The data from the 43rd Deltek A&E Clarity Study shows that the opportunity outlook for A&E firms is bright. However, there are significant challenges to seizing that growth. Although net revenue growth is forecasted to grow to 17.6%, operating profit on net revenue is down by 6%. Recruiting and retention challenges loom large over firms, undermining their ability to meet demand and extract profits.  

Here are the top takeaways from the study, along with guidance for navigating the challenges and opportunities ahead.

Labor Challenges and Growing Pains Are Top Stressors 

Labor challenges are front and center for A&E firms, as finding and retaining qualified staff ranked as the top financial challenge. Forty-four percent of respondents said it was their top challenge, a sharp increase from last year. In this highly competitive job market, A&E firms have more open positions, and the cost to acquire new employees has increased. To win over candidates who have plenty of options to choose from, firms are offering increasingly attractive (and often costly) compensation packages.  

Managing growth was the second most commonly cited challenge. Demand is high, leading to an 18% growth in estimated net revenues. But with rising demand comes new challenges. Professional services firms are challenged with bidding competitively and ensuring the timely completion of work. Labor issues are a contributor to this challenge since firms need to fulfill staffing needs to meet current and future demands. 

With inflation and labor costs cutting into profit margins, A&E firms also said increasing profitability is a top concern. Collection periods increased by nearly two weeks this year, and many firms must work diligently to complete work on time, invoice quickly and collect payment as soon as possible. Encountering delays at any point in the process threatens profits and their ability to grow.  

Staffing Challenges Impact Key Metrics 

Persistent staffing challenges aren’t just keeping firm leaders up at night—they’re impacting financial performance. Here are some of the most notable metrics: 

• Operating profit on net revenue dropped to 12.8%, a level last seen in 2015.

• Overhead rates increased to 160%, a 14% increase. 

• Utilization rates dropped to 58.5%, the lowest level of the last 10 years. 

After rising steadily over the past 10 years, operating profit on net revenue dropped significantly. This is largely driven by an increase in overhead rates. As firms face longer project ramp times and non-billable periods while backfilling roles, overhead rates rise. Higher employee turnover is also a contributing factor to lower utilization rates.  

Performing the Backlog Balancing Act 

Backlogs increased by more than three weeks year-over-year. It’s an indication that, while firms are in demand, they need to perform a delicate balancing act to complete projects on time. Bidding, scheduling, and labor planning must be precise, otherwise, increased activity can hinder project delivery, which only reduces client satisfaction in the long run. Firms that can effectively manage expectations will be able to reduce their backlog to sustainable levels. 

Growing backlogs are influencing the average collection period, which increased by 13 days. Firms wait for nearly 77 days, on average, to receive payments on accounts receivable. This is a return to the average collection period seen in 2012 and 2013. Back then, firms were able to lower this rate in the following years. To reduce the average collection period now, they may want to look at returning to those previous strategies.  

For a deeper dive into the key financial metrics from the study, watch the webinar.  

Looking Ahead 

Financial leaders of A&E firms are focused on meeting day-to-day challenges. When asked about their financial priorities for next year, firms selected training project managers on financial management and improving business processes as their top two choices. This is in line with the results from last year. Notably, firms are less concerned with better forecasting, better growth management, and organizational changes and realignment than they were last year. This indicates that they’re focused on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of daily processes. 

The most successful firms will position themselves for success by also focusing on the HR challenges they face. Unconventional benefits, loyalty rewards, and engagement programs can help companies attract and retain the employees they need for the years ahead. Forty-one percent of firms said that they plan to make talent acquisition and retention investments one of their top priorities next year. Those that make the right decisions will stand out from the pack.  

Get More Financial Management Insights 

Despite the challenges A&E firms face, it’s possible to seize the opportunities ahead. By looking back to previously proven strategies and preparing for future demand, financial leaders can make the most of the market. For more financial management insights, click below to download the full report.  

It’s hard to believe that it is already so late in the year. It feels like not so long ago we were trying to beat the heat with cool drinks on sandy shores. But now the weather is beginning to cool down and the leaves are changing color, and that can only mean one thing: time to hunker down and manage the firm’s holiday contact list! Hopefully, this process has already been started but if not, this article shares a couple of tips on how using Deltek Vantagepoint features and functions can help maintain the firm’s holiday contact list and keep it clean for the future.  

Data Clean Up 

Before getting into the nitty gritty of data cleanup, let’s do a quick review. Every contact needs to have at least five parts: contact name, job title, firm name, email address and firm address. These five fields are standard in Vantagepoint, and with this information, marketers can build basic lists to use for both email marketing and direct campaigns.  

Then there are pieces of contact information that can be considered “nice to have.” These include attributes like market, rating, source, contact owner, mailings and segment type. These are not essential to the contact, but they can help narrow down who they are and what exactly the contact means to the company. 

Once marketers have identified their must-have and “nice-to-have” contact fields, head over to Vantagepoint and view the contact in list view. Using this Vantagepoint feature, allows marketers to quickly see what contact data is missing or outdated. See the screenshot below. 

This feature isn’t just in the Contacts hub either, so be sure to look for it in other hubs that may need some cleaning up as well.  

Send More Emails  

To avoid ending up with a bunch of old contacts, the best advice is to send more emails! Of course, don’t just spam the contacts, because that would just drive them away. Instead, think about sending newsletters weekly and/or monthly. By sending regularly email marketing campaigns to contacts, marketers will get contact information back such as bounced email addresses. This piece of information could indicate that the contact has moved firms or retired. Doing this throughout the year will help make the effort of creating holiday contact lists less daunting.  

Create Marketing Campaigns for Segmented Lists 

In the same vein as the last tip, use Vantagepoint Marketing Campaigns for list segments. To do this, create a new Marketing Campaign record with the name “List-Holiday Card,” for example. Then associate different contacts based on their segments (whether it be geographic, demographic, etc.) to add them to a list aka the Marketing Campaign record. With these new marketing campaigns more emails can be sent, and as contacts are created and updated, they can be added to different lists. 

Monitor New Contact Creation with Scheduled Reports 

Another good practice is to have Deltek Vantagepoint monitor what new contacts were created in the database. Deltek Vantagepoint allows the user to send scheduled reports of what contacts were created in a set period of time (i.e. weekly, monthly, etc.). When these are set up, a report will be sent to the user consisting of all the new contacts and will include who initially created the contact and if there is any missing information that needs to be added. In the case that any of the aforementioned key fields of the contact are missing, the user can follow up with the contact creator and ask them to fill out the required information. This feature can also be used for projects and employees, but in our case monitoring contacts is best. 

Use Workflow Warnings and Errors for Must-Have Contact Information 

Finally, make sure you are using workflows to your advantage. These workflows can be set up to indicate errors and warnings when a contact has missing information. Warnings will simply alert the user that the contact needs more information, but they will allow the contact to be saved nonetheless. Errors on the other hand will completely stop the user from saving the contact. Both of these options are effective ways to keep a contact list clean but be sure to choose which one to use carefully.  

See these Contact Management Tips in Action  

These are just some ways to utilize the Deltek Vantagepoint system features and functions to manage contacts, even outside of the holiday season. To see these features in action, click the image below to watch a replay of the webinar, A Modern Approach to Managing Holiday Contact Lists. 

We encounter many numbers throughout our lives. Over time, perhaps we learn which ones matter to us and which ones are just a number. So, when is a number just a number? One place to look is with Deltek Vantagepoint project numbers.  

After working countless hours with firms for their Deltek Vision to Vantagepoint, some of the more engaging and attention-grabbing conversations include project creation and project numbering. It turns out some firms rely quite heavily on project numbers. While this is technically not wrong, it may just be causing more pain than value. Wait until your Vantagepoint users see how much easier things can be in Vantagepoint when you stop caring so much about the number. 

New Deltek Vantagepoint Projects Hub 

The projects hub has expanded its use in Vantagepoint. It now captures the entire life cycle of a project - from pursuit through awarded and completed project. This means that a project number is assigned from the start.  

Because of this, the project number initially created is just that-a number. It doesn’t really matter. GASP! 

Project Numbers can now be “Dumb” 

In the past, many Deltek Vision users set up “smart” project numbers. Other users may have used numbers so complex; they could call them “brilliant” numbers. Over time, project numbers were heavily relied on to tell a story of the year it was created, the client, the number of projects the firm had with the said client, and so on.  

While some firms invested in scripting to automate the smart numbers, others had their staff complete forms to submit to accounting and perhaps a pair of employees was responsible for assigning the next project number based on a coveted spreadsheet. Get rid of the firm’s project setup forms forever with Vantagepoint! 

Let the System do the Heavy Lifting with Autonumbering  

 Who doesn’t want to make their workday easier? One-way Vantagepoint helps with this is by setting up autonumbering. Deltek Vantagepoint project autonumbering, proper education and training can give users independence to enter and track their own pursuit and project efforts. Talk about streamlining processes!  

 The autonumbering feature in Deltek Vantagepoint automatically generates an identification number for new records, including project records. And, in the autonumbering setup firms can define the structure of the project number to match the business requirements.  

How to Configure Autonumbering 

A Deltek administrator can enable automatic numbering by going into Settings > Workflow > Numbering. See the screenshot below. 

Then hover over the row of the system numbering format to update. For this example, select Project then go to the column called Auto Number Source. See in the screenshot below the various options to create an auto number source including Expression, Stored Procedure or Web Service.  

Below is an example of using the Expression Auto Number Source. When that option is selected, there are a few options. First, is that autonumbering can be set up for Overhead, Promotional and Regular project charge types. Once the charge type is selected, the Project Auto Number Format can be defined by inserting a row for each component of the project number.  

In the example below, this client wanted to show the year the project record was created in four characters, the next project in the sequence beginning at 439 with two leading zeroes, and, finally, a period followed by the project center level of office.  

Below the Project Auto Number Format grid are a few fields specific to which row is highlighted. In this screenshot, the “characters” row is selected so it’s displaying that specific row’s sequence number length, sequence number position and starting sequence number, 439. As each row is built, the sample value field will update.  

Once that is defined and saved, every time a new regular project is created, the number will automatically populate. Users won’t have to think about which project number to use next nor fill out a form to get the “next” project number from a separate log or notebook. See the screenshot below for how this will look for users. 

Autonumbering is defined as a Regular project record. 

 Autonumbering is defined as a promotional project record. 

Don’t Stop with Just Project Numbers 

The autonumbering function is not just available for project records. Deltek Vantagepoint has made autonumbering available for employees, firms, marketing campaigns, equipment and user-defined hubs. And, other areas with numbers can be automated too including phases, tasks, accounts, units, accounts, vendors, company, office, discipline, and more! 

Once you’ve crossed over to the autonumbering dark side, you’ll want to set it up for everything in Deltek Vantagepoint. Click below to learn more about Full Sail Partners Deltek Vision to Vantagepoint upgrade assistance services. 

While A&E firms are struggling with staffing challenges, business process automation, and managing a strong backlog pipeline, the discipline of project management and project delivery performance has improved. According to the 43rd Annual Deltek Clarity A&E Study, more firms are increasing internal project financial reviews and installing a project management center of excellence.  

How does your firm compare to the A&E industry when it comes to project delivery? Below is a summary of the findings from the study and read to the end to find out how to get a free copy of the report.  

Staff Shortages Affecting Project Management 

Looking at the challenges, especially compared to the prior year, it’s not surprising that staffing shortages and competing priorities are high on the list. However, staffing shortages were 40% last year and now are at 64%.  

The respondents were asked to rank their top three challenges. Those top three centered all-around staffing – 1) staffing shortages, 2) competing priorities, and 3) inexperienced project managers. These challenges may lead to burnout, more frustration or other challenges for the teams. Project managers are not focused on proactively managing their project because they are spending time figuring out how to get the work done.  

Improved Project Delivery Performance, in Some Areas 

Project delivery performance has improved with projects that are at or under budget. Those projects currently being reported as under budget went up almost six percentage points from prior year to 67.8%. However, the eight-year trend is showing a move in the wrong direction. Plus, on the schedule side, things aren’t looking as great with a decrease of more than six percentage points from prior year. The common theme from the project managers seems to be they are struggling the most when it comes to managing schedules. Schedule is the metric that is tracked the least and doesn’t have much visibility.  

These gaps in staffing and lack of visibility into project performance are affecting not only project managers, but the firms’ bottom lines. What new challenges are your project managers facing today? What’s being driven by clients and what internal processes or technology can be deployed to improve visibility and efficiency? 

Increased Emphasis on Project Management as a Discipline 

There were huge gains in the percentage of projects that follow a clearly defined project management process. In this year’s report, 44% of the respondents indicated that 75%-100% of their projects used a clearly defined project management process. Whereas, last year only 14% were in that upper tier of the majority of their projects.  

Another item the Deltek Clarity Study looks at is the project management office (PMO) or center of excellence. This year’s report indicates that this trend is moving in a positive direction. Overall, 15.4% of respondents have a PMO and that’s an increase of 5.4 percentage points over prior year. Leading the way are the large firms with 50% of them indicating they have a PMO up 20 percentage points from prior year. Though at 15.4%, that’s still less than a quarter of the companies that are using some kind of PMO or center of excellence to treat project management truly as a discipline. 

One of the things that’s important when it comes to project management is to celebrate when projects are going well. Firms often get wrapped up in the projects that get off course or fall behind schedule. Fortunately, the study does measure what’s going well in project management, and at the top of that list is managing client relationships with collaboration and communication.  

However, there’s still a majority of the respondents that don’t have a clearly defined project management process for all or even most of their projects. It’s a good opportunity to ask internally why aren’t processes being followed? Is there not a clearly defined process? Are the processes not aligned with the different types of projects the firm does such as small vs. large or task-order vs. lump sum? 

Proactive and Accountable Project Management Metrics  

What gets measured gets done, correct? The Deltek A&E Clarity report asks what project management KPIs are being tracked at the firm.  

At the bottom of what is being tracked are some of the scheduling metrics including estimate at complete, on-time delivery, and earned value management. At the top of the list are those KPIs often tracked by the financial leaders and include net revenue, profitability, average collection period for A/R aged and multipliers. Yet the financial metrics are retroactive. This might indicate that the lack of visibility or tracking for schedule and schedule variances might correlate with the increase in projects going behind schedule.  

Firms should be asking what metrics they should be tracking that can help them to right size or fix what may be going wrong in a project. How can firms make sure the project managers have the information they need to see where their projects stand at any given time? How can the information be visible and accurate? 

Making the Case for Project Management Technology 

While firms are moving more and more towards technology, the reliance of manual data entry and spreadsheets is going in the wrong direction, specifically when it comes to project management. At the top of the list of departments relying on manual entry is operations and resource management.  

The Clarity Study found that 61% of firms say that they’re still using Excel for planning projects and resources. 75% are using email as their primary project collaboration tool, and 88% are still using email as a primary method to share large files both internally and externally. 49% are not using construction specifications technology.  

All of these are ripe for business process improvement and better leveraging of technology for efficiency, but just where are firms planning to invest in this technology? Project management is at the top of the list, with nearly half of the respondents indicating that they will invest in project management technology in the next 12 months. 

Top Initiatives for Project Management 

When you look at the challenges and top initiatives for project management at A&E firms, issues such as hiring more qualified staff, defining capabilities and responsibilities as well as defining internal best practices and investing in internal project manager training are not surprising. Firms know they need to have great project managers.  

Use These Findings to Improve Your Firm 

The immediate next step is to download the full Deltek A&E Clarity report. Click the image below to grab a free copy of the report along with a scorecard to chart the firm’s results. Then use that to begin discussions around the firm’s net revenue forecasts, project budgets and schedules, etc. Ask about where the firm is struggling, where it’s doing well, and what are the opportunities for improvement. Finally, make sure that you’re reaching out to a Full Sail Partners’ consultant so that we can help you keep your business on course. 

Although not one of the most glamorous parts of Deltek Vantagepoint, the Approval Center has been designed to keep project-based firms’ business moving. The Approval Center allows supervisors to quickly access, review, and approve important business approvals including timesheets, expense reports, and absence requests. Users can visibly see any approval alerts outstanding and go directly to the records to approve.  

Let’s break down each approval area and type in the Approval Center so that project managers and supervisors can make quick approvals and keep the firm’s vital business moving forward. 

Easily See When Approvals Are Needed  

In Vantagepoint, there are two areas where Approval Notifications can be found. The first and easiest place is in the Notifications Center in the top right corner of the application. This Notification Center is used to notify users of many things, but for supervisors and managers, it shows an action item for each item awaiting approval. The user can easily go to that approval item by clicking on the hyperlinked blue text such as “Expense Reports” or “Absence Request” as shown below. 

Another area where approvers can see what needs to be approved is by selecting the Approval Center option in the My Stuff on the left-hand navigation. This takes them to the Approval Center where they can toggle between the different approval types, as dictated by the workflow set-up and role security. 

Quickly Review Each Approval Type 

Inside the Approval Center, when the drop-down is selected, each approval type will be displayed. Again, only timesheets, expense reports and absence requests are found in the Approval Center. Also, what is displayed will depend upon the users’ workflow setup and security role for the firm’s Deltek Vantagepoint instance. 

Approve Specific Lines or Entire Reports 

One option in Deltek Vantagepoint is to be able to approve specific line items and/or entire submissions for both timesheets and expense reports. The columns that are displayed in each approval area can also be customized to the approver’s preferences using the Grid Settings (the gear icon in the top right corner). All approval rows can be filtered to see certain items such as Employee Name or Project Name (if in the Line-Item Approvals). The approval lists can also be downloaded into .csv or Excel. 

When ready to approve, the approver can select each row individually, or all rows by clicking the checkbox in the top left. Once the check box is clicked, the reviewer can Approve, Reject or Reassign the selected rows using the buttons at the top or the reviewer can Approve, Reject or Reassign all records under the Approval Options button.  

The Approvals look and act the same for both timesheets and expense reports as for the individual line approvals. However, when in Timesheet or Expense Report view, not as many of the details will be available. To see the details, the user must click on the Period Ending Date. From there, the user can review all the timesheet and expense report details along with the same Approve, Reject or Reassign options.  

Review Expense Lines Without Opening the Reports 

With the Expense Report Lines approvals, all of the information needed to approve the expenses is shown without having to go into the actual expense report. The needed information is displayed in the columns including the Employee Name, Project Name, Report Name, Date, Category, Description, Amount if the expense line is billable and if a receipt is attached. If the reviewer clicks on the Detail icon for expense items like mileage, the actual mileage and the locations traveled will be displayed. If a receipt is attached, a paperclip icon will appear. The reviewer can click on that to access the receipt detail and view a photo of the receipt if provided. This makes it easy to approve expenses directly from this screen without having to go anywhere else. 

Similar to other approval functions, Expense Lines include the ability to select the columns to be displayed, filter the rows to show and download to a .csv or Excel file. In addition, there is the Print Lines Approval Report. This report shows us all expense lines grouped by expense reports and all lines not approved yet. 

The process of approving, rejecting or reassigning Expense Line is the same as above. 

View Employee Absence Requests 

Deltek Vantagepoint’s Approval Center has absence requests submitted by employees. An added benefit is that the approver can not only see each absence request but quickly review the time off remaining for each employee by clicking on his or her name. When clicking on the employee’s name, his or her Employee Card is displayed. From here, the supervisor can verify that the employee has enough hours to cover the time requested by clicking on the absence hours tab. This shows the current available balance by benefit type. 

Absence requests can be approved individually by checking the box in the row and clicking Approve or all requests can be approved at once by checking the box at the top to select all and clicking Approve. Another way to approve all is to click the Approval Options button and select either Approve All, Reject All or Reassign All without checking any boxes. 

At-a-Glance Absence Requests for Entire Firm 

The supervisor can view the absence requests for the entire firm using the Absence Request Schedule. This shows all the absence requests that have been submitted, approved or rejected. The statuses are color-coded so the reviewer can quickly identify each type. Yellow is for submitted. Approved is in green and red is rejected. The non-working days are displayed in gray and the holidays are in blue. Users can scroll back in time or into the future using the left and right arrows accordingly. See the screenshot below. 

Keep the Professional Services Firm Approvals Moving 

Using Deltek Vantagepoint’s Approval Center streamlines reviewing and approving vital business processes including timesheets, expense reports and absence requests. This fully integrated system reduces processing times and provides visibility into the status and conditions of these key areas. To see this in action, click below to watch the Powering Project Success with Deltek Vantagepoint – Approvals Center. 

For professional services firms, projects often don’t go according to the original plan. This forces the project manager to spend time updating the project plan to reflect new project dates, adjusted hours, and resources needed to complete the project. With Deltek Vantagepoint, this doesn’t have to be a burden on the firm’s project managers. These changes are easily and automatically made, allowing the firm to focus on serving clients instead of constantly updating plans.

Typical Project-Based Firm Planning Scenario 

Let’s say the Natural Sciences Building at Northwest project was originally scheduled to take place from January 2021 through September 30, 2021. The phases at the beginning were Master Planning and Project Management. Then the project goes on hold for a few months, which happens often for project-based firms. Now, the project is restarting with a new phase in a new date range. The project manager wishes to set a proper baseline on the original schedule, and then review the new plan against the baseline.  

Let’s walk through each of these steps separately. Then, at the end, learn about how to see this in action.  

Changing Project Plan Dates at Various Project Levels

Changing the plan dates is always the first step. To change the dates at a phase level, click the ‘kabob’ at the far right of the phase and select the Reschedule dialogue. Using this tool, users can shift the entire phase to the left or right or change the duration by dragging it longer or shorter.  

For this example, the new duration for the Sustainability Planning phase will begin on March 1, 2021, and end on July 31, 2021. At this point, Vantagepoint will ask to replace the child dates – those dates of the individual resources beneath the phase. In this case, the answer is yes, replace child dates.  

Another way to change dates is to go into the Schedule tab. When clicking on the phase to change, put it into edit mode. This will allow the user to simply drag it to the new dates and duration desired. Users can drag the bar right or left and/or hover over to get the bi-directional arrow to expand the duration. Again, the system will ask to replace the child dates or not. 

Redistributing the Planned Project Hours 

Now that the project dates are correct, it is time to go to the Labor tab to work on the planned hours. Going back to the example, the master planning phase was scheduled to begin on January 28 and end on September 30. Its planned hours are 175, which matches the baseline, so no changes are needed. 

However, on the Sustainability Planning phase, there are some changes needed because there are no baseline hours saved. The planned hours also look low. To look at this further, users can go into their grid settings and turn on different columns such as Contract and Planned Billing. Doing this, the project manager sees 164 hours, the planned value is coming up at $37,980 but the contract value is $65,000. This will be the first place to start changing planned hours. 

To do this, go to the phase level and select the ‘kabob’ at the end of the row. Select Redistribute Hours and Change Planned hours. For this example, the project will change those 164 hours to 275. Choose to do this for the entire assignment date range and spread hours evenly over the time period. By choosing to redistribute here, the project manager can now see that the planned hours are 275 and the value is calculated at $63,534 which is closer to the contract value.  

Setting a New Project Baseline  

Now let’s plan forward or true-up this project plan. In the screenshot above, the master planning phase has a baseline of 175 hours, with 52 hours exhausted but only 77 hours remaining in the Estimate to Complete (ETC). The Estimate at Completion (EAC) hours is settling around 130 hours, and the project manager knows that the project will use most, if not all, of the 175 budgeted hours. So, the hours in the master planning phase will need to be redistributed using the ‘kabob’ at the end of the phase row. This will help push forward the hours and then allow the project manager to fine-tune them as the project progresses.  

In the redistribute planned hours dialogue box, select the option to replace the planned with actual hours and replace those hours in total. Use the hours from the job to date (JTD) range, choose to spread the differences, and choose to spread both the positive and negative differences in the ETC assignment date range. Then choose to spread the hours evenly.  

The project manager would do this for each phase that changes the duration or timeframe. Also, with this example, the project manager would make the changes for the sustainability and project management phases. Once those changes are made, the EAC billing is $104,000 and the contract value is $124,000, which looks like the project will perform rather well. The last step is to publish the plan and start working on the project.  

See Project Plan Changes in Action 

While reading about how easy Deltek Vantagepoint makes it for project managers to adjust their project plans, seeing it in action is even better. Click the image below to watch a 16-minute demonstration to understand how Vantagepoint’s Resource Planning makes it very convenient to plan for unplanned project changes. 

Projects are the lifeline for professional services firms. Deltek Vantagepoint provides applications to support the project planning and resource management activities—Project Planning, Resource Management and Plan Reporting. For those firms who are familiar with Deltek Vision planning, you’re in for a real treat with the enhancements added to Vantagepoint.

The enhancements include the ability to Change Planned Hours, select the ETC / JTD basis in system settings, save Resource View searches for roles, and use Spread Variance to push unused plan hours forward. Let’s dig deeper into these improvements.

Set Plan Inclusion System-Wide

Deltek administrators now have the ability from a system-level to set the inclusion of “in pursuit” project plans on some sort of objective basis. The screenshot below shows how these are automatically set based on the pursuit stages. Keep in mind when the project is awarded, it’s included in those calculations. The beautiful part about Vantagepoint is firms have complete visibility into all the plans, even if the project was not included in those utilization calculations and reports.

The administrator can set different options based on the firm’s preferences. Those include:

• Never – This means that users can plan but the plan won't be included in the calculations.
• Always – Selecting this option will always include the plans, regardless of the degree of seriousness or clarity that you have.
• Set by Project – This is not recommended because it relies on the plan creator to remember to mark the plan for inclusion.
• Automatically Set Based on Selected in Pursuit Stages – This is the recommended option because it leverages the intelligence of the software to determine the stage of the project and then to automatically determine inclusion into those calculations.
• Automatically Set Based on Probability – This uses the probabilities set up in the system. Preferences can be set to say anything greater than 50% probability, for example, will be included. Vantagepoint provides a lot of flexibility with this, but this flexibility is from the system standpoint and not each individual plan.

Set Estimate to Complete (ETC) and Job to Date (JTD) Basis System-Wide

While the ability to set and/or change the ETC and JTD was available in Deltek Vision Planning, it was often changed for one purpose or another and could be forgotten to be put back. In Vantagepoint, this is a system setting so that every plan is using the same ETC and JTD basis as shown in the screenshot below.

Firms can select the system settings and the basis that works best for them. For example, a firm has a JTD basis through Last Week’s End Date, and that is last Saturday. All the JTD is shown through that date and the ETC date starts the next business day. That allows the firm to have certainty about the JTD figures. If the firm customarily has weekly timesheets that are always completed by the end of the week, this may be a great system setting.

Alternatively, firms can use the Last Timesheet Period’s End Date. If the firm lags a little bit on timesheet entries, utilizing this option so that the JTD information being shown in the plan is that of the last timesheet period will most likely work better. Firms can use this option so that the JTD information shown in the plan is as of that last timesheet week. So, for the first few days of the timesheet period, it's not as accurate, but it's more accurate once that timesheet period is posted and closed.

Rescheduling Plans

Vantagepoint Planning is further enhanced with the ability to reschedule plans. The reschedule ability allows users to either shift or change the duration for the labor tab. This is only for the labor tab in Vantagepoint Planning. Users can pick up the entire date range and move the start date or move it to the finish date.

Like Vision Planning, if the duration is the same, the hours can use the same proportions from the time period. When the duration length is increased, it keeps the same pattern. Conversely, when the duration length is decreased, the system can respread it evenly. But, if the duration shrinks, the system will not like it if unplanned hours fall outside the new duration. In Vantagepoint, this becomes very clear with well-written error messages that pop up for the user.

Change Planned Hours

Changing planned hours is a new function in Deltek Vantagepoint. Project managers can use this functionality to update the planned hours in any timeframe. They can choose to spread the hours proportionally or evenly. For example, a user can take all the hours at the project level or work breakdown structure (WBS) level two and change the planned hours from A to B. This can be done in any timeframe. It can also be done backward and forward using the ETC day. There are a lot of options to change planned hours in Vantagepoint Planning.

The screenshot below shows the new Redistribute Hours menu in Vantagepoint where users can change the planned hours.

Replace Planned Hours with Actual Hours

The next enhancement is the ability to replace planned hours with actual hours. This functionality allows users to choose the replacement of hours for a specific date range or across all dates as well as choose to calculate on a weekly, monthly, or total basis. An example is shown below.

Spread Variance

The ability to spread the variance between planned and actual hours can be done in several ways over the time periods selected. It allows the user to control how they spread the differences between actual and planned as well as choose different date ranges. The date range can be a specific date range, an entire date range, or just a short amount of time. The project manager can choose to spread the hours including the negatives or just limit to the positive differences. The variance can be spread evenly or proportionately.

The biggest enhancement is that now this setting is directly available in the plans in Vantagepoint as opposed to another menu or area of the system, providing better visibility, as shown below.

Vantagepoint Planning is Reimagined for Project-Based Firms

With these enhancements to Vantagepoint Planning, project-based firms can not only quickly create project plans but adjust them to the unpredictable nature of the projects. It’s the right project management tool to control project delivery. Do you want to see these Deltek Vantagepoint Planning enhancements in action? Use the button below to see Rana Blair demonstrate each of them.

Managing and delivering successful projects is the goal of every architecture and engineering (AE) firm. For most, it’s nearly a repeatable process that requires some minor adjustments to the work breakdown structure to meet the unique needs of a project’s scope. Year after year, AE firms continued with this same process while making improvements based on lessons learned. Then all of a sudden, everything in our world was altered, including the way AE firms manage and deliver successful projects.

However, it’s not all gloom and doom. There’s actually good news to report! According to the 42^nd Deltek AE Clarity Report, firms of all sizes dealt with the uncertainty and unexpected changes very well.

Clarity on Project Management Success    

Overall, the majority of firms that responded to the Deltek AE Clarity Survey indicated that their projects stayed on schedule with some being ahead. This is great to hear, and there is more. Most of the respondents also indicated that projects remained on or under budget in 2020. This is a consistent result year after year in the AE Clarity Study findings. As 2020 was filled with uncertainty with no clear end in sight, staying on or under budget is an amazing accomplishment. Kudos to those firms!

Clarity on Challenges for Project Managers

Interesting enough, it is hard to link the effects of the pandemic to the findings in the Deltek AE Clarity Study. Overall, project status visibility issues continue to be reported as a common challenge for project managers over the past few years. Furthermore, visibility into project cost variance remains a top reason for not being able to identify project overruns before it is too late.

Highlighting other challenges AE firms experienced in 2020, tracking project KPIs continues to hinder project managers and jeopardize the successful outcome of projects. This is followed by schedule variance visibility, which only had a small upward change from previous AE Clarity Study findings. In summary, project visibility issues remain problematic but can be easily resolved by using a project management software built specifically for AE firms.

Clarity on Client Satisfaction

Mentioned, but less of a focus for project managers, is visibility into client satisfaction throughout the project life cycle. In the survey, only 40% of firms stated that they measured and tracked client satisfaction. What makes this troubling is that it is a fact that the client experience (CX) and client satisfaction has a direct impact on the ability to win future work.

For many firms, this is an unaddressed problem because they have neither a formalized CX initiative nor a solution to help track client satisfaction. This is likely because these firms are unaware that there are resources to improve their CX. Full Sail Partners is an active partner with Client Savvy, the creators of the Client Feedback Tool and the CXPS Community and can help firms to acquire these needed CX resources.

Clarity on Future Project Management Initiatives

AE firms historically have embraced a business model that forces project managers to wear multiple hats at the firm. However, this seems to be changing with more firms stating they want to:

• Clearly define responsibilities for project management, business development and design work.
• Invest in internal project manager training.
• Develop internal project management best practices.

Surprisingly, all respondents to the AE Clarity Study indicated one of these as a top priority at their firm. Further down on the list of the top initiatives for AE firms is the need to hire more qualified talent. Noted in the Human Capital Management section of the AE Clarity Study, firms stated that the availability of good talent is a top acquisition challenge.

AE Clarity on the Future of Project Management

AE firms looking for future success have recognized the need to pay more attention to the discipline of project management. Moving forward, project managers need to focus on delivering successful projects. Firm leaders need to find others to share or take on the work of business development and let designers focus on creating. In other words, firms need to give the discipline of project management the respect and attention it deserves.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

With all the uncertainty of 2020, AE firms remained resilient when faced with adversity. This says a lot about an industry that is directly affected by economic ups and downs. Overcoming what could have been an industry crippling situation, firms adapted, and project managers stepped up to continue to deliver great projects.

The Deltek AE Clarity Report is an insightful study that firm leaders should review each year. Additionally, firm leaders should use the available scorecard to benchmark their firm’s results with the rest of the industry. Get a free copy of the Study and the scorecard using the button link below.

Congratulations for upgrading to Deltek Vantagepoint, the reimagined and greater version of Vision! For starters, you’ve probably already noticed that Vantagepoint is different from Vision in its appearance. This new and greatly improved user interface just scratches the surface though. Did you know that there are several process enhancements designed to streamline your firm’s day-to-day operations?

While Deltek Vision was the gold standard for project-based ERP systems, its successor, Vantagepoint, is raising the benchmark. Check out what you may not know Vantagepoint can do to improve your firm’s processes.

Did you know Deltek Vantagepoint can…?

Did you know you can customize the timesheet approval process?

Do you need one or more approval steps? No problem!  Do you need line-item approval? No problem!  

Using a Vantagepoint timesheet approval workflow is simple and flexible. Additionally, using an approval workflow tends to shorten the time it takes to get timesheets approved and posted, everything is done electronically either from a desktop or on a mobile device. Timesheet approvals have never been easier!

Did you know that Vantagepoint now allows for draft invoice markup?

Say goodbye to emailing and/or printing draft invoices for approval! With the new “Markup on Draft Invoices” feature, approvers can review, markup and approve directly in Vantagepoint. The draft invoice will show all the information needed for an approver to verify billing. The approver can also use the PDF editor that is built into Vantagepoint so they can make notes right on the draft and resubmit. Waiting days or weeks for invoice approval a thing of the past!

Did you know that you no longer need to post batch transactions?

Have you ever wanted to post one Voucher or one Cash Receipt without creating a whole batch? With Vantagepoint’s new “Single Transaction Posting” option, this is now possible. If this option is enabled, control totals will no longer be needed. As a result, there is no need to leave the transaction entry screen to post, just enter your data and click post. With Vantagepoint, entering and posting transactions has never been this quick and easy!

Did you know that you can have multiple dashboards in Vantagepoint?

Since Project Managers often wear multiple hats in a firm, they can now have different dashboards to represent those different hats. For example, there can be a dashboard for business development activities and pipeline management in addition to a separate dashboard for project financials. Thus, allowing Project Managers or other firm employees that wear multiple hats to have critical decision-making information at their fingertips.

Did you know that information from the project budget and project planning tool are in one view?

In the Project Hub in Vantagepoint, the Project Review option allows project managers to view the Contract Fee, EAC Budgeted Cost, ETC Planned Cost and the Planned Profit in one single view. Additionally, Key Performance Indicators can be tracked on the same view and are continuously tracked and updated as information is changed in the budget and project tool.

Did you know that the professional licenses that your employees hold can be tracked in Deltek Vantagepoint?

For professional services firms, there are often credentials that must be held for some types of work. Examples include professional engineer, professional land surveyor, registered architect, and more. It’s imperative that licenses such as these and other certifications are kept active. Some firms rely on the employees to maintain their licensures while other firms may ask their human resources or marketing teams to capture this information.

Deltek Vantagepoint allows users to capture and track this information in the Credentials grid in the Employee Hub. Available fields cover the credential description, type of credential, license number, state and country, date earned, expiration date, last renewed date, and a check box for proposal use. With the use of workflows, employees can be notified 60 days, 30 days, or another chosen number of days prior to an expiration date.

Did you know that Vantagepoint has a seamless transition process from project pursuit to award?

In Vantagepoint, there are no more mapping exercises after a project is won. You can enter estimates, plans, budgets and contract amounts at any tine in the project lifecycle. As a result, project information is already captured and ready to use at the start of the project.

Get the Most out of Deltek Vantagepoint!

Simplifying and improving your firm’s operations is the intent and purpose of Deltek Vantagepoint. But with anything new, a lot of these enhancements may never be utilized if firms are unaware that they exist. If you’re interested in learning more about the features and tools that are part of Vantagepoint, check out our Vantagepoint video demonstration series. Additionally, make sure to read our monthly newsletter with a new “Did You Know” in each edition.

In a recent study by Dimension Data, 84% of companies that strive to improve their client experience (CX) report increases in their revenue. Another survey completed by Gartner found that 81% of businesses compete primarily on CX. Even more, PWC found that 32% of customers are willing to walk away from a brand they favor because of one negative experience. While there are endless amounts of statistics that directly correlate CX to company revenue and growth, many companies are still falling short in terms of their clients’ standards.

Typically, the common denominator for businesses that are providing subpar CX is the lack of asking for feedback from clients. Certainly, your firm’s team members are meeting with clients and sharing ideas about their projects and expectations, but these conversations are merely that…just talk. However, creating a formalized client feedback process can revolutionize the CX and take your firm’s brand to the next level.

Understanding What to Measure

For professional services (PS) firms, measuring a client’s satisfaction with the final product ignores the process of delivering a project from start to finish. Therefore, the quality of the process is what determines CX for project-based firms. In other words, PS firms need to be more focused on asking for feedback about the project delivery process. When determining what questions to ask about the process, it’s important to keep in mind that there are two categories that need to be evaluated about the process, subjective- relationship metrics and objective-deliverable metrics.

In terms of subjective or relationship questions, firms need to understand how helpful they were during the process. Additionally, they need to ask for feedback regarding how the client felt about their responsiveness and their abilities to make the right decisions at critical moments during the project.

For objective or deliverable feedback, PS firms need to know how clients feel about their ability to manage budgets and schedules. Overall, objective feedback measures the accuracy of quantifiable standards and expectations that were set prior to the project starting.

Cadence of Asking for Client Feedback

Waiting until a project is completed to ask for feedback is too late. At this point, fixing any negative perspectives is a moot point as it’s hard to correct something in the past. For PS firms, it is critical to ask for feedback early on and often.

It is often encouraged to begin the feedback process at the project kick-off. During this time, the project teams need to make sure milestones and KPIs are aligned, and all parties are clear on the path to success. Once the first milestone has been met, there is now an opportunity to request client feedback and to begin to assess the process your firm is using to deliver a project. As the project continues and various milestones or percent complete points have been met, feedback can once again be requested. Finally, client feedback needs to be requested upon project completion.

Asking Clients the Right Feedback Questions

Providing a great CX requires asking the right questions to gain feedback about the project delivery process. Additionally, each client feedback inquiry should include six to eight questions that are shorter than 12 words. Questions should also be different for each phase of the project, and they also need to be tailored to the role each stakeholder has in the project. Most importantly, the goal is to create a great CX, therefore questions need to be geared toward measuring expectations and not satisfaction. Since satisfaction cannot be controlled, but expectations can be managed.

Moreover, avoid questions about an individual since they are only part of the process. Also, ask questions about things you can control and change. For instance, asking a client if they think a budget is sufficient is pointless since the budget was predetermined prior to the project. Most importantly, reevaluate questions that use the word “and” as this is usually becoming two questions with the use of a conjunction connecting two clauses or thoughts.

Take Action on Client Feedback

Well, now you’ve asked for feedback which means you likely need to respond and address the client feedback. In many cases, positive feedback only requires a small acknowledgement. When the feedback indicates expectations are not being met, it is imperative to reach out to the survey respondent to understand why they feel the process is falling short of expectations.

It is equally important to note that the person requesting client feedback needs to the person reaching out and acknowledging the responses whether they are positive or negative. Additionally, the person requesting feedback needs to not take the information personally since the questions and responses are about the process. Lastly, when discussing feedback with a client, the person requesting feedback needs to practice empathy as to avoid creating a conversation filled with attacks and defenses.