Full Sail Partners Blog | Jennifer Renfroe (6)

According to the 39^th Annual Deltek A&E Clarity Industry Study, one of the top three firm initiatives to address financial challenges is managing growth. Firms are needing to quickly expand departments, hire and train new employees, and find ways to retain them to prevent turnover. Not only are project managers dealing with staff shortages, but inexperienced project managers ultimately lead to client dissatisfaction and poor perception of firms in the marketplace. Firm financials are being directly impacted by issues with human capital management.

Turnover and Talent Acquisition

The results of this year’s Deltek A&E Clarity study show that human resources (HR) professionals are seeing higher voluntary turnover, more open positions with longer average time to fill plus difficulties with talent acquisition. Turnover has increased by nearly two percent compared to last year, and the percentage of firms that take 31–60 days to fill an open position went up by four points. Regarding talent acquisition, many firms are not focused enough on improving the efficiency of the talent management process. The majority are still using outdated HR systems with 63% of small firms having not updated their HR systems within the past five years making it a challenge to track KPIs. Talent acquisition remains the most expensive business process facing HR.

Drop in Utilization Rates

Additionally, firms have seen utilization rates drop slightly for the second year in a row, declining to 59.4% from 60% last year. This may be due to firms having a harder time recruiting, onboarding, and retaining talent this year and leading to higher employee salaries to attract the best talent at lower billable utilization. This shift in utilization rates is also reflected in the small increase in overhead rates. Firms should develop a strategic onboarding process to reduce the time it takes to get new hires assigned to billable projects. Another issue affecting financials is that increased turnover means senior staff are pulled to train new employees pulling them from their current tasks.

HR Stuck in Recruiter Mode

This year’s Deltek A&E Clarity report also noted that with growth management, HR professionals tend to get stuck in recruiter mode leaving little time to focus on other essential tasks to help keep staff engaged. Firms need to first properly train their staff, so they are productive. They must then find out what professional development and learning opportunities their employees are looking for to ensure retention. According to the study, only 13% of firms said they have a learning management system (LMS). This is down two percentage points from last year, when 15% of firms reported having an LMS.

Succession Planning and Retention

Another key aspect to employee retention is succession planning. The Deltek A&E Clarity study showed that of all firms, only 43% have formal succession plans. Therefore, firms need to focus not just on identifying tomorrow’s leaders, but also on engaging high-potential employees in a way that keeps them at the firm and lets them know that the firm is invested in their success. For 68% of firms with a succession plan in place, it only applied to current leaders or those next in line. Only 7% had plans that applied to all employees. Regardless of size, without a succession plan, the future of the firm is especially at risk if something happens to its current leaders or key staff.

Future Human Capital Management Strategy

Of particular interest, the Deltek A&E Clarity study suggested that to develop an effective future human capital management strategy, firms must evaluate what different generations want and need. With baby boomers voluntarily retiring, firms must change their approach to new hires by offering tailored benefits such as tuition reimbursement and the ability to work from home. Overall, firms that offered these and the more traditional benefits, including stock ownership options, medical, 401(k) or retirement plans, performance bonuses, or paid overtime, do have higher total employee costs. However, firms that did so would have higher employee retention rates, thus reducing the financial burden of turnover.

Clarity Outlook for Human Capital Management

Firm financials are being impacted by challenges in human capital management. In the next year, firms should focus on updating outdated human resource systems, appealing to the new workforce generation, providing strategic onboarding, offering top professional development and learning opportunities, and creating succession plans for all employees. For the future, financial leaders must manage growth by tracking the costs of talent acquisition and investing in their employees to prevent turnover. To really understand the true cost savings of employee retention, HR must continue to work closely with financial professionals. Lastly, make sure to download your free copy of the 39^th Annual Deltek A&E Clarity Report now.

With repetitive sourcing for candidates, constant scheduling, and continuous boilerplate interviews, recruiting and hiring has become very mechanical in nature. It should instead be focused on discovering the best talent fit for the company culture and be done in a more strategic and efficient way. To accomplish this, recruiters need to improve their methods which have often been unknowingly biased, think outside the box, and find ways to streamline the recruiting and hiring process for quality talent. Let’s check out the top 4 recruiting trends.

Seeking Out Diversity

It has been shown that diversity is directly tied to company financial performance. Companies with diverse leadership are more successful and are thus better able to win quality talent. There is also increasing evidence that diverse teams are more productive, innovative and engaged. Based on these facts, recruiters are now actively pursuing more diverse candidates in the gender, ethnicity, age, and LGBT categories. Nonetheless, for the diversity initiative to really work, it must start at the management level. Senior executives should be held accountable for the company diversity and inclusion outcomes.

Utilizing New Interviewing Tools

Conventional interviews have been shown to present bias and be an ineffective way to really read candidates. As human beings, we are comfortable with the familiar and often unconsciously choose applicants like us as the best hires even though other candidates may be more qualified. Additionally, with traditional interviews, there is less ability to address soft skills and weaknesses of the candidates. Now, with new interviewing tools, recruiters can get many more useful details to determine quality talent:

• online soft skill assessments - used to measure traits like teamwork which give a better picture of candidates
• job auditions - candidates are paid to do real work, so their skills can be observed in action
• casual interviews - take place during a meal and offer a look into a candidate’s character
• video interviews - recorded or live and help tap a broader talent pool in less time

Being Super Data Driven

While data has been used in the past to make recruiting decisions, the amount of available data for talent acquisition and the speed at which it can be analyzed has increased. This data can now be used to predict hiring outcomes rather than just track them. Data can even be used to test the effectiveness of diversity initiatives. With all this accessible data, every recruiting and hiring decision can be made on facts instead of feelings. Essentially, the sheer volume of data allows recruiters and their companies to compete for quality talent with their own talent intelligence strategy.

Streamlining with Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is quickly becoming the recruiting industry standard. Using AI, recruiters can capture information from candidate resumes for qualities that indicate a workplace culture fit. AI can also be used to increase diversity in the workplace as it can be programmed to ignore demographic information when sourcing candidates. Once candidates have been hired, AI can even help with retention by identifying ideal learning opportunities. Finally, letting AI do the more tedious tasks for recruiters will offer more time to build relationships with quality talent which has a greater impact on company success.  

Recruiting Quality Talent for the Future

When vying for quality talent in a very competitive market, recruiters must stay on top of current trends instead of relying on standard recruiting protocols. Recruiters can maximize their talent acquisition efforts by choosing new technologies and streamlining their inefficient processes. With super data at their fingertips and a plethora of AI options to choose from, recruiters are well positioned for a successful talent acquisition future.

Full Sail Partners is honored to be the recipient of the Solution Provider Program Top Overall Partner 2017 award and the App Center Partner of the Year 2018 Newcomer Award from SAP Concur at their annual Fusion Conference in Seattle. Over the last few years, Full Sail Partners and SAP Concur have been diligently working together to provide Blackbox Connector solutions to their mutual Deltek Vision clients.

“Due to the amazing support of the partner teams at SAP Concur and our own incredible Blackbox Connector team at Full Sail Partners, we have been able to provide some fantastic solutions to our clients. It has been a great year and I look forward to a bright future with Blackbox Connector and SAP Concur,” noted Tanya Drake, Director of Add-on Technology sales at Full Sail Partners.

SAP Concur is the world’s leading provider of integrated travel, expense management, and AP invoice automation services and solutions. Deltek Vision is a leading enterprise software solution designed for project-based professional services firms to improve business performance, streamline operations and win new business. The Blackbox Connector offering by Full Sail Partners allows Deltek Vision users to connect their Vision systems to other third-party software solutions like SAP Concur and streamline business operations.

Full Sail Partners was also given the App Center Partner of the Year 2018 Newcomer Award. Both the Deltek Vision to SAP Concur Expense and SAP Concur AP Invoice Blackbox Connectors are available in SAP Concur’s App Center. The SAP Concur App Center offers apps which integrate with Concur Travel, Expense and AP Invoice products. For more information, visit https://www.concur.com/app-center.

“Full Sail Partners has proven to be an outstanding and valued partner to SAP Concur. Full Sail Patners’ Blackbox Connector integration for Deltek Vision along with their team of experienced professionals led us to numerous customer wins and pipeline growth in a previously untapped market,” stated Chris Llorente, Head of American Solution Providers as SAP Concur.

For more information, please contact Full Sail Partners’ Marketing and Communications Department. Interested in learning more about the Full Sail Partners' team? Check out our crew! 

Many people don’t realize that talent management is a key business strategy and is vital to a firm’s success. It begins with recruiting potential hires and follows employees throughout their entire life cycles with a firm. Since talent management has such a great financial impact on a firm, talent metrics should be used to show return on investment and to make informed business decisions. So, which metrics are the most significant?

5 Important Talent Management Metrics 

1. Cost to Hire

It is very expensive to hire a new employee. Up front, you have ad placement and sourcing costs. Additionally, there is the time spent by the recruiter and managers to interview and determine the best candidate from the pool. As much effort and time will be put into selecting and onboarding the right match for a position at your firm, you want to ensure the new hire is a good return on investment. You also want to assess whether your ad placements and sourcing tools are getting you the quality candidates you desire. 

2. Time to Full Productivity

Every new hire needs some time to become acquainted with the new position and learn the ropes. Generally, it requires several months before a new hire can be fully productive. However, it is imperative that your firm has an effective onboarding and training program to get new hires up to speed as fast as possible. The quicker a new hire moves to full productivity, the faster there is the return on investment. 

3. High Potential Talent

As part of your talent management plan, you should hire a percentage of people that you expect to provide more value down the road for the organization. This talent should be the best of the best. These employees will be the ones you pull from for future succession into higher-level roles. Making sure you hire talent with potential is necessary to avoid more costs of hiring. 

4. Talent Mobility

Retention of talent is another important factor to consider, especially when concerned with the financial impact of hiring a replacement. Employees need to know that there are opportunities for them to move within the firm, so they don’t stagnate in the same position after several years. Your firm should offer career paths for upward mobility for top performers who seek new challenges. 

5. Talent Turnover

Turnover is probably the most relevant metric of all. Your firm will want to keep this number as low as possible to reduce its financial impact. With turnover, you have the cost of replacing the position with a new hire and the loss of the knowledge gleaned during the years of service. Additionally, turnover stops the cohesive flow of business and causes efficiency to wane.

Manage Your Talent Well

Of course, there are cases where turnover cannot be prevented no matter what the firm does. Overall though, your talent should be chosen wisely, trained properly and given opportunities for mobility. When you manage your talent well, you will in fact reduce your costs because word of mouth is free and high potential talent will come to you.

Full Sail Partners, a Concur and Deltek Platinum Partner, is pleased to announce the addition of Amanda McClain to the Account Management Team. Amanda joins the Blackbox Connector team as an Implementation Project Manager. In this position, she will oversee implementations for financial related Blackbox Connector integrations. Amanda’s strong finance background in combination with her vast customer service experience will enable her to provide a positive client experience throughout the project lifecycle when purchasing a Blackbox Connector solution.

“Joining the Blackbox Connector team allows me to utilize all aspects of my background to help create a long-lasting client relationship,” stated Amanda McClain. “I am very excited to begin this position as Implementation Project Manager. My previous experience has given me the tools needed to effectively listen to clients and work with them to create a system tailored specifically to their firm needs.”

The Blackbox Connector team integrates Deltek Vision and Deltek for Professional Services with ready-to deploy business solutions, including Concur Expense and Invoice Connector, as well as, the Informer Connector that is coming in the first quarter of 2018. With the increase of Blackbox Connector solutions, Full Sail Partners sought a new team member to ensure quality was provided throughout the implementation. In her role, Amanda will provide clients with a personal point of contact to discuss and resolve any issues relating to their Blackbox Connector purchase.

“As demand for our Blackbox Connector continues to grow, we are focused on providing a quality product. This includes ensuring our clients have a successful implementation,” stated Wendy Gustafson, General Manager of Full Sail Partners. “We are super excited to have someone who is customer service and detail-oriented. She will be instrumental in keeping our client implementations on track.”

For more information, please contact Full Sail Partners’ Marketing and Communications Department. 

Full Sail Partners, a Deltek Platinum Partner, is excited to announce that Rick Childs has returned to the team as a Senior Consultant. Due to his amazing rapport with clients and ability to solve problems, he was asked to join Petroleum Field Services (now known as Ascent Geomatics Solutions) as Controller back in 2015. Since this firm is now running efficiently, Rick desired the opportunity to be able to service other firms in the same exemplary manner.

“Whether working for a single firm as an employee or for multiple firms as a consultant, my goal is always to do what I can to help automate processes and build a foundation to take the firm into the future and prepare for growth. I am excited about returning to the Full Sail Partners team of knowledgeable, dedicated professionals and having access to their ever-growing arsenal of client-based solutions,” stated Rick Childs.

Rick is an experienced consultant having led more than 100 Deltek Vision implementations since 2003. His familiarity with legacy Deltek products has also enabled him to provide client solutions. With this extensive industry knowledge, Rick will be able to jump right back into his role as Senior Consultant addressing the needs of our clients and helping them further leverage their investment in Deltek Vision and Deltek for Professional Services.

“Full Sail Partners’ management team is excited to welcome Rick back to the consulting team. Rick adds additional depth and knowledge to our diverse and collaborative consulting team that handles all areas of Deltek Vision and Deltek for Professional Services. I personally know that many of the clients and team members that Rick previously worked with are pleased to hear of his return and looking forward to working with him again,” said Scott Seal, VP of Consulting.

For more information, please contact Full Sail Partners’ Marketing and Communications Department. 

With all the hot topics of last year, we thought it would be interesting to see which ones were valued the most by Deltek Users. To figure this out, we compiled a list of the top 10 read Full Sail Partners’ blogs of 2017. From finance, to marketing, to HR, to project managers, it seems that we offered a little something for everyone. Let’s check them out:

1. The Unknown Features of Timesheets in Deltek Vision

It is a mystery why we deal with time management so badly. This is our commodity which we sell to our clients. However, we treat it like a curse, as if it’s an evil process that accounting forces on us. It somehow escapes us that this is the lifeblood of our business, and without it, we are out of business. So why don’t we manage this better and how can we improve our firm’s practices? Find out now! 

2. Maximizing Organizational Breakdown Structure and Work Breakdown Structure in Deltek Vision

As Deltek Vision systems are implemented and processes are written, the common denominator is most often the connection between the Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS) and the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). Whether it be the uniqueness of each or the relationship between the two, the attention paid to these early stages of development is instrumental in the flow and reporting of information in your Vision database. Click here to explore some areas to consider when designing the structure of your database. 

3. Is This the End of Deltek Vision's Revenue Method B?

Revenue Method B is the most widely used revenue method in Deltek Vision. In fairness, this is Vision’s default method for projects whose charge type is Regular. As a result, most firms use it since it’s easy to deploy and seems to work, or so we think. Learn more about Revenue Method B here. 

4. The Truth Behind Why Your CRM System Sucks!

The main reason why CRM implementations usually fail isn’t because of the system, it’s because of you. I told you this was going to be hard to swallow. A CRM system is meant to provide a place to house all of the important information about your clients and opportunities. However, many firms purchase a CRM system thinking it will miraculously do the work for them with no effort required. Find out what your firm needs to know to have a successful CRM system. 

5. 6 Key Statistics that Fuel the Competition for Talent Management

Organizations with antiquated talent management philosophies will struggle to attract, nurture and retain top talent in 2017. Many HR teams make the common mistake of having decentralized or ineffective systems and processes. Check out six key statistics that demonstrate why HR teams can no longer be reactionary and should evaluate their talent management processes and systems. 

6. Using Multi-Company in Deltek Vision: The When, Why and How

Within Deltek Vision lies a very handy tool which enables a firm to have multi-company functionality. However, the benefits of this multi-company functionality feature seem to elude many firms that would greatly appreciate its capabilities. So, let’s talk in detail about multi-company functionality and the why, when and how firms should use this fantastic feature. 

7. Ten Firm Initiatives to Improve Deltek Vision

Although it is easy to accept the status quo, there is always room for improvement. Once improvements are made, it is hard to believe that we operated the way we did before. So, there it is, the continuous cycle of breaking the status quo to improve our firm processes which ultimately ensures future success. As Deltek Vision users, we should focus on initiatives which enhance our Vision systems and allow us to remain efficient and effective in business. Find out which initiatives your firm can take on in 2018. 

8. Why You Should Be Using Deltek Dashboards

Are you maximizing your time by taking advantage of a dashboard? Dashboards are one of the most beneficial and functional parts of a system and yet are often the most underutilized. Dashboards are comprised of dashparts, or widgets, which are used as a portal into your Deltek database. For firms using Deltek Vision or Deltek Talent, the dashparts are extensive and include reports, metrics, links, alerts, tips and more. Find out why your firm should be using dashboards. 

9. Understanding and Effectively Using Cross Charge in Deltek Vision

Cross charge capabilities in Vision are based on similar theories as multi-company but are focused on the interaction within a company and its organizational breakdown structure (OBS). 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. Still confused? Learn what you need to know to effectively use cross charge. 

10. Introducing Deltek for Professional Services

Welcome to Deltek for Professional Services (DPS), the next generation solution for professional services automation (PSA). If PSA is a new term for you, think of it as a specialized system like an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution except specifically designed for the professional services industry. So, what can DPS do for your firm? Let’s see how this new cutting-edge solution will add value.

The Full Sail Partners’ team strives to provide our clients with useful resources that add value to their Vision systems. We hope that these widely read blogs from 2017 did just that. If you haven’t had the chance to review them yet, we hope you’ll do so now. Also, remember to keep an eye out for what’s coming in 2018!

Charles Darwin once said, “it is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” In the 21^st century, with constantly evolving technology and ever present social media, competition for the same resources has dramatically increased. Firms must adapt to their new environments or risk extinction. Change management, the approach used to prepare, equip and support individuals to successfully adopt change and thus drive organizational success, is vital to a firm’s continued existence.

Reasons for Change

So, in today’s environment, what are some reasons firms must change? Well, there are many different reasons change is necessary. It could be to improve productivity or the quality of products to meet customer demands. Perhaps change is necessary to reduce costs or increase revenue to keep up with the competition? Maybe revised processes are required due to the enactment of new policies or laws? Regardless of the reason, change is necessary and is a constant.

Overcome the Challenge of Change

Of course, often hearing the word “change” strikes fear in the hearts of many as an employee. It is inevitable that the rumor mills will begin and embellished stories will be passed around the firm. The best way to thwart the challenge of change is for leadership to be proactive using a change management strategy. Change management includes several key components:

• Clear vision from management
• A detailed action plan
• Transparency to minimize uncertainty
• Employee involvement
• Skills and resources provided for employees to handle the change
• Buy-in from employees

As long as these components are part of your firm’s change management plan, it is up your particular firm’s discretion to choose the method to handle the specific change required. If needed, there are several models available for review by firm leadership.

Change Management Models

Here are three change management models:

• The Eight Steps to Successful Change by John Kotter - begins by establishing a sense of urgency and ends with institutionalizing the change
• The Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle by W. Edwards Deming - four steps
• Change Management Foundation - shaped like a pyramid with leadership at the top setting direction and people implementing change at the bottom 

Don’t Fear the Change

In the words of Winston Churchill, “to improve is to change, to be perfect is to change often.” Firms will spend years in pursuit of perfection as the world continues to evolve. However, with a change management strategy in place, your firm can continue to successfully tackle the unknown without fear.

Full Sail Partners, a Deltek Platinum Partner, is proud to announce that it has been recognized by Accounting Today on the top 100 VAR list for 2017. Accounting Today annually chooses the top value-added resellers (VARs), and Full Sail Partners has been ranked in the top 100 again this year. Not only was Full Sail Partners named on the 2017 list, but it impressively moved up in ranking by fifteen. 

“We are thrilled to move up the ranks on Accounting Today’s VAR 100 list,” stated Sarah Gonnella, VP of Marketing & Sales at Full Sail Partners. “This accomplishment is a result of having a diverse and talented team that can address not only today’s challenges, but tomorrow’s challenges as well. Over the past couple of years, we have invested in building the right team and developing our Blackbox Connector to allow project-based firms to connect Deltek products to other best of breed solutions. We can’t wait to see what 2018 brings.”   

Accounting Today also reported recognized trends from this year's top 100 VARs. Some of those trends included responding to talent demands, adapting to the cloud, and smaller clients demanding better technology and analytics. Full Sail Partners has positioned itself to respond to these exact needs. With its Blackbox Connector capabilities and emerging business intelligence offerings, Full Sail Partners intends to keep developing solutions to fit client growth and desires.

Here is the full 2017 VAR list: http://pages.marketing.accountingtoday.com/act_77836_sr_lp.html 

Accounting Today is a leading provider of online business news for the accounting community, offering breaking news, in-depth features, and a host of resources and services. The VAR 100 list is annual report developed to rank the top technology resellers in the account and ERP space.  

For more information, please contact Full Sail Partners’ Marketing and Communications Department. 

Full Sail Partners is pleased to announce that the Blackbox Connector for Concur and Deltek Vision is now available in the Concur App Center. The Blackbox Connector for Concur and Deltek Vision provides Concur clients who use Deltek Vision with a solution to more effectively manage project expenses with near real-time exchange of data between these two industry leaders, allowing bi-directional synchronization of projects, work breakdown structure, employees and completed expense reports.

“We selected Concur because they are the best in class for expense reporting both for end-user simplicity, as well as the breadth of customization and options for the accounting staff. We are excited to have our Blackbox Connector available in the Concur App Center. This will allow our clients to marry the elegant user interface of Concur and the power of Vision to reduce their time spent on submitting expense reports, and provide more control and visibility on spend for the company,” said Tanya Drake, Director of Add-on Technology for Full Sail Partners.

Concur is the world’s leading provider of integrated travel and expense management services and solutions. Offering apps with streamlined integration with Concur Travel, Expense and Invoice products, the Concur App Center delivers innovative functionality in key categories such as finance, regulatory compliance, enterprise identity, traveler productivity, travel management and much more. For more information, visit https://www.concur.com/app-center.

Additionally, having completed training by Concur on Concur methodologies, Full Sail Partners is now a Customer Success Partner with Concur. As a Customer Success Partner, Full Sail Partners is now better equipped with insider information and deep product knowledge so you can spend less time setting up Concur and more time enjoying faster deployments and greater returns on your Concur investment.

For more information, please contact Full Sail Partners’ Marketing and Communications Department.