When evaluating your professional services firm, understanding your past trends can provide valuable insight into the future.

In a recent, SMPS Technology Committee survey, only 56% of firms stated they tracked this information, which is surprising. This type of report allows you to evaluate the overall hit rate by the firm, a division, the pursuit lead, or other criteria.  You can also evaluate it by percentage or by revenue.  Knowing both provides you a different story.

Take William Apple, who has a 50% hit rate for the number of projects he has pursued.  He pursued 10 and won 5.  Ann Johnson on the other hand only has a 33% hit rate. She pursued 3 and won 1.  Seems like William is doing better, right?  However, if you evaluate them on revenue, William only has a 24% while Ann has a 73% hit rate.  Why the difference? 

Well, the one project Ann won, was a large project worth millions of dollars.  William however, won a lot of smaller projects and lost out on the bigger project. Both are important to the business.  However, if you start to see that William is constantly losing out on the large projects or maybe particular project types, this type of analysis would be valuable information that could be acted upon.

Key metrics like the Win to Loss Ratio allow a quick snap shot to determine if you need to dig deeper.  The historical progress of an opportunity sometimes provides further clues. 

• Were you realistic with your expectations?

• What stage did you lose the opportunity?

• Did you have an established relationship and effective pursuit strategy?

Is your firm able to answer these questions or are you repeating the same mistakes? Let us know how your firm learns from your success and failures and how your firm is improving your hit rate by leaving a comment. Interested in more historical trends information?

Many of us in Accounting have to wear a dual hat of the HR manager.  Somehow it is assumed that accounting experience qualifies you to manage the HR process.  Why?  Perhaps it is due to the portion of HR that involves risk (employment laws are everywhere) or perhaps it is the crossover between HR and payroll. 

Outside of payroll, there isn’t much crossover between the two jobs. Further blurring the issue, an increasing amount of firms are utilizing third party payroll services.

For the true HR part of the job, we create spreadsheets to track and review timelines and employment metrics.  We struggle to keep track of employee initiatives and job metrics.  Most employee reviews are a reflection of their performance over the last couple months at best as managers often forget successes or failures earlier in the year.  Job descriptions are vague and associated with metrics that are difficult, if not impossible, to measure objectively. Employees are often dissatisfied if they receive a positive or neutral review without an increase in compensation. 

So what is the answer?  We can use our Deltek Vision System to assist us.  

Some items are relatively simple.  Utilize user defined fields to track the next review date and have a scheduled workflow send a reminder to the manager and yourself.  You can set up a user defined grid to allow tracking of an employee’s pay/position history so that it is easy to track the changes through the years.  All of this is helpful, but it really doesn’t solve the full problem.

With the advent of Vision 7.0 and User Defined Info Centers, you can go many steps further.   Utilize a combination of User Defined Info Centers, User Defined fields, standard workflows and scheduled workflows, to set up HR, and review tracking system managed from within your existing Vision system. 

How would something like this work?

You can create a user defined info center to house your employee job descriptions.  These job descriptions can contain the measurable metrics for the job along with overall core competencies.

You then create a “review form” using user defined fields in the employee info center.   A stored procedure will allow you to pull the employee metrics and competencies into the employee review tab.

After the review is complete, results can be stored in Vision and reviewed later. 

Stored procedures can update a tracking grid for the employee so that historical review scores can be seen at a glance.  You can also use grids to provide places for managers to track employee’s progress throughout the year.

User defined fields, grids, workflows & stored procedures - Is all that really necessary?  Not really.  All this can continue to be managed in various worksheets, word documents and calendars. 

The system above simply allows all of the disparate parts of an employee review/compensation/current and long term history to be maintained in one place.  Also, the beauty of using Vision and User Defined elements is the ability to customize your HR procedures to your company needs.  I mean it IS by definition “User Defined”.

So what are some tips for an effective HR process?

Whether you decide to automate your HR, or keep up the use of spreadsheets,  there are some things you can do to make your HR processes more effective:

• Create well defined job descriptions and make them available to employees.
• Within the job descriptions, define the metrics by which employees will be measured.  Ensure the metrics are specific. For example, the Project Managers will ensure work authorizations for every additional service provided to clients.
• Have a well-defined review policy.
• Separate the review schedule from the schedule for raises.  Raises are given, not only on performance, but on budgetary restrictions.  This removes one level of angst from the reviews.
• Provide managers a place to keep track of employee successes and failures.  Allow employees to update their successes and failures also.  This allows the employees to be more active participants in the process.

Has your firm utilized the Custom Info Center? If so, in what ways? Leave us a comment.  Not on Deltek Vision 7.0 yet? See how our firm can help you transition to 7.0.

Full Sail Partners, a Deltek Premier Partner, has been selected as a recipient of the 2013 Deltek Marketing Excellence Award, part of Deltek’s annual Premier Partner Awards program.  The ninth annual Awards program recognizes Deltek’s top channel partners who have demonstrated outstanding achievements in marketing, selling, implementing, and supporting Deltek products in 2012.  Full Sail Partners offers business consulting, technology solutions, and application hosting for Deltek Vision, an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software for professional service firms. 

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 humbled to receive this recognition from Deltek,” said Sarah Gonnella, VP of Marketing and Business Development from Full Sail Partners. “We are proud to be selected as a 2013 Deltek Premier Partner and truly honored to also receive the 2013 Marketing Excellence Award.  This award is a reflection of our dedicate team. We strive to provide valuable and relevant content to engage not only new ERP clients, but our existing clients so they can take Deltek Vision to the next level.”

In 2013, Full Sail Partners will continue leveraging traditional media, social media, and other new technologies to provide the most up-to-date information regarding Deltek Vision.
 
“Full Sail Partners has demonstrated an innovative marketing strategy that has helped expand the presence of Deltek in the market place,” said Ray Lazarine, Deltek’s Director of Partner Programs.  “These efforts have also taken into consideration the challenges of today’s business climate, and helped identify changing customer needs that were crucial to successfully marketing Deltek in 2012.”

About Full Sail Partners
Full Sail Partners specializes in client-focused technology solutions for architects and engineers, energy and environmental consultants, and professional service firms across the country. Full Sail Partners offers business consulting, technology solutions, and application hosting for Deltek Vision. Partnering with more than 1000 clients nationwide, Full Sail Partners builds long-term relationships and seeks to identify the critical resources to create a faster, more efficient, and cohesive business infrastructure. Full Sail Partners – Keep Your Business on Course. | For more on Full Sail Partners profile and background on the Full Sail Partners crew, visit us at http://www.fullsailpartners.com

About Deltek
Deltek is the leading global provider of enterprise software and information solutions for professional services firms and government contractors. For decades, we have delivered actionable insight that empowers our customers to unlock their business potential. 16,000 organizations and 2 million users in over 80 countries around the world rely on Deltek to research and identify opportunities, win new business, optimize resources, streamline operations, and deliver more profitable projects. Deltek – Know more. Do more.®
http://www.deltek.com

Interested in learning more about what is going on with Full Sail Partners? Check out our other press releases.

Deltek Vision’s billing system is very versatile, allowing you to present many different billing formats for your clients without having to create different invoice designs. This is accomplished by using Vision’s Project Billing Terms. By using billing terms you can produce an invoice for your clients that bills Fixed Fee, % Complete against a Fee, Hourly, Consultant and Expense billing, all on a single invoice. A drawback to this “mixed billing” formatting in Vision is that it produces a lengthy invoice with individual billing sections for each billing type. The fee billing phases can be combined into a single billing block, but each T&M phase must be billed separately.

So how can this be resolved?
Full Sail Partners' custom department has tackled this issue with several of our clients and has designed a solution to this problem. The invoice design can be used with any of your existing Vision Invoice Templates and combines all of your Fee, Time, Consultant and Expense billing into a single billing block:

In the sample above:

1. Pre-Design and Schematic Design phases are hourly with a limit (Budget)

• The actual value of the billable time entered on these phases is displayed in the JTD Billed Column
• The percent complete is calculated by dividing the JTD Billed into the Budget
• The Fee Remaining Column is another new feature that can be displayed or suppressed (hidden)
• Design Development is hourly without a limit/budget

• JTD Billed = the value of billable time on the phase
• Percent Complete is not displayed when there is not a limit/budget
• Bidding and Negotiation is Percent Complete by Phase

• The Percent Complete is entered in the Fee tab of Billing Terms
• JTD Billed is calculated from the % Complete, as in typical % Complete Billing
• Reimbursable Charges are actual charges with a limit/budget

• Like the Labor phases above, the actual value of billable expenses is displayed in the JTD Billed column
• The percent complete is calculated by dividing the JTD Billed into the Budget
• The Fee Remaining Column is another new feature that can be displayed or suppressed (hidden)

By using this new invoice design, an invoice that might have been 2-5 pages long can now be presented to the client on a single page. Additionally, Billing Backup displaying the details for the time and materials phases can be added to the invoice by selecting that option in the billing terms, as normal.

One other feature that is included with this invoice design is the ability to present the Fee and Labor Phases in the block format above, while displaying Consultant and Reimbursable Expense charges in their traditional sections following the Fee/Labor billing block. This is accomplished by the use of custom fields in the project info center which allow for individual selections for Consultant Charges, Reimbursable Expenses and the option to display or suppress the “Remaining” column above.

View the video for a demonstration of this flexible new invoice design or contact your Full Sail Partners representative. Your clients will love it and your invoices will be easier to read.

Welcome to our first Deltek Vision How-To Video Series. Today we will learn about Deltek’s Vision Info Center Help section. This video will answer some common questions asked by clients are:

1. Do you have a complete list of the fields in Vision?
2. Do you have a help guide so I can learn about the fields available?

Check out additional how-to videos by clicking here. 

It looks like the world will not come to an end! So back at it campers. Let's learn some quick tips about Deltek Vision.

As the first of our Deltek Vision Tips & Tricks Series we would love to hear if you find the information helpful. Recently I came across a question about how to know who modified a record. Of course the audit reports can provide this information, but there are two easier ways to get this information.

In every info center you can hover over the name of the record at the top of the record. It will tell you who created the record and on what date. Additionally, it will tell you who last modified the record and on what date. So in the image below for item #1, the mouse is hovering over the word Paul A. Collier in blue. If you need to know what field was modified then you would need to run an audit report.  

Additionally, you could set-up a field that displays who modified the record. This is accomplished through a workflow. First create a new character field. (Note: An employee field will not work.)  In this example it is named Modified By.  See image item #2 above. 

Then set-up a User Initiated Workflow. Choose the Application, which in this instance will be the Contacts. Click Insert on the Workflows grid. The Workflow Table will be Contact Record and the Workflow Type will be Change. This simply means every time the contact record is changed, the workflow will trigger.

Now on the Actions grid click Insert to add an action. Choose Column (Field) Change for the Actions column. Next, choose the field to update. In this case it is ContactCustomTabFields.CustModifiedBy.  Then set-up a SQL Expression. The expression is simply, a field that already exists: [:Contacts.ModUser]. Find that code and click Add Column. Then click Save. Be sure to add descriptions so you know what the workflow is related to and then Save the workflow. To test it, change something on a Contact record. You should see the users login name filter in.

Check back in 2013 for new blog entries related to Deltek Vision tips. Let us know if you learned something new by leaving a comment. Wishing you a wonderful 2013!

Collaboration.  One of those buzz words that marketers and business executives so often love to use.  Project teams often claim that the internet has provided them with new level of collaboration that was unparalleled in previous generations.  This is true.  However, if your primary means of collaboration is email, then you are not experiencing the level of collaboration that this generation is enjoying.

I would like to review some tools that make the collaboration process easier.  Before we begin, let’s start with defining the subject at hand:

Collaborate (verb):  To work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor

Essentially, collaboration is the process of teaming with others to achieve a common objective.  Over the past few decades there has been a strong emphasis placed on teamwork in the work place.  While the majority of the 1900’s boasted a work mentality of me first, the 2000’s have been defined by companies like Facebook and Google that promote a team first environment.  Most people are familiar with the acronym TEAM: Together Everyone Achieves More. 

Most business is now done in a virtual environment.  The United States has over 78% of its population plugged in on-line.  Unfortunately, many people struggle with the social awkwardness of the internet:  Email is a great source of communicating an idea, but a terrible medium for conveying emotion or tone.  What can be meant as a friendly reminder, can be interpreted as harsh criticism.

To avoid some of the communication pitfalls of the traditional internet, I have recently started using a tool called ‘Kona’.  Kona is a free communication and collaboration tool from Deltek that helps teams get connected, get organized, and get things done together.

I have been able to use Kona to help better plan projects.  Kona gives me the ability to work with my project team in a seamless cloud environment.  With a project team based out of multiple locations, Kona gives us the ability to interact with each other in a way never done before on the internet. 

We all juggle multiple tasks in our professional and personal lives.  Kona recognizes this by giving the end user as ‘spaces’ to work in.  Perhaps you coach your sons baseball team, have three projects due at work next month, and also are in the process of building a man cave.  No problem!  With Kona, simply set up a ‘work space’ for each of these responsibilities, and start knocking off project tasks.

For the purpose of this blog, I have identified a few of my favorite features of Kona:

1. A smart calendar!  The calendar on Kona is by far one of the best collaboration tools out there.  Gone are the days of forgetful project staff leaving an important event off of their calendars.  Through the use of smart scheduling, the Kona system allows members of the project team to assign and schedule tasks to other group members.  Not only can you add locations, attendees, files, and notes to a calendar item, but you are also able to have a ‘smart’ conversation…
   
   
2. The conversations module on Kona is my favorite internet based tool that I have found since I discovered Google Docs.  Kona allows users to hold separate conversations on each task of the project.  Notice that an important detail was left off of the calendar for tomorrow’s meeting?  No need to open up your email to contact the event host, simply update the event, and you are free to comment on the conversation to let others know of the change.  This condensing of communication in to one multi-faceted medium allows for a clear and effective message, enabling project staff to focus on completing the project, and not talking about it.
   
   
3. The files module.  How many times have you emailed someone a file, only to be told later that they never received it?  Many people cannot receive emails larger than 2mb – a data size that is nothing in today’s media rich web.  While programs like Outlook have made it easier to manage attachments, email was create in the late 80’s and was never intended to be a storage database for large, detailed files. 
   
   Kona’s file system allows users to avoid many of the pitfalls of modern day data sharing.  Not only can users store large data files, organized by file type, but also share important website links.  This simple, easy to use file sharing system allows project teams to organize all of their project data in one location.  By sharing your data in the cloud environment, not only do you create an easier to use file sharing system, but you also protect your data by storing it in an offsite location.  Additionally, you will please your IT manager by reducing the number of multiple copies of the same file throughout your network system.

Please note:  Kona offers 1GB of space with all accounts.  While this is a decent chunk of free space, it is not meant to be the end-all-be-all storage area for your files.  Simply, it is meant to be a means for sharing information quickly in a cloud environment.  I encourage you to use this file sharing system to share files between project team members, not to store your files for long term access.

I could continue to go on about the features I love about Kona, but I think it would be best for you to go and sign up for Kona, and try it yourself!  The interface is extremely intuitive, and you should be up and running in no time.  I hope this free, yes free – as in, it doesn’t cost anything, collaboration tool helps your project teams to start working more effectively!

To learn more about how you and your firm can start using Kona today, check out the video below:

Deltek, Inc. recently announced at the Deltek Insight 2012 Conference that Full Sail Partners and its client, Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. (WJE), have been selected for the Partner Award for Deltek’s 2012 Project Excellence Awards Program.  The Partner Award recognizes a Deltek partner, and customer, that together have delivered an exceptional Deltek solution implementation.

Full Sail Partners assisted Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc., a prominent A/E/C firm ranked on Engineering News-Record's list of the Top 500 Design Firms in America, with the implementation of Deltek Vision across its business.  Full Sail Partners built numerous workflows in Deltek Vision such as conflict checking, project initiation, billing, and project status report.  As a result, WJE realized an annual savings of about $1.8 million and a reduction in DSOs of 45 days.  The cost to purchase and implement Deltek Vision paid for itself over 30 times in just one year. 

“As the leader in solving the world’s most challenging construction-related problems, WJE works on more than 7,000 projects a year. Our project management, time, and accounting systems must not let us down,” said WJE Associate Director of Finance and Controller, Steven Schmit.  “We are honored to receive this award recognizing the partnership between WJE and Full Sail Partners, whose expert guidance and support has been so critical to the successful implementation and ongoing operation of Deltek Vision within our firm.”

Since the awards program started in 2008, Deltek has recognized some of the most innovative, market-leading companies in the world. The Project Excellence Awards program, a key component of the annual Deltek Insight User Conference, was designed to highlight and honor unique achievement among Deltek's more than 14,500 customers worldwide.  The goal of this award program is to recognize outstanding Deltek customer and partner success in improving business processes and performance, increasing profitability and winning new business.

“We are very proud to be honored with the Project Excellence Partner Award with WJE.  We loved the challenge as presented by Steve and WJE” said Kevin O’Connor, President of Full Sail Partners. “The automation created by WJE and the FSP team brought forward a game changing level of efficiency. The implementation provided increased functionality, reduction of manual processes through automation, and timelier reporting and distribution which resulted in significant time savings. WJE has been a true partner with our firm and the close integration of the work we did is a testament to both or team’s commitment to excellence.” 

Deltek recognizes Full Sail Partners as a top-performing business partner.

Full Sail Partners, offering business consulting, technology solutions, and application hosting for Deltek Vision, is chosen as a 2012 Deltek Premier Partner. Deltek, Inc., the leading global provider of enterprise software and information solutions for government contractors and professional services firms, offers this distinction to top-performing business partners. To achieve Premier Partner status, Full Sail Partners demonstrated continuing excellence in marketing, selling, implementing, and supporting their customers with Deltek solutions.

“Full Sail Partners continues to differentiate itself as a true industry thought leader and serves as an advocate for hundreds of clients,” said Claus Thorsgaard, Deltek’s EVP and General Manager – Professional Services.  “Our mutual clients appreciate Full Sail Partners’ ability to leverage Deltek Vision to provide insight on product enhancements, new product releases, and feature functionality.  I would like to congratulate Kevin O’Connor and everyone at Full Sail Partners. We are pleased to recognize the accomplishments and talents of the individuals of this top performing company.”

“We at Full Sail Partners are extremely honored and proud to once again be named a Deltek Premier Partner.  I am grateful to our clients who provided us the opportunity to continue to serve them in 2012,” said Kevin P. O’Connor, President of Full Sail Partners.  “The energy and professionalism the group at Full Sail Partners consistently brings speaks to their passion for providing quality services to our clients.”

The Full Sail Partner team sees that 2012 and beyond affords many opportunities to project-based clients with the release of Deltek Vision First Essentials and a host of software enhancements.  As a Deltek Premier Partner, Full Sail Partners is committed to working with clients to help strategically plan and leverage the solutions within the Vision suite of tools.  Full Sail Partners' team, collectively, brings more than 200 years of experience with Deltek products and is excited to unveil in late third quarter of 2012 unique technology solutions to assist with business needs.

About Full Sail Partners
Full Sail Partners specializes in client-focused technology solutions for architects and engineers, energy and environmental consultants, and professional service firms across the country. Full Sail Partners offers business consulting, technology solutions, and application hosting for Deltek Vision. Partnering with more than 1000 clients nationwide, Full Sail Partners builds long-term relationships and seeks to identify the critical resources to create a faster, more efficient, and cohesive business infrastructure.

Full Sail Partners – Keep Your Business on Course. | For more on Full Sail Partners profile and background on the Full Sail Partners crew, visit us at http://www.fullsailpartners.com.

About Deltek
Deltek (Nasdaq: PROJ) is the leading global provider of enterprise software and information solutions for professional services firms and government contractors. For decades, we have delivered actionable insight that empowers our customers to unlock their business potential. 15,000 organizations and 2 million users in over 80 countries around the world rely on Deltek to research and identify opportunities, win new business, optimize resources, streamline operations, and deliver more profitable projects. 

Deltek – Know more. Do More. | For more on Deltek, visit http://www.deltek.com.

AccountingToday.com selects Full Sail Partners to join the 2012 Top VAR 100 List. Several Deltek Partners were named to the list, but Full Sail Partners was the highest ranking VAR dedicated to only Deltek products.

Each year a select group of 100 organizations are honored for their accomplishments as Value-Added Resellers (VAR). The top VARs are selected from organizations focused on sales and implementation of accounting and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. Criteria used to determine the winners include 2011 revenue, number of offices, and staff.  Full Sail Partners, offering business consulting, technology solutions, and application hosting for Deltek Vision, is honored by AccountingToday as a 2012 Top Value Added Reseller (VAR). The firm provides on-premise and cloud-based solutions for architects and engineers, energy and environmental consultants, and professional service firms across the country. Full Sail Partners' team, collectively, brings more than 200 years of experience with Deltek products. 

"We are honored to have Full Sail Partners named a 2012 VAR," stated Kevin O'Connor, President of Full Sail Partners. "We focus on the 'value-added' part of being a VAR. We embrace Deltek's SaaS solution and are finding clients like the flexibility of knowing they have the option of both a cloud and on-premise solution. The cloud is not new to our firm. For almost 5 years, we've offered firm's the ability to host their application instead of investing in IT infrastructure. Our firm continues to differentiate ourselves by providing unique technology solutions and most importantly working with them through the sales process to solve business issues," added Mr. O'Connor. 

"We are proud to have Full Sail Partners represent Deltek. The award is a well-deserved recognition. As one of Deltek's most successful Vision Partners, Full Sail Partners is a major player in Deltek's overall strategy and has a long track record of providing outstanding software solutions and client services. They have earned a reputation as industry leaders and this recognition is a reflection of their hard work." Claus Thorsgaard, Deltek Executive Vice President and General Manager, Professional Services. 

About Full Sail Partners
Full Sail Partners specializes in client-focused technology solutions for architects and engineers, energy and environmental consultants, and professional service firms across the country. Full Sail Partners offers business consulting, technology solutions, and application hosting for Deltek Vision. Partnering with more than 1000 clients nationwide, Full Sail Partners builds long-term relationships and seeks to identify the critical resources to create a faster, more efficient, and cohesive business infrastructure.

Full Sail Partners – Keep Your Business on Course. | For more on Full Sail Partners profile and background on the Full Sail Partners crew, visit us at http://www.fullsailpartners.com. 

About Deltek
Deltek (Nasdaq: PROJ) is the leading global provider of enterprise software and information solutions for professional services firms and government contractors. For decades, we have delivered actionable insight that empowers our customers to unlock their business potential. 15,000 organizations and 2 million users in over 80 countries around the world rely on Deltek to research and identify opportunities, win new business, optimize resources, streamline operations, and deliver more profitable projects. Deltek – Know more. Do more.® www.deltek.com. 

About Accounting Today
AccountingToday.com is a leading provider of online business news for the tax and accounting community, offering breaking news, in-depth features, insightful editorial analysis, and a host of web-related resources and services.