before you start your upgrade
• Saves time by streamlining your planning process
• Helps us tailor recommendations for your firm’s specific needs

What Happens Next?

• Our team reviews your responses and provides guidance
• You can schedule a consultation for personalized upgrade approach recommendations
• You gain a clear roadmap for your Vantagepoint upgrade

Complete your questionnaire today by clicking here or the image below.

There’s a new coworker in town—and spoiler alert—they don’t take coffee breaks. 😏

Deltek Dela™ is Deltek’s AI-powered intelligent business companion. And no, that’s not just a fancier title for “digital assistant.” Dela is the full package—packed with smart summaries, predictive capabilities, automation tools, and a natural language interface. She’s not here to passively respond to commands. She’s here to enhance productivity, accuracy, and value across your entire project lifecycle.

Let’s take a look at how Dela is bringing purposeful innovation to project-based firms—and why she’s quickly becoming everyone’s favorite team member.

From Digital Assistant to Full-On Business Companion

Plenty of tools throw around AI buzzwords like “chatbot” or “virtual assistant.” But Deltek didn’t create Dela just to keep up with trends.

Dela is the sum of all AI capabilities inside Deltek Vantagepoint. She’s not just bolted on. She’s built in.

With Dela, you can:

• Draft content like client emails and project summaries with GenAI.
• Predict project success with data-driven insights.
• Automate repetitive tasks like invoice and expense entry.
• Ask natural-language questions like “What’s our win rate with [Client Name]?” and get answers instantly.

And that’s just the beginning.

Making the Entire Project Lifecycle Smarter

Dela isn’t AI for the sake of AI. Every tool, every feature, every suggestion is designed with a specific purpose: to make project-based businesses more productive, efficient, and profitable.

Here’s how she shows up across the entire project lifecycle:

🧲WIN: Fill Your Pipeline Smarter (and Faster)

Sales and marketing teams can use Ask Dela to:

• Quickly find best-fit opportunities,
• Summarize a client or opportunity to identify the best next step,
• Capture contacts instantly using the built-in business card reader,
• And easily create follow-ups, meetings, or proposal tasks—all from one prompt.

Forget hunting through tabs and records. Just type what you need and Dela does the rest.

📊MANAGE: Stay on Top of Project Health

With all the data sitting inside your ERP, it’s easy to get overwhelmed—or worse, miss critical insights.

Dela puts the most relevant data right at your fingertips:

• Need a project’s financial performance summary? Ask Dela.
• Want to assess resource skills or competencies for upcoming needs? Ask Dela.
• Looking to predict earned value, labor multipliers, or schedule variance? She’s already on it.

Think of her as your project whisperer, helping you manage with confidence instead of chaos.

🛠 DELIVER: Streamline Billing & Admin Workflows

Once the project is in motion, the last thing your team wants is to be buried in receipts and invoices.

Dela takes care of the annoying stuff:

• Scan receipts or AP invoices, and she auto-fills the data fields.
• Need to know the outstanding AR for a client? She’ll summarize it instantly.
• Want to follow up with a billing contact? She’ll even draft the email for you.

Yes, really.

📈 MEASURE: Turn Insights into Action

Project performance, firm-wide KPIs, DSO trends—Dela’s dashboards and smart summaries help you:

• Get paid faster,
• Spot risk before it becomes a problem,
• Make strategic decisions with data you trust.

She even gives you a 360° view of client health and project profitability without the need for complex reporting tools.

Real Ways Dela is Changing the Game

We could tell you Dela “enhances decision-making through AI,” but let’s be real—you want specifics.

Here’s how Dela is already shaking up how project-based firms operate:

1. Ask Dela: Your Natural Language Command Center

No need to memorize report filters or open five tabs—just type (or speak!) what you need. Try something like:

• “What’s our win rate for projects with [Client Name]?”
• “Summarize the financials for project R00181.00.”
• “Create a meeting with the proposal team for this Friday at 2pm.”
  Yes, she even creates and attaches activities to employees. 😎

2. Smart Summaries That Work Overtime

Ever wanted a quick snapshot of a project or client without clicking through 12 screens? With Dela:

• Get Project Smart Summaries to view plan status, earned value, DSO, AR, and more in a flash.
• Use Client Smart Summaries to scan pursuits, project history, and key contacts—all in one clean summary. Perfect for BD pros and executives.

3. Automating the Boring Stuff

Let’s be honest: no one gets into project management to manually enter AP invoice data or type out expense receipts.

• Dela’s ICR (Intelligent Character Recognition) scans invoices and receipts and fills out the fields for you.
• Capture business cards from events with a quick scan—and voilà, a new contact in CRM.

4. Predictions That Actually Matter

Dela isn’t just reactive. She’s out here forecasting like a pro—so you’re not blindsided by low margins, resource gaps, or underperforming projects.

Expect insights like:

• EAC profit & variance
• Labor multipliers
• Schedule or spend variances
• DSO and AR trends

Basically, she’s that teammate who sees problems before they happen (and gently nudges you to fix them).

But Is It Really That Smart?

Yep. Unlike some of the AI-lite tools from competitors that stop at basic automation or chat bots, Dela is built right into Vantagepoint. She pulls data from all corners of your system—CRM, projects, resourcing, financials—and turns it into actionable intelligence.

And the best part? She evolves with your data. Meaning the more you use her, the more helpful she becomes. Kinda like your favorite pair of running shoes—once you break her in, it’s game on.

Who’s This For?

If your team is still:

• Digging through reports to answer simple questions,
• Manually entering in expense and AP invoice data,
• Missing red flags on projects until it’s too late,
• Or just feeling like they can’t quite get ahead…

Then yes, Dela is for you.

From business developers to PMs to accounting teams, everyone gets a boost.

See Dela in Action

At Full Sail Partners, we’re helping firms just like yours harness the full power of Dela and Deltek Vantagepoint. Whether you’re already on Vantagepoint or exploring your options, we’ll show you exactly how Dela can make your workflows smarter—and your life easier.

👉 Want a sneak peek? Watch our mini-demo by clicking the image below and get a firsthand look at Dela’s magic in action.

TL;DR:

Deltek Dela isn’t just a chatbot. She’s your all-in-one, AI-powered business companion that helps your project-based firm work smarter across the entire lifecycle—from pipeline to payments.

And yes, she really is that smart.

Got questions? We’ve got answers. And probably a few dashboards to go with them.

The multi-company functionality in Deltek Vantagepoint serves as a tool for sharing and accounting for resources across the companies within an enterprise. Cross charge capabilities in Vantagepoint are based on similar theories as multi-company but are focused on the interaction within a company and its organizational breakdown structure (OBS). Before we dive deeper, here are some links to blogs about multi-company functionality and OBS in case you are unfamiliar with these topics.

High Level Insight into Cross Charge in Deltek Vantagepoint 

It is important to understand that cross charging is a financial tool and is based on the general ledger. It is not an attribute of project reporting since time charged to a project remains on the project for billing and reporting purposes. Cross charge is labor-focused and occurs after the timesheet is posted. 

By default, Vantagepoint is built to be project-centric, which simply means that the process of entering and posting timesheets determines where the labor charges are assigned. If the cross charge process is not configured or run, the cost will remain on the “books” of the organization where the project is assigned. 

Why Use Cross Charge? 

As financial and operational managers, we must always remember that revenue can only be earned once and a cost incurred once. For this reason, cross charge allows businesses to move revenue and cost from one “bucket” within their organization to another. When a combined income statement is run, all cross charge entries zero out and the original revenue and cost will remain. 

The cross charge process is used when firms loan and borrow labor at the lowest OBS level, which could be: 

• Office
• Department
• Discipline
• Market Sector 

A good example is a civil engineer where projects live in the various disciplines. The survey department would loan their staff to the engineering projects and cross charge would be the financial component to drive and manage the accounting for the labor. 

There are two internal pricing options to choose from when configuring cross charge: 

1. Project Centric – This is when labor remains on the books of the organization where the project resides. A multiplier is then used to account for some portion of operational/overhead (OH) costs. This factor could be limited to a fringe benefit rate, could represent a breakeven OH rate or even include some profit. The purpose is to ensure that the loaning organization has an incentive to keep their staff busy, but they also need to be careful so as not to overextend their resources. 
2. Employee Centric – This works by adjusting labor back to the employee’s organization. Using typical billing rates, although a multiplier can be used, the revenue is moved from the project’s organization to the employee’s organization. The purpose, again, is to ensure the loaning organization doesn’t lose the ability to show a profit by sharing their staff. 

Real-life Application of Cross Charge in Deltek Vantagepoint 

Here is a success story where the operational process and projects are built on the premise that fee and scope drives work breakdown structure (WBS) in a clients’ Deltek Vantagepoint database. Under this model, high accountability becomes the first option where phases and tasks within a project are assigned to different organizations based on the portion of the work. Employees then charge the phase/task that is assigned to the organization they “live” in. This results in more closely managed projects because the profit accountability is shifted back to the organization supplying the labor. This process eliminates the need for cross charge. 

But wait…realizing that to run successful projects, there is a necessity to anticipate unplanned needs. This means that the firm must have the ability to borrow an employee from another department for a short-term assignment or a last-minute need. For example, the base building studio decides it needs input from the interiors studio. In this scenario, the client falls back on the project centric method noted above as a mechanism to facilitate resource sharing and not impede project progress. Furthermore, this is a prime example of a need for cross charge. 

Gain Control of Resources with Cross Charge 

Whether your current OBS is solid or you are considering a change, cross charge can provide the functionality required to ensure an open and smooth process of resource sharing. With a thorough understanding and effective implementation, cross charge can provide another dimension in managing your business.

Interested in more information about using cross charge and how it can help unlock the full potential of Deltek Vantagepoint? Want to learn other ways of ensuring your project-based firm is running as efficiently as possible? If so, Full Sail Partners is happy to offer your firm a Navigational Analysis. 

The year is 2025. AI is mainstream. Buyer behavior has changed. And firms that are still using their 2019 marketing playbook—or worse, a budget built on “we’ve always done it this way”—are already falling behind.

If you’re a marketing or firm leader staring at a spreadsheet trying to justify budget requests, you’re not alone. And if you’re still cobbling together tactics that might have worked last year, it’s time to trade in the guesswork for something stronger: research-backed strategy.

Let’s break down how to set a competitive, results-driven marketing budget for your professional services firm—without burning through dollars on outdated efforts.

1. Start with Research, Not Assumptions

One of the most telling findings from the 2025 Deltek AEC Clarity Report is this: high-performing firms are more likely to use data and analytics to drive decision-making. Yet, only 34% of firms reported using CRM and marketing data to inform their BD strategies.

Research isn’t optional—it’s your competitive edge.

In fact, studies by Hinge Marketing show that firms conducting frequent research (at least quarterly) grow 10X faster and are twice as profitable than those that skip it.

Don’t guess what worked last year. Pull your CRM reports. Review marketing metrics. Survey clients. And assess which efforts brought in leads, moved opportunities forward, and converted to wins.

2. Narrow Your Targets (No More Spray-and-Pray)

Trying to market to everyone usually results in connecting with no one.

The most effective firms invest their limited resources in a focused set of target clients and pursuits. According to the 2025 Clarity Report, the top business development challenge cited was identifying new prospects, yet only 38% of firms reported having a defined go/no-go process.

Now is the time to:

• Audit your current client list for commonalities (size, sector, service line, etc.)
• Use CRM and financial data to find which client types bring in the most profit
• Prioritize ideal clients that align with your strategic growth goals

Pro tip: Don’t just define your ideal clients—also define who you don’t serve. It’ll keep your spend efficient and your messaging crystal clear.

3. Shift Budget Toward Online (It’s Where the Buyers Are)

Tradeshow booths and sponsorships still have a place, but they shouldn't dominate your spend. Online lead generation is more scalable, cost-effective, and measurable.

Yet many AEC firms are still overinvested in traditional tactics. According to the 2025 Deltek AEC Clarity Report, the top three areas of marketing spend were:

1. Proposals and pursuits
2. Conferences and tradeshows
3. Website and digital marketing

While proposals and events remain vital, there's a growing intent to shift more budget toward digital—but execution often lags due to limited staff capacity and technology gaps.

Rebalance your budget with a tilt toward:

• Website and SEO improvements
• Strategic content creation (blogs, webinars, whitepapers)
• Email marketing and automation
• Social media marketing and paid campaigns

Firms that increase digital maturity gain more pipeline visibility, stronger marketing ROI, and greater confidence in revenue forecasting.

Start here: Allocate at least 40-50% of your marketing budget to digital—this includes online content, CRM tools, marketing automation, and analytics platforms.

4. Measure What Matters

You can’t improve what you don’t measure. And in 2025, measurement must go beyond vanity metrics like impressions and email opens.

Instead, track metrics that matter to your firm’s growth:

• Leads generated by campaign or channel
• New opportunities created in the pipeline
• Shortlist rates and how often you’re advancing
• Win rates by pursuit type, team, or market
• Client acquisition cost (CAC) and lifetime value (LTV)

The 2025 Clarity Report found that firms with stronger marketing and BD integration were more confident in their forecasts and better able to connect marketing investment to actual revenue growth.

If your current systems don’t support this kind of reporting, it may be time to upgrade your CRM or implement marketing analytics dashboards.

5. Don’t Underspend (or Overspend!)

So how much should you actually allocate?

While every firm is different, Hinge Research suggests that high-growth professional services firms typically invest 5–15% of their revenue into marketing. And many Clarity Report respondents said they planned to increase their BD and marketing budgets in the next year, signaling greater recognition of marketing’s role in growth.

Budgeting too little may leave you invisible. Spending too much without strategy wastes resources. Anchor your budget to strategic goals and your firm’s growth targets.

6. Invest in the Right Tools—and the People Who Use Them

A brilliant strategy can still flop if execution is half-baked. Your budget should reflect not just what you’ll do, but how you’ll do it.

That means factoring in:

• Internal marketing staff capacity
• External partner support (freelancers, agencies, consultants)
• Software subscriptions (CRM, automation, SEO tools)
• Training and professional development for your team

The bottom line: Don’t just plan campaigns—budget to execute them well.

7. Keep the Budget Agile

Gone are the days of set-it-and-forget-it annual budgets. In 2025, the smart move is to:

• Set quarterly checkpoints
• Reallocate funds based on campaign performance
• Leave a “test and learn” portion of the budget for new channels or experiments

This flexibility allows you to scale what’s working—and shut down what’s not—before it drains your resources.

Final Thought: Lead with Strategy, Not Spreadsheets

Your marketing budget isn’t just a list of line items—it’s a declaration of how you plan to grow.

Lead with research. Focus on ROI. Measure obsessively. And give your marketing team the tools and support they need to turn strategy into results.

Because in a sea of competition, smart marketing isn’t just nice to have—it’s the only way to stand out.

Need help aligning your marketing plan with your firm’s growth goals?

Full Sail Partners offers strategic consulting, system support, and CRM integration to help professional services firms turn insight into action. Let’s talk.

Let’s be honest—tracking Master Service Agreements (MSAs), IDIQ contracts, and their related Task Orders in Deltek Vantagepoint isn’t exactly straightforward. If you’ve been juggling spreadsheets, cross-referencing records, or constantly second-guessing your contract metrics… we feel your pain.

And we built something better.

Here at Full Sail Partners, we love solving real challenges for project-based firms. One request we’ve heard time and again from our clients is this: “We need a better way to track Master Agreements in Vantagepoint.”

So, we got to work—and we’re excited to introduce a custom-built hub designed to do just that. Whether you're tracking indefinite delivery contracts, parent agreements, or ongoing on-call projects, this solution gives you the clarity and control Vantagepoint users have been missing.

Why a Custom Hub for Master Agreements?

Standard functionality in Deltek Vantagepoint is powerful, but when it comes to managing large umbrella contracts—especially those that span multiple years, multiple task orders, and multiple departments—things can get messy fast.

Here’s where things typically break down:

• You’re tracking MSAs in spreadsheets… while also trying to manage projects in Vantagepoint.
• You’ve got multiple pursuits tied to a single agreement, but no centralized place to view them.
• Your pipeline reports are double-counting opportunities, inflating projections and skewing metrics.
• Finance and marketing teams are using different “versions of the truth.”

Sound familiar? That’s exactly why we developed this custom Master Agreement Hub.

What the Custom Hub Does (and Doesn’t Do)

This custom solution adds a new “hub” in Vantagepoint where you can create a Master Agreement record and link all relevant pursuits and projects to it. Think of it like a command center for your most complex contracts.

With this custom hub, you can:

✅ Track and manage Master Service Agreements, IDIQs, and Task Orders

✅ Link pursuits and projects back to the parent agreement

✅ Automatically pull in key data from related records

✅ Display total contracted value, awarded work, pipeline, and more

✅ Eliminate duplicate reporting across business development and finance

✅ Create reports that make sense to your entire team

It doesn’t replace the Projects Hub—it enhances it. You’ll still manage your pursuits and active jobs in their respective places. But now, you have a smarter way to see the whole picture.

Real-World Scenarios: When This Custom Hub Really Shines

Let’s look at a few common use cases where this custom solution becomes a game changer:

📌 Scenario 1: Federal or Statewide IDIQ Contracts
Your firm wins an IDIQ contract with a state agency that allows task orders over a five-year period. You’re pursuing multiple task orders each quarter, but your team can’t keep track of what’s been awarded, what’s in pursuit, and what’s been completed.

With this hub, you can tie every task order to the original IDIQ contract, view real-time status across all pursuits, and see total contract metrics at a glance.

📌 Scenario 2: Municipal On-Call Agreements
You’ve got an on-call services contract with a local government. Projects are added sporadically over time, and different PMs are handling different scopes. Your leadership wants to know: “What’s the total value of this agreement and how much have we actually won?”

Now, you can answer that in seconds—with visuals to back it up.

📌 Scenario 3: Large Client with Multiple Ongoing Projects
A major higher education or healthcare client has multiple campuses and dozens of concurrent projects under a single master services agreement. You want to evaluate performance across the whole contract, but your data is scattered.

Link all the projects to the MSA, track total billings and revenue, and identify which departments or service lines are driving results.

See It in Action: Free Mini-Demo

Want to see how it works? You're in luck.

Join us Wednesday, June 25 at 1pm ET for a 15-minute live mini-demo where Principal Consultant Amanda Roussel will walk you through this new functionality using sample records and reports.

👉 Click here to register now 

Who Should Attend?

This mini-demo is ideal for:

• Marketing teams who need to track pursuits tied to a single agreement
• Project managers juggling multiple jobs under one umbrella contract
• Operations and finance teams who want better visibility into pipeline and awarded revenue
• Anyone tired of reconciling conflicting reports from different departments

If you’ve ever said, “There has to be a better way,” this demo is for you.

Let’s Make Contract Chaos a Thing of the Past

This isn’t just a “nice to have”—it’s the kind of enhancement that can bring sanity back to your project tracking. Contracts are only getting more complex, and your systems should make managing them easier, not harder.

Join us for the demo. Ask your questions. See what’s possible.

Then decide if this custom hub could be the solution your firm didn’t know it needed.

👉 [ Register now ] and get access to the live demo and the recording.

In today’s relentless business environment, a strong marketing strategy isn’t just a “nice-to-have.” It’s the cornerstone of real, measurable growth.

And here’s the kicker—we’re a consulting firm that sells, configures, and trains on CRM systems, and even we will tell you: a killer system means nothing without a smart strategy to back it up.

Tools are just tools. Your CRM won’t magically generate demand, build relationships, or close deals on its own. That’s where a strategic marketing approach comes in—giving your tools direction, your messaging purpose, and your entire growth engine momentum.

Below, we’re diving into five strategic elements professional services firms should prioritize to build a bold, results-driven marketing plan.

1. Balancing Operations and Creativity

Marketing is a balancing act—a mix of analytical rigor and creative expression.

It’s not just about operations and logistics, and it’s not just about eye-catching visuals or clever taglines. The real magic happens when creative ideas are paired with structured systems and supported by insightful analysis.

Compelling messaging, thoughtful targeting, consistent branding, automated processes, and performance tracking—these all need to come together in harmony. Without that balance, marketing either becomes disorganized chaos or stale corporate noise.

🛠 Pro Tip: Make room for creative thinking, but ground it in strategy and data. That's how you move from busy work to impactful work.

2️. Prioritize Speed and Clarity—Not Perfection

Let’s be honest: the pursuit of perfection is often the enemy of progress. The firms winning today are the ones who are agile—moving fast, testing ideas, getting feedback, and making adjustments on the fly.

Launch that campaign before it’s “perfect.” Ask for feedback through surveys or focus groups. Test messaging with different segments. Use what you learn to refine, optimize, and iterate.

With the right tracking in place, you can monitor performance in real time. Which campaigns are generating leads? Which ones are getting short-listed? What’s your win rate?

These insights allow you to pivot quickly, amplify what works, and cut what doesn’t. Perfection is overrated. Clarity and action? That’s where the ROI lives.

3. Foster Cross-Functional Alignment

Want better marketing results? Tear down the silos.

The best marketing strategies are built on collaboration—especially between marketing, business development, and technical experts (a.k.a. your seller-doers). In professional services firms, these roles often overlap—but each brings unique value to the client journey:

Marketing

Objective: Build brand awareness and generate leads

Focus:

• Identify and segment target audiences
• Create educational and value-driven content
• Maintain brand consistency across channels
• Drive traffic and engagement through campaigns
• Conduct market and client research to inform strategy

Business Development

Objective: Build relationships and identify growth opportunities

Focus:

• Network and engage with potential clients and partners
• Explore strategic partnerships and industry involvement
• Identify future project opportunities
• Collaborate with marketing and technical teams on pursuit strategies and proposals

Technical Experts / Seller-Doers

Objective: Deliver expertise, build trust, and help close the deal

Focus:

• Participate in early-stage conversations with prospects
• Provide technical insight and solutions during pursuit phases
• Collaborate on proposals, presentations, and interviews
• Build long-term client relationships through successful project delivery
• Identify additional client needs and opportunities for future work

Each team has a distinct role, but the magic happens when they align—sharing insights, speaking the same language, and working together toward common business goals. When marketing, BD, and technical experts collaborate, your firm becomes more responsive, more strategic, and way more successful at winning the right work.

4. Use Marketing Attribution for Smarter Decisions

Attribution isn’t just about patting yourself on the back for a conversion. It’s about learning.

When you can identify which messages, campaigns, or touchpoints lead to action—whether that’s a meeting request, a site visit, or a proposal request—you unlock a feedback loop for continuous improvement.

Smart attribution helps you:

• Understand what’s working (and what’s not)
• Allocate budget more efficiently
• Align teams around proven strategies
• Improve cross-sell and upsell opportunities

Plus, when teams work from a shared data set, collaboration becomes easier—and marketing becomes more cost-efficient without compromising on quality.

5. Maximize ROI: Focus on Repeat Audiences While Still Growing New Ones

Here’s a secret not enough firms talk about: sometimes the best new opportunities come from people who already know you.

Targeting repeat audiences—past clients, partners, proposal reviewers, and warm contacts—often yields higher conversion rates. These audiences are already familiar with your brand and more likely to engage with personalized messaging.

Even better? It’s more cost-effective than constantly chasing new leads.

That said, growth still requires expanding your reach. So, balance is key. Continue reaching out to new prospects through campaigns, events, and content while maintaining strong follow-up strategies for past and current clients.

Short-term ROI comes from repeat audiences.
Long-term growth comes from reaching new ones.
You need both to sustain success.

The Bottom Line: Strategy First, Tools Second

Let’s face it—your marketing strategy is the fuel that powers your CRM, your email campaigns, your proposals, and your BD team’s efforts. Without it? You’re just throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping for ROI.

A smart marketing strategy aligns creativity with operations, embraces experimentation over perfection, breaks down silos between teams, tracks performance with purpose, and balances client retention with outreach.

If your firm is still shooting in the dark with disconnected tactics or just "doing what you’ve always done," it might be time to hit pause—and start building a better game plan.

🎯 Need a strategic partner to guide the way?

At Full Sail Partners, we help professional services firms align their marketing strategy with the right tools, processes, and insights. From CRM configuration to campaign execution—we’ve got you covered.

👉 Let’s Talk Strategy

You know what’s not fun?

Exporting contact lists. Cleaning spreadsheets. Re-uploading them into another platform. Then wondering if your campaign results will ever make it back to your CRM.

You know what is fun?

Clicking one button—and watching your marketing list fly from Deltek Vantagepoint to HubSpot like a data-driven superhero.

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of our Blackbox Connector for HubSpot + Vantagepoint, and it’s about to make your marketing life a whole lot easier.

Whether you’re trying to reach past clients, follow up with new leads after a conference, or just want to run a quick A/B test—this integration takes the chaos out of syncing your marketing efforts and puts everything right where it belongs: in one clean, closed-loop system.

Here’s What You Can Do With the HubSpot Connector

With just a few clicks, you can:

✔️ Build a segmented list in Vantagepoint
✔️ Push it into HubSpot instantly—no spreadsheets required
✔️ Send an email campaign using HubSpot’s tools
✔️ Pull performance data (opens, clicks, bounces, unsubscribes) right back into Vantagepoint

It’s fast. It’s seamless. And it means no more awkward handoffs between marketing, BD, and project teams. Everyone gets access to campaign insights—right inside the system they’re already using.

Let’s Paint the Picture…

You’ve just wrapped up a major healthcare architecture conference. You’ve met new contacts. Reconnected with past clients. And now you want to follow up with a tailored email about your firm’s healthcare expertise.

Before, that probably meant asking someone to export a list from Vantagepoint, emailing it to marketing, uploading it into HubSpot, then trying to remember to send performance results back later. (Yikes.)

Now? You create a new Marketing Campaign in Vantagepoint. Tag your contacts with “Healthcare Conference.” Push the list straight into HubSpot. Launch your email. Then click a button to have opens, clicks, and engagement metrics flow back into Vantagepoint like magic.

Even better—those results show up not only on the campaign, but also on each individual contact record. So your project managers and principals? They’ll finally know which of their contacts are actually engaging with marketing. (And that’s a win for everyone.)

How It Works (In 3 Simple Steps)

Step 1: Build Your List in Vantagepoint

Start in the Marketing Campaigns Hub. Build your contact list based on whatever filters matter—recent project involvement, industry tags, or events attended. You can even use custom fields that you created with Screen Designer.

Make sure your contacts have email addresses, and that you’ve enabled the BBMIQ integration for that campaign.

Step 2: Push It to HubSpot

Hop over to the BBMIQ Email tab, where you’ll select a static contact list from your HubSpot account. Then—drumroll, please—click Send Contacts to HubSpot.

Just like that, your Vantagepoint contact list appears in HubSpot, ready for your next email campaign.

Step 3: Pull Results Back In

Once your email is sent and the results start rolling in, return to the same BBMIQ Email tab in Vantagepoint.

Add the outbound email to the campaign, hit Get Email Response from HubSpot, then click Generate Statistics.

Boom. Now you’ve got:

• Total sends
• Opens
• Clicks
• Bounces
• Unsubscribes

…all right there in Vantagepoint—no digging, no guessing, no data delays.

Why This Matters (Especially for Non-Marketers)

Let’s say your technical staff doesn’t live in the Marketing Campaigns hub (no surprise there). But they do care about which contacts are engaged when they’re prepping for a meeting or writing a proposal.

With the Marketing IQ tab on the contact record, they can now see marketing email engagement at a glance—what was sent, when, and how that contact responded. That’s powerful intel to help guide business development conversations and deepen client relationships.

No more guessing who’s warm, who’s cold, or who unsubscribed three months ago. It’s all there, in context, inside the system your whole team already uses.

Close the Loop. Open New Possibilities.

When your marketing data lives in silos, everything gets harder—planning campaigns, tracking performance, reporting on ROI. But when your CRM and email platform talk to each other? Magic happens.

The HubSpot Connector for Vantagepoint delivers:

✨ Smarter list building
✨ Streamlined campaign execution
✨ Data-driven marketing insights
✨ And zero spreadsheet wrangling

This is more than a sync. It’s a strategic bridge between marketing and the rest of your firm.

Hear It Straight From the Source

Want to see how this connector performs in the real world?

Join us for our upcoming webinar with HR Green, where their CRM Database Manager shares:

✔️ Why their team needed a better way to connect Vantagepoint and HubSpot
✔️ What the deployment process looked like with our Blackbox Connector
✔️ The results and ROI they’ve seen since implementation

You’ll walk away with actionable insights—and maybe a little marketing envy. 😉

Click below to see how Full Sail Partners is helping firms like HR Green turn disconnected systems into seamless marketing engines.

Because great marketing doesn’t happen in isolation—and now, neither does your data.