Full Sail Partners Blog (43)

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.

You are having a great year, business is steadily growing and employees are happy. With continuing growth in mind, you acknowledge that to meet future workload needs, your firm should contemplate acquiring a similar firm. Therefore, it becomes time to think about Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A).

At the outset of the merger and acquisition process, you should address some important questions such as; will you be in need of a multi-company database and will the new acquisition require an integration as well as a new profit center?

If you leave these questions and others unanswered, it can affect the success of the M&A. The process may fall short of expectations leaving you wondering why you bought the firm in the first place. You must ensure that this doesn’t happen by focusing on the critical details and making the deal a success.

Why are Mergers and Acquisitions happening?

In 2015, M&A hit an all-time high in the A&E market, and it was predicted that the M&A rate would remain strong through 2016. According to Deloitte, “While 2016 may have started out at a tepid rate, October 2016 became the busiest month ever for domestic M&A with its unprecedented wave of transactions.”

In 2016, companies were motivated by low interest rates, resilient stock prices, solid employment and an abundance of cash. Additionally, a survey by KPMG found that companies wanting to solidify their position in their markets was the number one reason for deciding to buy another firm. So what were the results of the deals?

According to a survey done by Deloitte, most respondents said some of their 2015 and 2016 deals fell short of expectations. A key takeaway from this survey is that integration planning and due diligence ranked high on the list as areas of crucial importance in making successful deals. 

Even though not all deals performed as expected, companies are still excited. The M&A outlook is positive for 2017 with 75% of survey respondents anticipating that deals would increase and 64% anticipating those deals would be bigger! More companies say they have increased cash levels and intend to use their cash to strike more deals. Furthermore, 73% of respondents said divestiture was a major focus of 2017. 

How much is enough Due Diligence?

All too often, the due diligence phase does not uncover accounting practice differences and true project costs. Primarily, participants focus on the backlog, client relationships and project revenue. However, client systems may only show a small picture into the project lifecycle and not provide insight into work in progress, write offs, overruns and true project gains or losses. If a company does not allow enough time for this phase before the deal is done, resources may feel pressured to present a positive picture of the purchase and may not have adequate time and resources to show the complete picture.

Even more, it’s not just the numbers that need to be in line. Firm culture can cause a deal to collapse. Employees may react with concern for their future and not view the new company’s goals and missions as being their own. As a result, they often feel they are the new kid on the block, even though they may have been with their current company for 25 years.

For example, a Boston firm, where people go to work in suits, buys a Texas firm, where employees wear jeans and hunt on their lunch hour. Obviously, these are opposite cultures, and this needs to be addressed during the due diligence process rather than during the employee welcome or two months after the purchase is finalized.

Most employees just want to know they will be paid the same pay, have the same benefits or better, and can easily complete their daily functions with little interruption. Are files and drawings easy to store, move and retrieve electronically? Is the office in the middle of the desert with no internet or cell service, and if so, how will timesheets be submitted on time? Is the technology team ready to meet that challenge? These basic questions are often key factors to employee dissatisfaction and are easy to overlook without proper due diligence.

Lining Up the Right Players for Integration Planning

So who should be involved in the M&A and at what point? You need to make sure you are including individuals that can be your champions. These significant players must understand both the current company’s mission and the new company’s mission. Armed with this knowledge, they will be critical in the planning, execution and support of the new joint company. Keep in mind that there will be a learning curve on both sides. Systems are new, processes are new, and policies are new. If you can make the transition transparent and seamless to all parties, you will enjoy a more effective integration.

Avoid an Underperforming Merger and Acquisition

Be prepared as you begin the M&A process and focus on the critical details. The deal will be successful if both due diligence and integration planning are handled effectively. Have your key players do the proper research and get answers to crucial questions. Doing so will ensure that the firm being acquired, or being merged with, will suit the culture of your firm and that there will be a seamless transition. 

“I can’t find anything in our CRM system.”

“Our CRM system isn’t user friendly.”

“Our CRM system doesn’t provide me the data I need.”

The statements above can apply to any Client Relationship Management (CRM) system. Yep, you heard me right. These comments are shared with me daily by prospects and clients alike. These complaints may seem valid, but the truth behind why your CRM system sucks is much harder to swallow and admit. Deep down inside, you know the real reasons. Today I’m going to share with you why your CRM system doesn’t work and what you can do about it.

The main reason why CRM implementations usually fail isn’t because of the system, it’s because of you. I told you this was going to be hard to swallow. A CRM system is meant to provide a place to house all of the important information about your clients and opportunities. However, many firms purchase a CRM system thinking it will miraculously do the work for them with no effort required. 

A CRM system can work for you, but not if you haven’t set it up or implemented it with forethought. More importantly, it can’t work for you if you don’t actually touch or use it. So stop pointing your finger at the CRM system and placing the blame. As the saying goes, when you point one finger, there are three fingers pointing back at you. 

If you want a successful CRM implementation, here are some things to consider. 

Stop Focusing on the Wrong Things about Your CRM 

Your CRM system should focus on a few reports to make sure sales people are generating business for your firm. Each of those reports need to be automatically sent to you at the same time every week, month or quarter. As a Sales Manager, you need to know: 

1. Do we have enough pipeline?
2. What opportunities require follow-up?
3. How are we getting new deals?
4. Why are we losing deals?
5. Who previously spoke with the client?

No system in the world can save you if you haven’t set up a way of monitoring these core activities. No bells and whistles of a new system will accomplish this essential task. Stop whining and making excuses. The fact is, if you don’t have these key reports, you haven’t established your processes. Take a step back and identify what really matters first.

Whip It! Whip it Good!

Every system needs someone dedicated to managing it. In the AEC industry, QA/QC is a must with projects to avoid potential failure. Your CRM system is no different. Make sure each area of the system has someone that “owns” it to ensure there is integrity with the data. Give these people some whipping power! Management must stand behind them, it is expected that everyone will update their own clients, contacts and opportunities. Above all, these system “owners” should know the system inside and out and take full responsibility for its success.

Making Excuses, Excuses, Excuses

Firms that are successful at CRM make it a part of their culture. It’s not an option to use the system, but rather a requirement. Don’t let excuses stop your team from using the system. Provide them training and support to learn the system and expect in return that employees use the system as designed. Anyone can find a reason why they can’t or won’t. However, accepting excuses won’t provide your firm the information needed to make informed decisions about sales pursuits.

Don’t Let Your CRM Suck

So what are you going to do? Are you going to keep making excuses and blaming the system or are you going to take the necessary steps to whip your system into shape? We at Full Sail Partners are available to help firms successfully implement their CRM. We expect all of our employees to practice what we preach and will work hard with you to ensure that your CRM no longer sucks.

 

 

Full Sail Partners, a Deltek Premier Partner, is proud to announce that Michael Kessler, Principal Consultant, successfully completed the Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification. As a result of this achievement, Michael will be able assist clients with identifying areas of opportunity for improvement in their project management process. Additionally, he will now incorporate PMP best practices to help firms increase the earning potential from their projects.

PMP Certification is a globally recognized project management certification based on principles established by the Project Management Institute. The PMP Certification demonstrates that a person has mastered the global language of project management.  

“I found the training and studies as I prepared for the certification test valuable in gaining a better understanding of the project management process beyond the numbers I have often focused on,” said Michael. “I have become more aware of the spoken language, which will facilitate improved communication with my client base. I also believe I now have the ability to push the software just a bit harder to produce the output that will add value to my clients’ operational analysis.”

Prior to joining Full Sail Partners in 2015, Michael spent nearly a decade involved in the Deltek community as a consultant for Deltek. While working for Deltek, he helped firms of all sizes with implementing and maximizing the capabilities of Deltek Vision. With his PMP Certification, Michael has garnered additional knowledge he can leverage when working with Full Sail Partners’ clients.

“Michael is always seeking out ways to provide clients with increased knowledge to improve their business processes,” explained Scott Seal, Vice President of Consulting. “With this certification, Michael has added another tool to his arsenal that he can utilize to assist clients with improving their processes.”

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!