Full Sail Partners Blog (41)

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the architectural and engineering (A&E) industry are on the rise. Unfortunately, many firms are not prepared to successfully implement the M&A process. With an acquisition, it is imperative that the “buying” entity have a well-defined set of procedures to easily onboard the incoming firm. In the case of a merger, all involved firms would need a set plan which would dictate the transition to a new firm. However, first a firm must decide the direction it will take regarding the M&A process and evaluate how it will affect the current organization’s structure.

Navigating Forks in the Road for Your Firm 

There are many reasons a firm may decide to begin the M&A process. Each firm has its own vision for the future. On this path, there are 3 “forks in the road,” and a firm must choose one:

1. Absorbing the acquisition into an existing organization
2. Creating a new organization within an existing company
3. Creating a new company 

Making the Acquired Company Part of the Buying Company

Absorbing the acquisition into an existing organization is the easiest and most straight forward. This scenario is usually the result of a simple employee purchase. For example, a design engineering firm acquires a mechanical engineering firm. In this case, the incoming engineers are integrated into an existing profit center (department). They may have brought projects with them or are going to be staffed on existing projects. Since it requires no structural changes to the database, very little of any testing is needed. The focus would be more human resources related blending the culture of the acquired firm into the existing one. 

Making a New Organization within the Buying Company 

Creating a new organization within an existing company is most often the result of expanding service offerings. For example, a base building architectural firm acquires an interiors firm. If the firm’s current structure is studio based, a new studio would be required for the interior work. Under this scenario, a change to the existing structure is made that will require testing. This will include: 

• Cross Charging
• Overhead Allocation
• T&E group management 

In addition, reporting parameters need to be updated to ensure the new organization is included in all metrics and indicators. This will require reasonable lead time to do a test and final cutover. 

Making a New Company Altogether

Creating a new company by merging firms is the most common scenario, and regardless of the dynamics, is often driven by numerous outside factors such as: 

• Tax implications
• Buyout and payout provisions
• Currency requirements
• Country, state, and other municipal requirements
• Banking relationships
• Investment and or holding company requirements
• Professional licensing requirements 

In a merger situation, a change to the existing structure is made that will require testing. This will include: 

• Intercompany Billing
• Foreign currency management
• Consolidated reporting (in addition to the reporting parameter updates noted above) 

Additional factors that will need to be considered in risk mitigation are: 

• Rules defining internal pricing
• New currency being introduced into the environment 

This situation will require at least one test cutover and lead time needs to be considered during the process. 

Final Considerations for Mergers and Acquisitions   

Once you have selected which of the forks on the M&A road to take, the real work begins. Beyond the integration testing noted above, there are two other risk areas that must be considered. 

1. Data import
2. Revenue management 

Regardless of which direction your firm chooses to take in the M&A process, Full Sail Partners can offer consulting from subject matter experts. Contact us and we will be happy to help. You don’t have to walk alone. Additionally, we will be at the 2018 Southeast States M&A Symposium in Miami, Florida on January 24th and 25th. 

“Project Controls” are formidable words, ones that are necessary for successful project outcomes. Those of you who have used Deltek Vision for many years may recall that “project controls” remain at the core of the Vision system and are the datacenter for all other Vision applications such as billing, CRM, proposals, resource planning, and time and expense. Fortunately for Vision users, accessing project controls has gotten a lot easier with Deltek iAccess.

What are Project Controls? 

There is no industry jargon in the name project controls. They do exactly what the name implies. They allow you to manage and control your projects. Furthermore, a complete project control system such as Vision, allows users to: 

• Document project attributes
• Coordinate project activities
• Track employee time and expense
• Apply direct and overhead costs
• Monitor project progress
• Generate project reports
• Maintain project budgets 

Controlling projects requires understanding and making decisions based on the information collected. This can be a challenge if data is not updated in a timely fashion or there is too much information to absorb. So, how can Vision users make these processes simpler? 

Enter Deltek iAccess for Project Management 

With the addition of iAccess for Deltek Vision, visibility into and ease of digesting information has enjoyed a renaissance. The iAccess interface allows firms to proactively manage and track projects from creation through closeout. The real-time connection to Vision, graphical views, and simple interactive tools for planning and managing the budget make quick work of understanding the status of the project. As a result, users can efficiently manage project future costs and review the expected outcomes. 

Gain Better Control of Your Projects with Deltek iAccess 

The ability to drive your projects with a full understanding of the past and predictions for the future is the ultimate control. With iAccess for Deltek Vision, this becomes possible. So, what are you waiting for? Take control of your projects, and extend the capabilities of Vision project controls with iAccess.

2017 was a banner year for Deltek users with so many amazing new service offerings coming available. Each of these solutions was designed with users in mind to create a more streamlined business operation. From improved user interfaces to near instantaneous data transfers, Deltek users now have an array of options to get their work done faster and more efficiently.

Let’s take a look at these hot service offerings from 2017.

Deltek for Professional Services

Deltek for Professional Services (DPS) is the newest cloud-based professional services automation (PSA) enterprise software solution designed by Deltek and launched this year. DPS is based on Vision with an improved user interface like that of iAccess for Vision. Deltek for Professional Services integrates and automates your firm’s business processes allowing better control over your business and your projects. Designed to meet the needs of the A&E industry, DPS manages the project throughout the entire lifecycle including business development, project management, resource management, collaboration and financial management.

Deltek Talent

Deltek Talent helps businesses maximize their strongest and most distinctive resource, their people. It simplifies the entire employee lifecycle, enabling companies to seamlessly recruit, on–board, develop, compensate, and track their employees. Maximizing your Talent with Deltek Talent allows you to keep skills and competencies at the forefront of your strategy providing the competitive edge you need to stay ahead in the ongoing war for talent.  

Deltek Project Information Management

Deltek Project Information Management (PIM) provides project management and collaboration tools designed to help employees access critical project information to stay connected throughout the entire project lifecycle. With PIM you will avoid lost files and duplicate information saving hours of manpower. You can see all versions of the project documents, tag documents across multiple related locations, and review new designs and drawings instantly. Organized files across all aspects of business in one centralized location provides companies the intelligence to more effectively run their business.

Blackbox Connector

The Blackbox Connector is a no-code, low cost connector offering an interface between Deltek Vision and other third party business applications. With the Blackbox Connector, you will significantly reduce integration time and duplicate efforts in the entry and maintenance of data. The Blackbox Connector provides easy to implement solutions focused on connecting your Deltek Vision system to Concur, Client Feedback Tool, Constant Contact and Mail Chimp. Connectors for both HubSpot and Informer will be released soon. The Blackbox Connector eliminates data silos by providing a better and more formidable way to connect to Deltek Vision.

Do More with Deltek in 2018

Whether your firm is looking for ways to retain top talent or help to expedite completing expense reports, there is a solution for you. Are you ready to take advantage of these time saving services?

After the ball drops every New Year’s Eve, the song “Auld Lang Syne” triggers everyone to begin a personal reflection of the past. Similarly, at the end of a year and on a professional level, business development and marketing professionals should look back at the previous year and evaluate the results of their efforts. How they use this information will help them strategize for the following year and improve upon performance. Here are some New Year’s resolutions that business development and marketing professionals should make to get the most out of next year.

New Year’s Resolutions for Business Development 

Improving client relationships is essential to generating more sales and revenue. Here are five ways to help nurture better client relationships.   

1. Streamline your client engagement/touchpoint activities. Distill your activities to the essentials to shorten sales cycles while providing high-value interactions with clients and prospects.
2. Get to know your clients better. Ask the right questions and actively listen to the client’s answers.
3. Coordinate and collaborate with the marketing team on a regular basis.
4. Embrace new technology. Communicate with prospects and clients and record information gained. Share this information with internal teams.
5. Stop checking in. Instead, use your database to connect with prospects using meaningful conversations or useful content. 

New Year’s Resolutions for Marketers 

While marketing requires evaluating the performance of efforts throughout the year, using this data to become more effective for the next year is a difficult task. Here are five ways marketers can increase the impact of marketing plans for the new year. 

1. Examine last year’s marketing campaigns and see which ones met your goals. Determine how you will use this information for next year’s planning.
2. Take a hard look at your process for collecting and maintaining your information/data. Make it a goal to get all your data centralized into one place.
3. Coordinate and collaborate with the business development/sales teams on a regular basis.
4. Create high-quality, value-based content that your clients and prospects need.
5. Understand the client experience journey from prospect to project delivery. How can you, as a marketer, improve your client experience to differentiate your firm? 

Increase Business and Revenue in 2018! 

With the New Year comes the potential to increase sales goals and revenue. This is the best time to make changes and adjustments to business development and marketing strategies. Follow these New Year’s resolutions to be more productive in your marketing and business development efforts for 2018.    

With the New Year approaching, it is a fitting time for accountants and project managers to review the previous year and identify areas of improvement. While we usually think of New Year’s resolutions for our personal lives, there can also be professional ones. Let’s take a look at some of them.

New Year's Resolution for Accountants

For accountants, it’s all about preparing for next year and making changes that streamline and automate processes. Here are the top five resolutions for accountants:

1. Examine the current revenue/earning methods and determine if the firm is in compliance with FASB 606
2. Take a hard look at the organizational structure to determine if changes need to be made
3. Clean-up the firm’s chart of accounts and overhead projects
4. Define the differences between a project administrator and a project controls role
5. Try to learn more about challenges the accounting team experiences and create solutions

New Year’s Resolutions for Project Managers

Project managers must consider how to evaluate the success of projects and how to better manage them. Here are the top five resolutions for project managers:

1. Use the tools within the project management system to better budget and plan projects
2. Elevate the level of project review beyond invoicing to earned value
3. Better record and manage change orders
4. Build a work breakdown structure based on fee and scope
5. Encourage the team and peers to be timely in submitting time and expense

Start 2018 Off Right!

The New Year brings fresh opportunity to improve a firm’s operations and efficiency. Accountants and project managers must first take time to determine what areas need adjustment or refinement. Full Sail Partners can help! Let us conduct a Navigational Analysis to pinpoint those areas and start 2018 off right. 

Gone are the days where human resources (HR) professionals simply focused on just filling staff requisitions. Today’s HR professionals are looking to build relationships which will impact their organization’s bottom line. With this in mind, they must successfully compete for and win the best talent which fits the needs of their firms. The talent acquisition team can boost the efficiency of both the recruitment and on-boarding of this talent using an automated system.

9 Talent Acquisition Processes that are Improved Using an Automated System 

1. Standardized Job Descriptions | Having standardized job descriptions that can be automatically pulled into a requisition allows HR professionals to immediately begin finding qualified candidates. Establishing standardized job descriptions also sets skills requirements, job expectations, and success measurement. 
2. Requisition Request and Approval | Automating the requisition and approval process ensures the team knows about a new hire request. This process also gives team members one last opportunity to evaluate the job description and provides tracking for the position moving forward.
3. Write Once, Share Often | One of the biggest benefits of an automated talent system is the ability to share the job request in multiple locations without duplicating efforts. HR professionals can now streamline the publishing process by posting the position on the firm website, job boards, and social media, while enabling employees to share via their social networks. 
4. One Place for Qualified Candidate Pool | A talent acquisition system ensures candidate submissions go into one centralized location. When candidates submit their resumes online, their information is associated to the requisition and can also be assigned to future pools for searching. No more excel spreadsheets needed nor keeping up with random emails and submissions from various locations. 
5. Quick Candidate Notifications | Letting a candidate know his application was received and is being reviewed can make a positive impression. Even if a candidate doesn’t fit this position, he may fit a future position. The ability to send quick notifications to multiple candidates streamlines the recruitment process because candidate contact is automatically maintained. 
6. Standardized Letters | Standardized letters (offer, decline, interview, etc.) allow HR to respond automatically to all candidates. These letters are significant to the candidate experience, and the automatic response reduces the work it would take to individually contact each candidate.
7. Electronic Forms and Checklists | Reducing the amount of physical paperwork needed throughout the application and onboarding process is necessary for efficiency. Electronic forms and checklists make sure all necessary information is gathered, and that the process is seamless. 
8. Internal Notifications | The first week of a new hire is the most important time to make a good impression. Automated internal notifications keep everyone involved with the new hire in the loop, so no one drops the ball.
9. Let It Flow | The beauty of an automated talent acquisition process is that the flow of information eliminates duplicate entry. Once the candidate enters his information on the job application, it continues to flow through to the on-boarding process thus reducing manual entry. 

Automate Your Talent Acquisition Process 

Every HR professional wants to find and match the right candidates to open positions as quickly as possible. However, they also want the candidate experience to be a positive one for lasting relationships. Having an efficient talent acquisition process can improve new hire readiness and decrease time to revenue, while keeping the candidate experience in mind. Is your firm ready for an automated system?

Ready or not, here year-end comes. With some organization and planning, however, it doesn’t have to be stressful. Let’s look at some critical tasks your firm should complete as part of the year-end process.

Preparing to Close 2017

First off, the most important task is to document your year-end procedures. Not only those performed in your Deltek system, but all of them so that you have a comprehensive guide to refer to on a year to year basis. You should also create a calendar and develop a year-end checklist as part of your year-end procedures.

Some of the more common year-end tasks for most companies are:

• Reconcile all cash accounts - Verify all transactions have been posted into Vision/DPS to ensure your general ledger balance matches your bank statements adjusting as required.
• Final invoicing – Process all client invoices for the fiscal year.
• Review outstanding accounts receivable - Follow up with clients who have outstanding accounts receivable beyond 30 days. Send past due statements and give them a call. Enter the results of your collection efforts in the comments section of Deltek Vision or Deltek for Professional Services (DPS) invoice review. Year-end is an excellent time to collect your outstanding receivables. If you determine there is uncollectable accounts receivable, be sure to write those invoices off.
• Review unbilled detail - Time and expense transactions that cannot be invoiced to clients should be written off at this time.
• Fixed assets – Fixed assets are larger purchases that are made throughout the year (i.e. equipment, automobiles, furniture, computers, etc.). Are all fixed assets reported on the balance sheet still owned? If not, record the sale or disposal of these fixed assets. Additionally, verify the depreciation on your fixed assets and make any necessary adjustments.
• Employee expenses and accounts payable - Verify that all accounts payable vouchers have been recorded in Vision or DPS. Make your 401(k), SEP IRA, and simple IRA contributions, if you have not done so. Also, try to pay all your vendors and employee expense reports by year-end.
• Notes payable - Verify notes payable (i.e. loans) amounts on your balance sheet match the statements from your lenders adjusting if necessary.
• W-9s – Order 1099 forms and make sure all W-9s from your vendors and/or contractors that are paid $600 or more throughout the year are on file. Don’t forget, 1099s should be mailed on January 31st. 1099 forms can be purchased from most office supply stores or you can order them for free from the IRS (gov).
• W-2s –If you run payroll in Vision or DPS, you’ll need to order W-2 forms which can be purchased from most office supply stores. W-2s should be mailed by January 31st.
• Budget for next year - Create your general ledger budget for 2018.

As part of the year-end process, a new benefit year will need to be opened to roll over any PTO or vacation time into the next year and to start accruals for the new benefit year. 

Initialization Utilities in Deltek Vision and Deltek for Professional Services

There are numerous initialization utilities that need to be performed in Deltek Vision and DPS. Take note that these utilities need to be completed once per fiscal year. Vision and DPS will generate a posting log for the initialization utilities which is available in the transaction center under the posting review report. If your Vision or DPS database is set up with multi-company functionality, the initialization utilities need to run in each company. Make sure to watch this video for more information.

In Vision and DPS, opening the 1st period of your fiscal year also opens the new fiscal year. Depending on your security rights, you can still process in the prior fiscal year if needed.

Is Your Firm Ready for 2018?

Efficiently complete the tasks required for 2017 year-end, and you will be ready. If your firm is having any difficulties performing year-end tasks in Deltek Vision or DPS, Full Sail Partners can be of assistance! Also, remember to check out the new Deltek Customer Care portal for numerous resources available to you.

Data here, data there - this seems to be a continuous issue for professional services firms as more technology solutions designed to overcome specific business challenges enter the market. Luckily, there is an answer to this problem for Deltek Vision and Deltek for Professional Services (DPS) users - the Blackbox Connector. Simply stated, the Blackbox Connector allows users to embrace the power of third-party technology solutions using the data in their Deltek Vision or DPS database. Here’s a look at the current and upcoming integrations available from the Blackbox Connector.

Outbound Marketing Connectors

Email marketing has revolutionized how businesses stay connected with clients. Even more, being able to know who opens and clicks on links in the email becomes valuable business intelligence. With Constant Contact and MailChimp, this information is attainable, and all that is needed for these solutions currently resides in your Deltek database. Click here to learn about email marketing.

With the Blackbox Connector, your Deltek CRM data is easily integrated with Constant Contact or MailChimp. Just create the email in your chosen email marketing solution, and with a push of a button, your target contacts in your Deltek CRM quickly populate the email target list in the email marketing solution. The open and click data for each email campaign will appear in the associated marketing campaign in your Deltek CRM.  

Spend Management Connector

Maximizing your profit means controlling how your business spends money. Spend management requires having timely and actual spend information. The Concur solution allows businesses to automate the expenses process from receipt to reimbursement and to gain visibility into travel expenses. Additionally, the Concur solution provides businesses with the ability to automate accounts payable and see spending before it’s spent. Learn more about spend management here.

The Blackbox Connector for Concur connects these key accounting responsibilities with the accounting tools in Deltek Vision and DPS. The current version of this Connector allows expense data collected in Concur, including receipt images, to automatically populate in the expense module in Deltek Vision or DPS. This enables your firm to take advantage of the powerful expense management capabilities of Concur. The automated accounts payable capabilities from Concur will soon be integrated with Deltek Vision and DPS.

Customer Success Connector

As a firm finishes a project, it doesn’t always mean the client felt it was a success. Ensuring your project delivery was successful requires managing client expectations throughout the lifecycle of the project. The Client Feedback Tool allows businesses to capture feedback periodically throughout the project lifecycle. As a result, your project managers can better manage client expectations. Find out more about client feedback in this article.

Using the Client Feedback Tool Connector, project managers can easily obtain feedback at specific milestones of a project from the project info center or hub in Deltek Vision or DPS. The Client Feedback Tool Connector allows for surveys to send based on multiple criteria such as billing milestones or at a set timeframe utilizing the existing data in Deltek Vision or DPS.

Inbound Marketing Connector

In today’s world, every business is competing to be found on the internet and discovering how your inbound marketing efforts are attracting clients is essential to developing meaningful relationships with prospects. Using the HubSpot marketing software, your firm has access to all the tools it needs to run an inbound marketing campaign. Soon, business development teams will be able to acquire this vital information from HubSpot.

Coming in 2018, the HubSpot Blackbox Connector for Deltek Vision and DPS will allow data collected in HubSpot to populate the associated marketing campaigns in your Deltek CRM. When your inbound marketing efforts generate new contacts, their information will create new contacts in your Deltek CRM. With the Blackbox Connector for HubSpot, your business development team will have great new insight into your firm’s inbound marketing efforts.

Business Intelligence Connector

Having the ability to quickly analyze data to make informed decisions is a necessity to stay ahead of the competition. With Informer 5, users can create, analyze, visualize and collaborate in a user intuitive environment to make data-driven decisions. Informer 5 is a new generation of business intelligence and data analytics.   

In early 2018, Deltek Vision and DPS users will now be able to use Informer 5 to cleanse, merge, and analyze the data in their Deltek database. Firms using the Informer 5 Blackbox Connector will have an edge over their competition using timely and actionable insights.

Integrate Your Data with the Blackbox Connector

Deltek Vision and DPS are powerful solutions designed to help professional services firms win more business and better manage resources by tracking, editing, and analyzing project details. Despite the overwhelming capabilities of an ERP or PSA solution, further technology solutions are sometimes required. This is why the Blackbox Connector was created.  It is specifically designed to allow your firm to maximize the capabilities of your Deltek products, while also taking advantage of these other world class solutions, all along keeping your data in one system. Learn more about how your firm can bring data together.

As I travel around and work with clients implementing Vision Resource Planning, the issue of what makes a good project manager (PM) is often discussed. The PM track has always been perceived as a measurement of success in one’s career. As employees become more tenured within a firm, there seems to be a natural progression to the PM role. However, not everyone who is strong technically is able to effectively manage projects. Based on my experience, to be a good PM requires proficiency in certain key areas.

Scope Management

A good PM must be involved in defining the scope of the project and needs to play a role in the proposal process. Scope can be narrowed down to what has been promised to the client, or in other words, what is to be delivered. The various components of scope are usually defined and controlled by a project’s work breakdown structure and can include interim deliverables and milestones. 

Equally, if not more important, a good PM should be aware of what is not in the scope. Scope creep is the number one killer of profit. To avoid this, a good PM needs to be very familiar with what is in the contract and when to ask for change orders. 

Schedule Management 

Schedule is the order in which the scope needs to be delivered. This is also called a critical path which defines what and when things need to happen to ensure all interim and final scope delivery. A good PM needs to understand the concept of task dependency and how delays and disruptions can impact future delivery. Scope and schedule management work in tandem and scope creep can impact a schedule. 

Team Management 

A good PM needs to be a committed leader. While “leading by example” may seem cliché, it is a solid guideline to follow as a PM. Even more, a PM must make sure the entire team understands scope and schedule and will keep them inside the white lines to avoid scope creep. 

Financial Management 

To make prudent, yet quick decisions about the financial health of projects, a PM should be provided reliable data. A good PM should understand what indicators are needed to make this health assessment. I believe earned value is the best indicator. By comparing a project’s physical to financial percent complete, a PM and others can measure the “direction” that the project is heading. Once again, scope creep should easily be identified using this measurement.

Client Management 

The human component of project management can be challenging. A good PM should be able to make every client feel important while also filtering and prioritizing so that the scope, schedule and financial components of all projects are properly tended too. A good PM must also be effective in communicating scope creep to the client and should utilize the relationship to secure the change orders that are warranted. 

Quality Management 

Finally, a good PM must have his “hands” on the product whether it be a report, widget, skyscraper or bridge. He must have the technical knowledge to guarantee the product can pass inspections and be accepted by the client. He must also be able to trouble shoot issues, manage challenges that arise, and always be cognizant of the scope to ensure the work performed is within the contractual obligation to avoid scope creep. 

Are Your Project Managers the Right Fit? 

All the above must be considered to determine whether someone makes a good PM. A PM may not have mastered all areas, but needs to be effective in each. These key areas are interrelated and critical to one another. Strong technical knowledge does not necessarily translate to successful PM skills. How do your PMs stack up?