In the News

I don’t know anyone that actually enjoys completing their expense report. The process is arduous, and steals valuable time from your already hectic day. The fact is, if you want to get reimbursed for a company expenditure, you have to take the time to complete your expense report. No ifs ands or buts about it.  Luckily, Blackbox’s Deltek Vision and Concur Integration eliminates this pain staking process for your employees and frees them up to concentrate on client-focused, billable work.

So, how can the Blackbox Concur Connector help you combine the benefits or Concur's expense controls and management with Vision's financial and project management tools? Easy! See how below.

The Deltek Vision and Concur Integration Made My Life Easier:

As someone who travels a fair amount, the Deltek Vision and Concur integration has allowed me to get the most out of my business expenses. Before, I was overly focused on diligently taking a picture of every receipt and documenting every incurred cost. Now, when I am out with a client, I can focus on listening and cultivating our relationship.  Here is how:

No more expense report time dump! Concur’s credit card integration is freakin’ awesome. I’ll admit it, I am terrible at manually documenting receipts and deciphering between my credit card charges vs. cash expenses. I used to stress out when thinking about the time dump required to complete my expense reports. Now, the Deltek Vision and Concur integration allows me to complete and submit my expense reports faster, rather than waiting until the end of the month to begin the process.

User protection / fraud prevention. Recently after traveling in New York City, I submitted an expense report with duplicate charges for an Uber ride. This minor mistake held up the processing of my expense report as we internally worked out my error. Concur allows me to eliminate this time consuming process of going back and forth from submitter, management and accounting. Additionally, these controls protect the company from accidental or direct fraudulent activity.

Mobile is where it’s at! I’m constantly on the go and I rely on my smart phone for just about everything. I can honestly say that Concur’s mobile app has been a big reason that I have been more diligent with completing my expense reports.

The app utilizes OCR technology that allows me to automatically pull all relevant information off of receipts, including:

• Vendor
• Date
• Dollar amount
• And more

Additionally, the mobile app sends me alerts when I have new charges, reports to approve or notifications.

Real-time, Automatic, Transaction-based Integration.  No more waiting for new projects to show up so I can associate expenses.  No tedious manual uploads to share information between the two systems.  No more having to input the same information in multiple places.  The bi-directional connector allows the information I and my accounting team need to be available where and when it is needed.

Ready to See How Concur Integrates with Deltek Vision?

Are you ready to learn more about this turn-key integration of Deltek Vision and Concur? Join Pete Nuffer as he unveils how all Deltek Vision users can win with automated expense management.

Sales is a tough industry where success is measured by attaining goals and quotas. So why are some sales people more successful than others? The reality is, selling and buying are not completely an intellectual process and actually requires building an emotional relationship. In order for you to be a great seller, several of these personality traits should characterize you.

1. Visionary – Seeing the future and the big picture is a key to being successful in sales. More importantly, they do not allow where they are today to determine where they are going in the future.
2. Ambitious – Top sellers have personal drive and don’t wait for someone else to tell them to do something. They know there is no time to wait for the next opportunity to come along, but that they need to be actively seeking more opportunities.
3. Enthusiastic – It’s hard to sell anything if you’re not excited about the product. In fact, there might be some situations where your product is inferior to the competition. But if you’re more passionate about your product it’s more likely the buyer is going to be convinced to purchase from you.
4. Persistence – The length of a sales cycle is different for every product and other outside factors such as under-motivated decision makers. Top sellers are tenacious. They know how to stay top-of-mind with decision makers so that when they finally decide to move forward, they’re there to close the deal.
5. Conscientious – This is a personality trait used to describe a person that is efficient and well organized. Conscientious sales people are also motivated and able to keep moving forward after facing rejection.
6. Active Listener – It’s hard to know the challenges a client faces without them explaining them. An active listener helps drive the conversation so everyone involved is able to come to a mutual understanding about the challenge at hand. Therefore, great salespeople take the time to understand the challenge from the client’s perspective. They stay focused on the conversation and make notes  
7. Ask the Right Questions – There’s always multiple ways to ask a question, but choosing the right wording is critical to getting the right answer. “How’s business going?” will get a simple answer. Whereas, “What’s your biggest challenge this year?” can create a conversation.
8. Problem Solvers – Sales people are often called solution engineers and for good purpose. Sellers need to know how their product solves the problem or problems the client is facing. Additionally, they need to be able to demonstrate how the solution can solve a problem.
9. Assertive – When going through the sales process, sales people can become passive or overly aggressive. This is a huge mistake and can quickly dissuade a prospect. Assertive sales people use conversation to understand what’s going on so they know how to properly approach the situation to keep the sale process moving forward.
10. Create Value – There’s common saying about gifted sales peoples, “he/she could sell ice to an Eskimo.” In most terms, this means they are smooth talkers. However, what if the ice they are selling is perfectly shaped to build an igloo? Now the ice has more value to an Eskimo.

Which Traits of a Seller Do You Have?

It’s time to take your sales to the next level! Start selling more by first identifying the personality traits you already possess. Next, identify ways to improve on the traits you lack or need to hone. 

Our first inclination when the new FASB 606 was announced was this wouldn’t impact many of our Deltek Vision clients. But after more insight, we recognize this has a tremendous impact on our clients. The rule states applicability to ALL entities that deliver goods or services. Though many believe that GAAP, FASB, SOX and other guidelines are good rules to follow regardless of any statutory relevance, the reality is if we are not being overseen we tend to be somewhat lax in compliance.

On May 2014, FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers. As a result, nonpublic entities will be required to apply the revenue recognition standard. In the case of FASB 606, if you are subject to any audit oversight, whether it be the bank or a taxing agency, FASB 606 now becomes relevant. This is also relevant if revenue is used and or needed for verification. Lending institutions and those requiring financial statements for qualification have been requiring GAAP compliant financial statements and will likely begin to demand conformance to the new standards. Finally, CPAs offering attestation services will now give increased scrutiny to how firms recognize revenues on their contracts.

“Revenue is recognized when a company satisfies a performance obligation by transferring a promised good or service to a customer (which is when the customer obtains control of that good or service).”

Architects, Engineers, and Professional Service Firms that “sell” labor and drawings fall under this definition and will be subject to FASB 606.

Enter Deltek Vision Revenue Generation

Using Deltek Vision Revenue Generation was always a good idea for Project Management as it allows us to begin recognizing what we have earned as compared to what has been spent. This is done by using basic revenue generation factors such as: 

• Job to Date Spent (or as I refer to it “earn as you burn”)
• Percentage of Complete
• Milestones or Deliverables

Using Vision’s User Defined Revenue capabilities, these and other potential methods and formulas can also be developed.

Preparing Deltek Vision for FASB 606

All firms need to understand how this measure requirement relates to them and seek advice from CPAs and Tax Professionals to ensure they will meet the requirements. Our role is to work with you and your CPA to configure Deltek Vision appropriately to accommodate the methods. In advance of your discussion with your advisors, we will assist in the creation of commonly understood measures. 

To learn more about overall revenue recognition concepts in Deltek Vision, check out this past blog. For further information on how to set-up revenue generation methods related to FASB 606 in Deltek Vision, please reach out to us and a consultant will be in contact.

* Rana Blair contributed to this blog.

Recently, Beaudin Ganze Consulting Engineers, Inc. embarked on a rebranding initiative, officially becoming BG Buildingworks. A critical element of this rebranding effort was to notify the company’s key constituents to reaffirm that the rebranding was primarily a cosmetic change, and that BG Buildingworks would maintain their personnel and technical expertise.

Hear directly from Karen Crilly, BG Buildingworks’ Director of Marketing & Client Development, about this process. See how the firm was able to overcome challenges with their contact data in time to announce the rebranding prior to their 25^th anniversary.

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For BG Buildingworks, innovative solutions are at the core of their business. BG Buildingworks provides mechanical, electrical, lighting, technology, commissioning, energy analysis and LEED consulting services for projects ranging from those in higher education to government, commercial, hospitality, healthcare and more. They are experts in REVIT modeling, employing state-of-the art technology and tools to optimize energy-efficient building systems and improve the owner’s bottom line.

Through early program definition, focused project management, expert systems design and engineering and highly experienced construction phase services, BG Buildingworks provides owners with low-risk, high-return solutions for their facilities.

Deltek introduced approval workflows in Vision 7.4 for purchasing and inventory records. Since then, Vision clients have asked for more. Well Deltek listened and began adding approval workflows to each new version of Vision. Let’s take a look at the benefits of approval workflows and what’s been added to Vision 7.6.

Intro Into Approval Workflows

Since some readers might be new to approval workflows, let’s review the functions of approval workflows in Vision:

• Multi-tiered Approvals – Allows approval workflows to have the ability to assign one person or multiple people with approval responsibilities for a specific request.
• Flexible Assignments – Instead of assigning the approval to a person, make the approval assignment to a specific role or function within the organization.
• Reassignments – Quickly reassign an action to add additional approvers or reassign the approval assignment to another person.
• Conditional Assignments – Allows for the use of a threshold for when an approval is required, such as a dollar amount for an expense.
• Flexible Actions – Send and receive notifications of an approval request by email, a dashboard alert, or by a user-defined error message.
• Workflow Failure Notifications – Workflows are smart! They will notify the approval administrator if a terminated employee or a role with no employees has been assigned approval responsibilities.

Additionally, these functions are the foundation for all future approvals in Vision. As a result, approvals are flexible so they can meet the unique requirements of different organizations.   

Applications That Have Approval Workflows

In previous versions of Deltek Vision, several applications have gained the ability to utilize approval workflows. Here’s the applications that received approval workflows in version 7.4:

• Purchase Requisitions
• Request for Price Quotes
• Purchase Orders (PO’s, Change Orders, and Releases)
• Inventory Item Requests

In version 7.5, these applications gained approval workflow capabilities:

• Absence Requests
• AP Invoice Approvals
• General Ledger Budgets

With the release of Vision 7.6, Deltek has added Expense Report and Expense Line approval workflows.

Expense Report and Expense Line Approval Workflows Overview

In the existing Vision Employee Expense Applications, users can easily create expense reports and easily add credit card expenses to the report using the Vision Credit Card feature. With the addition of approva workflowl capabilities to the Expense Report and Expense Line approvals, users are further able to embrace the power of Deltek Vision. Some benefits of enabling Expense Approval Workflows include:

• Approval Workflows that are multi-step and based on specific parameters to align the approval process with your organization’s operations.
• Send approval requests to specific employees or roles within your organization.
• Approve all lines of an expense report or just approve a specific line.
• Setup notifications to alert people about the status of the approval process and let the approver know a request is pending.  

Are you ready to enable Expense Report and Expense line approvals? Not sure, here are some things to think about.

• Does your organization have a defined process for expense approvals?
• Which roles and individuals need approval assignments?
• What dollar amount should require an approval?
• What steps are required to ensure employees follow Expense Report policies?

Now that Deltek has added approval workflows to the Employee Expense process in Vision 7.6, users now have more tools to streamline internal business processes. Find out about other new features in Vision 7.6 here! Additionally, let us know which improvements you want to see in the next version of Deltek Vision

Full Sail Partners, a Deltek Premier Partner, announces that Kelly Duquette has joined the firm as a Principal Solutions Consultant to assist professional services firms with improving their business processes within Deltek Vision. Kelly’s specialties include planning and supporting firms with migrating data during mergers and acquisitions; configuring and training of the Vision Purchasing and Asset Management modules; and building and implementing client solutions within the Vision Advanced Workflow Engine. This strategic hire expands Full Sail Partners’ consulting team presence on the east coast.

“I am thrilled to be in a client facing position that will allow me to assist clients with the use of Deltek Vision,” stated Kelly Duquette. “Full Sail Partners offers a wide variety of services and offerings that work to expand the product and make it a unique experience for each company. I look forward to engaging with clients so they can benefit from our entire team’s knowledge of the product.”

With a background in accounting, Kelly has more than 25 years of experience focused around Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system management and implementation. She holds her Master’s Degree in Business Administration and has been both a Deltek Vision user and system administrator. Prior to joining Full Sail Partners, Kelly was Vice President and Director of ERP Systems at a large Engineering/Environmental Consulting Firm, with more than 120 offices across the US and approximately 4,200 employees. With a focus on process improvement throughout her professional career, she has managed several mergers and acquisitions and led several Deltek Vision implementations and business processes initiatives.  

Kelly was the leader of the Deltek Vision Large Firm User Group and a member of the Deltek Vision Power User group. She participated in the early adopter program for the Purchasing and Asset Management modules. In November, at the Deltek Insight Conference, Kelly will be presenting on the Critical Roadmap Factors for Mergers and Acquisitions and Getting Started with Deltek Vision's Approval Engine. She will be co-presenting with Ed Zanaty for Vision Purchasing - A Project Centric Approach. In the past, she has presented at numerous user group meetings.

“Full Sail Partners jumped at the chance to bring a veteran, Deltek Vision user like Kelly on board,” said Scott Seal, Vice President of Consulting. “She has a proven track record of improving processes and creating efficiencies within the Deltek Vision system. Kelly’s extensive consulting, data migration and custom experience with professional services industry brings a wealth of knowledge to the Full Sail Partners’ consulting team and provides fluidity between the client, consultants, and the custom solutions division to ensure we are providing the right solution.”

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

If someone were to ask you what do you like least about your job, what would you say? Assuming you like your boss, your environment and co-workers, there is still always a task that you just wish you didn’t have to do. For me, it is my expenses. You would think, getting reimbursed would be motivation in itself. Yes, at some point it absolutely is. It has gotten much easier now that I can take a picture of my receipts and quickly upload through my Deltek Vision Touch application with my phone. However, I still have to fill out the details which takes time. Time I don’t always have. What if I told you it could get even easier? I was then introduced to the Concur expense solution.

I literally was giddy over expenses when I saw what the solution could do. The Concur expense solution automatically imports credit card charges and matches them to receipts and itinerary data. Instead of manually entering your expenses, I can simply take a picture of the receipt and it reads the information and fills out my expenses. Sounds too good to be true, right?

So how can this help Deltek Vision users you might ask? Well, there is an integration being finalized right now. I invite you to view the video below to begin to learn more about the Concur expense solution:

Learn more in the upcoming Concur webinar. This webinar will further show you how Concur expense reports write themselves and we will provide a sneak peek of the upcoming Deltek Vision integration.

Johnnie Cochran once said, “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit!” Well the same idea is applicable to purchasing an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution for any business. Sure, QuickBooks and Microsoft Dynamics are good for certain types of business, but neither one are designed specifically to support project based businesses. To support this idea, the following infographic will serve as evidence to make the case that Deltek Vision is the best option for project-based firms.  

As a first time attendee to SMPS Build Business, I want to make sure that I experience all there is to offer at the national conference for professional services marketers. So before I head off to the City of Brotherly Love I thought it would be a good idea to ask some long time attendees for their advice on how to get the most out of this conference. Here are the 5 tips I found most useful.

Keep in mind, these tips can be used when attending any conference.

Five Essential Tips for Conference Success

1. Make intros memorable. You are sure to meet more people than you can remember. The same is true for the people you hope to make an impression on. The key to being memorable is to practice how you will introduce yourself. Introduction should intrigue your connection to make them want to learn more. “Hi, I’m Graham I’m a marketer” won’t cut it. Focus on how you and your company add value to your clients. Give the discussion purpose. Perhaps your newfound contact is facing a challenge and you can help them overcome it. Stand out from the crowd by leaving each new contact with a feeling of time and energy well invested.
   
2. Identify the best way to capture contact info. Do you have a plan for capturing important details gathered from your networking efforts? Do you plan on jotting details down on a napkin to send off to someone else to enter in your CRM system? Or perhaps you are planning on entering everything immediately using your mobile device. Thinking this process through before the conference will allow you to have a system in place to get the most out of your networking efforts.
   
3. Pre-schedule meetings. Prescheduling meetings is my favorite tip for attending any I believe that the primary focus of attending a conference should be to network and connect with people. The number one way to do that is to begin networking and connecting before the conference even begins. Try sending out emails to contacts that you know will be on site, or even create a landing page on your website advertising your attendance to the conference. Better yet, pick up the phone and set-up meetings to have drinks or lunch with contacts.
   
4. Have a plan, be willing to adjust. Have you seen the program for this year’s SMPS Build Business? There are a ton of awesome programs! Take your time before the conference to map out your roadmap for sessions you want to attend. However, show up to the conference willing to pivot and adjust on the sessions you attend. You never know when the opportunity will arise to attend a session with an old client or new prospect.
   
5. Dress accordingly. You are set for some long days ahead -- between breakout sessions, networking breaks walking the exhibit hall and everything else that goes into attending a conference. Make sure to wear the right shoes – taking care of your feet will keep you mobile and ready to network. Also, don’t forget to dress appropriately to accommodate for changes in room temperature.

In this Deltek Vision How-To Video, we will demonstrate how to add custom fields to Deltek iAccess and the Touch CRM application. With Deltek Vision’s open architecture, adding custom fields is easy. While you are on-the-go, you can also access any custom field. Let us show you how.