Full Sail Partners Blog | Artificial intelligence (AI)

AEC proposals are notoriously complex—teams juggle RFP requirements, past pursuits, project narratives, resumes, and compliance checks under tight deadlines. Proposals can feel like a marathon of copy/paste, email threads, and last-minute compliance checks. It’s exhausting, and it often crowds out the strategic, creative thinking that actually wins the work.

That’s exactly why AI assisted proposal writing is having a moment.

When routine tasks shrink, your team gets time back to craft sharper narratives, smarter win themes, and more persuasive pitches.

Shred.ai, powered by OpenAsset and fine-tuned by real AEC proposal writers with 20+ years of experience, helps teams move confidently from RFP to pitch. It’s not just about speed; it’s about building a repeatable, reliable system that turns your firm’s knowledge into a competitive advantage.

From RFP to Pitch: A Seamless, AI-Driven Workflow

Proposals should start with strategy, not copy/paste. Shred.ai streamlines the journey from the moment a new RFP lands to the final pitch deck, ensuring teams don’t waste time reinventing the wheel. Instead of digging through folders and outdated proposals, marketers and technical staff can lean on intuitive AI that understands AEC pursuits and responds with context-aware insights.

The result?

A smoother start, fewer blind spots, and a draft that already aligns with your firm’s strengths and past wins. When the groundwork is handled, your team can do its best work—shaping the story, sharpening win themes, and tailoring the pitch to what the client truly values.

Built for AEC by AEC Pros

There are plenty of generic AI tools out there. What sets Shred.ai apart is that it’s trained and tuned by real AEC proposal writers with over two decades in the trenches—people who know the difference between a compliance matrix and a content matrix, and who understand the nuance of project narratives, SOQs, SF330s, and shortlist decks.

Shred.ai is most powerful when used alongside OpenAsset’s DAM, but it can also stand alone as a proposal-focused AI tool. When paired with OpenAsset, it fits naturally into how AEC firms already manage images, project data, and marketing content—helping teams see quick, measurable gains without overhauling their entire tech stack.

Save Hours with AI Search and AI Chat

Shred.ai’s AI Search and AI Chat are built for speed and relevance, helping teams move from blank page to strong first draft in minutes—not days.

• Find winning content in seconds. Instantly scan your entire proposal library and OpenAsset DAM instance relevant insights, project narratives, resumes, and boilerplate.

• Use AI Search to locate past proposals relevant to the current pursuit, by market, scope, delivery method, or client.

• Ask AI Chat for help with win themes and project examples, so you never start from zero. Draft positioning statements, differentiators, and tailored narratives on the spot.

• Start your next proposal fast with suggested content outlines that inspire the team and speed up kickoff.

This isn’t generic AI guessing at answers. It’s tailored to AEC realities, surfacing the best material from your firm’s proposal library and turning it into a draft that actually fits the pursuit.

Enhance Compliance and Extract RFP Details with Ease

Compliance can make or break a pursuit. Shred.ai takes the manual pain out of parsing RFPs by extracting key details verbatim—so your team can respond with confidence and accuracy.

• Intuitive AI reviews your RFP to extract details verbatim, ensuring a compliant response without manual copy/paste.

• Once your RFP is uploaded, Shred.ai captures key details and outlines a plan—turning RFP requirements into a structured response strategy.

• The system surfaces previous content your team has already vetted for similar pursuits, helping reduce redundant work and accelerate quality control.

Finish with rich, tailored add-ons—projects, resumes, and bios pulled directly from OpenAsset—to ensure your submission meets every requirement and tells a cohesive, credible story. Many teams report cutting proposal time in half with this approach.

Real-Time Go/No-Go Analysis: Pursue What You Can Win

Too many firms pursue everything—and burn out their teams in the process. With Shred.ai’s real-time Go/No-Go analysis, you can quickly evaluate fit and prioritize the opportunities that align with your strengths and strategy.

Break the cycle of spending time on low-probability pursuits.

Use AI-driven insights to qualify RFPs based on fit, differentiators, and requirements.

Keep focus where it matters—on pursuits your firm is likely to win.

When 50% of proposals are submitted even when firms aren’t a fit, smarter qualification can be the fastest path to better win rates and healthier teams.

Connect with Confidence: Security, Integration, and Scale

Upgrading your proposal workflow shouldn’t mean compromising security or overhauling your tech stack. Shred.ai is designed to slot in smoothly and protect what matters.

• Vendor-delivered security with SOC 2 Type II compliance, strict data isolation, and privacy-first controls.

• Seamless integration with OpenAsset and your existing AEC systems—no custom builds or heavy dev lift.

• Scalable architecture that grows with your firm without adding IT overhead.

• Customer data is never used to train public models.

It’s a modern platform with guardrails—so your content stays yours, and your systems stay stable.

Quality, Consistency, and Confidence

Speed is great, but not if quality slips. The advantage here is that AI brings structure and context:

• Consistent language across resumes and project sheets

• Fewer outdated specs and stale claims

• Cleaner drafts that reduce rework in redlines

• A shared knowledge layer that helps onboard new team members

When the foundation is clean and consistent, you can push the creative side—tell a sharper story, tailor your differentiators, and craft a pitch that resonates with reviewers.

Creative Where It Counts

The biggest win of AI assisted proposal writing isn’t just time saved—it’s attention reallocated. Instead of sweating file names and pasting scopes across sections, your team can:

• Interview PMs for fresh project insights and results

• Craft visually compelling shortlist presentations

• Work with leadership on positioning and client insight

• Develop value-add ideas that show you understand the client’s goals

That’s the work that moves scores in competitive reviews.

Proposal Power That Pays Off

The business case is clear: when teams spend less time on manual tasks, they spend more time on the work that wins.

• Efficiency at scale: Automate repetitive work to shorten proposal creation time.

• Cost-effective workflows: Reduce effort behind every pursuit.

• Built-in compliance: AI-assisted checks help ensure RFP requirements are met.

• Clear performance insight: Teams see measurable productivity gains in days, not months.

• Proposals stop feeling chaotic and start running like a high-functioning, data-informed process.

AI helps by compressing the “search and sort” part of the job. It reduces duplicate questions to SMEs, flags outdated language before it hits review, and tees up a compliant outline so marketing can focus on storytelling. The result: more time for strategy, fewer errors that trigger rework, and faster leadership approvals.

What’s the ROI of AI in AEC?

Note: Data based on average time savings for OpenAsset customers using AI tooling.

“Faster proposals, fewer errors, and more confident decision making.” That’s the headline outcome. And when you break it down by role, you see where the time savings—and the value—really come from.

Marketing Team — 30% time saved

• AI search pulls past answers and assets instantly

• Auto generated compliance matrix and first draft boilerplate

• Fewer back and forth emails

Technical SMEs — 45% time saved

• Cleaner drafts mean fewer repeat Q&As

• Outdated specs flagged automatically

• AI assisted content drafting

Leadership / Principals — 35% time saved

• Fewer questions from team members about past proposals

• Fewer review cycles before approval

• Quick “Go / No Go” score reduces ad hoc decision meetings

Those savings aren’t abstract; they reflect the compounding effect of shaving minutes and hours off dozens of tasks across the pursuit lifecycle. Multiply that across your pipeline, and the ROI becomes hard to ignore.

From RFP to Pitch with Shred.ai, “AI assisted proposal writing clears the way for creativity.” That’s the promise—and here’s how it plays out, step by step.

A Day-in-the-Life: From Inbox to Draft in Hours 📥➡️📄

Let’s put this into a real scenario.

1. The RFP lands at 9:00 a.m. You upload the PDF.

2. A quick “Go/No-Go” score accelerates approvals or pivots.

3. Shred.ai extracts key requirements verbatim and generates a first pass compliance matrix with sections, page limits, and submittal instructions.

4. Get fast, conversational access to project, people, and file information from OpenAsset - without leaving Shred.

5. Recommendations and win themes are provided: what matters most to the client, how to position your approach, and which differentiators to lead with.

6. Proposal studio transforms RFP criteria into structured, ready-to-edit drafts. SMEs answer fewer repeat questions and spend time refining technical content.

7. Leadership sees a tidy, compliant draft earlier.

8. You submit a strong, compliant proposal—days faster, with fewer late-night edits.

Across that workflow, you’ll notice the same pattern: less searching, less copying, less second guessing. More focus on the message.

Ready to See It in Action?

If you’re wondering whether these gains show up for firms like yours, the short answer is yes—across marketing, SMEs, and leadership. Faster proposals, fewer errors, and more confident decision making aren’t just slogans; they’re operational outcomes when the heavy lifting is automated.

See how AI can transform your AEC workflows connects your projects and people to the content that wins by joining our webinar. See Shred.ai in action and come ready to ask questions.

There’s a new coworker in town—and spoiler alert—they don’t take coffee breaks. 😏

Deltek Dela™ is Deltek’s AI-powered intelligent business companion. And no, that’s not just a fancier title for “digital assistant.” Dela is the full package—packed with smart summaries, predictive capabilities, automation tools, and a natural language interface. She’s not here to passively respond to commands. She’s here to enhance productivity, accuracy, and value across your entire project lifecycle.

Let’s take a look at how Dela is bringing purposeful innovation to project-based firms—and why she’s quickly becoming everyone’s favorite team member.

From Digital Assistant to Full-On Business Companion

Plenty of tools throw around AI buzzwords like “chatbot” or “virtual assistant.” But Deltek didn’t create Dela just to keep up with trends.

Dela is the sum of all AI capabilities inside Deltek Vantagepoint. She’s not just bolted on. She’s built in.

With Dela, you can:

• Draft content like client emails and project summaries with GenAI.
• Predict project success with data-driven insights.
• Automate repetitive tasks like invoice and expense entry.
• Ask natural-language questions like “What’s our win rate with [Client Name]?” and get answers instantly.

And that’s just the beginning.

Making the Entire Project Lifecycle Smarter

Dela isn’t AI for the sake of AI. Every tool, every feature, every suggestion is designed with a specific purpose: to make project-based businesses more productive, efficient, and profitable.

Here’s how she shows up across the entire project lifecycle:

🧲WIN: Fill Your Pipeline Smarter (and Faster)

Sales and marketing teams can use Ask Dela to:

• Quickly find best-fit opportunities,
• Summarize a client or opportunity to identify the best next step,
• Capture contacts instantly using the built-in business card reader,
• And easily create follow-ups, meetings, or proposal tasks—all from one prompt.

Forget hunting through tabs and records. Just type what you need and Dela does the rest.

📊MANAGE: Stay on Top of Project Health

With all the data sitting inside your ERP, it’s easy to get overwhelmed—or worse, miss critical insights.

Dela puts the most relevant data right at your fingertips:

• Need a project’s financial performance summary? Ask Dela.
• Want to assess resource skills or competencies for upcoming needs? Ask Dela.
• Looking to predict earned value, labor multipliers, or schedule variance? She’s already on it.

Think of her as your project whisperer, helping you manage with confidence instead of chaos.

🛠 DELIVER: Streamline Billing & Admin Workflows

Once the project is in motion, the last thing your team wants is to be buried in receipts and invoices.

Dela takes care of the annoying stuff:

• Scan receipts or AP invoices, and she auto-fills the data fields.
• Need to know the outstanding AR for a client? She’ll summarize it instantly.
• Want to follow up with a billing contact? She’ll even draft the email for you.

Yes, really.

📈 MEASURE: Turn Insights into Action

Project performance, firm-wide KPIs, DSO trends—Dela’s dashboards and smart summaries help you:

• Get paid faster,
• Spot risk before it becomes a problem,
• Make strategic decisions with data you trust.

She even gives you a 360° view of client health and project profitability without the need for complex reporting tools.

Real Ways Dela is Changing the Game

We could tell you Dela “enhances decision-making through AI,” but let’s be real—you want specifics.

Here’s how Dela is already shaking up how project-based firms operate:

1. Ask Dela: Your Natural Language Command Center

No need to memorize report filters or open five tabs—just type (or speak!) what you need. Try something like:

• “What’s our win rate for projects with [Client Name]?”
• “Summarize the financials for project R00181.00.”
• “Create a meeting with the proposal team for this Friday at 2pm.”
  Yes, she even creates and attaches activities to employees. 😎

2. Smart Summaries That Work Overtime

Ever wanted a quick snapshot of a project or client without clicking through 12 screens? With Dela:

• Get Project Smart Summaries to view plan status, earned value, DSO, AR, and more in a flash.
• Use Client Smart Summaries to scan pursuits, project history, and key contacts—all in one clean summary. Perfect for BD pros and executives.

3. Automating the Boring Stuff

Let’s be honest: no one gets into project management to manually enter AP invoice data or type out expense receipts.

• Dela’s ICR (Intelligent Character Recognition) scans invoices and receipts and fills out the fields for you.
• Capture business cards from events with a quick scan—and voilà, a new contact in CRM.

4. Predictions That Actually Matter

Dela isn’t just reactive. She’s out here forecasting like a pro—so you’re not blindsided by low margins, resource gaps, or underperforming projects.

Expect insights like:

• EAC profit & variance
• Labor multipliers
• Schedule or spend variances
• DSO and AR trends

Basically, she’s that teammate who sees problems before they happen (and gently nudges you to fix them).

But Is It Really That Smart?

Yep. Unlike some of the AI-lite tools from competitors that stop at basic automation or chat bots, Dela is built right into Vantagepoint. She pulls data from all corners of your system—CRM, projects, resourcing, financials—and turns it into actionable intelligence.

And the best part? She evolves with your data. Meaning the more you use her, the more helpful she becomes. Kinda like your favorite pair of running shoes—once you break her in, it’s game on.

Who’s This For?

If your team is still:

• Digging through reports to answer simple questions,
• Manually entering in expense and AP invoice data,
• Missing red flags on projects until it’s too late,
• Or just feeling like they can’t quite get ahead…

Then yes, Dela is for you.

From business developers to PMs to accounting teams, everyone gets a boost.

See Dela in Action

At Full Sail Partners, we’re helping firms just like yours harness the full power of Dela and Deltek Vantagepoint. Whether you’re already on Vantagepoint or exploring your options, we’ll show you exactly how Dela can make your workflows smarter—and your life easier.

👉 Want a sneak peek? Watch our mini-demo by clicking the image below and get a firsthand look at Dela’s magic in action.

TL;DR:

Deltek Dela isn’t just a chatbot. She’s your all-in-one, AI-powered business companion that helps your project-based firm work smarter across the entire lifecycle—from pipeline to payments.

And yes, she really is that smart.

Got questions? We’ve got answers. And probably a few dashboards to go with them.

If you’ve been hearing the terms “traditional AI” and “generative AI” thrown around like confetti lately but still aren’t quite sure what the difference is—you're not alone. And don’t worry, we’re here to break it down without the robot-speak. 🤖💬 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming how we work, analyze data, and make decisions—and the A&E industry is no exception. Whether it’s optimizing project schedules, identifying risks before they become disasters, or simply helping your marketing team write that next proposal (hello, ChatGPT!), AI tools are becoming part of our everyday toolkit. 

But before you plug in and power up, let’s pump the brakes and understand that not all AI is created equal. Specifically, there’s a big difference between Traditional AI (a.k.a. Machine Learning) and the newer kid on the block, Generative AI. 

Let’s explore how each type of AI functions, what problems they solve, and how your firm might benefit from using both. 

Traditional AI: The "What Happened and What Should We Do About it?" Kind of Smart

Traditional AI—often powered by Machine Learning (ML)—is great at looking at your firm’s past to make sense of what might happen in the future.

Describe - What Happened?

Traditional AI thrives on data. It aggregates and mines historical information to tell you what’s already occurred—think time-entry patterns, project budget overruns, or marketing campaign performance.

Predict - What Could Happen?

Using statistical models and algorithms, this kind of AI can forecast outcomes. For example, it might tell you: “Hey, based on the last 20 projects of this type, you're probably going to go over budget by 10%.” Super helpful? Absolutely. Magic? Not quite.

Prescribe - What Should We Do?

This is where traditional AI begins to nudge into decision-making territory. It might recommend a staffing shift, suggest delaying a milestone, or adjust workload distribution to keep your projects on track. It’s not doing the work for you—but it’s definitely acting like that smart friend who always has great advice.

Bottom line: Traditional AI is your data whisperer. It’s about understanding patterns and helping you make smarter decisions based on them.

Generative AI: The “Let’s Create Something New” Powerhouse

Generative AI is like Traditional AI’s artsy cousin who can write, draw, build presentations, and even automate tasks based on what you tell them. It’s creative, dynamic, and frankly, kind of a showoff—but in a good way. 😎

Input - What to Create

With Generative AI, you start with a prompt. “Write a project summary,” “Draft an email to a client,” or “Build a training outline for new hires.” Your input kicks off the magic.

Collect - Synthesize Data

Generative AI taps into massive amounts of data and language models—often including your firm’s own info if integrated correctly—to create highly relevant and customized outputs. The more specific the input and data source, the better the results.

Generate - On Demand Content

This is where the tool really shines. It produces original content—proposals, reports, schedules, even social media captions (wink)—saving you and your team hours of manual work.

Automate - Take Action for the User

Unlike Traditional AI that just offers recommendations, Generative AI can actually do the thing. It can distribute content, send reminders, automate workflows—all based on what you’ve selected or approved. It’s like having an extra team member that never sleeps (but also doesn’t drink your office coffee).

Bottom line: Generative AI is about creation and automation. It’s not just analyzing the past—it’s helping you build the future, faster.

So… What Is Deltek Doing About AI?

Now that we’ve laid the groundwork for what AI is and how it’s evolving, you might be wondering: “Cool, but how is this actually being used in Deltek Vantagepoint?”

Deltek’s approach to AI isn’t just about chasing trends or flashing shiny new tools. It’s what they call purposeful innovation—applying AI and machine learning in strategic, practical, and real-world-useful ways across the project lifecycle.

Here’s how that shows up in Vantagepoint:

• Task Automation – Think of those annoying, repetitive tasks that eat up your team's time—like updating records, running reports, or tracking hours. Deltek is automating them to free up your staff for more meaningful work.
• Boosting Productivity – AI helps your teams find information faster, so they can make quicker decisions, deliver better projects, and yes—even improve your cash flow.
• Simplifying Workflows – Instead of 6 steps to complete a routine task, AI tools are reducing it to 2 or 3. Less friction = more momentum.
• Reducing Risk – Manual data entry and one-person knowledge silos are risky business. With automation, Deltek removes some of that human error (and the stress that comes with it).
• Enabling Strategic Decision Making – With better insights, cleaner data, and fewer time-consuming tasks, you and your team can focus on what really matters—making smart, strategic moves.

And here's the kicker: just because you can use a trendy new tech doesn’t mean you should. Deltek’s focus is on making their products easier to use, not more complicated.

So, the next time you hear someone talking about flashy AI features from a competitor, just remember: ✨Does it actually make your day easier, your work better, or your firm more profitable?✨

That’s the litmus test. And that’s what Deltek is aiming for.

Smarter Projects Start with Smarter AI

AI isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a real opportunity to make your teams more productive, your workflows simpler, and your decisions more strategic. Whether it's traditional AI helping you predict what’s coming next or generative AI creating on-demand content to lighten your workload, there’s no denying the impact these tools can have on the AEC industry.

And the best part? You don’t have to figure it out alone.

Deltek is approaching AI with intention—focusing on purposeful innovation that supports your entire project lifecycle, not just flashy features. From automating time-consuming tasks to reducing risk and empowering your teams with better insights, AI is here to help you work smarter, not harder.

🎥 Want to see it in action?

Check out our on-demand webinar: AI Solutions for Vantagepoint: Enabling Next-Level Productivity to explore how these tools are already making a difference for project-based firms like yours.

Let’s turn that AI curiosity into real results. 👇

Let’s be honest—AI is everywhere right now. And while that’s exciting, it can also be frustrating. Because when it comes to using AI tools to actually get real work done inside Deltek Vantagepoint, most firms are either just dabbling… or getting burned.

Here’s the thing: AI is only helpful if it’s reliable. Otherwise, it’s just a very confident tool giving you half-right answers.

I’ve been building AI applications since generative AI first exploded onto the scene. And now, as an AI Developer at Full Sail Partners, I’m taking that experience and putting it to work for project-based firms like yours. Whether it’s out-of-the-box tools like ChatGPT or custom-built AI inside Informer and Vantagepoint, the goal is simple: make your life easier, your insights faster, and your decisions better.

Let’s talk about how we actually make that happen.

Why Most AI Tools Fall Short

A lot of AI out there is like an enthusiastic intern on their first day—well-meaning but not quite ready to be left unsupervised.

You ask a vague question, and the AI gives you something that sounds useful… but it’s either way off base or completely made up. Yep, that’s a thing—AI hallucinations. And in the world of project financials, that’s a pretty big red flag.

Unreliable answers lead to wasted time. Bad data leads to bad decisions. And if you’ve got deadlines and KPIs on the line, that’s a risk you can’t afford.

The Two Core Principles That Make AI Reliable

In my work developing AI tools that play nicely with Vantagepoint, I’ve focused on two big ideas:

1. A Window into the Facts

Most AI tools give you an answer and then ask you to just… trust it. Not great.

Instead, we build AI that shows its work. When you ask a question, you don’t just get an answer—you get the data behind it. You can click to verify, dive deeper, and understand exactly how the AI came to that conclusion. It's like a GPS that tells you why it picked that route, not just where to go.

This is built directly into our Informer AI Assistant, which works inside Microsoft Teams and pulls data from Vantagepoint.

2. Reliability Training

Making AI trustworthy takes more than good intentions. It takes practice—and the right techniques. Here are three I use all the time (and you can too):

• One-Path Prompting: Ask one clear, specific question. No vagueness. No contradictions. Just a straight line from question to answer.
• Problem Expansion: Break big, complicated asks into smaller pieces. Think about how you’d delegate to a new employee—you wouldn’t say “solve all our issues.” You’d say “check this one report and flag anything unusual.”
• AI University (for developers): This one’s for the builders out there. Train your AI to be really good at one thing. Not everything. Just one thing, and let it do that extremely well.

By building these techniques into our AI tools, we make sure the end result is actually useful. So useful, in fact, that most users don’t even need to think about the tech behind it. It just works.

So, What Does This Look Like in Real Life?

Here’s an example: You’re in Microsoft Teams and you need to check whether a project is running over budget.

Instead of logging into Vantagepoint, clicking through dashboards, pulling reports, and second-guessing yourself—you send a single message to our AI assistant.

A few seconds later, you’ve got a clear, accurate answer, complete with the source data. Want to drill down further? One click and you’re in Informer, seeing the full picture.

No app-switching. No spreadsheet spelunking. Just one question, one answer, and a whole lot of time saved.

Why This Matters (to You, Right Now)

Whether you’re a PM, a marketer, or a firm executive, the common thread is this: you need good data, fast.

Reliable AI changes the game.
It helps you stop guessing.
It gives you time back.

And it turns your mountain of Vantagepoint data into real, usable insights—without you doing all the heavy lifting.

Want to See It for Yourself?

If this got your wheels turning, I’d love to show you more. I’m hosting a live webinar on Wednesday, May 14 at 1pm ET, where I’ll walk through exactly how we’re using these principles to build real, working AI tools for Vantagepoint.

We’ll look at both out-of-the-box tools you can start using today and custom-built solutions that can save your firm serious time and effort.

If you’ve been curious about AI—but skeptical—it’s the perfect session for you.