Full Sail Partners Blog (16)

In an age where technology is intertwined with every aspect of life, it is more important than ever to keep data protected. Since passwords are practically the keys to everyone’s livelihood both professionally and personally, if they fall into the wrong hands then there’s no telling how much trouble this could cause for everyone connected to them. By neglecting to follow proper password protection protocols, companies have unintentionally been responsible for their own data breaches and even those of their business partners. That’s why employees and leadership at professional services firms should use these five tips to help strengthen their passwords and keep security protected.

Tip #1 – Use a Unique Password 

Let’s say someone at the firm has been hacked and an unapproved person has gained access to a password. That’s already a concern, but the effect is multiplied tenfold if that same password has been used on other accounts at the firm. Once the password has been discovered, there will certainly be an attempt to use it wherever possible to get into even more of the unprotected accounts. To prevent this from happening, a completely different password should always be used on every separate firm account. 

Tip #2 – Resist Easy to Guess Passwords 

This one should be obvious, but one would be surprised by how many people use passwords like “12345” and “password” just because they are easy to remember. Personal information such as birthdays, pets’ names, and street addresses should also be avoided. To be safe one should use a password that is more random. A good password should have more than eight characters and contain numbers, special characters, uppercase letters and lowercase letters.  

Tip #3 – Be Very Cautious When Asked to Share Passwords 

Avoid scammers at all costs. Scams come in many forms - some may be emails, some may be phone calls, and some may even impersonate a friend, co-worker, client or relative online just to get access to a password. Some of these scams may try to create a sense of urgency, so always stop and remember to think it through carefully. Consider why that person would need this information, and if the person reaching out is unfamiliar, then do not continue with the contact. Here’s the golden rule to follow for not getting scammed: never give away a password.  

Tip #4 – Keep Software and Browsers Up to Date 

Keep the firm’s web browsers, applications, and operating systems up to date. If there’s an exploit to be found, it’s on an older version. It is not necessary to update to the newest version as soon as it is out, but it is generally a good idea to move to the newer versions as soon as possible. Some applications will come with a pre-set password. These should always be changed, even if they are randomly generated. If there is worry about exploits in newer versions of programs, then do research before the decision is made to update. Software companies will generally release patch notes for users to check before they update. 

Tip #5 – Use Two Factor Authentication or a Password Manager 

Two factor authentication requires a third-party app that will require approval for sign-ins. Once logged into an account, a notification on your authenticator app will be received where entry is approved or denied for whoever is logging in. Password managers are a bit more complex but will ensure safety just the same. Once logged in, the password manager will generate random passwords for the user. With these, only one password will need to be remembered to get into the manager, and it will take care of the rest. For extra safety, feel free to use both in tandem. 

Bonus Tip - Stolen Password.... Now What?

So, how can someone at a professional services firm tell if a password has been stolen? More importantly, what can be done about it? 

Well, the best way to identify if a password has been compromised is to watch for suspicious activity. The critical indicators can be anything from strange posts or questionable emails on firm accounts to even small subtle changes in personal information that seem off to the user. Some applications will inform the user when there is an unusual activity, which is especially helpful in these situations.  

Once there is evidence that an account has been breached, the first thing to do is immediately change the password. If this account is tied to others, those accounts should also have their passwords changed and be reviewed for any confirmation of hacking. One should also inform other firm staff and business partners of the breach to proactively prevent any other data breach complications. 

Stay Diligent and Safe

Professional services firms are not alone in the need to protect security, but with the expert knowledge that they are hired for, data breaches can have long term negative effects on both the firm and clients. These five tips should help strengthen firm security and protect its valuable data and clients. It’s a scary internet world out there, so it is important to keep both professional services firms and their staff safe so they can continue to work hard!  

Click the image below to learn how Full Sail Partners can help with Application Hosting. 

In a perfect world for project-based firms, as soon as a task is performed for a client, money would appear in the firm’s bank account. After all, the firm is contracted to provide services for a fee, and services were performed. End of story, right?  

Well, my bad! In the real world, that performance of services requires a good bit of help along the way, in order to get that payment in the bank. So, the story needs to expand a little to reach this ideal end game. That’s when having and implementing a good accounting calendar becomes a necessity. This routine cadence of work and accounting functions helps firms be able to rely on a regular schedule of deposits for work performed. 

A Good Accounting Calendar is a Necessity

Over the past 30 years, I have worn many hats and filled many roles involved in every step of the revenue process, including being a manager and being managed. I have learned that one of the greatest necessities is a good “Accounting Calendar” because it is essential to control the process and to have a schedule for the activities involved. Furthermore, for this to work, there must be planning, knowledge and “buy-in” by every level and department in the company from executive to “boots on the ground.” There also must be an individual overseeing the activities. That responsibility generally falls within the duties of the controller. 

Venturing back to my “perfect world,” or a reasonable facsimile thereof, if professional services firms setup and work within a good accounting calendar, they can achieve success, lower overhead, reduce billing time and collect payment for services quickly. Moreover, getting the team to follow a schedule is not a “dream.” It can, has been and is being done every day.  

Overview of the Evolution of Revenue

Below is what I call the “Evolution of Revenue.” It walks through from when the work has been performed through money in the bank. The evolution steps include:  

• Performed Services = Unrecorded Time 
• Recorded Time = Unapproved Time 
• Approved Time = Unrecognized Revenue 
• Recognized Revenue = Unbilled Revenue 
• Billed Revenue = Uncollected Revenue 
• Collected Revenue = Money in the Bank 
• Money in the Bank = Gives the firm options for expansion and compensation… and that’s a whole other story! 

As the “Evolution of Revenue” shows above, it all starts with work being performed and work being recorded. The first tool to be used is a weekly timesheet. Why weekly, you may ask? Weeks don’t coincide with months or years, and firms publish monthly, quarterly, and annually! Granted, but firms are talking about scheduling, efficiency and supervision, therefore, weekly timesheets work the best. Believe me, I have tried them all, and firms can still publish monthly financials. So, let’s look at a sample schedule based on the weekly timesheet: 

• Work Week is Monday through Sunday. 
• All time is to be recorded daily. This provides the project manager the opportunity to review, approve and report on work as it is performed – up to the minute budget vs. actual. 
• Monday - All time for the previous week must be inputted and submitted for approval by noon on Monday. 
• Noon on Tuesday - The project manager and managerial review of time must be completed by noon on Tuesday. 
• Close of Business Tuesday - The accounting and human resources review for overhead, benefits, OT, etc. must be completed by close of business on Tuesday. 
• Wednesday Morning - Time is posted Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning. 

So now the firm has time in and posted each week. What then? Well, for one thing, if the firm is using Revenue Recognition – which it should be – it can publish Revenue figures for the previous week on Wednesday morning, along with Employee Utilization figures and Project Management Reports. 

Next Steps in the Evolution

So far, we have covered the first four steps in the Evolution and moved from Performed Services to Unbilled Revenue. Given that, let’s fast forward to Month-End where the Revenue evolves from Unbilled to Billed. Let’s review a couple of thoughts surrounding managing receivables. 

Let’s make the following assumptions:  

• The billing month-end is the last Friday of the month. 
• The accounting month end is the last day of the month. 
• Preferred payroll is bi-weekly. 

Below is a sample of how this schedule lays out on a calendar in Q1 of 2022, spanning 2 weeks and 10 business days. This model has been used successfully with the buy in of project management, billing and accounting and provides principals with revenue by week and for the month on the Wednesday following the last Friday of the month. 

Once the invoices have gone out, the responsibilities for follow-up vary by client and role. For clients that are being billed for the first time, the billing department follows up three days after bills are emailed to ensure that the proper individual received the invoice and to see if there are any changes that need to be made to the delivery instructions. For existing clients, billing is responsible for follow-up on accounts receivable (AR) up to 60 days past due, project management is responsible for AR up to 120 days and departmental management gets involved after that. All responsible parties receive auto-generated AR emails weekly so that all are on the same page as to who is on task.

Optimize the Accounting Calendar to Realize the Dream

As John Lennon once said, “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.” Having a solid billing and accounting calendar is not a dream, it is a necessary and doable reality. Every firm has a plan and the thing that generally separates the dream from the reality is taking on the responsibility of enforcing the schedule and the deadlines. No one should be exempted from completing their assigned tasks at the time.  

Click the image below to find more accounting and finance resources. 

Projects are the lifeline for professional services firms. Deltek Vantagepoint provides applications to support the project planning and resource management activities—Project Planning, Resource Management and Plan Reporting. For those firms who are familiar with Deltek Vision planning, you’re in for a real treat with the enhancements added to Vantagepoint.

The enhancements include the ability to Change Planned Hours, select the ETC / JTD basis in system settings, save Resource View searches for roles, and use Spread Variance to push unused plan hours forward. Let’s dig deeper into these improvements.

Set Plan Inclusion System-Wide

Deltek administrators now have the ability from a system-level to set the inclusion of “in pursuit” project plans on some sort of objective basis. The screenshot below shows how these are automatically set based on the pursuit stages. Keep in mind when the project is awarded, it’s included in those calculations. The beautiful part about Vantagepoint is firms have complete visibility into all the plans, even if the project was not included in those utilization calculations and reports.

The administrator can set different options based on the firm’s preferences. Those include:

• Never – This means that users can plan but the plan won't be included in the calculations.
• Always – Selecting this option will always include the plans, regardless of the degree of seriousness or clarity that you have.
• Set by Project – This is not recommended because it relies on the plan creator to remember to mark the plan for inclusion.
• Automatically Set Based on Selected in Pursuit Stages – This is the recommended option because it leverages the intelligence of the software to determine the stage of the project and then to automatically determine inclusion into those calculations.
• Automatically Set Based on Probability – This uses the probabilities set up in the system. Preferences can be set to say anything greater than 50% probability, for example, will be included. Vantagepoint provides a lot of flexibility with this, but this flexibility is from the system standpoint and not each individual plan.

Set Estimate to Complete (ETC) and Job to Date (JTD) Basis System-Wide

While the ability to set and/or change the ETC and JTD was available in Deltek Vision Planning, it was often changed for one purpose or another and could be forgotten to be put back. In Vantagepoint, this is a system setting so that every plan is using the same ETC and JTD basis as shown in the screenshot below.

Firms can select the system settings and the basis that works best for them. For example, a firm has a JTD basis through Last Week’s End Date, and that is last Saturday. All the JTD is shown through that date and the ETC date starts the next business day. That allows the firm to have certainty about the JTD figures. If the firm customarily has weekly timesheets that are always completed by the end of the week, this may be a great system setting.

Alternatively, firms can use the Last Timesheet Period’s End Date. If the firm lags a little bit on timesheet entries, utilizing this option so that the JTD information being shown in the plan is that of the last timesheet period will most likely work better. Firms can use this option so that the JTD information shown in the plan is as of that last timesheet week. So, for the first few days of the timesheet period, it's not as accurate, but it's more accurate once that timesheet period is posted and closed.

Rescheduling Plans

Vantagepoint Planning is further enhanced with the ability to reschedule plans. The reschedule ability allows users to either shift or change the duration for the labor tab. This is only for the labor tab in Vantagepoint Planning. Users can pick up the entire date range and move the start date or move it to the finish date.

Like Vision Planning, if the duration is the same, the hours can use the same proportions from the time period. When the duration length is increased, it keeps the same pattern. Conversely, when the duration length is decreased, the system can respread it evenly. But, if the duration shrinks, the system will not like it if unplanned hours fall outside the new duration. In Vantagepoint, this becomes very clear with well-written error messages that pop up for the user.

Change Planned Hours

Changing planned hours is a new function in Deltek Vantagepoint. Project managers can use this functionality to update the planned hours in any timeframe. They can choose to spread the hours proportionally or evenly. For example, a user can take all the hours at the project level or work breakdown structure (WBS) level two and change the planned hours from A to B. This can be done in any timeframe. It can also be done backward and forward using the ETC day. There are a lot of options to change planned hours in Vantagepoint Planning.

The screenshot below shows the new Redistribute Hours menu in Vantagepoint where users can change the planned hours.

Replace Planned Hours with Actual Hours

The next enhancement is the ability to replace planned hours with actual hours. This functionality allows users to choose the replacement of hours for a specific date range or across all dates as well as choose to calculate on a weekly, monthly, or total basis. An example is shown below.

Spread Variance

The ability to spread the variance between planned and actual hours can be done in several ways over the time periods selected. It allows the user to control how they spread the differences between actual and planned as well as choose different date ranges. The date range can be a specific date range, an entire date range, or just a short amount of time. The project manager can choose to spread the hours including the negatives or just limit to the positive differences. The variance can be spread evenly or proportionately.

The biggest enhancement is that now this setting is directly available in the plans in Vantagepoint as opposed to another menu or area of the system, providing better visibility, as shown below.

Vantagepoint Planning is Reimagined for Project-Based Firms

With these enhancements to Vantagepoint Planning, project-based firms can not only quickly create project plans but adjust them to the unpredictable nature of the projects. It’s the right project management tool to control project delivery. Do you want to see these Deltek Vantagepoint Planning enhancements in action? Use the button below to see Rana Blair demonstrate each of them.

Consistent content that appeals to the ideal client is a cornerstone of a successful digital marketing program. Often, it’s a challenge for A/E/C firms to constantly be creating new high-quality content. There just isn’t enough time or resources. In this next installment of the “Driving Growth with Digital Marketing” series, readers will learn how to extend the life of an existing piece of content.

Introducing Content Repurposing

Content repurposing is a magical way to use content already created and revitalize it, so it works harder for your inbound marketing and SEO efforts. Repurposing takes previously published content and reimagines that content into different formats, refreshes the information based on industry updates, and allows the content to reach audiences that might have missed it the first time around.

Repurposing saves time because marketers don’t need to write new content from scratch. It is not just publishing the same blog article link with the same caption on the firm’s LinkedIn page once per month. It is transforming content into a new focus of interest.

How to Select Content to Repurpose

A great way to determine what content to repurpose is to audit the content you’ve already published. Look for content that still resonates with the ideal client and that is evergreen. If the content is too outdated or highly seasonable, it might be too much effort to repurpose it. Choose the content pieces that can be easily refreshed and still attract the targeted audience.

Then, take a look at your firm’s website analytics to find the high-performing content. Find the content that ranks the highest when it comes to page views, average time on page, etc. The content that meets all these criteria should be what you begin with.

Content Repurposing Case Study

A great example of a content repurposing strategy is this series, “Driving Growth with Digital Marketing.” As a new marketing manager for our Blackbox Connector products, I wanted to target other marketing managers who use Deltek Vision/Vantagepoint and who already have a digital marketing program or want to create one. So, I developed this year-long content series to attract new leads.

This campaign began in 2021 with a 10-part blog series. Potential clients could subscribe to the series to get notified when new articles would be published. And, using our HubSpot Connector, new submissions would be added to the Full Sail Partners’ Deltek Vision CRM to monitor and evaluate.

This blog series was then turned into a presentation abstract that was submitted to several marketing-related conferences. It was selected to be presented at three conferences where there was a high number of the targeted audience.

Eventually, Full Sail Partners will present this as a webinar and possibly publish it as a guide accessible by a form on the website. Between now and then, different steps will be shared as infographics and other resources to post on social media.

This one content topic has been transformed into over a dozen different content types and formats.

Other Repurposing Ideas

When planning for new content, brainstorm ways in which that piece of content can be repurposed. Some ideas include:

• Convert long blog posts into an eBook or listicle social media series.
• Turn conference presentations into blog articles, webinars, etc.
• Build an infographic from a presentation or blog article.
• Refresh and republish old blog posts with new, relevant information or data.
• Create a podcast or video series from a previous conference presentation.
• Create a frequently asked questions area on your website from previously published blog articles.
• Create a checklist freebie based on the firm’s project management process.
• Pitch existing articles to guest blogs on other websites.
• Record existing content such as previously written blog articles or conference presentations. Post those recordings on YouTube or use them in a podcast.
• Visualize existing content such as articles. Turn them into short video snippets, pull quote graphics, or carousel-type posts.
• Group existing content to create content pillars or resource hubs. Full Sail Partners has done this with our resource pages. Check out the marketer’s page here.
• Promote similar content previously published via an email series. Deliver each piece of content in one email spread throughout an entire campaign.
• Package similar content topics into an eBook or guide. Gather as many similar topics already created and add an introduction or point of view to make it more of a book. These are often titled, “The Ultimate Guide to…” or “The Only Guide to…”

Making Marketing More Efficient

Making the best use of the marketing resources and the subject matter experts’ time ensures marketing investments are more efficient. Content repurposing is one of the best ways to effectively use previously created content and allows for more time to spend on other marketing efforts. Keep a lookout for the next article in this series that introduces search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to help A/E/C firms get found online.

It may be a new year, but 2022 comes with a similar vibe as 2021 still dealing with the impact of a pandemic and the shifting workplace as a result. Change begets change, and successful professional services firms have had to go with the times in order to stay competitive with others in their industry. With this in mind, let’s take a look at some of the workplace trends for professional services firms in 2022.

Work Culture

The pandemic has most professional services firms evaluating their work culture and figuring out how to adjust their practices and policies to accommodate the necessary changes but not compromise the foundation of its culture. As leaders, it’s important to have a clear understanding of what the company culture is and how this culture is perceived by employees. To attract and retain the best employees, the workplace culture needs to be attractive itself. In other words, it should be a win/win for all.

Hybrid and Remote Workplace

It is a fact that technology will be a constant part of the workplace culture going forward with online portals and systems in the cloud. Working remotely, which became a necessity during the pandemic, has become a trend that is likely to continue even when the pandemic is over. The hybrid work environment where time is split between home and office has become a shift in the workplace of today which HR will have to continue to manage.

Autonomy

Flexibility has become one of the most desired attributes of any company considered a “Great Place to Work”. It is not exclusive to the option of working remotely or in the office, but it extends to the workday structure. Set work hours are becoming a thing of the past and quality is valued over quantity. A professional services firm’s success with embracing autonomy boils down to trust with leadership trusting the employees to meet expectations and goals without the rigid structure of the past as well as employees feeling assured that they are worthy of that trust.

Prioritizing Employee Mental and Emotional Health

Leadership empathy is necessary to sustain loyalty throughout a professional services firm, therefore, these organizations are prioritizing employee mental and emotional health needs. With a hybrid and remote workplace, employers are finding creative ways to promote reconnection and engagement among employees. Also, benefit plans, EAP programs and policies on PTO are being evaluated to provide employees with support during these changing and uncertain times.

Multigenerational Workforce

Additionally, in most professional services firms, there is a multigenerational workforce to take into consideration. These different employees are working side by side on the same teams and the culture needs to understand and reflect their unique expectations. The newer generations of workers have different priorities for their workplace and their career. Their expectations are more flexible schedules, more regular feedback on performance from managers and more collaboration on projects. HR and leadership must provide continuous performance management to acknowledge high performance and provide incentives to remain on staff.

Reskilling and Upskilling

With talent shortages being a reality, professional services firms will be focusing on other ways to meet the firm’s organizational needs. Options such as reskilling and upskilling the workforce help firms with filling in the gaps. Reskilling is when new skills are developed from an expiring skill set that is no longer in demand. Upskilling is building upon current skills to enhance or add adjacent ones.

To do so, HR and leadership will be evaluating and revising the firm’s learning and development offerings. “Learning in the flow of work,” a phrase coined by Josh Bersin, Global Industry Analyst, has been gaining attention. Using this method, employees will access small pieces of knowledge to help solve skills-related matters that happen at work. This way, employees can learn as they work at their own pace, and using a turn-key Learning Management System (LMS), they can have access to content on demand.

Outsourcing HR

HR roles have become a lot more complicated over the years with technological advances such as online employee portals and cloud-based management of employee activities. To be more efficient, it has made sense to make the change toward outsourcing the HR functions to specific professionals that have the needed expertise. According to FinancesOnline, research has found that by 2024 the global market for human resource outsourcing is expected to reach $43.8 billion.

Outsourcing certain necessary HR functions will handle the burdensome administrative responsibilities of HR in professional services firms. These firms will not outsource all HR functions though. There still needs to be internal HR departments to manage employee relations issues and the other human elements of the firm.

Diversity

Although not a new goal for professional services firms, there will be renewed HR effort to recruit and retain a diverse workforce including more workers of varying genders, races and nationalities. Bias in the hiring process is a well-known and widespread problem, however, even with the best of intentions, these biases can impact sourcing and recruiting decisions outside of the awareness of the recruiter.

Again, technology provides a solution to the issue of creating more diversity in the workplace. Using Artificial Intelligence (AI), candidates can be sourced and screened objectively. AI recruiting software can even be programmed to ignore demographic information and socioeconomic status. Even more, human recruiters will be able to save time by allowing the AI to do the redundant screening work for them. When the bias is removed from recruiting, a more diverse workforce will prevail in professional services firms.

Diversity awareness is not only addressed with increasing the number of professional services firms’ employees with varying backgrounds and beliefs. Also pertinent to this awareness is the implementation of training, programs, practices and policies which encourage knowledge, education, recognition, effective communication, sensitivity and accountability in a diverse workplace.

Differentiation & Branding

Being evident about what the corporate culture is and what the company goals are is from what a professional services firm’s branding is structured. It helps to identify the professional services firm’s differentiators from the competition and the type of talent the firm is seeking. HR plays a key role in the reinforcement of the branding of a firm

Talent acquisition practices should always incorporate branding because it’s the first impression a professional services firm makes for prospective employees and has the charge of selling the firm's greatest qualities. Communicating that the professional services firm is aware of and keeping up with workplace trends is a reflection of how it treats its employees and also evidence that the employees’ opinions about the company culture are recognized and considered.

Follow the Trends

These trends have all become standard and are expected for professional services firms to remain competitive in 2022. They may be new to your organization, but many firms that have already started implementation are experiencing their rewards. So, stay at the top of the professional services industry by following these workplace trends to succeed.

QuickBooks serves as a logical starting point for SMB professional services firms. For good reason - it’s affordable, popular, and easy to use accounting software. Though, on the downside, it provides very little flexibility and accommodation for how a business actually needs to run.  

Simply put, QuickBooks isn’t designed for project-based companies. It’s an entry-level accounting system, with purposefully generic functionality, intended to serve a diverse client base that spans various industry types. Consequently, the basic and straightforward nature of the product, which perhaps is viewed as a positive, can quickly become the opposite. Many professional services firms will eventually reach a point where the limitations of QuickBooks can hinder future growth. 

When might a firm reach that point? Below are 5 top reasons clients are choosing to trade in QuickBooks for an industry specific ERP that is purpose-built to meet the needs of a growing project-based business.     

Cumbersome Invoice Creation 

For a project-focused professional services firm, getting client invoices created and out the door can be considered one of the most critical functions. This process may have once been easy, but as the business has grown, projects have likely become more complex. With that means more complicated, multi-part, client invoice requirements.  

What used to take a couple of hours is now taking over a week, and accounting staff is burdened with cobbling together invoice-supporting data from various disconnected, error-prone sources. Not to mention the challenges of even getting the project management team to complete their timesheets in the first place. Once those bills have finally been painstakingly created and issued to clients, they still may not be correct.   

Incorrect invoices going out the door can slowly erode the trust of clients and lead to unnecessary, time-consuming, back-and-forth. On the other hand, accurate invoices, which are processed and paid quickly by clients, can provide various benefits to include reduction in DSO (days sales outstanding) and increased cash flow.  

Limited Visibility into Project Reporting

Do Project Managers and professional services firm leaders have a consistent and reliable source of truth to monitor the overall health and status of projects? For many who rely on QuickBooks, the answer is no. Just like on the invoice creation side, the necessary data to support project reporting is scattered among various spreadsheets. Answering what should be a simple question related to project status could take days to assemble a response. By the time of that response – odds are, the data is already out-of-date, and often irrelevant. The thought of any ‘real time’ project status, to include capturing data such as committed costs, may likely seem impossible when operating within these sorts of system-related confines.  

Not having a proper visibility into project timeline, budget, and other KPIs has consequences. It can quickly eat into profit margin and limit a professional services firm’s ability to make informed decisions in support of its projects and business.   

QuickBooks Lacks Support for the Entire Project Lifecycle 

Everyone needs an accounting system. However, even a relatively small, basic operation may quickly find that it needs more tools at its disposal. There are obvious functions like time keeping & employee expense reports, providing the ability to seamlessly allocate those costs to projects in support of invoice creation and project reporting. Additionally, perhaps there is a need to link the front and back-office operations to better manage the complete ‘project lifecycle’ (from initial lead pursuit through to project close-out). This includes a CRM (customer relationship management) module, or the ability to do more detailed project planning and resource scheduling.  

These are all areas and functions that a professional services firm is undoubtedly already actively performing, but just manually and “offline,” using spreadsheets and email to manage. The purpose of an ERP is to combine multiple functions within a single fully integrated solution that spans the entire business. More specifically, a project-based ERP is designed to do the same, but with functionality specifically geared towards a project-oriented company. 

Sure, QuickBooks capabilities can be expanded using external and 3rd party add-on tools that make initial claims around 'integration'. Yet, the result for many who go down that path can be a clunky, frustrating software experience – leaving many wishing they instead invested their time and resources into the lower-risk approach of just implementing a Deltek product.   

QuickBooks Can Limit the Ability to Pursue Projects

For many of the reasons already stated, professional services firms shy away from pursuing new projects they fear may be too taxing and burdensome on their existing accounting system. Simply stated, they don’t have the tools in place to responsibly graduate to the next level. Passing up new business opportunities can be painful, but unfortunately necessary, for those firms who are not equipped with the internal systems to support growth. 

Take WBS (work breakdown structure) requirements, for example. This means breaking down a more complex project into smaller components and deliverables. Many times projects require an invoice to reflect the way the project was bid. Providing a WBS ensures the estimate is managed and billed the way it was proposed. Unfortunately, QuickBooks limits the ability to pursue projects with more advanced requirements because it cannot easily track efforts in this manner. For many professional services firms, this is essential functionality needed to initially price/propose, manage, deliver, and invoice these projects.   

QuickBooks Hinders Growth 

The idea of a more ‘open ended’ system experience that can truly conform and adapt to evolving business requirements becomes more appealing. Those cascading menu options, check boxes, and configuration screens that may have once been viewed as intimidating and inaccessible may quickly start to make more sense. Deltek can easily accommodate growing firms. This is why 80% of AEC firms use Deltek. It has all the utilities, under the hood to handle the needs of future growth. As a professional services firm grows, its bookkeeping system should be able to scale and enable that progress, versus introducing hurdles and limitations.  

Grow Quicker with Deltek 

To reiterate, there is nothing inherently wrong with QuickBooks. If there were, it probably wouldn’t be the widest-deployed entry-level accounting system in the market. But the unique requirements of a professional services firm can still quickly create situations where to bring a firm to the next level, it needs to be re-tooled with industry specific solutions.  

ERP is not just for the ‘big guys’ anymore. The introduction of cloud-based applications (relieving clients of internal IT requirements), and also packaging and implementations catering to small firms, has opened many doors over the last several years. In fact, a majority of current day Deltek clients could be considered SMBs, who previously came from QuickBooks.  

Have additional questions? Full Sail Partners and Deltek got it covered. Deltek Vantagepoint is an industry-leading project-based ERP designed to support the entire project lifecycle. Having extensive experience with new system implementations (to include data migration, system configuration, and product training), Full Sail Partners has helped hundreds of clients graduate from QuickBooks. Please contact us to start a discussion.  

For all businesses, earning a nice profit is the expected goal. Yet for some AE firms, stagnant earnings, increasing costs and expenses, low new client acquisition, and deteriorating workplace culture may have become the new normal. What was once a business bursting at the seams and barely able to take on more work, has now become complacent and satisfied with mediocrity. However, there is something that can be done to change the current course. Take a quick read through the following tips to help create ideas for ways to get started.

Create and Stick to a Plan

Get SMART and create a strategic business plan that provides clear direction and expected results. For some AE firms, this may be as simple as reviewing the existing plan and making updates to meet current business needs. In other cases, it may be best to scrap the existing plan and start over from scratch. Either way, a solid business plan needs to be reinforced with SMART goals.

SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-based. To create SMART goals, begin by thinking about the entire firm and decide how to designate areas of responsibility and determine expected results. It is likely easiest to start at the department level and then work down from there. Additionally, goals need to focus on the desired result and need to be high level while remaining specific. If there seems to be an excessive number of goals, it is likely that they are too granular and focused on task level items and not the desired result. Lastly, goals need to be measurable and incorporated with time-based milestones.

Get Friendly with the Firm Numbers

It’s time to stop avoiding that uncomfortable relationship people seem to have with numbers. We are not all accountants. However, numbers can tell the ugly truth even when someone doesn’t want to hear it. Like that one friend we all keep around that inevitably reminds us of what we are trying to avoid in an effort to minimize the realities of a situation. So, what numbers are important? All of them.

A good place to start is with cash flow. There’s no way around it, businesses with limited cash reserves and low cash flow will inevitably shut down. Also, get friendly with the firm’s overall net profit and the profit performance of the firm’s projects. Keep in mind that great profits don’t always equate to positive cash flow which is required to bill overhead expenses and salaries. Lastly, check the firm’s credit score to make sure the firm can get a loan with favorable terms if cash flow becomes a temporary issue or new assets need to be purchased. Many firms are finding that a solid business intelligence solution provides the best insights into numbers. Learn more in this past webinar.

Embrace the Multi-Generation Workforce

Move over generation MTV, the kids are entering the workforce. Seriously, there are now four generations in the modern workforce. To put this into perspective, there are employees that remember sharing work computers, and there are employees that got their first personal computer at eight years old. To say the least, there are some differences in expectations when it comes to the way work gets done.

Sure, it’s easiest to just say conform to our ways or else. But the reality is that the members of the younger generations are the leaders of the future. Therefore, it’s important for firms to start adjusting to accommodate these differences. For help, check out this white paper.

Engage and Interact with Clients in More Ways

Welcome to the 21^st century, where that must-have fancy technology is out of date before most of the world even knows that it exists. We are now in the digital era which has transformed the way we communicate and consume information. Now, we have personal computers in the form of mobile phones that mostly fit in our pockets. As a result, people have become accustomed to receiving notifications and obtaining information using these digital formats.

A lot, if not all AE firms, have websites, but some of these websites were created and last updated over a decade ago. Furthermore, even those firms that have a modern website still likely only have a small digital footprint. Therefore, AE firms need to evaluate their current digital marketing efforts to decide which areas need improvement. To help AE firms, Full Sail Partners is publishing a blog series titled “Driving Growth with Digital Marketing” that is specifically geared towards AEC companies. Find a listing for all the articles and signup for notifications about new articles and other content here.  

Take Your AE Firm to the Next Level

Ready to improve your AE firm? Putting SMART Goals in place, confronting the inevitable numbers, accommodating workplace differences, and engaging in the digital era will move firms from stagnant to reinvigorated. These efforts will result in a visible positive impact. Additionally, Full Sail Partners can aid in identifying areas of opportunity for improvement via a Navigational Analysis. Use the link button below to contact us to learn more.

We are excited to celebrate our 10-year anniversary! Clients, partners, employees, and family have all embarked on this journey with us, and in so many ways, we have grown together. For this reason, we plan to recognize this big accomplishment and continue to make great strides together in 2022! Cheers to another amazing year full of fantastic projects and collaboration! We invite you to be the first to see our new 10-year anniversary logo and check out our new resource pages providing you content by role.

Since the creation of Full Sail Partners in 2012, the number of our employees has expanded 131% allowing us to become the technology provider when it comes to project-based solutions. Over those 10 years, our viewership has expanded 785% and we have received almost 23k website submissions. We have shared more than 540 blog articles, 293 web pages, and 132 webinars. So, in celebration, we are listing the top content based on viewership. Enjoy!

Most Viewed Thought Leadership Blog 

>>>7 Ways to Overcome Obstacles<<<

Maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that the most viewed thought leadership blog was about overcoming obstacles? These past several years brought many challenges to our work and personal lives. When faced with adversity, it sometimes can be hard to breakdown how to handle it. In this blog, we discussed 7 tips to overcome obstacles.

Most Downloaded Whitepaper 

>>>Deltek AE Clarity Report<<<

As a Deltek Platinum Partner, we promote Deltek’s annual survey focused on the Architecture and Engineering (A&E) industry. The report is one of the world’s most sought-after A&E research findings each year providing in-depth analysis about the industry’s financial condition and market outlook. 

Most Webinar Submissions 

>>>Things We Love About Deltek Vantagepoint So Far<<<

Our webinar with the most submissions was a presentation back in 2019. This webinar is still getting a lot of attention! Firms were excited about the release of Deltek Vantagepoint, and this still holds true today. During the webinar, we covered the Top 10 Features along with some honorable mentions. The webinar was so well attended, we were asked to do an updated version a year later: Deltek Vantagepoint: The Best All In One.

Webinar with the Largest Attendance 

>>>The Project Lifecycle of Deltek Vantagepoint<<<

Professional services firms need a system that takes them through the entire project lifecycle from lead identification to pursuit and final project execution. So, it makes sense that this webinar had the largest attendance in our 10-year history, especially with the enthusiasm surrounding Deltek Vantagepoint. The webinar took firms from beginning to end and compared the similarities and differences between Vantagepoint and Vision. 

Most Viewed Webpage 

>>>Our Crew<<<

Other than our home page, our most viewed webpage is about our crew. Just like with every professional services firm, our employees are the heart and soul of our company. More than 31,000 people have checked out our staff, which averages out to about 7 people a day. Everyone at our company believes we are the best at what we do! We have an amazing, collaborative, and talented team that also makes work fun. This is best illustrated by our professional and fun photos showing another side to our team.

Most Requested Blackbox Connector Solution

>>>Quick Insight to Maintain Contacts<<<

Everyone loves FREE stuff, which probably explains why our newest solution on our Blackbox Connector page sky rocketed to become our most requested page. Full Sail Partners presented on a contact and email management tool for Deltek Vantagepoint in December, 2021, to help firms clean-up their data. The tool searches for duplicate email addresses, duplicate names, and emails with bad formatting to help users target records needing clean-up. The best part is this tool can be used whether you have Vantagepoint CRM or not!

Most Time Spent on a Blog 

>>>Exception Reporting<<<

Research shows the average time spent on a website page is about 45 seconds. So, when you have a blog that users are spending on average 7.4 minutes reviewing, you know you have content worth reading. It might seem ironic that the blog that had the most time spent on it was about how to spend less time analyzing data. However, that doesn’t come as a revelation to us. The most common complaint amongst professionals is they don’t have time to analyze the data, since they need to just get the job done. If you haven’t checked it out yet, learn more about how exception reporting can save firm leaders and their employee’s valuable time.

Blog with the Most Social Media Shares

>>>9 Ways to Connect with Employees<<<

Each employee has different needs from a job and an employer. Sometimes those needs are in alignment with their employer and sometimes they aren’t. How can employers best connect and create a culture that empowers their employees? In this article, we discussed 9 ways to connect with employees to ensure they feel valued and enthusiastic about their position.

We hope you enjoyed being taken down memory lane or even discovered content that you may have missed. From the inception of Full Sail Partners, our goals were to ensure we had a passionate, dedicated, and collaborative team and to be known for valuable content amongst the project-based industry. Based on comments from our employees and clients, we think we have lived up to those goals. Thank you for joining us on our journey, and we look forward to continuing our endeavor with you and to see what the future holds.

Managing and delivering successful projects is the goal of every architecture and engineering (AE) firm. For most, it’s nearly a repeatable process that requires some minor adjustments to the work breakdown structure to meet the unique needs of a project’s scope. Year after year, AE firms continued with this same process while making improvements based on lessons learned. Then all of a sudden, everything in our world was altered, including the way AE firms manage and deliver successful projects.

However, it’s not all gloom and doom. There’s actually good news to report! According to the 42^nd Deltek AE Clarity Report, firms of all sizes dealt with the uncertainty and unexpected changes very well.

Clarity on Project Management Success    

Overall, the majority of firms that responded to the Deltek AE Clarity Survey indicated that their projects stayed on schedule with some being ahead. This is great to hear, and there is more. Most of the respondents also indicated that projects remained on or under budget in 2020. This is a consistent result year after year in the AE Clarity Study findings. As 2020 was filled with uncertainty with no clear end in sight, staying on or under budget is an amazing accomplishment. Kudos to those firms!

Clarity on Challenges for Project Managers

Interesting enough, it is hard to link the effects of the pandemic to the findings in the Deltek AE Clarity Study. Overall, project status visibility issues continue to be reported as a common challenge for project managers over the past few years. Furthermore, visibility into project cost variance remains a top reason for not being able to identify project overruns before it is too late.

Highlighting other challenges AE firms experienced in 2020, tracking project KPIs continues to hinder project managers and jeopardize the successful outcome of projects. This is followed by schedule variance visibility, which only had a small upward change from previous AE Clarity Study findings. In summary, project visibility issues remain problematic but can be easily resolved by using a project management software built specifically for AE firms.

Clarity on Client Satisfaction

Mentioned, but less of a focus for project managers, is visibility into client satisfaction throughout the project life cycle. In the survey, only 40% of firms stated that they measured and tracked client satisfaction. What makes this troubling is that it is a fact that the client experience (CX) and client satisfaction has a direct impact on the ability to win future work.

For many firms, this is an unaddressed problem because they have neither a formalized CX initiative nor a solution to help track client satisfaction. This is likely because these firms are unaware that there are resources to improve their CX. Full Sail Partners is an active partner with Client Savvy, the creators of the Client Feedback Tool and the CXPS Community and can help firms to acquire these needed CX resources.

Clarity on Future Project Management Initiatives

AE firms historically have embraced a business model that forces project managers to wear multiple hats at the firm. However, this seems to be changing with more firms stating they want to:

• Clearly define responsibilities for project management, business development and design work.
• Invest in internal project manager training.
• Develop internal project management best practices.

Surprisingly, all respondents to the AE Clarity Study indicated one of these as a top priority at their firm. Further down on the list of the top initiatives for AE firms is the need to hire more qualified talent. Noted in the Human Capital Management section of the AE Clarity Study, firms stated that the availability of good talent is a top acquisition challenge.

AE Clarity on the Future of Project Management

AE firms looking for future success have recognized the need to pay more attention to the discipline of project management. Moving forward, project managers need to focus on delivering successful projects. Firm leaders need to find others to share or take on the work of business development and let designers focus on creating. In other words, firms need to give the discipline of project management the respect and attention it deserves.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

With all the uncertainty of 2020, AE firms remained resilient when faced with adversity. This says a lot about an industry that is directly affected by economic ups and downs. Overcoming what could have been an industry crippling situation, firms adapted, and project managers stepped up to continue to deliver great projects.

The Deltek AE Clarity Report is an insightful study that firm leaders should review each year. Additionally, firm leaders should use the available scorecard to benchmark their firm’s results with the rest of the industry. Get a free copy of the Study and the scorecard using the button link below.

The initial steps in putting together an online marketing program include defining personas and setting goals. Once those are set, it’s time to begin creating content. But what types of content need to be created? How does an A/E/C firm come up with content ideas that attract potential clients?

In this article, we will walk through the answers to these questions and go over the process of building a content strategy. And it’s the next step in the Full Sail Partners’ Driving Growth with Digital Marketing series.

First let’s define what a content strategy is. A content strategy is a plan in which firms use content to achieve business and marketing goals. A successful content strategy will attract ideal clients and decision makers at different stages of their buying decisions. Below are the steps to help A/E/C firms to develop a content strategy.

Step 1: Formulate the Decision-Making Funnel

In every sales transaction, buyers go on a journey that begins the moment they decide they need services to when the contract is eventually signed. This is also referred to as the funnel. Marketers often group the funnel into the following phases as shown in the graphic below.

The funnel stages are described below along with the content intent for each. A/E/C firms should formulate their own decision-making funnel for their clients and potential clients.

• Awareness – Is the uppermost part of the funnel. Potential clients are drawn into the funnel through marketing campaigns that include content, events, advertising, trade shows/conferences, social media, and more. In this stage, content is developed to capture new leads and to pull those leads into a CRM system for nurturing further through the funnel.
• Interest – Once leads are collected, they are then moved into the interest stage. Content for this stage should be more about the firm, its services, and case studies and best practices. This is typically shared through email newsletters and performs best when it can be more targeted to the leads around their industries, markets, or locations.
• Consideration – In this stage, the lead has become more qualified to become a prospective client. For A/E/C firms, this may mean that the potential client has a project in the future or obtained funding such as a bond. Content developed in this phase is even more specific to that potential upcoming project or service offering. The content should also highlight the firm’s differentiation and value proposition. It might also be sent directly by project managers or business developers.
• Evaluation – Decision makers move into this stage when there is a procurement event taking place. This will range from a client issuing an RFP or invitation to bid to just a meeting to negotiate. Typically, at this point marketing is working with a project manager or business developer to develop content to convince the client to select their firm.
• Purchase Decision – The ultimate goal is to get the win! To have the client select your A/E/C firm. The prospect is now a client.

A content strategy should be a mix of content for all phases of the decision-making funnel. And, it’s possible to have different funnels for different personas identified for the firm because the decision making might be different.

Step 2: Run a Content Audit

Knowing what content is already available is a great place to start. Once you know what content is already created, the new content that needs to be created is just filling in the gaps. Take the time to gather all the available content, look through everything and tag it with the stage of the funnel it could work for.

Places to look for content:

• Blog articles on firm’s website
• Blog articles written by subject matter experts (SMEs) for other websites
• Published articles written by SMEs
• Presentations given at conferences, webinars, etc.
• Proposals
• Shortlist presentations
• Project award submittals
• Firm award submittals
• Press releases
• Brochures
• Statements of Qualifications (SOQ)

When firms run a content audit, they are often amazed at just how much content they already have created. Often, content developed for a specific pursuit can also be used in various stages of the funnel after a few edits.

After reviewing a firm’s own content, take it one step further by doing a competitive analysis. Review your competitor’s own website and social media content. This will help when creating content that is differentiated.

Step 3: Fill the Content Gaps

Once the decision-making funnel is formulated and the existing content is gathered, the gaps should be clear. Now, it’s time to develop the new content to fill in those gaps. Review each stage of the decision-making funnel and make sure there are content ideas for each stage. Some ways to formulate content ideas are:

• Ask project managers and business developers what they get questioned the most about by clients and potential clients
• Conduct keyword research. Keyword research is an essential foundation for a content strategy because it gives valuable topic ideas. Using keyword research tools like HubSpot, Ahrefs, and Semrush will uncover search topics and questions asked by prospective clients.
• Use the above two actions to brainstorm new content topics. Brainstorm ways to approach old topics, combine two different ideas into one, give a unique perspective on an industry outlook, etc.

Putting it All Together

At this point, the firm should have a defined decision-making funnel or funnels depending on the firm’s different markets. The firm should also have a list of content already created and identified what stage of the funnel it can be used for. The content gaps have been identified and a list of new content to create has been written.

In the ongoing articles in this series, we’ll walk through how to develop new content, how to maximize it by repurposing, and the basics of search engine optimization (SEO). Sign up below to be notified when a new resource in the series becomes available.