Full Sail Partners Blog (42)

A KPI, or Key Performance Indicator, is a measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a company is achieving crucial business objectives. Organizations should use KPIs to evaluate their success at reaching targeted goals. Simply stated, KPIs provide your firm with metrics that compare budgeted amounts to the actual values. KPIs are no longer just for accounting and finance as they now reach deeper into a firm’s operational side examining marketing, business development and project management.

KPIs vs Traditional Reporting Methods 

Let’s take a look at how firms benefit from KPIs and how KPIs differ from standard reporting. A common reporting technique is to compare current profit & loss results to the same period the previous year, or to compare year to date then versus year to date for the current year. Budget data for one or both comparisons can be incorporated. Now, what if we graphed this information and included a desired growth line? We will then have a visual of actual performance in relation to a chosen measurement. This measurement will inherently become an indication of whether we are achieving our goals, and would allow us to be proactive in correcting potential challenges. 

Using KPIs to Measure Success 

As mentioned earlier, KPIs are not just a tool for the finance team. For example, a chief operating officer may not relate well to traditional financial statements and focusing on project related metrics would be more to his liking. These indicators can be project specific, relate to a grouping of projects, or be sliced and diced based on the organizational breakdown structure (OBS) or work breakdown structure (WBS). Click here to learn more about OBS and WBS.

In another scenario, a chief strategy officer believes there is a benefit from evaluating trending data regarding hit rates filtered by a predetermined criterion. However, we must keep in mind that unless a benchmark or some other distinguished metric is established, this may not result in a clear and meaningful measurement. 

Here are two examples of KPIs that have proven to be successful: 

1. Cost and Schedule Variance – Using Deltek Vision reporting, actual project cost performance index (CPI) and schedule performance index (SPI) is calculated and compared to an acceptable mean-variance.
2. Estimate at Completion (EAC) Analysis – This can be as simple as a two-column report showing EAC in comparison to the contract value. The criteria can also be set by contract type to “flag” anomalies that need to be further investigated. 

The Bottom-line on KPIs 

KPIs can be used company wide. C-level executives can look across client and project types and evaluate revenue multipliers or collections success. These same evaluations can be done at all levels across your enterprise from managers that are accountable for sections of your organization down to individual project managers driving the lowest levels of WBS. What is required is a benchmark, a budget or a goal. Whether top down or bottom up, the view into why businesses perform the way they do will kept top of mind.

So, how does your firm measure success across the enterprise? Is it profit centers, projects, employees or pursuits? Every firm is unique and can’t just use “off the shelf” KPIs. It all begins with a discussion of what you need to drive your firm to the finish line. Once decided, designing the reports and data is easy.

 

It wasn’t long ago that firm management took a “need-to-know” approach with sharing project performance information with staff. Today, most firms have changed their attitude about access to project information. Firm managers want project managers to be engaged with the financial results of their projects and have taken great steps to train them to use the Deltek Vision reporting tools and dashboards. Still, project managers are intimidated and paralyzed by the information they receive.

So why are project managers not taking responsibility for their projects?

• Budgets are not easy to access or review against actual performance
• Reports are complex and rely heavily upon the accounting cycle that many project managers don’t understand
• Too much information in reports makes it difficult to focus on what is important
• Analyzing data requires pulling information into Excel for What-If scenarios
• Access to information “on-the-go” is not available 

How Can We Change This? 

Enter iAccess. The tool built for project managers to provide them the information they need at their fingertips to successfully manage projects. Even more, it’s ready to go right out of the box. Sure, that sounds too good to be true and one might wonder what you get with iAccess’ standard configuration. 

Here’s a high-level summary. An iAccess core feature that requires no configuration provides a simple project review tool that allows users to quickly review, analyze, and focus on projects needing attention. Any project accessed will appear with current contract, labor, and expense information in graphical and tabular formats at the project or lower levels. This removes the need of having complicated reports and performing What-If scenarios. 

Can iAccess Do More? 

iAccess, like Deltek Vision has the flexibility to meet the different and complex needs of each individual firm. From simple custom configuration of reports to in-depth configuration of projects, iAccess provides the same information that’s stored within Deltek Vision to project managers from anywhere they have an internet connection.   

With just some minimal configuration, project managers can use iAccess as a comprehensive project management tool from the beginning of the project through closeout by using the planning functionality. Starting with an original budget, project managers can interact with their projects as needed to review actual data and then provide estimates of additional effort required to complete the project. 

Stay Connected with iAccess 

The real-time connection to your Deltek Vision database and the mobile accessibility of the iAccess tool may be the missing link in motivating your project managers to take more control over their project financial management responsibilities. The use of iAccess allows them to absorb data in a friendly format while creating a platform for predictive information entry and sharing across the firm. Stop giving project managers an easy excuse for not taking responsibility.

 

Spend Management is a popular term, but what is it really? Spend Management can encompass anything from procurement, supply chain management, expense control, outsourcing and more. For most businesses, managing spending may not seem to provide a competitive advantage nor differentiate them from the competition. While this task doesn’t directly drive revenue, figuring out how to better manage and control your travel costs, expenses and invoicing does provide significant business value.

So, what exactly does a good Spend Management strategy need to accomplish? It should:

• Simplify accounts payable (AP) workflows
• Enhance the end user experience
• Encourage mobility in the AP process
• Improve compliance levels
• Provide increased insight into spending
• Allow for visibility of expenses before they are incurred

What Can All This Do for Your Firm?

Spend Management will lower your capital expense profile, increase employee productivity, lower costs for managing operational functions and drive new capabilities that have a direct impact on business performance. Accomplishing these goals allows your firm to continue to compete in this hypercompetitive environment that continually rewards sustained agility.

Organizations typically start with a manual process for managing purchasing, expense reports, and invoice management. As the company grows in size and complexity, workarounds like spreadsheets and physical reconciliation are simply no longer efficient and directly impact the further ability to grow and manage spending.

According to an IDC study (Document #US42246116 © 2017 IDC), implementing effective strategies can result in:

• 68% less time processing invoices
• Improving company procurement compliance by up to 14%
• Increasing productivity by an average of 11% using mobile/OCR management tools
• Reducing IT staff time to manage spend by 29%

How to Evaluate Solutions to Help Your Firm with Spend Management?

There are many factors to consider when evaluating a Spend Management solution. Here are some key things to contemplate:

• Business ready: Solutions must be able to scale to accommodate your firm now and in the future, and must automatically link into existing accounting and ERP systems. These are secure, cloud-based solutions that fit within the CIO’s IT policy framework, are cost-effective and easy to deploy across the organization.
• Business Intelligence: These solutions must be capable of providing greater business performance visibility and driving smarter decision-making. With a solution that offers more than automation, executives are armed with the insights to identify business opportunities that never existed before. What used to take days or weeks can now take hours.
• Complete visibility: Encompassing all areas of spend in one solution, including travel costs, expenses and invoice management, is ideal. If you only see a piece of the puzzle, it is virtually impossible to view the entire picture. With solutions that can integrate all of the data and incorporate your firm’s spend management regulations, you can ensure there is maximum compliance and have the easiest adoption across the company with only one solution to learn.
• End-user adoptability: As better financial performance rests with reducing accounts receivable turnover and achieving greater efficiency in cash flow management, businesses need to ensure that finance and accounting staff, as well as their employees, are able to quickly and accurately execute a modern, mobile process. When end users are satisfied and are able to employ solutions anywhere and anytime, this results in faster and increased adoption of the solutions and increased financial performance.

The best systems provide better visibility and insight into non-PO spend, P-card spend, and corporate card spend as well as meet employees where they are. They allow for visibility into spend before the money has been spent (PO management) and follow through to auditing with full details completely integrated into your firm’s ERP system. They also can incorporate all of these areas of spend into one solution so it’s easy to quantify spend across all areas.

Gain Control of Your Spend Management

Expectations and demands for employees, especially finance staff, have never been higher. The cost of lower productivity, employee turnover, and inefficient financial operations is now even more critical to a firm’s success and must be addressed. Employees require mobile, efficient solutions to increase their overall satisfaction and productivity. With increased industry compliance regulations, accurate reporting is now a necessity instead of a luxury. Now is the time to get control with a Spend Management solution.

 

Many professional services organizations are under the false impression that proposal automation is not worth the investment. While copying and pasting previous Request for Proposal (RFP) submissions may seem expedient, it is not really the case as firms must tailor them to the unique needs of each new proposal. Let’s review a few reasons why proposal automation will benefit your firm if it is incorporated into the bidding process.

Firms Shouldn’t Depend on Previous RFP Content

Relying on past proposals as your content library is a bad move. Far too often, though, professional services firms fall into the trap of utilizing past RFPs in this way. There are a litany of reasons to avoid copying and pasting past proposal content:

• A higher rate of human error
• Past content typically contains other companies branding and imagery
• A generic approach leads to a generic response
• Lack of focus on the needs of the individual client

Proposal automation will eliminate human error. It will also create a consistent proposal format that contains details suited for each individual client and ensures proper branding.

Accurate Technical and Background Answers Are Necessary

Proposal teams can expect a list of common questions during the RFP process. RFP questionnaires typically contain background questions (founding date, partnerships, administrative information) and technical questions (performance KPIs, background details, etc.) As a result, copying previous proposals can lead to submitting inaccurate information.

With proposal automation, your firm can make sure that these frequently used answers are accurately reflected and are available for quick reference in your proposal content library.

Review Your Content!

Content reviews are an essential element in differentiating winners from losers. Your firm’s content library needs to be continually refined. Each piece of content should be relevant and error free. Additionally, your proposal team must be notified of pertinent changes so outdated content doesn’t spread into future proposals.

Using proposal automation, common content can be managed in a central location. Whoever is managing the content can ensure that the proposal team has only the most up to date information.

It should be evident now why proposal automation is worth the investment. Check out how Deltek Vision firms are implementing proposal automation to win more projects! 

 

Organizations with antiquated talent management philosophies will struggle to attract, nurture and retain top talent in 2017. Many HR teams make the common mistake of having decentralized or ineffective systems and processes. This infographic illustrates six key statistics that demonstrate why HR teams can no longer be reactionary and should evaluate their talent management processes and systems.

Learn More about the Challenges of Talent Management

Interested in learning more about how to overcome the increased competition for talent in 2017? Join our webinar where we will discuss how HR can overcome the top five challenges with talent acquisition.

Full Sail Partners is pleased to announce that Deltek has named our firm a Deltek Platinum Partner, the highest Deltek partnership tier. Deltek Platinum Partners provide sales, implementation, consulting, support and customization services for project-oriented professional services organizations and are required to meet and maintain a number of standards with respect to sales and marketing goals. Full Sail Partners is also the proud recipient of the Deltek Vision Partner Marketing Excellence Award for 2016.

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. Deltek Vision uniquely integrates end-to-end business processes by automating the marketing, financial management, planning, tracking and administration of resources and projects.

“We are proud to be recognized by Deltek as a valued partner,” said Sarah Gonnella, VP of Marketing and Sales at Full Sail Partners. “Our success comes from our abilities to leverage multiple inbound and outbound marketing strategies to drive awareness and to establish ourselves as a thought leader in a niche industry. The Full Sail Partners’ team is dedicated to providing strategic solutions to extend Deltek Vision’s already robust ERP solution to ensure clients are to maximize their investment.”

In 2017, Full Sail Partners will continue to partner with Deltek to help businesses integrate their processes into one singular system, better understand and retain current customers, and increase market share. Additionally, we will continue to collaborate with industry agnostic solution providers and create repeatable integrations for Deltek Vision to allow users to connect their system to other software solutions with the Blackbox Connector.

“We are pleased to distinguish Full Sail Partners as a Deltek Platinum Partner for 2017, and to honor them with a Marketing Excellence Award. The enthusiasm and focus that Full Sail Partners brings to our partner ecosystem helps Deltek to provide optimal services and solutions to our mutual customers,” said Ray Lazarine, Senior Marketing Director at Deltek.

For more information, please contact Full Sail Partners’ Marketing and Communications Department. Interested in learning more about the Full Sail Partners' team? Check out our crew! 

Full Sail Partners, a Deltek Platinum Partner, is pleased to announce the addition of Valerie Kelleher to the client services team. Valerie has joined the firm as the south central account manager and will provide account services for Full Sail Partners’ clients in the southwest United States. In this position, she will work as a liaison between Full Sail Partners and clients, helping to build an open and collaborative community.

Valerie joins Full Sail Partners with over 20 years of accounting and finance experience. Additionally, she has served as a contract administrator in the architectural and engineering industry.

“I enjoy working with people, and in this role, I will have the opportunity to interact with Full Sail Partners’ clients on a regular basis,” Valerie said. “The culture and strong belief in the success of our clients makes me proud to be a member of the Full Sail Partners’ team.”

The Full Sail Partners’ Account Management Program is designed to serve the needs of our Deltek client base and promote greater engagement. In this role, Valerie will serve as an additional resource to address client questions and will be a dedicated point of contact for the clients in her region.

“Valerie is an outstanding person who is passionate about serving others, which makes her the perfect fit for this role,” said Wendy Gustafson, Full Sail Partners’ Vice President and General Manager. “We are excited to grow as a company and even more thrilled to have Valerie on our team.”

For more information, please contact Full Sail Partners’ Marketing and Communications Department. Interested in learning more about the Full Sail Partners' team? Check out our crew!

 

In a previous blog, we reviewed multi-company functionality in Deltek Vision and learned how it serves as a tool for sharing and accounting for resources across the companies within an enterprise. Cross charge capabilities in Vision are based on similar theories as multi-company, but are focused on the interaction within a company and its organizational breakdown structure (OBS). Before we dive deeper, here are some links to blogs about multi-company functionality and OBS in case you are unfamiliar with these topics.

High Level Insight into Cross Charge in Deltek Vision 

It is important to understand that cross charging is a financial tool and is based on the general ledger. It is not an attribute of project reporting since time charged to a project remains on the project for billing and reporting purposes. Cross charge is labor focused and occurs after the timesheet is posted. 

By default, Vision is built to be project centric, which simply means that the process of entering and posting timesheets determines where the labor charges are assigned. If the cross charge process is not configured or run, the cost will remain on the “books” of the organization where the project is assigned. 

Why Use Cross Charge? 

As financial and operational managers, we must always remember that revenue can only be earned once and a cost incurred once. For this reason, cross charge allows businesses to move these elements in and out of various “buckets” within their organization. When a combined income statement is run, all cross charge entries will zero out and the original revenue and cost will remain. 

The cross charge process is used when firms loan and borrow labor at the lowest OBS level, which could be: 

• Office
• Department
• Discipline
• Market Sector 

A good example is a civil engineer where projects live in the various disciplines. The survey department would loan their staff to the engineering projects and cross charge would be the financial component to drive and manage the accounting for the labor. 

There are two internal pricing options to choose from when configuring cross charge: 

1. Project Centric – This is when labor remains on the books of the organization where the project resides. A multiplier is then used to account for some portion of operational/overhead (OH) costs. This factor could be limited to a fringe benefit rate, could represent a breakeven OH rate or even include some profit. The purpose is to ensure that the loaning organization has an incentive to keep their staff busy, but they also need to be careful as to not over extend their resources. 

2. Employee Centric – This works by adjusting labor back to the employee’s organization. Using typical billing rates, although a multiplier can be used, the revenue is moved from the projects to the employee’s organization. The purpose again is to ensure the loaning organization doesn’t lose the ability to show a profit by sharing their staff. 

Real-life Application of Cross Charge in Deltek Vision 

Here is a success story where the operational process and projects are built on the premise that fee and scope drives work breakdown structure (WBS) in a clients’ Deltek Vision database. Under this model, high accountability becomes the first option where phases and tasks within a project are assigned to different organizations based on the portion of the work. Employees then charge the phase/task that is assigned to the organization they “live” in. This results in more closely managed projects because the profit accountability is shifted back to the organization supplying the labor. This process eliminates the need for cross charge. 

But wait…realizing that in order to run successful projects, there is a necessity to anticipate unplanned needs. This means that the firm must have the ability to borrow an employee from another department for a short-term assignment or a last minute need. For example, the base building studio decides it needs input from the interiors studio. In this scenario, the client falls back on the project centric method noted above as a mechanism to facilitate resource sharing and not impede project progress. Furthermore, this is a prime example of a need for cross charge. 

Gain Control of Resources with Cross Charge 

Whether your current OBS is solid or you are considering a change, cross charge can provide the functionality required to ensure an open and smooth process of resource sharing. With a thorough understanding and effective implementation, cross charge can provide another dimension in managing your business.

 

If you have been wondering about the newest features of Constant Contact, then look no further, this blog is for you! As the people over at Constant Contact like to say, “New year, new features.” Trust me, there are a whole heck of a lot of new features in Constant Contact. Let’s go ahead and dive right in!

The Newest Features in Constant Contact

• Connect with new prospects using the welcome email | Constant Contact’s new welcome email functionality allows you to enable your website forms with the power of Constant Contact. When new contacts submit a web signup form, they will receive an automatic welcome email. This functionality allows your firm to make the right first impression by sending new contacts relevant and targeted emails. Doing so will allow you to reach out to the contacts when their interest levels are at their highest point.
  
  
• Utilize previously sent emails | The days of starting from scratch with each email campaign are long behind us. You can save time and avoid hassle by intuitively copying previously sent emails.
  
  Here is how it works:
  
  1. Select a previously sent campaign in Constant Contact
  2. Under the Actions Menu select ‘edit’
  3. Click ‘copy’ in the dialogue pop-up box
  4. Newly created email is now ready to go through your edit process

• Create stunning emails with background patterns | Are you looking for new ways to spice up your email? You can choose one of Constant Contact’s new templates with a background pattern. It is easy to customize your background pattern by selecting the design and color of the pattern directly from the visual editor.

• RSVPs made easy with the RSVP block | Are you planning on hosting a lunch and learn or some other kind of industry event? You can quickly get a head count by using Constant Contact’s “RSVP block.” You will be able to streamline your event planning by capturing RSVP responses from contacts in a single click. The RSVP block can be fully customizable with your specific event details, allowing you to avoid using complicated sign-up forms.

  Here is how it works:
  1. Click on the ‘build’ tab on the left hand design menu in Constant Contact
  2. Select the ‘add-ons’ option
  3. Drag the ‘RSVP’ widget into your email
  4. Click on the new block in your email, select the ‘edit’ button and customize the information for your event
• Introducing the video block | Sharing videos in your email campaigns has never been easier. You can increase reader engagement by providing your videos directly in the body of your email!
  
  Here is how it works:
  1. Simply copy your video link from YouTube
  2. Click on the ‘build’ tab on the left hand design menu in Constant Contact
  3. Drag the ‘video’ widget into any part of your email template
  4. Click on the new block within your email, and select the ‘edit’ button
  5. Paste your video link from YouTube and select ‘insert’
• Image options | We all know that images are one of the best ways to engage our audience. Now you can enjoy additional functionality with images! You can utilize images to link your reader’s out to important PDF documents or link directly to an email address.
  
  Here is how it works:
  1. Click on an image within the body of your email
  2. Click on the 'link' button that appears within the popup dialogue box
  3. Use the dropdown menu the select 'email address' or 'document'

Get Started with the Newest Features in Constant Contact

Are you ready to get started with these new features in Constant Contact? Here is the great news! These features are already available for all existing Constant Contact users.

You’re not already a Constant Contact subscriber? That is no problem! You can just click on the link below to sign-up for a 60-day free trial and see how the world’s leading email marketing platform can help you take your outbound marketing to the next level.