Accounting Today has recognized Full Sail Partners as one of the top 100 value-added resellers (VARs) for 2020. Being distinguished as a top 100 VAR indicates that Accounting Today is overwhelmingly confident with the firm’s services and knowledge of business accounting principles and the software required to support operations. Each year Accounting Today selects 100 VARs to acknowledge their accomplishments in the accounting software industry. The top VARs are chosen from firms focused on sales and implementation of accounting and enterprise resources planning (ERP) software. Accounting Today uses criteria such as revenue, number of offices, and staff size to generate the list of top VARs. 

“Full Sail Partners is once again pleased to be recognized by Accounting Today as a Top 100 VAR for 2020. Additionally, Full Sail Partners has found that 2020 is the year that the cloud has become a leading topic for our clients. With several of our clients preparing to upgrade from Deltek Vision to Vantagepoint, they have also decided to take advantage of the benefits afforded them by moving their on-premise solution to the cloud,” stated Sarah Gonnella, VP of Sales and Marketing at Full Sail Partners. “We anticipate this trend to continue well past 2021.”

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 an annual report developed to rank the top technology resellers in the accounting and ERP spaces.  

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

Many students started the new school year with digital learning. As parents navigate the most efficient way to support their children during the school day, we have launched a digital learning series to help both parents and students. Follow along for technology tips and tricks as families adapt to this new environment. This addition to our series features Google Slides. 

Creating Presentations in Google Slides

Many students across various grade levels are tasked with creating presentations as part of their assignments. There are several programs to choose from, but two of the more popular ones are Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides. Google Slides is gaining popularity within school systems. Check out this video to learn about time savers, such as master slides, as well as some tips that can improve the presentation creation experience.

Get Prepared for Digital Learning

We hope you found this vlog in our series helpful. Templates and shortcuts can make better use of time when creating Google Slides and PowerPoint presentations. Therefore, this automation can be beneficial for both students and parents. If you have a technology topic you would like to see covered in the digital learning series, let us know.

Last year, we conducted multiple CRM workshops throughout the US. We received such great feedback that we wanted to do it again. This year we are offering a virtual experience and it will be a "bootcamp" to get your CRM into shape. This bootcamp is focused on helping your firm discover how to better utilize your Deltek Vision CRM system. If you are considering attending but aren’t sure if the bootcamp is right for you, here are some key reasons to attend.

• Native State of CRM - Many attendees remarked that it was great to see what Deltek looked like before their firm customized it. Many of our attendees did not realize how much their system had been changed by past employees. That insight provided them a baseline of what changes had been made allowing them to rethink some of the custom fields previously added. Now is the perfect time to understand the original form of your system and reevaluate processes prior to upgrading to Deltek Vantagepoint.
• Hands-On - Although delivered in a virtual format, each session will be hands-on and interactive. Users will be given access to a Deltek Vision CRM database to follow along with the presenter during each session. Each bootcamp series is limited to only 20 people to allow for maximum participation and engagement. Each attendee will learn how to better utilize and configure a Deltek Vision CRM system and set-up useful reporting metrics for agile decision making. 
  
• Expand Your Thinking – For best results, firm attendees would include someone who is leading the CRM strategy and someone who is responsible for implementing the strategy. Although this bootcamp focuses on the fundamentals, it also will teach how to define strategies that will help you better recognize and manage client, contact, and partner touchpoints. The best CRM system works in combination with accounting.
  
• Adequate Time for Questions – With this year’s workshop split into four two-hour sessions, attendees will have even more time to play with their sample database and come back with questions. The workshop was already designed to allow plenty of time for this. With the new format, we anticipate even more in-depth and insightful discussions and questions.

What Did Past Attendees Think?

Following the 2019 workshop series, 56.5% of attendees responded to a request for their feedback. Of those that responded, ALL felt the workshop met or exceeded their expectations. Accuracy, Responsiveness, and Schedule received the highest response rate. Each of them received an average of 6.3, which means the workshop exceeded expectations, based on the Client Feedback response rate. Attendees were asked these questions:

As a professional services firm, your business exists because of the knowledge and expertise of your employees. Staying competitive requires these employees to keep up with the changing times and current industry practices. A learning management system (LMS) can set your professional services firm up for success by providing your employees training content related to their positions. However, one of the challenges with an LMS is finding or creating the relevant content. With Deltek Talent and RedVector joining forces, your firm can now leverage pre-built ample content. Let’s see the reasons why your firm should consider utilizing Deltek Talent’s Learning Management System.

Comprehensive Training Library

To start off with, Deltek Talent teamed up with RedVector which provides a comprehensive training library including courses in project management, safety, industry codes and standards, leadership development and much more. The online library contains approximately 4,000 courses authored by more than 200 subject matter experts and accredited by 100 national and state bodies. This extensive offering eliminates the need for your firm to have to create content on the fly. Here is a complete list in the AEC course catalog. 

Access Training Anywhere

Another key issue impacting employee learning is the time commitment. Many professional services firms require their employees to be flexible with their time and those employees often have to be other places during the workday besides at their desks. Conveniently, Deltek Talent is a cloud solution accessible from anywhere with internet access. Users can access content on-the-go from any device allowing employees to learn when it’s convenient for them.

Training Content in One Location

One of the main advantages of having RedVector aligned with Deltek Talent is that professional services firms have content from day one. Furthermore, firms can add additional instructor-led, online, and external courses allowing users to access courses in one location. It is easy for users to document what courses they have completed so managers have visibility into their employees’ development progress. With Deltek Talent’s LMS, there won’t be any problems with finding the appropriate content for employee enrichment.

Improve Performance & Retention

Professional services firms save a lot of time and money when their employees grow with the company and stay long term. Within Deltek Talent Learning, RedVector provides an assessment tool that helps determine the competency level of employees, new hires, or students and generates an individual training curriculum based on deficiencies in the assessment results. Thus, providing impactful learning opportunities that improves employee performance, reduces turnover and puts employees in the driver’s seat of their own careers. 

Reduce Risk

Finally, for highly regulated industries, managers need to track required training and certifications which can be done with Deltek Learning Management. Additionally, RedVector provides more than 500+ courses that address the most hazardous situations professional services firms face. Employees will learn how to recognize and prevent at-risk conditions or behavior before they lead to an incident. Having the correct employee certifications and providing safety awareness helps reduce employee and company risk. Here is a list of RedVector’s health, safety and environment library collection.

Fuel Prosperity

Deltek Talent and RedVector combined focus on providing professional services firms with skills training, continuing education, and performance support to reduce risk and promote employee success. When firms help their employees perform better and grow in their careers, they not only retain the best employees but make certain they are engaged which leads to a prosperous outcome for all.

When employees seek reimbursement for employee-paid expenses, chances are good that far too much time is spent looking for receipts. Often, there is also the question of limits, processes, and details around submitting an expense report. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a software that could manage employee expenses with a seamless process, helping you navigate expenses like a pro? Fear not, as such automation is possible with SAP Concur. Even more, SAP Concur integrates with Deltek Vision and Vantagepoint through the Blackbox Connector to simplify your expense reporting processes.

With SAP Concur, you can see all expense data in one place, offering the big financial picture while making the process easier for your employees. Yes, it can be a win-win for all. Let us look at some of the advantages an automated and integrated expense management tool can offer.  

Makes the Process Easier for Users

While submitting an expense report can be a very frustrating task, it is a necessary business process that cannot be overlooked or eliminated. Usually, it does take administrative or overhead time for some often-extensive searching. Fortunately, SAP Concur can give employees an easier method of submitting expenses on a routine basis with the following features: 

• Mobile Tools – Users have full access to expense report functions via a mobile device, allowing employees to submit, review, and approve on the go. Having full expense functions on a mobile device makes submitting expenses quick and easy. There is no more waiting until you are back at your desk to complete expense tasks.
• Receipt Capture – SAP Concur removes the need for a scanner, and never having to use a scanner to upload receipts one by one is priceless. Simply snap a picture of a receipt using your mobile phone camera and start a report from your mobile device, saving processing time.
• E-Receipts – Transaction data from airlines, hotels, restaurants, and car companies can be automatically captured to create accurate, detailed expense reports. Receipts can be sent directly to your SAP Concur profile, allowing you to quickly add the expense details without having to organize receipts. As soon as the receipt is emailed, it appears on the home expense screen.
• Credit Card Feeds – Your corporate or travel card transactions are directly fed into SAP Concur for expense processing. This functionality is marvelous; firms no longer need to manually import charges into an ERP or expense program for users to expense or for reconciliation. When a charge is made, the bank sends the transaction to SAP Concur. From there, users will see it on their home expense screen, and it is ready for expensing.

As you can see, the expense management process can be more efficient for employees, allowing them to focus their efforts on earning new business, serving the client, or working on current business. With an easier process, employees can submit their information timelier, and accounting can invoice clients sooner on billable expenses, helping to shorten the invoicing cycle.

Even Accounting Thinks This is Snazzy

Accounting teams are often the ones tracking down the missing details or having to reject submissions for details that were overlooked. By automating expense management and integrating it with your accounting system, SAP Concur can be implemented with workflows, ultimately helping everything flow more smoothly. Here are some of the features that accounting teams can look forward to:

• Automated Travel Policy – Workflows can be set to warn or stop expenses from being submitted based on your company’s expense/travel policy. Using the audit rules takes the guess work out of policies. Workflows allow the expense audit/approval process to move quickly and efficiently. Auditors and approvers do not need to spend hours verifying every policy detail; most can be set up as a rule and not allowed.
• Reporting – SAP Concur offers simple spend monitoring, schedule reports, and customizable reporting. The software offers out-of-the-box reporting, which is quick and easy to use. Reports can also be downloaded in different formats – Excel, Word, PDF. If the report needed is not available, it can typically be created and saved for future use.
• Integration – A comprehensive financial picture and reliable reporting can be gained by connecting to your enterprise resource planning system (ERP), Deltek Vision/Vantagepoint. Integrating SAP Concur with Deltek Vision/Vantagepoint allows a constant and consistent flow of financial data. New or changed employees and projects can be pushed into SAP Concur through an automated feed. Also, expense reports that are approved/processed in SAP Concur will be fed into Deltek Vision/Vantagepoint nightly and be ready for posting. So, no more need for double entry at many levels.

Wins All Around

As you can see from the highlighted features, SAP Concur can eliminate many pain points that come with expense reporting. The right expense management software creates a smoother process for firms, which benefits the employees, supervisors, and accounting team alike. We can all agree that any process that can be automated and ultimately improve a business should be given consideration. Everyone will be pleased with timely expense reimbursement so start managing your expenses like a pro with SAP Concur.

For professional services firms, having a reliable project planning tool is critical to ensuring projects are profitable. Therefore, a project planning tool needs to be intuitive for users and must improve project scheduling and resource planning. With Deltek Vantagepoint, project planning has been taken to the next level with a focus on the features and functionality that project managers need. Here are some key features of Vantagepoint that will assist project managers with delivering successful and profitable projects.

Use Project Templates in Deltek Vantagepoint

Before your firm actually starts a project, it must first propose how it will deliver the project for the prospective client. Therefore, a project plan must be created during the project proposal development process. Furthermore, your firm will want to ensure its proposed project plan is aligned with its typical project delivery method. With project templates, firms can quickly create a project plan based on the type of work being requested by the client.

Aside from the ease of creating a project plan, using a project template ensures that project managers are using the correct work breakdown structure (WBS) that aligns with their firm’s project delivery model. In addition to containing all the WBS levels, the plan created from the project template will include all the required pre-defined data fields. In summary, project templates:

• Save time when you create new project records
• Guarantee data uniformity in your project records
• Ensure new projects are set up with the proper WBS
  
  

Take Advantage of Labor Codes in Deltek Vantagepoint

With Deltek Vantagepoint, the ability to plan labor resources down to the labor code on a project is now possible. This additional functionality, which is seldomly seen in other project planning tools, allows project managers to better manage their project labor planning. With this increased level of granularity, firms can more accurately create internal budgets and improve labor tracking by department, service, or staff level.

The benefit of using labor codes is that the same labor codes are used across the board for all projects. As a result, project reports can include additional and meaningful labor detail that can be sorted by labor code. Additionally, firms that use labor codes can allow employees to bill time at multiple rates if they perform different jobs during a project.

Adjust Project Timelines with the Interactive Gannt Chart

Gantt charts are a great visual assistance tool for project managers, and Deltek has gone a step further by making them interactive in Vantagepoint. For those that are unfamiliar with Gantt charts, they use bars to illustrate a project schedule which can also include dependency relationships between activities and their scheduled time. With the project Gantt chart in Vantagepoint, project managers can adjust the project schedule from any level of the project by simply dragging and dropping the timeline bars.

As a result, project managers now have an easier way to adjust dates as changes to the project occur. Additionally, Deltek has included the ability to export the project Gantt chart in various formats. Among the options are PDF and PNG, and all can simply be attached in a project contract or proposal.

Take Control of Your Project with Deltek Vantagepoint 

As you can see, there are several valuable features in Deltek Vantagepoint’s project planning capabilities that other project planning tools are still lacking. From providing project templates, to offering labor codes to the interactive Gannt chart, Vantagepoint is taking project planning and delivery to the next level. Now is the time to step up your project planning and delivery with Deltek Vantagepoint.

COVID-19 has impacted everyone’s lives quite dramatically and suddenly. For many, working from home, also known as working virtually has become a way of life indefinitely. This new concept of full-time remote working presents unique challenges. Even more, for those of us who have worked at home for years are now dealing with distractions we were not previously exposed to such as sharing workspace with family members all the time. With COVID-19 introducing a plethora of daily hurdles to our once normal lives, here are some ideas to help you stay positive and make the most of this quarantine time.

Create a Workspace

The hardest adjustment people have had to make while sheltering in place or quarantining is keeping to a routine. With COVID-19 and the rapidly changing conditions created by the pandemic, daily routines have been upended overnight. It has been easy for both parents and kids to lose track of days and of time. Therefore, to maintain a disciplined routine, it is very important to create a workspace for yourself and for the others in your household. Whether it be the kids doing schoolwork from the kitchen table or everyone working from the dining room table, choose designated workspaces with designated hours. This will help keep you and your entire family focused on getting your daily work done. 

Improve Your Professional Skills

Believe it or not, working from home during a quarantine can make you more productive. Think about it, you’re not wasting time struggling with traffic and getting kids to sports. So, with this spare time, find free resources to help improve your professional skills. Here at Full Sail Partners, we offer whitepapers, webinars, and blogs like the one you’re reading. Furthermore, Deltek and Entrinsik have similar resources that can be useful to you. Be assured that during this time of uncertainty, Full Sail Partners will continue to create and provide our content for your consumption.

Gain Academic Knowledge

Going beyond your professional skills, there are countless opportunities to increase your academic knowledge. For many, when we finish school and start a career, we quickly leave behind academia not related to our profession. Generally, this is a necessity based on our growing needs that are in line with our priorities, like families. However, there are always those courses we enjoyed as electives and wanted to take a deeper dive into, but we just couldn’t seem to find the time.  

Well, now is a perfect opportunity to revisit this as there are numerous resources available on the internet. Here are links to some example of free online academic resources:

• Khan Academy
• Coursera
• Open Culture
• Alison

Even better, if you’re a parent now having to do at-home schooling on topics with which you’re rusty, most or all these resources have you covered.  

Stay Mindful

COVID-19 has created a health scare, but it is necessary for you and your family to find control in these unprecedented times. Staying mindful of the present is a good way to gain control back. In between work activities, take the time to go outside and reflect on the peacefulness of nature. You can even find short mindfulness videos on the internet to do as a family or on your own when you take a work break. Whatever means you choose, try to stay present and productive in each day and know that this will eventually pass.

Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining

While the current situation is challenging, the reality is that it is our new norm for the near future. In this time of COVID-19 quarantine, we all must focus on the positive rather than the negative. Identify workspaces and be productive, learn something new professionally and otherwise, and above all, establish routine and stay present. Good luck to everyone out there! We will get through this soon!

We’ve heard a lot about the customer experience (CX) and its impact upon professional services firms. However, another experience that is just as significant to firm success is the employee experience (EX). The employee experience involves not only firm culture, but also the means used by firms to encourage employee success. Let’s take a look at what can be used to ensure an exceptional employee experience.

Exceptional Onboarding

It is important to set the stage for a positive new hire experience. Therefore, the onboarding process needs to be effective and efficient in getting employees to the point of being productive as soon as possible. In order to avoid overwhelming orientation paperwork, there should be an online onboarding portal which can capture all relevant new hire information. For example, solutions like Deltek Talent Management offer such a portal. Additionally, there should be a person assigned to each new hire to provide guidance and resources needed for a smooth transition into the workplace.

Performance Management and Career Development

Employees need not only independence to do their jobs, but also room for growth. Another key feature offered by a solution like Deltek Talent Management is continuous performance management. Employee goals should be managed constantly giving them a chance to meet goals in realistic time frames. Both employees and managers can then see when those goals are met and what the next steps to take would be. For the future, employees need to see what upskills or reskills are needed for a transition into a higher or different level position within the firm.

Frequent Internal Communication

Internal communication within a firm not only disseminates significant information, but also helps develop a culture. Employees should feel a sense of community with their firm and be connected to the corporate brand. Providing frequent updates keeps employees in the loop which encourages engagement and productivity. This is particularly true for remote workers. Frequent internal communication will additionally earn employee trust which ensures longevity.

Follow Through on Employee Feedback

Employee feedback can be gleaned in a variety of ways. It could come from a routine feedback survey or even discussions during goal review. No matter where or how employee feedback is obtained, it must be reviewed and acted upon to ensure an exceptional employee experience. Generally, feedback is given because employees want to see changes that will positively impact the firm. Following through on employee feedback thus benefits everyone.

Share Positive Client Feedback

One sure fire way to keep employees motivated is to show how they have positively contributed to their firm. After hours of dedicated work, employees want to see how their projects came to fruition or how the product they sold solved their client’s problems. When employees hear compliments, it boosts confidence and proves that hard work does pay off in the end. Positive client feedback should be shared not only with the employee but across the organization as well.

Employee Experience Affects Employee Engagement

It is a fact that employee engagement directly impacts firm revenue. With an exceptional employee experience, many more employees will stay engaged meaning more success for your firm. Furthermore, those same employees will continue to grow with your firm eventually moving into higher level positions. This will avoid the cost of future top talent recruitment and save your firm money. Start working on improving your employee experience today and let Full Sail Partners know how we can help.

As the life blood of project-based firms, projects must be run efficiently and effectively from start to finish. Fortunately, Deltek Vantagepoint provides the functionality to give project managers more tools to run their projects. Furthermore, Vantagepoint seamlessly integrates your firm’s business processes using an impressive feature suite bringing business development, accounting, resource planning and project management together. By empowering the different roles within firms, projects are better managed and thus more successful. Let’s check out the power of Deltek Vantagepoint.

User Convenience

Deltek Vantagepoint is user-friendly with easy to understand workflows. The browser based Vantagepoint interface offers the ultimate convenience for its users. Additionally, in 2020, there will be an add-on for Outlook. Users will be able to manage Vantagepoint activities within their Outlook calendar. Synchronizing of contact records and smart scheduling will be available to make managing projects even more convenient.

Vantagepoint Project Hub

Project managers can get access to all they need to manage their projects through the project hub in Deltek Vantagepoint. In 2020, the project hub will be expanded to include more functionality. A new interactive Gantt charting tool gives project managers the chance to view their schedules plus change them via a drag and drop option. Also, a scenario planning feature and revenue forecasting tool will be added to the project hub offerings.

Data for Informed Decision Making

In Deltek Vantagepoint, there is a dashboarding framework that ensures project-based firms have proper metrics and information for informed decision making. There will be further expansion of the dashboard to include more visual dashparts in 2020. Currently, the Vantagepoint Intelligence (VI) module is available, but later in the year there will be VI Analysis Cubes which offer pre-calculated data for analysis by anyone in the firm.

Deltek Vantagepoint is Becoming More Powerful in 2020

There will be even more improvements to Deltek Vantagepoint’s functionality throughout 2020 further powering your firm projects. The 3.0 release in late January has already provided some dashboard improvements as well as the Gantt scheduling feature. With the second release, 3.5, the new revenue forecasting tool will be available, as well as the Outlook add-on and Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) to enhance the mobile time and expense app. Finally, the 4.0 release planned for Q4 will focus on resource planning features like scenario planning and more revenue forecasting. Are you new to Deltek and Vantagepoint? Time to learn more!