Full Sail Partners Blog (13)

It’s no shock that technology is constantly changing. While some firms are accustomed to decentralized pursuit and marketing data, others are recognizing the need to consolidate platforms and streamline processes. In doing so, teams are discovering that a shared resource offers more transparency and accountability if executed smoothly. What are you waiting for? 

My years as a proposal specialist, marketing coordinator, marketing director, and now a CRM consultant have shown me that not all firms, or systems, are the same. There are often similarities regarding firm priorities, but people and processes can vary greatly. Let’s look at some pointers from the success stories and perhaps some lessons learned from others.  

Approach as a Team 

DO: Approach a CRM implementation with a TEAM mindset. 

The more successful implementations not only have executive support throughout the process, but they have executive engagement and involvement. This takes a commitment of time and effort from the leadership team as well as other stakeholders. Stakeholders may include members of the leadership team, marketing, and business development, seller/doers, proposal coordinators, and more.  

In Deltek Vantagepoint, everyone is using the same system and the same data, but for multiple purposes. This is certainly a team project, whether you would like to admit it or not. This concept is likely a change from previous processes.  

DON’T: Expect the marketing team to implement and roll out to the entire firm. 

There’s more to Deltek Vantagepoint CRM than marketing. It’s true! A strong CRM can guide how your firm identifies, pursues, and wins work. By capturing the right data, results can be analyzed and strategies adjusted.  

Engage Stakeholders 

DO: Think about business processes as a whole.  

It can take a large team of people in various roles to win work. Everyone has a part in the process, and representatives from those roles should be included in the implementation team. In Deltek Vantagepoint, many roles touch even just one project record. Business developers, proposal coordinators, project managers, finance teams, and project accountants all have a vested interest in recording data. The process needs to be seamless and support business processes. 

Ask questions, and then ask more! A few to get you started include:  

• Where do groups track efforts?  
• What reports are modified outside of Vantagepoint?
• What information do you want to know but have no way of knowing?
• How many emails are sent to find out who talked to John Doe recently? 
• What are the pain points in the process of winning work?

DON’T: Assume an individual or small group has all the answers to the above questions.  

Each role has an interest in different parts of the process. Use this opportunity to address as many as possible while implementing CRM in Deltek Vantagepoint.  

Manage Expectations 

DO: Identify firm priorities to focus on.   

What are the primary goals? And what is the timeline to accomplish these? Priorities usually identify themselves after stakeholders converse and discuss wish list items. Here are more questions to prioritize:  

• Does the firm want to have a clean pipeline?
• Does the firm want to utilize project forecasting?
• Does the firm want to know what is being spent on the pursuit of work? 
• What is the return on effort for marketing initiatives?
• How easily can a contact list be created for a holiday mailer? 

Secondary priorities can come into the fold after the primary priorities are rolled out. For firms new to CRM, there are recommended stepping stones to build upon and each of those takes some time. After all, a CRM implementation is usually rolled into a potentially busy workload. Identifying priorities and creating realistic timelines helps team members understand what’s important now and what to look forward to in the future.    

DON’T: Expect to successfully roll out a complete CRM in a few months. 

On the surface, that’s potentially an achievable goal. However, it may be more transactional than impactful. Do it right and go for impact!   

Make Decisions 

DO: Identify needs, discuss solutions, and make decisions.  

Making decisions allows for configurations to be made and tested. Once tested and confirmed that the process and system meet user needs, then document and execute it. Most CRM configurations can be modified and adjusted as needed. You must start somewhere though.  

DON’T: Delay decisions.  

I see implementations lose steam when decisions take too long. Sometimes this is due to not having the right team members around the table. Teams must include decision-makers and doers.   

Educate  

DO: Socialize the concept of CRM with employees.  

Introduce bite-size pieces of visuals, data, or processes in company meetings. By nature, some employees may become CRM champions or power users. Give them access and let them promote CRM with the implementation team. It’s always great to identify those cheerleaders within the firm that naturally promote a CRM because they believe in the process and trust the data.  

DON’T: Shock your users and give them a manual. 

People don’t typically like surprises. CRM implementation is no different. Helping others recognize what’s in it for them can go a long way. Even without the presence of a formal CRM platform, some employees are likely tracking CRM-like information. Perhaps it’s in a spreadsheet, email platform, another CRM tool, a notebook, or even their heads! Introduce them to a new tool to increase efficiency. 

Be Open to Adaptation  

DO: Recognize that this is a fluid and ongoing effort.  

Your business is constantly changing, which means your CRM system will need to adapt to those changes. A well-implemented CRM has an accompanying maintenance plan and onboarding steps.  

DON’T: Think you’re done after your go-live date.  

Tweaks will be made along the way, and workflows may change your life!  

Everyone Should be Involved When Implementing CRM 

There are many best practices to learn from and take advantage of here. While CRM is a tool that was historically used by marketing teams, Deltek Vantagepoint offers so much more than that. A theme that should be promoted throughout an implementation is “our system.” A CRM implementation is a group effort and everyone throughout the firm should be considered and involved throughout the process. 

Deltek Vantagepoint features a free Planning tool that is available for use by EVERY user on ANY type of project. That’s right! The Vantagepoint Project Planning application is free with Back Office and ready to use without additional licensing costs! 

Your team can enjoy the benefits of using a modern project planning tool with no messy integrations or boring training sessions. With just a few steps, your firm can go from looking in the rearview mirror to careening toward excellence using a modern predictive planning tool. Just open the software, get a little Best Practices assistance from your friendly Deltek Vantagepoint Planning Consultant, and get users trained. Then watch how it improves awareness and performance. 

Login now and you can access… 

• Plans for any Project Charge Type. 
• Overhead Projects – Wonder where the IT time goes? Use the Plan to review JTD Spending on Labor and Expenses! 
• Promotional Projects – Need to be conscious of the spend on pursuing projects? Create a plan to set expectations and monitor spending! 
• Regular Projects – Set up the plan and budget for resources and review at any time.
  

Contract Information 

Planning provides users with key information on the contract values stored in the Contract Management section of the Project. When the Contract is updated in the project, it is updated in the plan automatically! WOW! 
 

Labor JTD Review and ETC Planning 

Using the plan to view JTD Labor and enter the remaining hours needed to complete the work is simple and provides immediate feedback on the expected total hours. 

This information automatically calculates dollars spent and projected at Billing or Cost values and generates a forecast of project performance. 

Planning for Expenses and Consultants 

Expense & Consultant budgets can be planned in dollars, and like the Labor, the posted amounts are updated in the plan automatically. 

Visibility EVERYWHERE! 

Viewing project performance in the plan effectively replaces the boring black & white reporting we’ve been forced to use all these years! It’s so exciting!  

Want to keep your reports? You can have them at no extra charge. The data from the plans can be used in most Project reports by simply changing the Budget Details to Project Planning Budget and choosing the right columns. 

But Wait, There’s More!  

Want a reporting tool that updates automatically when your plan changes? You can have it! See the same information from the plan in a colorful Deltek Vantagepoint Dashboard! Just wow! 

Do you feel like you must choose between the Budget tool and the Planning application? Well, you can have both! Review Planned Data next to Budget data in the new Vantagepoint Project Review. Accountants can have their place and Project Managers can too! 

And there’s even more! Implementing use of the Planning tool allows your firm to extend the investment with Planning Resource and Budget Alerts. Planning data can even be used to streamline and validate Timesheet Entries. 

All This for ZERO Easy Payments 

Let’s review the features you get for ZERO Easy Payments! 

1. Labor, Consultant, and Expense Planning  

1. Planning by Employee and Generic Resource 

1. Real-time Labor visibility (including unposted time!) 

1. Data Visibility in applications, reports, dashboards 

How Can So Much Be Free? 

It’s simple, the tool has been scaled to fit the current needs of firms of all sizes. Adoption of the basic tool is easy, and the benefits easily recognized. Today, you can dabble in the Planning tool with little investment. And when you are ready for more, simply add licenses without losing any of the momentum you have achieved. 

What is included in the licensed Vantagepoint Planning and Resource Management application? 

As of Vantagepoint 5.5, features available to licensed users fall into four categories: 

• Usability Features 
  • Schedule Tab with exportable Gantt chart 
  • Schedule (Task) Dependencies  
  • Planning Subrows to display Planned and Actual values for Hours, Cost, Billing in time scale periods 
  • Planning Assignments displayed on the Employee Card 
  • Bulk Redistribution of Hours and Variance Spreading 
• System Extensions 
  • Project Pursuit Stages 
  • Revenue Forecast Application 
  • Estimated Fee and Probability fields 
  • Planning Exports 
• Visibility 
  • Project Planning Reports 
  • Planning Dashparts such as My Upcoming Assignments  
  • Resource Planning Data in the Calendar Timesheet 
• Resource Management  
  • Resource View, Project View, and Reporting 
  • Generic Assignments Dashparts 

Getting So Much for So Little 

You might be wondering, “How can so much come for so little?” It’s simple, the tool has been scaled to fit your needs now and in the future. Today, you can dabble in the Planning tool with little investment or risk. And when you are ready for more, simply add licenses without losing any of the momentum you have achieved. 

Whether your firm has zero or hundreds of licenses for Deltek Vantagepoint Resource Planning, the need to manage project performance is universal. The steps for input and maintenance are all the same regardless of how far you want to take the data.  Act Now!  Get started with Planning today!  

As a project management software, Deltek Vantagepoint offers many capabilities for managing projects and teams. One of the most important aspects of managing a project is ensuring that the team is able to work together seamlessly. This is where Deltek Vantagepoint's integration with ADP Workforce Now comes in. 

ADP Workforce Now is a human resources management system that offers a variety of features for managing employee data. By integrating Deltek Vantagepoint with ADP Workforce Now, organizations can take advantage of both systems' capabilities to manage projects and people more effectively. 

From the moment of first hire, you can keep your employee data in sync with the ADP Workforce Now Connector for Deltek Vantagepoint. This allows for a single source of truth with the need for only a one-time data entry occurrence. 

The integration between Deltek Vantagepoint and ADP Workforce Now allows organizations to: 

• View employee data from both systems in one place 
• Update employee information in both systems from one central location 
• Create and manage employee profiles from either system 

One Source of Truth for Core Employee Information 

With this integration, there is one single source of truth for the origin or updates of core employee information. By having one point of entry, duplication of entry and possibility of errors is reduced.   

Because ADP has a self-service portal, employees can update information as they need to in their record, and the Blackbox Connector will pick up the changes on the next scheduled synchronization, which is set based on your business needs.   

If an update to a single employee record is needed sooner than the scheduled synchronization, then that record can be synchronized on demand via a Workflow button within the Employees Hub in Deltek Vantagepoint. 

You Decide What Information Is Mapped Between Systems 

With the initial setup process, you will assist with a mapping exercise that will determine which fields in ADP are mapped to their respective fields within Deltek Vantagepoint. If there is a field within ADP that has a respective field within Vantagepoint then the Blackbox Connector can pick it up. Example standard mappings include: 

• Workers in ADP are inserted or updated within the Employees Hub in Deltek Vantagepoint. 

• Degrees in ADP can be mapped to the Degrees/Education grid within Vantagepoint. 
• Skills in ADP can be mapped to the Skills grid in Vantagepoint. 
• Licenses in ADP map to the Licenses grid in Vantagepoint. 
• Emergency contacts are mapped to the Emergency contacts grid in Vantagepoint.   
• PTO balances can be taken from ADP and mapped into Vantagepoint.  

• Cash Disbursement GL entries can also be retrieved from ADP and put into Vantagepoint. This process can also automate the upload of payroll data to ADP. 

Easily Adapts as Your Business Adapts 

As your business evolves, no code changes are needed. If you add custom fields or change relationships between ADP columns and Deltek Vantagepoint columns, dynamic mapping is available within the Blackbox Connector. This drag and drop process includes advanced mapping capabilities if they are needed. 

No More Flat Files with This API-Driven Connector 

The Blackbox Connector connects ADP and Deltek Vantagepoint via API. This means that all Employee synchronizations are done electronically, which eliminates the need for flat files and overnight processes. To restrict the impact on your system, only records that are newly created or changed within ADP are brought across during synchronization. Your synchronization can be scheduled multiple times per day. 

The Benefits Are Clear 

The benefits of the Blackbox Connector between ADP Workforce Now and Deltek Vantagepoint are clear: 

• By having a single source of truth, duplication of entry and errors are reduced.   
• With the interval based scheduled or on demand synchronizations, you stay up to date with your staff information. 
• This enterprise grade technology is being offered at reasonable prices and comes with the full support of the Full Sail Partners’ team of Deltek experts. 

• The Blackbox Connector is also future-proof which alleviates any fear of upgrades or changes. All of that is handled for you.   

The integration between these two systems makes it easy for organizations to manage their projects and teams more effectively. By being able to view and update employee information in one central location, organizations can save time and resources. 

To see the Deltek Vantagepoint Blackbox Connector for ADP Workforce Now in action click the image below. 

Engaging clients is essential to any business, but it can be difficult to know where to start. However, by understanding the client engagement lifecycle, businesses can develop a process for engaging clients that leads to long-term relationships. 

What is the Client Engagement Lifecycle 

In every sales transaction, buyers (or clients) go on a journey that begins the moment they decide they need services and continues to when the contract is eventually signed. This is called the client engagement lifecycle. And you can imagine this as a funnel with the following phases: 

• Attract 
• Nurture 
• Convert 
• Grow 

A prospect is initially attracted to your firm and starts at the top of the funnel and goes through each phase until eventually you are providing services for them.  

Client Engagement Lifecycle Stages 

Now let’s go through each client engagement lifecycle stage in a little more detail.  

Attract

The client engagement lifecycle begins when you bring in new prospects. You can think of this as the top of the funnel. During this stage, it’s important to identify your target markets and personas such as project managers, facility managers, and/or directors that will be interested in your services.  

To do this, you’ll want to create marketing content and promotions that resonate with these key personas. The goal is to attract them to your firm using your expertise and/or answering their questions.  

The marketing content can be varied. It could range from written blogs to videos, webinars and podcasts. You just want to make sure the content is relevant to your target markets and personas and helps them solve common obstacles within their industry. 

Sales and technical staff will usually have little-to-no engagement in this stage of the lifecycle.  

Nurture

Once prospects have been attracted to your firm with your attract-type content, it’s important to maintain the prospects’ interests so they stay in the funnel. This is typically done through digital efforts like email marketing and offline efforts through phone calls and networking events.  

Knowing what content has sparked and sustained this interest is important so you can produce new content to continue to drive awareness. Additionally, the original content that brought them into the funnel should leave them with unanswered questions. 

During this stage, familiarity with the content which first attracted the prospects will help you determine questions they might now have. Your new content should be more specific to answer these questions with fact-based information that also communicates your expertise. Email campaigns provide a great avenue to share this fresh content. 

Your sales managers or technical team members may also follow up with the prospects to ask further questions and make introductions to your firm and its services. 

Convert

As your prospects move from the attract and through the nurture phases, it’s now time to get those prospects to make a conscious decision to move further. This is not to say they were not interested in your services before, but rather the content that you have been sharing has made them recognize you are a trusted authority and a subject matter expert. 

This stage is when specific, offline conversations need to begin, and you should convert these prospects into advocates. For professional services firms, this means that your technical staff may be meeting with the prospects over the phone or in meetings to talk about a specific project. The conversations are turning to either a request for proposal and/or proposing specific services.  

The content produced in this phase supports proposals, presentations, and other sales-related documents to close the sale!  

Grow

Congratulations, you now have new clients in your funnel. This is the stage where you will foster the ability to provide additional services to your clients. 

The tricky thing here is creating content that will be important to your clients in the future. For some clients, this is a few months down the road, and for others, a year or more. A great tool to use is a monthly or quarterly newsletter for sharing your newly created content to create new opportunities. 

Using the Client Engagement Lifecycle to Your Advantage 

Understanding the client engagement lifecycle for your specific firm and targeted markets works as an advantage for your marketing and business development efforts. When you identify your client engagement lifecycle for a specific market or persona such as a facilities director for a University Campus.  

You can then begin to create marketing content that specifically appeals to that facilities director. This specific content strategy will work to attract the right type of prospects and generate leads for your firm.  

The client engagement lifecycle is a valuable tool for businesses to use when developing their client engagement strategy. 

Wrapping it All Up 

The client engagement lifecycle is a process that businesses use to manage and improve their relationships with clients. It typically includes stages such as attract, nurture, convert, and grow. By understanding and leveraging each stage of the client engagement lifecycle, businesses can drive results by identifying opportunities for improvement and developing strategies to increase client satisfaction and loyalty. This can lead to increased revenue, repeat business, and improved overall performance. 

To learn more about content marketing strategies for each stage of the client engagement lifecycle, click the image below for our series. 

As we kick off the New Year, many people make resolutions. Some people create personal resolutions like exercising more or saving money for a vacation and some create professional resolutions such as striving for a promotion. Many firms also set organizational resolutions, usually called goals. Common goals are to improve profitability or implement more efficient processes. One goal that can both improve profitability and create efficiencies in an organization is to go paperless in your accounting department.   

Does your firm have a goal to go paperless? Going paperless or at least striving to significantly reduce paper in your organization can benefit a firm in the following ways: 

• Cost reductions – One obvious item is the reduced expense of the paper itself, but other items could include a reduction of printer ink, file folders, file cabinets, and storage rental to save records. If going paperless includes paying vendors by EFT, as discussed below, the expense reduction can also include the cost of check stock, envelopes, and postage to mail checks.   
• Efficiencies gained – Many firms spend time printing reports, invoices, and checks and then have to manage to distribute these items and sometimes track that items have been returned. Eliminating printing these items and allowing the system to “manage the distribution” will streamline the process.   

Here are some examples of how Deltek Vantagepoint can help you get your firm to go paperless! 

Utilize Deltek’s AP Approval Process  

One of the first tools you can utilize to assist your firm in going paperless is to implement the AP Approval process. If your firm is currently routing invoices around the office in a file folder and tracking which invoices are “out for approval,” the AP approval will significantly help your firm! The AP Approval process allows firms to approve consultant or trade invoices within the system based on your firm’s approval philosophy. The approval workflow is very flexible, meaning you can route invoices based on a variety of options such as the vendor, project being charged, purchase order criteria if used, or to a specific employee. The workflow can also have multiple steps, such as having secondary approvals based on the dollar amount of the voucher.   

The first step of the AP Approval process is to attach the invoice electronically to the voucher. Therefore, it is recommended that the firm requests all invoices be sent to an email box, eliminating paper invoices even coming in the door! The system will track which step each approval is at, at any given time, so your AP staff will not have to track which invoices have been approved or which ones they need to track down. The AP Approval process is the first step to getting the accounts payable process to be paperless. 

Pay Vendors by ACH/EFT 

Paying vendors electronically by ACH/EFT is the most efficient method of payment processing. Electronic payments will eliminate the need for check stock, envelopes, copies of checks, and file cabinets for storage, not to mention adding efficiency to the payment process.  It is best practice to request banking information as well as a contact to email the payment remittance from all vendors. This information is then saved in the Vendor Hub. When processing payments, no checks or check copies will need to be printed. Instead of mailing the check and remittance to the vendor, the system can email the remittance to the email address entered in the Vendor Hub. The EFT file can then be saved directly from the payment screen and uploaded to your bank.   

If your current process is to print checks, print check copies, attach invoice backup to checks, sign checks, mail checks, and file the backup in file cabinets then implementing electronic AP payments will significantly reduce the time needed for your AP payment processing. Your new process would be something like this:

• Process automatic payment run,
• Email remittances to vendors,
• Process EFT file, and
• Upload to the bank website. 

Easy and fast!  

There are some “pro-check people” that say they like to physically sign a paper check to ensure the invoice and payment are accurate and they want to see all the approvals. The answer to that is to first put in place the AP Approval process as mentioned above, and if the check signer would like to approve the actual invoices, that person could be a step in the AP Approval workflow. Additionally, the “former” check signer can review the payments through the Payment Review screen prior to uploading the ACH/EFT file to the bank. The Payment Review screen will allow the approver to see each payment made, click on the vouchers, and drill into Voucher Review to view the documents and approvals as they wish. 

Implement Billing Approval Process  

Another process that allows firms to go paperless is to implement the Billing Approval process to invoice your clients. Many firms print draft invoices and give them to the PM or Principals to markup and approve by passing around folders. How long has the PM had to approve the invoices? Who has not given the biller the folder back? Did they give the biller all the draft invoices back that were in the folder, to begin with? Stop this manual process and start using the Billing Approval process in the system!   

The Billing Approval process allows firms to route the invoice to the approver within the Deltek Vantagepoint system, markup and approve the invoice electronically and route the invoice back to the biller for final review. The biller will always know which invoices are approved or still “in process.” There is also a report that can be produced to show how many days it took from the submittal of the invoice to final approval. Additionally, Deltek Vantagepoint has the ability to email the client the invoice directly from the system, so the invoice never has to be printed.   

How much paper would your firm save by not printing any draft invoices month after month!?!  It could be reams of paper, so it adds up fast! 

Consider Going Paperless as a Goal for New Year  

After you close out 2022, evaluate your firm’s 2023 goals. Consider adding “Going Paperless” to your 2023 agenda and utilizing some of these tools. Not only will you reduce paper, but your processes will also be more efficient! Cheers to a successful and profitable 2023! 

As we begin a new year, it’s important to look back and reflect on the past. What better way to do that than to watch the top 5 Deltek Vantagepoint mini demos from last year? 2022 was a bit of a grab bag, so this list includes everything from features that have been in Vantagepoint for a while to add-ons for the programs we use every day. Without further ado, here are the top 5 Deltek Vantagepoint mini demos of 2022!  

#5: Utilizing the Search Functionality 

The search functionality is one of the most overlooked features in Deltek Vantagepoint. There are categories of searches: standard searches, my searches, shared searches, and legacy searches. Standard search has a few different types of searches, such as the selection and active search, and generally apply to a variety of the hubs throughout Vantagepoint. My searches are your personal searches that you have saved for future use. Shared searches are ones that have been shared with you by your administrator or other power users in your firm and serve to create a standardization in your searches. The last type of search, legacy searches, is one that only applies to firms that made the switch from Deltek Vision to Deltek Vantagepoint. These are read only, so they will need to be rebuilt in order to modify them. 

Want to learn how to make and utilize these different types of searches effectively? Take a look at our demo here: Utilizing the Search Functionality. 

#4: Redistribute Planned Project Hours 

More often than not, a project’s budget and schedule change throughout its life cycle. Luckily, Deltek Vantagepoint allows users to easily adjust a project’s plan to fit their needs. The first step in this process is to change the dates for the project. After the dates are in order, the planned hours for the project should be changed. Some extra columns like contract and planned billing might be needed to determine the amount to adjust the planned hours by, so make sure to enable them when doing this step. 

This function is easy to use and saves a huge amount of time for everyone! For a step by step walkthrough on redistributing planned project hours, check out our demo here: Redistribute Planned Project Hours. 

#3: A Small, but Mighty Enhancement with Saved Views 

In previous iterations, Deltek Vantagepoint would save the last list view that you were in when you exited the program. Then when you re-opened Vantagepoint you would be returned to that same list view. In the Vantagepoint 5.5 update, a new feature has been added that allows multiple list views to be saved. This enhancement is useful in many areas such as hubs, expense reports and even interactive billing. Take a look around and find where saved views can help you! 

For a more in-depth look at how to create these lists and put them to use, watch our demo here: A Small, but Mighty Enhancement with Saved Views. 

#2: Introduction to Contract Management 

 The contract management tool in Deltek Vantagepoint is a fan favorite. It is useful for taking all the guesswork out of compensation with detailed breakdowns of how the total amount came to be. To get the absolute most out of this feature, it is imperative that the “Project Entering Method” is set to “Lowest Level Only” and “Synchronize Contract Values to Project Compensation” is set to “Yes.” Contract Type and Contract Status should also be configured in labels and list area. 

There are many more features and functions in the Contract Management tab. To hear about them all be sure to tune into our demo here: Introduction to Contract Management. 

#1: CRM Contact Accessibility Directly with Outlook 

Having to flip between two applications to find a contact is tedious and tiresome. Instead of wasting time trying to track someone down, connect Deltek Vantagepoint to your Outlook inbox. With this enhancement, Outlook will provide information from Vantagepoint on the contact, as well as information on related contacts. If there is no contact in the system, Vantagepoint will give the option to create a new contact and fill out the relevant fields. Projects can even be created from Outlook! 

There’s more than meets the eye with this upgrade. Watch our demo to see what you’re missing out on and how it works here: CRM Contact Accessibility Directly with Outlook. 

What’s Up Next? 

We hope you’ve enjoyed our blogs, Deltek Vantagepoint mini demos, and other content this past year! We’ve been cooking up a bunch of new content for 2023, so keep an eye on our social media accounts for more announcements. Looking forward to another productive year with you! 

Deltek Vantagepoint is a powerful tool with many capabilities to ensure the success of project-based firms. Despite the availability, many users often don’t use the system to its full capacity or simply overlook some of the features of Vantagepoint that will make their jobs easier. In this article, I’ll just scratch the surface of Vantagepoint’s capabilities by sharing 10 tips and tricks. Hopefully one or two of these will help you get more out of your system.  

#1 – Use the Application Finder to Get to Your Information Faster 

As part of its re-imagination process, Deltek took the redesign of the user interface seriously. This means getting the information you need faster and more streamlined. One way they did this was by adding an Application Finder or search bar to the left-hand navigation. You can use this application finder to type in a few characters of what hub you want to open. For example, if you want to open a project record, you can begin typing “Pro...” and it will display all the areas with the word project in it.  

And, with Vantagepoint 5.5, you’ll find little stars next to each sub-menu and you can click to fill in the star and make it available in the favorite menu. To toggle between the favorites menu and the normal menu, use icons directly below the find application and above the menus. Find application is active no matter which icon is selected. See below for an example. 

#2 – Personalize Vantagepoint in My Preferences 

While the Deltek admin can configure the settings for the company, security roles, and even specific users, you can personalize some of the Vantagepoint experience just for you! By clicking on the gear in the top right corner, then selecting “My Preferences,” there are some ways that you can personalize your experience. Some of those include:  

• Set your preferred project search sort order. You can choose to sort the project lists by Project Name or Project Number.  
• Choose whether you select saved searches or records when running a report. 
• Choose whether you want to default to an accounting period or be prompted to select an accounting period upon initial log-on to Vantagepoint.  
• If your firm has turned on the Contact Qualification settings, you can choose the default Qualified status as either New Lead or Qualified Lead.  
• You can set your default Country for all addresses in the system.  
• You can choose what you want to load initially when you log into Vantagepoint. Options include the Application last used, the default Welcome Page, or you can select a specific application.    
  

#3 – Access Vantagepoint from Your Phone 

This is often one of the most overlooked features of Vantagepoint – the mobile apps! Deltek has created two mobile apps specifically for Vantagepoint. One is for time and expense and one is specifically for CRM. Both are available for both iPhone and Android users. Stop what you’re doing right now, open your phone, go to your app store, and then search and download at least the Deltek T&E for Vantagepoint.  

The Deltek T&E for Vantagepoint allows you to complete and submit your timesheet on the go! And, with Vantagepoint 5.5, Deltek improved the navigation menu and usability to make completing your timesheet even easier. The T&E app also allows you to submit expenses from your phone too. It utilizes ICR so that you can snap a photo of a receipt and the app intelligently reads text and handwriting to populate the form using machine learning.  

Please note that you’ll need the CRM license to access the Deltek CRM for the Vantagepoint app. With this app, you’ll be able to view, add and edit records including firms, contacts, projects, and activities. And, with Vantagepoint 5.5 or later, you can snap a photo of a business card, and using the same ICR technology, it will either add or update the contact information.  

#4 – Don’t Miss an Important Alert or Assignment 

The notification center allows you to instantly see how many outstanding action items and notifications you have. You’ll know you have an important notification when a red number appears in the top right corner of Vantagepoint. This notification center is organized by Action Items and Notifications. The Action Items area includes activities, approval assignments, and past-due timesheets. The Notifications area includes workflow notifications, alerts, and failed and completed process server jobs. 

#5 – Use List View to See and Update Many Records at Once 

Every Hub area in Vantagepoint has the ability to show one record at a time or multiple records at once using List View. No matter what Hub you’re in, to toggle between record and list view, click the button with the three lines just to the right of the record numbers (see screenshot below). 

When you go into List View, you’ll see all of the records you have opened based on your search criteria. And, once you’re in List View, you can do a few different things. Below are just a few of the list view functions.  

• Quickly sort and filter the records by clicking the little funnel icon on the right-hand side.  
• Choose which columns (or fields) you want to see in list view by clicking the gear just above the list of records
• Update the information in each cell by clicking in it.  
• Download the records as they currently appear on the screen by clicking the down arrow just above the list of records. 
• Save the view so you can apply it again or save different views based on the task for that session.   

#6 – Stop Wasting Time Searching for Your Information 

If you find yourself constantly looking for the same records or the same type of records over and over again, I encourage you to create a saved search. You can create saved searches for yourself or for others (based on your security settings) to quickly find the records you need. Some popular saved searches include: 

• Projects where I am the Project Manager (or Principal or Marketing Manager), 
• Contacts located in a certain city or state,  
• Clients where I am the client manager, and 
• Active pursuits which can be a list of projects in certain stages. 

Watch this mini-demo to learn more about searching and saving frequently used searches. 

#7 – Set Up Projects Faster Using Project Templates  

With Deltek Vantagepoint, there are most likely going to be more people creating new project records. This includes marketing, business development, project managers, and accounting. This differs from other ERP systems, including Deltek’s previous Vision system, where mostly finance or accounting open new projects. Because of Vantagepoint’s streamlined project lifecycle, you only need to open one project record that will be used from pursuit to project delivery.  

Make the project creation process faster and more consistent by utilizing project templates. When you create a project from either another project or a project template with a structure already determined, Vantagepoint will build that new project with that same structure and/or allow you to choose to edit the structure during the project creation process.    

Through this process, you can choose the levels of the project that you want to use as well as add additional levels and edit values as needed before saving.  

#8 – Use the Calendar to Complete Your Timesheet 

If you’re like me and find visual displays easier to read than line-item displays, then the Calendar is for you! The calendar feature is found under My Stuff and allows you to create, edit, and schedule events and activities as well as their associated tasks and timesheet entries. You can use the Calendar Timesheet Pane to add timesheet entries. In this view, you can see recent projects and upcoming assignments and drag these items to the calendar.  

#9 – Share Vantagepoint Records Easily 

Because Deltek Vantagepoint is a web browser-based application, each record or screen has its own URL that is specific to your Vantagepoint instance. You can save your Vantagepoint URLs to specific applications, Hubs, or records similar to how you save other favorite websites, or you can share them with your coworkers.  

See the screenshot below, specifically the URL at the top of the image. I can copy and paste that URL link to send in a Teams Chat or email to one of my coworkers. When they click on the link, they will be prompted to log into Vantagepoint but then be taken directly to that project record.  

#10 – Get the Right Help, When You Need It 

Another part of Deltek’s reimagining was the help or support portal for Vantagepoint. No matter where you are in the system, you can click on the question mark in the top right corner and the Help options will change dynamically based on what Hub or application area you’re currently in. The example below shows project-related information including links to Online Help, Learning Aids, Information Center, and more.  

If you find yourself not knowing what a specific record or application does, what to do next, or if you want to learn more, make sure the next step is to click the question mark in the top right corner.   

Do More with Deltek Vantagepoint 

These are just 10 tips and tricks to help you get more value from Deltek Vantagepoint. To see these and others in action, please click the image below to view our mini-demo series – Powering Project Success with Deltek Vantagepoint. Each mini-demo is less than 15 minutes and will show you how Vantagepoint empowers the different roles in your firm.  

The new features in Deltek Vantagepoint 5.5 enhance usability, increase personalization for individual users and streamline project management and accounting workflows. It’s easier than ever for professional services firms to access the right information and complete common tasks quickly. Here’s an overview of what’s new.

Schedule Dependencies

Users with the Resource Planning Module can create dependencies in the Gantt chart and manage a project’s critical path. Project managers can quickly visualize and modify the project schedule, work breakdown structure elements and the relationship between those elements. When an update is made at one level, all of the dependent levels are automatically updated.

Dependencies are also accessible in the Project Planning report. Users can view information about dependency relationships between work breakdown structure elements, projects and associated labor codes.

Drill-Down Paths

Help users access the right information quickly with drill-down paths. Users can determine which information is shown when they drill down into key summary metrics on a chart or table. For example, when a user clicks on a column displaying outstanding accounts receivable data, Deltek Vantagepoint can be configured to show them a dashpart with AR invoice detail.

Personal Dashboards

Users can now create their own personalized dashboards without engaging an administrator or manager. This added flexibility will help expand adoption and free up administrator time since users can customize more of their experience with Deltek Vantagepoint.

Update Percent Complete from the Dashboard

With Deltek Vantagepoint 5.5, project managers can easily manage percent complete with fewer clicks, ultimately improving reporting and billing accuracy. There are new columns in the project dashpart base for Weighted Percent Complete and Weighted Percent Complete Cost. Users can see and modify the percentage of completion per project billing or cost amount right from the dashboard.

Streamlined Purchasing

Deltek Vantagepoint 5.5 enables staff to perform purchase requisitions and process approvals within any browser. Purchasing Requisitions, Purchase Orders, Items and Items Master are now accessible in the navigation pane of the browser application.

Other Purchasing Updates

Additional purchasing updates in Deltek Vantagepoint 5.5 include: 

• New layout for suggested vendors
• Ability to add a vendor on the fly
• Ability to attach documents of any status
• Ability to view purchasing reports
• Redesigned interface for the purchase requisition form

Accounting Updates

Deltek Vantagepoint 5.5 offers several new features that streamline accounting processes. Users can now post cash receipts that were created in bank reconciliation. This option is available for those that have rights granted to their role in the Accounting tab from Settings >Security> Role. The Transaction Center Approval option must also be set to “No” in Settings and Accounting Transactions.

Other Accounting Updates

The other accounting updates in Deltek Vantagepoint 5.5 include: 

• Expanded reporting in timesheets and billing
• Print capability for Billing Category Rate Table reports
• New overtime premium calculation that uses the cost rate in the Billing Labor Override Table instead of the Cost Rate in the Employee Hub for the employee

Email Templates

To help support digital payment processes, Deltek Vantagepoint 5.5 allows users to use email templates when sending electronic payment remittances by email. Templates can be configured to reuse standard information, such as regular text or database fields. Email templates are available in the Vendor Payments, Employee Payments and Payroll Payments applications. Users can save templates for personal use, for all users with the same role, or for all users within the firm.

Approval Center Updates

Users can restart approvals for timesheets and expense reports. This process removes all approved history and comments that are associated with the record and begins the process from the first step, no matter where the record is in the approval process.

General Usability Updates

Deltek Vantagepoint 5.5 also comes with a number of usability updates:

• See notifications immediately instead of every five minutes with real-time alerts.
• See all users viewing a record.
• Set favorites in navigation to find commonly viewed applications with ease.
• Set minimum/maximum and default values for standard numeric fields.
• Use predefined searches within Advanced Search.
• Print timesheet reports from the Floor Check dialogue box.
• Access Labor Planning videos in Online Help.

Learn More About the New Features in Deltek Vantagepoint 5.5

This is just a high-level overview of the many new features in Vantagepoint 5.5. To learn more about what Vantagepoint has to offer, click below to talk to one of our consultants today.

The net revenue growth forecast for A&E firms is the highest it’s been in 10 years. Based on the findings from the 43rd Deltek A&E Clarity Study, the industry has rebounded from the pandemic with full pipelines and an optimistic future outlook. Meeting that demand comes with serious challenges, with labor shortages and rising costs being most prominent.    

Firms are turning to technology to empower their teams and improve project delivery. They’re prioritizing the right investments over simply purchasing the newest technology. Here are the top insights from the study and some guidance for ensuring that technology investments deliver positive ROI. 

Top Technology Challenges for A&E Firms 

The top technology challenge professional services firms are facing is the inability to invest time in learning. With full project pipelines, firms are dedicating resources to completing client work, limiting the time they can spend on learning new technologies. Small firms struggle with this issue the most, though it’s a prominent issue for medium and large firms as well.  

Technology costs, which topped the list in last year’s report, was the second most commonly cited challenge. Firms are also struggling with prioritizing which trends apply to their organization. With so much technology to choose from, many firms are understandably unsure which trends to pursue. Finding the right fit, whether it be data science tools or digital twins—for the firm and for their client base—isn’t easy.  

Other challenges include educating employees and clients about trends, lack of champions to drive technology adoption and limited corporate openness to emerging technologies.  

A&E Firms Are Focused on Getting it Right 

Firms are honing in on the initiatives that enable them to take a pragmatic approach to technology adoption and integration.   

When asked about their top three technology initiatives:  

• 64% said creating strategic technology implementation plans.  
• 47% said educating staff on technology trends. 
• 46% said identifying and developing technology subject matter experts. 

This pragmatic approach is a good way to enter into digital transformation. However, firm leaders should be careful not to get stuck in a cycle of endless planning. One way to cautiously approach technology is to look for ways to expand usage of current tools. This can provide quick wins and competitive advantages without requiring significant investment or onboarding time.  

Internal Champions Can Take on Challenges and Lead Key Initiatives 

To take on technology challenges in the short term, firms should engage tech-savvy employees as internal technology champions. Technology champions can help improve the ROI of technology in the following ways:  

• Fill current skill gaps by leading the charge to incorporate technology into project execution.  
• Promote and expand adoption of existing technologies throughout the business.  
• Identify the most viable technology investments and trends for the firm.  

Only 36% of firms ranked this as one of their top three initiatives, meaning that many are missing an opportunity to address current gaps in technology planning and adoption.  

Which Technologies Should A&E Firms Focus On? 

To help guide technology planning, A&E firms should look at technology as falling into two buckets. Technology that supports project delivery, such as smart infrastructure and digital twins help firms remain competitive and address common challenges in the building process. Business-optimizing technologies, like data science and next-level project management tools can be used to automate repetitive tasks, empower workers to make more informed decisions, and ultimately improve client satisfaction.  

For more insight into which technology areas A&E firms should focus on, watch the webinar.  

Focusing on these areas will enable firms to address some of their biggest concerns: 

• Attract and retain talent by appealing to the next generation of employees, who want to work with companies that give them access to the latest technology.  
• Prepare for disruption. As innovation continues to transform the A&E industry, the right technology will help firms future proof their businesses.  
• Increase revenue streams by identifying the ideal services and delivery methods that lead to competitive advantages and higher profits.  

Dive Deeper Into the Technology Insights from the Deltek Clarity Study 

Firms aren’t investing in technology for technology’s sake. They’re focused on making the right investments that will enable them to increase productivity and compete for projects and talent. With the right guidance, they can take on the opportunities and challenges ahead. For more technology insights, download the full report.