Full Sail Partners Blog (30)

Have you ever wanted to learn how to get more out of your Deltek products? Well, Deltek has a solution for you! If you’re a go-getter, you’ll find the Deltek Learning Zone (DLZ) a great tool to expand your capabilities. Let’s take a look at how you can access what DLZ has to offer.

Gaining Access to the Deltek Learning Zone

Here’s some side information before we go to deep. For starters, Deltek Vantagepoint and Vision are offered in two versions. One being on-premise, which means your firm hosts Vantagepoint or Vision on their own servers. The other being software as a service (SaaS). This means your Deltek product is hosted in the cloud and maintained by Deltek IT staff which relieves your firm of the burden on maintaining your software and having to have hardware to store your data. So, why is this important?

If your firm is a SaaS Deltek client, there’s some good news! You have access to the DLZ at no additional charge. If your firm maintains their own Deltek database, you still have access to the DLZ. However, there is a nominal fee your firm will have to pay to gain access.

Benefits of the Deltek Learning Zone

For starters, the DLZ is a learning tool. It allows users to access information and training materials about the Deltek products your firm utilizes. These resources allow you to learn more about the products you use and how to maximize them to reap all the benefits to improve your work performance. But wait, there’s more!

Sure, you want to get the most out of the Deltek products you already have access to. However, is there an add-on module that can help your firm streamline more processes? Well, you probably know the answer is yes if you’re an avid Deltek user. But you may not be sure of how they work and how easy they are to use. Well, the DLZ offers a simple solution for you to learn how these additional modules work and how easy they are to navigate.

Even more, many Deltek Vision users are preparing to upgrade to the latest Deltek ERP, Vantagepoint. However, many people are hesitant to change which is a natural instinct. Therefore, the DLZ offers several training tools to help overcome fears and answer the questions you have before upgrading to Vantagepoint.

Here’s What is Offered in the Deltek Learning Zone

Deltek created DLZ with the core understanding that people learn in different ways. As a result, they created several ways for you to increase your knowledge and proficiency with your Deltek products. For starters, they organized the majority of the educational materials on a role-based library. Meaning that it’s easy to find the right materials and training information that is specific to your job at your firm.

Futhermore, one person might learn by reading a document or watching a video, while others may need a more interactive environment. The DLZ offers several types of training tools to help users of all skills and to meet the needs of how different individuals learn. When you log into the DLZ, you choose to register for an interactive class or download on-demand videos and documents to get instant answers to your challenges you experience on a daily basis.

Do More with the Deltek Learning Zone

If you haven’t explored what is offered in DLZ, you may want to start searching through the resources available. The reality is, you have created a career in the professional services industry and it’s likely you’ll be using Deltek products throughout your entire career. With that said, you should take a deep dive into the DLZ to see what new things you can learn to make yourself your firm’s go-to resource for any Deltek related questions.   

Technology is a huge part of any growing business and leaders are constantly searching for emerging technology trends that can drive their businesses forward. Originally, the A&E industry strayed from embracing new technology because of the time and effort it took to learn and adopt the new trends. However, firms are now identifying technology as a strategic and innovative way to educate staff, identify key initiatives, and implement incremental changes to improve business.

Top Three Technology Trend Challenges

In this year’s Deltek Clarity Survey, firms were asked about their top technology trend challenges. The results presented in the 40^th Clarity Report showed that the top three challenges were the struggles of prioritizing trends, the cost of technology, and the lack of time to learn. Other challenges included client education, lack of leadership, and buy-in from firms.

Emerging Technology Trends

For the second year in a row, firms were asked how important nine emerging technology trends were to their businesses. Lining up with the top four from last year, The Internet of Things (loT) and Geo locations ranked in, closely followed by big data and data science.

The loT is the interconnection of devices embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data. It is important because connected devices offer the potential to better manage certain projects. The key is being able to extract and manage actionable data from the loT devices to make informed decisions.

Geo location is more prominent now than ever. Firms can leverage geo location information to make things easier for the employees and clients. Geo locations can be used to determine an employee’s location, to track how long an employee is on a job site or deliver valuable details about the client when you arrive at a project or client office. Firms can use this information to better manage projects and improve client satisfaction giving them a competitive advantage.

Application of Technology Trends

This year, firms were also asked to which areas of their business they apply technology trends. Most firms are looking at implementing these trends into projects themselves through either project management or project execution. Futhermore, more than half of the firms want to apply technology to improve their business development and marketing.

The problem is that not enough firms are seeing the value of technology and how it can improve human capital management. Potential and existing clients are wanting businesses to be tech-savvy, and those that can deliver streamlined services that use up-to-date technology will stand out from the rest. Embracing technology today can create a clear competitive advantage, while those who are not will have to play catch up later.

Top Technology Trend Initiatives

Additionally, firms were asked to identify the top three initiatives they are employing to address technology challenges in the next three years. Two-thirds of the firms identified creating a strategic plan as one of their top three initiatives, followed by educating staff and identifying and developing technology subject matter experts. With these initiatives in mind, how can firms get this information and learn from it and eventually apply it to their work forces?

First, firms just need to know where to start. Industry associations and partners are a great resource they can use to learn more about technology. Firms should not be nervous about integrating new technology into their organization because of the fear of failure. Once they gain an understanding of the technology, developing a budget for implementing these trends will become more manageable.

Learn More From the 40^th Annual Deltek Clarity Report

This is simply a summary of technology trends from this year’s report. For more details, download a copy of the 40^th Annual Deltek Clarity Report today. You may also find other topics of interest to keep your firm ahead of the competition.

Full Sail Partners is honored to have received the Deltek Reseller Award for 2018 at the annual Global Partner Kickoff Event. As a Deltek Partner, Full Sail Partners continues to provide sales, implementation, consulting, hosting and customization services for project-oriented professional services organizations. Our mission is to help businesses integrate their processes into one singular system, better understand and retain current customers, and increase their market share.

“I am very grateful to work with a great team of professionals at Full Sail Partners and for our firm to be recognized by Deltek with this Reseller Award,” said Sarah Gonnella, VP of Marketing and Sales at Full Sail Partners. “We strive to do what is in the best interest of our clients and that approach has and continues to serve us and our clients well. We are excited about the next generation solution, Deltek Vantagepoint, to help project-based firms gain even more actionable insight to their business.”

As a strategic and trusted partner to over 1,000 professional services firms, Full Sail Partners can show clients the value of investing in technology solutions that results in increased productivity and profitability. The Full Sail Partners’ team has over 275 years of combined experience using Deltek products. This experience and our honest, get real approach have allowed us to build long lasting relationships with our clients. 

“It is my pleasure and honor to recognize Full Sail Partners as the Deltek Reseller of the Year. As a strategic Deltek Partner, Full Sail Partners provides their expertise, integrated products and services to continue helping our customers deliver successful projects. I look forward to Full Sail Partners leading the way in bringing Vantagepoint to professional service firms throughout North America,” said Andy Christenson, Senior Director, Global Alliances, Deltek.

Deltek provides leading software and solutions designed for project-based businesses to improve business performance, streamline operations and win new business. Using Deltek Vantagepoint or Deltek Vision, professional services firms can automate their marketing, financial management, planning, tracking and administration of resources and projects. BothVantagepoint and Vision uniquely integrate end-to-end business processes. Additionally, by using the Blackbox Connector offering by Full Sail Partners, Vantagepoint and Vision users can connect their Deltek systems to other third-party software solutions further streamlining business operations.

About Deltek

Better software means better projects. Deltek is the leading global provider of enterprise software and information solutions for project-based businesses. More than 23,000 organizations and millions of users in over 80 countries around the world rely on Deltek for superior levels of project intelligence, management and collaboration. Our industry-focused expertise powers project success by helping firms achieve performance that maximizes productivity and revenue. www.deltek.com

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

At the annual SAP Concur Fusion Conference in San Diego, Full Sail Partners was honored to receive the 2018 VAR of the Year award for the Solution Provider Program. For the last few years, Full Sail Partners and SAP Concur have successfully been working together to provide a Blackbox Connector solution to their mutual Deltek Vision clients. The Blackbox Connector offering by Full Sail Partners for Deltek Vision is future proofed for Vantagepoint and allows users to connect their systems to other third-party software solutions like SAP Concur to streamline business operations.

“The OCR capability combined with the monitoring and reporting features within the SAP Concur product almost sells itself when I explain it to clients. Now that our team is also SAP Concur Certified Implementation Partner, the implementation and connection process is even easier. It has been another amazing year, and I look forward to continued success with Blackbox Connector and SAP Concur,” stated Amy Balassone, Relationship Manager for Full Sail Partners.

SAP Concur is the world’s leading provider of integrated travel, expense management, and invoice management solutions. Deltek Vision is a leading enterprise software solution designed for project-based professional services firms to improve business performance, streamline operations and win new business.

“Our Blackbox Connector team has established a great relationship with SAP Concur over the last few years. We continue to see how the Blackbox Connector positively impacts our mutual Deltek Vision firms. What is even more exciting is that, after rigorous training and certification by SAP Concur, our own Full Sail Partners’ consultants are now taking lead on implementations,” stated Wes Renfroe, VP of Information Technology with Full Sail Partners.

For more information about SAP Concur Connectors, please visit Full Sail Partners’ Blackbox Connector website http://www.blackboxconnector.com/.

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

For several years, Full Sail Partners has offered a variety of Blackbox Connectors to integrate Deltek Vision and Vantagepoint with many different 3^rd party software packages. There are solutions for marketing/business development, finance, project management and leadership. Depending upon their specific needs, our Blackbox Connectors have been able to help firms save much time and money. Now with advancements in our technology, we can provide even more benefit to our clients. Let’s check out what has happened with the Blackbox Connector to make it even better.

In the Beginning

The first version of the Blackbox Connector necessitated facilitating structured point to point connectors with rigid workflows for operations that could not be modified if requirements fell outside of the predefined workflow steps. Changes were difficult and required developers to rewrite code on an instance by instance basis making customizations expensive for clients. Although the benefits of the Blackbox Connectors were worth the effort to clients, extending functionality or changing the manner in which data was transferred and specific actions in any given step was not as simple as we would have liked.

New Advancements in the Blackbox Connector

Version two (V2) has been crafted as a working tool set to allow developers to work with customers and their user story to rapidly build customer connections and workflows that meet the specifications of the individual organization’s requirements. Let’s say for example, connecting Deltek Vision and Concur, a client wishes to have additional steps taken to populate other list objects, or that in a Constant Contact campaign, a client would like to include additional customized data points held in custom grids or fields to facilitate the population routines of information in Constant Contact from Deltek Vision or in Deltek Vision from Constant Contact. The updated platform accommodates for customized mapping, transformation and translation so that data can flow between systems seamlessly and natively in near real-time.

Continued Benefit from Using a Blackbox Connector

V2 of the Blackbox Connector opens the doorway to enterprise class customizations to existing connectors as well as the development of new connectors. We can now quickly respond to changes to Deltek, for example, the upgraded Vision product, Vantagepoint, with painless transitions and minimized service interruption. Furthermore, as new versions of products become available, V2 will easily enable us to provide clients with whatever capabilities they desire keeping them running efficiently and successfully.

Over the past decade, email marketing has become a leading channel to generate brand and product awareness. Even better, unlike snail mail, marketers are able to get actual information about who opened the email and who followed the call to action. As a result, marketers can quickly determine what messaging is resonating with their target audience. Let’s take a look at some of the things you can do to increase the effectiveness of your email marketing efforts.

Use a Good Sender Name

Having a good sender name is extremely important. People are less likely to open an email that comes from a “no-reply” sender name and email address. Instead, use a sender name and an email address that the recipient might recognize. For example, if you’re emailing existing clients about a new product offering, consider using the name of their account representative from your company.

Have a Strong Subject Line

Upon receiving an email, the recipient usually looks first to see who sent it and then reads the subject line. The subject line can be the determining factor as to if the email recipient will actually even open and read the email. Email subject lines should get to the point and not be too long.  Furthermore, clearly state what information you are sharing inside the email. Consider using triggers words like “sale” and “proven” to increase interest in your messaging. Lastly, always use the preheader text field that is available in all email marketing platforms. The preheader text provides a place to add a summary of the email.

Use Catchy Graphics

Graphics are an important element to an email. Maybe it can be something fun that relates to the messaging of the email or it might just be company logo. Graphics help break up the text and make the email less overwhelming to the recipient. Another type of graphic to consider is an emoji. Emojis have become very popular over the past few years and they are a great way to communicate.

Format and Layout

“The best email I have gotten is one that is a giant block of text,” said no one ever. For the messaging of your email, text should be short and broken up to make the email scannable for the recipient. Some ways to break up text are to use short paragraphs, lists and bullet points. As mentioned before, use graphics to help break up the text. Also, make sure the call to action is clear to the recipient. It needs to stand out and should clarify the next steps for the reader.

Test Different Days and Times

With a 40-hour work week, there are several days and times you can chose to deploy your email. By breaking up your target list of recipients, you can test several different days and times to send your email to determine which time is best. For instance, you might find that your targets are more likely to open emails in the evening. If this is the case and let’s say the email is going to several time zones, you may consider breaking up the target list by time zone and deploying the email to ensure all recipients receive the email in the evening of their time zone.

Segment Your Email List

One of the last things you want to do is send an email with irrelevant content to a recipient. If you’re promoting a marketing product, it is less likely that an accountant is going to find your information useful. Additionally, you do not want to be sending the same people multiple emails a week, especially with irrelevant content. This will likely result in high unsubscribe rates.

Start Improving Your Email Success Rates

Now to the most important thing…testing, testing, and more testing. A/B testing is a marketer’s best friend. A/B testing involves creating two different subjects, graphics, messaging, and format/layout to determine what resonates with your audience. Once you have created two versions, segment your target list in two and send one half one version and the other half the other version. Then sit back and start to compare the success of each email to determine what increased your email success rate.

Projects are the life blood of the AEC industry. Efficiently run projects yield the most revenue and are thus essential to firm success. Fortunately for these firms, Deltek Project Information Management (PIM) provides project management and collaboration tools designed to help employees access critical project information and keep teams connected throughout the entire project lifecycle. Let’s check out what PIM can do for your firm.

Access All Project Emails in One Place

Employees spend 2-3 hours per day on average on email related activities according to a study by Dr. Michael Einstein at MESMO Inc. With Deltek PIM, project employees can easily add project related emails and communications into one central location allowing all project employees visibility into all email communications. Now hours are no longer lost managing and organizing project emails from other sources, since PIM provides a central location for the most up to date project emails. Project employees can utilize PIM to improve productivity, not impede project progress.

Simplify Document Management

Deltek PIM helps firms maintain hundreds of files across all aspects of their business in one location, giving companies the organization and intelligence to run their business smarter. All drawings, correspondence, and submittals are accessible by all team members at any time. Even more, PIM allows project teams to share large files in the office or with external team members while maintaining security and control. With PIM, there is no more worrying about setting up accounts or dated FTP sites so deadlines remain on track.

Take Information Management to the Next Level

Most importantly, Deltek PIM integrates with your Deltek ERP solution to improve how your firm manages schedules, budgets, resources and files for every project. Furthermore, PIM enables project teams to manage project documents while in the field. As a result, project employees can stay on top of everything that has been done or needs to be done at the site including uploading site photos, managing inspections, updating punch lists, and more with mobile access.

Make More Revenue Using Deltek PIM

Deltek PIM offers firms the chance to stay organized and run projects more efficiently. With PIM, team members will have access to all important documents with up to date details in one place throughout the entire project lifecycle. Therefore, project managers can ensure their projects are completed on time and on budget. How can PIM help your firm?

At the beginning of 2019, Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) jointly implemented the Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers. Essentially, ASC 606 now requires forms to recognize revenue from contracts with customers when goods or services are transferred. For professional services firms that use their expertise to sell their time, this has a significant impact on how firms recognize revenue.

About FASB ASC 606

With the new guidelines in ASC 606, firms must recognize revenue in their income statement during the period in which the revenue is earned and not when it is billed. Since professional services firms manage projects that can span across multiple periods, they might not bill until the project is complete. As a result, firms must use a form of percent complete for the project to determine how much revenue to state on their income statement for that period. For example, if during a specific period a firm completes 25% of the project, they must recognize 25% of the revenue that will be earned from the contract for that period.

There are three distinct ways to calculate percent complete:

1. Billing Percent Complete
2. Financial Percent Complete
3. Physical Percent Complete

Billing Percent Complete

Using billing percent complete is the most common method. Typically, this is driven by the project manager during the invoicing process. There are two options:

• Overall percent applied to the total contract value
• Percent complete by phase used to invoice based on the various components of scope/deliverables and these phases are broken down using either internal or external contract value

For many firms, this also drives revenue or earnings. Furthermore, it is recommended for people to review the current FASB 606 regulations. This will explain why earning what you invoiced may not be an acceptable solution any longer.

Financial Percent Complete

Another common technique is the financial percent complete. The formula for this method is job to date/job to date + estimate to complete. This indicates how much of the total estimate at completion has been spent or burned. When applied to the contract value, we can calculate revenue. Deltek Vision can facilitate this calculation using Resource Planning.

Physical Percent Complete

Lastly, physical percent complete can be utilized. This is usually calculated when the user or project manager has entered and can provide the following:

• Compared to financial percent complete, indicated whether the project’s progress is tracking with the financial burn
• When begin to drive earned value
• Have control earnings based upon contractual stipulations such as deliverables which can accelerate or slow down earnings and at the same time drive Work in Process (WIP) in tandem but that is separate from invoicing

Which Form is Right for Your Firm?

Let’s do some homework. Using a project your firm is executing, calculate/stipulate all three forms of percent complete and compare them. Then write a business case elaborating on the project’s health from these three statistics. You might surprise yourself with the results.  

Measuring your firm’s achievements and shortcomings are important to ensure continued future success. However, many firms are unsure of what factors indicate the health of their business. Also, some firm leaders believe one indicator, such as financial reports, is more important than other areas like talent management. Well, that is not necessarily the case. Let’s take a look at some of the indicators your firm should use to make informed decisions to improve business performance.  

Employee Recruitment and Retention Rates

One of the largest factors affecting the growth of architectural and engineering (A&E) firms is human capital management. Having the right people working on the right projects has a significant impact on the profitability and overall success of an A&E firm. From highlighting experienced staff members during the RFP process to actually delivering the project, talent affects all aspects of your business. Looking at recruitment rates, employee turnover rates and several other talent management metrics is essential to evaluating and measuring success.

Measuring Business Development

Wasted time on winning new business is very costly. Measuring win rates, revenue from top clients and net revenue growth will prevent wasted time. For some, this seems like a logical thing to measure, but many firms don’t track this information and they should. If you’re tracking these numbers and they continue to decline, then you know you have some major issues. You can quickly change this trend by evaluating what types of projects you’re winning and losing, and why.

Financial Metrics

Without a doubt, financial metrics are extremely important. Knowing things like total employee cost, overhead rate, and total payroll multiplier are necessary to keeping your finger on the pulse of your business. Diving deeper, measuring performance using metrics like operating profit on net revenue, utilization rate and the net labor multiplier from previous years can provide a clear picture of the performance of your firm. If these numbers slip in a negative direction, other metrics mentioned in this article could provide useful insight.

Overlooked Technology Needs

Historically, the A&E industry has been hesitant to adopt new technology. As a result, firms continue to use outdated technology that lacks the abilities to keep up with the changing A&E industry. This has become the number one hurdle for little firms to keep up with larger and faster growing firms. A&E firms need to evaluate their current technology.  Are your systems connected or is there a lot of manual entry from one software tool to another? Is your software up to date? Being behind on technology can greatly hinder your ability to even measure performance indicators.

Comparing Your Firm to Others

Ok, let’s assume your firm will measure these metrics and keep track of them. Even better, it will use current metrics and compare them to historical metrics to notice trends. However, does it compare itself to other A&E firms to determine where it stands in the industry? Well, it can. Make sure to download the Deltek A&E Clarity Industry Study to see how your firm stacks up against your competition. The Deltek A&E Clarity Industry Study is created in collaboration with ACEC, the Association Consulting Engineering Companies Canada, SMPS and AIA. The data collected comes from 386 US and Canadian firms and draws from over 250,000 data points.

When you are determining what marketing techniques are going to be the best for your company, there are some important things to consider. It’s common for business owners to cast a wide net in their initial marketing plan, throwing everything they can against the wall to see what sticks. However, continuing to throw money at a marketing strategy that is not generating conversation will result in loss of revenue and time. Fortunately, there are ways that you can avoid this by tracking the success of your marketing techniques and being able to adjust the ones not yielding results.

Website Analytics

Let’s start with one of the easiest and most common methods of tracking marketing success: website analytics. Utilizing this method, you can see who is coming to your site and from what sources. This lets you know which marketing tactics are creating the most clicks and how those clicks could be converted into leads or sales. A lot of website analytic tools are easy to setup and simple to use.

Email Outreach

Email marketing is easy to track and measure. Most email marketing platforms offer a host of data that will help you gauge the efficiency of your email campaigns. Your task is to find those metrics that best suit your email marketing goals and to keep an eye on them. There are many different things that are important to look at when it comes to the success of email marketing. Deliverability, open rates, click-through rates, conversation and bounce rates. These all can give you a better idea of how your email marketing campaign is going.

Phone Tracking

Call tracking is one of the most effective ways to evaluate lead generation sources. By taking advantage of call tracking technology, you can see what marketing ventures are generating the highest number of phone calls. This gives you the opportunity to keep track of who is calling from where and gauge where your budget is best spent.

CRM Tracking

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) helps sales staff stay organized and track marketing campaign results. Using a CRM software, sales professionals create profiles for each prospect including name, company, phone number, lead source, and any other relevant information. CRM platforms not only lead the way in tracking initial marketing efforts but continue to serve in following the future of client dealings.

Save Time and Effort by Tracking Marketing Success

Tracking marketing success is quite effective when using the right techniques. You can learn what works and what doesn’t when marketing to contacts to create more business and ultimately generate more income for your firm. Using a tool like the Deltek CRM, you can easily.