News (3)

05-04-23 4 Ways to Improve Employee Utilization_Banner

In the most recent  AE Clarity Report  issued by Deltek, the average employee utilization rate was reported as 58.5%. Firms are often confronted with how they can improve employee utilization to create a positive impact on the firm’s bottom line, all while keeping employee morale in mind. To improve employee utilization in both the short term and long term, focus on these four key areas:

1. Set Realistic Utilization Target s

One of the key factors that affect employee utilization is the target utilization rate. While it's essential to aim for high utilization rates, it's equally important to set realistic targets that employees can achieve without feeling overburdened.

These realistic targets allow for staff to focus on other, non-production (yet still important) initiatives for the firm, such as business development, staff development, and team building. Firms that allow employees time to focus on these areas will greatly increase employee productivity in the long run through increased employee and team efficiencies, as well as reduced staff turnover.

Unrealistic targets can lead to burnout, poor performance, and low morale. On the other hand, achievable targets can motivate employees to perform their best, leading to increased productivity and job satisfaction. For more information on setting realistic targets for employees, read our blog here!

2. Align Resources Effectively

Proper resource allocation is crucial for improving employee utilization. Before starting a project, it's essential to align resources based on their expertise, level, and availability. This ensures that tasks are performed efficiently and effectively, and labor costs are kept within budget. Proper resource allocation also helps to keep employee realization aligned with employee utilization, resulting in accurate billing and better profitability.

3. Manage Client Expectations

Effective client management is a key factor in improving employee utilization. By managing client expectations and delivering quality work on time, firms can build trust and long-term relationships with their clients. It's also important to identify tasks that are not part of the original scope of work and notify clients promptly. By doing so, firms can avoid scope creep and allocate resources efficiently, improving employee utilization and profitability. Need some help with managing client expectations? Find out exactly what they’re thinking with our presentation on Understanding the Client's Mind Using Feedback!

4. Leverage Technology

Technology can be a game-changer when it comes to improving employee utilization. By using tools like Deltek Vantagepoint, firms can track employee utilization in real-time and make data-driven decisions.

This real-time visibility gives your firm insight and the opportunity to influence the final results to ensure resources are properly aligned, client expectations are managed, and employee utilization is maintained.

Technology can also automate mundane tasks, freeing up employees' time to focus on value-adding activities.

Other Ways to Improve Employee Utilization

In addition to the four ways mentioned above, here are a few bonus tips that your project-based firm can use to improve its employee utilization.

Foster a Positive Work Culture: A positive work culture is essential for improving employee utilization and retention. By creating a supportive and collaborative work environment, firms can boost employee morale, motivation, and engagement. This leads to higher productivity, better quality work, and lower staff turnover. Some effective strategies for fostering a positive work culture include employee recognition programs, open communication, and flexible work arrangements.

Offer Professional Development Opportunities: Providing professional development opportunities to employees is another effective way to improve employee utilization. By investing in their employees' skills and knowledge, firms can improve their performance and productivity, leading to higher utilization rates. Some effective ways to offer professional development include mentoring programs, training sessions, and educational courses.
Monitor and Measure Results: Finally, it's essential to monitor and measure employee utilization regularly to identify areas for improvement. By tracking key metrics like billable hours, utilization rates, and staff turnover, firms can identify trends and patterns, and make data-driven decisions. This helps to optimize resource allocation, manage client expectations, and boost employee utilization and profitability.

In conclusion, improving employee utilization requires a combination of effective strategies, tools, and a positive work culture. By setting realistic targets, aligning resources effectively, managing client expectations, fostering a positive work culture, offering professional development, leveraging technology, and monitoring and measuring results, firms can improve their employee utilization and enhance their profitability and growth.

With the right approach, firms can achieve high levels of employee utilization, leading to better outcomes for both the firm and its employees. View our free webinar on optimizing project management processes to learn how you can improve employee utilization and take your professional services firm to the next level.

03-02-23_BI-Intelligence-Tools_Banner

One of the topics that keeps arising from the Deltek user base is utilizing business intelligence (BI) tools. Firms are seeking out BI tools for different reasons, but all are looking to provide further analysis and visibility to employees within the firm. Some of the key products firms are investigating include Power BI to Tableau to Informer. So, what is the best BI tool for Deltek Vantagepoint users? Let’s dive in and discuss why firms are searching out BI tools and discuss what we have found to be the best solution.

Clients Want More

The Deltek Vantagepoint product is robust and provides many out-of-the-box visuals and dashboards, but there are some further capabilities that require users to turn to a BI tool. Some of the most common features include:

Report upon any table or field not just pre-selected datasets
Create visuals combining different hubs or tables (For example, Project and GL Reports)
Enhance drilldown capabilities from a visual
Combine outside data from payroll, marketing solutions, etc.
Track against goals, KPIs, and industry benchmarks

Why Entrinsik Informer Stands Out Amongst Other Business Intelligence Solutions

Out-of-the-Box Standards – No more starting from scratch and spending months and even years building out something that could be available to you day one. Our team has built what we call the gold standard, a starting point for project-based firms. On the first meeting, our team will show you how your data looks in our out-of-the-box datasets, visuals and dashboards. We will then work with your team to tweak datasets to your definitions and work with you to validate the data. Our gold standard includes visuals from the executive down to the employee and every role in between.
Reduce Burden on IT – Deploying a BI tool can be cumbersome for technology teams. Our streamlined approach to deploy a BI solution saves time and resources. Most tools require in-depth database programming skillsets, such as SQL. One of the key benefits of Entrinsik Informer is its intuitive and user-friendly capabilities, including dataset and visual design. Informer also scales to meet the needs of organizations as they grow and evolve, so companies do not have to sweat about the future.
Integrated Security with Deltek Vantagepoint  – Informer utilizes the same security protocols utilized with your Deltek product streamlining the login process. A key advantage is user security data can be assigned in Deltek. As an example, when users are disabled within your Deltek product, they are also disabled within Informer.
Drilldown Capabilities is Built-in  – Informer offers built-in drilldowns to transactional data on visuals. The drilldowns are automatically configured on visuals. In other BI tools, it is just another thing you have to design, but not in Informer.
Cloud Compatible  – Deltek users in the cloud need not worry. Another benefit of Entrinsik Informer is that it is Deltek cloud compatible by using FLEX direct database access.
Combine Outside Data  – Users can combine multiple outside data sources. For example, firms can bring in payroll data or other third-party solution data for further analysis.
Send Reports and Alerts Based on Conditions  – Informer allows users to tap into their data and email certain filtered views to internal or external recipients. Emails and alerts can be scheduled on any conditional criteria. For example, as Project Managers utilize 80% of their budget, an email can be sent with a link to their dashboard and a breakdown of time on their project.
Schedule Data Updates On-Demand – Users can schedule data to be refreshed on-demand or at specific time intervals. Datasets can also be scheduled at separate intervals. Some BI tools lack this flexibility, and all data is refreshed at one time. For example, opportunities may be updated every two hours, projects updated nightly, and income statements updated monthly after postings.
Mobile Accessibility – Dashboards can be viewed on-the-go on any mobile device. One of the key differentiators between Entrinsik Informer and other BI tools is its drilldown capability. Informer content is automatically configured for mobile viewing without any additional development.
Easily Create Firm Documents – Informer is designed to be user-friendly and easy to use, even for those without technical expertise. With Informer templates, firms can automate manual form and template creation with ease. Examples include firm invoices, fee proposals, custom reports, and more. Templates are highly customizable and won’t break when Deltek Vision or Vantagepoint is updated, allowing the template to be used well into the future.

See Informer in Action

Entrinsik Informer provides a combination of ease of use, customization, integration, speed, affordability, and scalability that sets it apart from other business intelligence tools on the market. If you are ready to see more, we recommend checking out this previously presented demonstration webinar to see highlights of the capabilities of the product. Power BI, Tableau, and Informer each offer unique features, but our clients believe Deltek users will find Informer to be the best business intelligence tool option. Click the image below to watch our webinar providing a more in-depth analysis of the capabilities of each of these products and learn what the future holds for BI tools.

2023_Top5TalentAcquisitionKPIs_Banner

Have you heard of doing a temperature check to help you gauge the health of your relationships? While Employee Engagement Surveys are temperature checks for the Employer-Employee relationship, equally important is the Employer-Candidate (Talent Acquisition) relationship. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are great ways to measure the effectiveness of a company’s recruitment process.

To stay competitive in the Professional Services industry talent market for 2023, HR professionals and business leaders are reevaluating their recruiting strategies. Determining your company’s top talent acquisition KPIs is an effective way to identify critical strategies. KPIs provide data to recruiters and HR professionals on areas of improvement and show the value and ROI for specific recruitment actions. So, what are some popular talent acquisition KPIs for this year? Let’s look at 5 top talent acquisition KPIs for 2023.

1. Time to Hire

Unlike the Time to Fill, which measures the number of days it takes to fill an open position from the date a job requisition is posted to the date a new hire accepts the position, the formula for the Time to Hire is the day they accept the job minus the day the recruiter first contacts the candidate. According to the 2020-2021 Recruitment & Retention Report of AEC Firms, “most firms (56%) need between 30 and 60 days to hire. According to each firm’s listed recruitment and retention metrics, the median time it takes to hire a candidate is 43 days. This is higher than the U.S. average of 36 days according to SHRM’s Talent Acquisition Benchmarking Report, which is common for a technical sector like the AEC industry.” However, statistics show that the best candidates are off the market in 10 days, so employers are trying to streamline their hiring processes, trim down the number of candidate interviews and firm up their candidate evaluation process to make more timely and efficient hiring decisions.

2. Application Completion Rates

Calculating the Time to Hire requires that candidates are able to successfully complete their applications. The number of completed applications by prospective employees shows how well a company’s application process is set up. A poorly designed application process is either too long, too cumbersome, or too complex. Research has shown that as much as 73% of candidates will abandon a job application if it is taking too long to complete.

Furthermore, longer applications are directly correlated to higher costs per applicant. According to Recruiter.com, an application that takes less than 5 minutes to complete costs around $4 per applicant. When the application takes 15 minutes to complete, the cost-per-applicant rises to $13.85, which is 65% more than the shorter application process. Consider these steps to improve your application completion rates:

Evaluate your abandoned applications to determine the most frequent points of the drop-off in the applications.
Ensure your application process is easily accessible and user-friendly. Almost 90% of job seekers will use their mobile phones when searching for new job opportunities. Most candidates are anxiously looking to start their new opportunity, so too many steps and obstacles create a delay in the process, so they will just move on to the companies that have less delay in their time to fill.
Keep questions to a minimum. Save more detailed, position-related questions for the interview. On the application ask identifying, work history, and availability questions like the candidate’s contact details, availability, and work preferences (the location, number of days, and shifts they would be available to work).

3. Sourcing Efficiency

The sourcing channel metric gives insight into the effectiveness of a company’s sourcing channels. The formula for calculating sourcing effectiveness is (the total number of hires via the channel /total number of applications via the channel) x 100. For example, if you get 100 applications via LinkedIn and 12 hires, then your sourcing efficiency would be 12/100 x 100 = 12%. It is important to understand the difference between determining your sourcing channels’ Source of Applications efficiency versus their Source of Hire efficiency.

This brings into question if the company values quantity or quality. According to a study posted on Jobvite.com, job boards yield the highest percentage of applicants, but the lowest percentage of actual hires. It also revealed that the most effective sourcing channels are internal hiring (18X more effective) and referrals (5X more effective). You’ve heard the phrase “consider the source.” This 100% applies to the talent acquisition process.

4. Offer Acceptance Rate

Sometimes the issue is not that you can’t find enough qualified or top-tier candidates to extend offers to, but that not enough are accepting your company’s offers. The formula for calculating the offer acceptance rate is (the number of accepted job offers/the number of all offers) x 100. According to an article in Inc. magazine, 5 reasons candidates reject job offers are:

You’re too slow.
You didn’t make a good impression.
Your job description doesn’t match the role.
You unknowingly raised a red flag.
They just weren’t that into you.

Basically, the longer you keep a candidate waiting, the more they will question their interest in your position and your interest in them. This also gives the candidate time to re-think if they even want to leave their current position. Often, managers have the mindset that it is the candidate’s job to impress them because the candidate is the job seeker, however, the hiring managers need to remember that they are the employee seeker and want to acquire the best talent available. Companies also have a need to fill a vacancy, and just as they have choices, candidates have choices as well.

Yes, companies are encouraged to make their job descriptions stand out by highlighting the company culture and company benefits, but the actual description of the job duties needs to be as accurate and as detailed as possible so as not to be misleading. You do not want candidates to feel like they have experienced a bait-and-switch during the interview process. Sometimes there are even factors that the company has no control over.

As an example, the culture of the company or nature of the position may have been revealed in the interview process or job offer process that confirmed for certain candidates that either the company wasn’t a good fit for them or that they weren’t a good fit for the position. The hardest truth to accept is that sometimes candidates simply lose interest in your company, which results in them moving on. The candidates may not communicate this with the company to avoid any awkwardness, so they keep the door open to receive an offer even though they are not intending on accepting.

5. Candidate Net Promoter Score (NPS)

The NPS is the number of people who promote the company minus the number of those who detract from the company. Promoters are candidates and former employees who speak positively about their experience with the company and would recommend employment there. Detractors are those that provide negative feedback and cause potential candidates to question their interest in the position and/or company. This illustrates the importance of ensuring that an employee has a positive full life-cycle experience at a company, from application to termination (whether voluntary or involuntary). Also, it is a reminder to be mindful and professional with all candidates, whether they move forward in the process or not.

Is it Time to Re-Visit Recruitment Strategies?

So, which recruitment strategies yield the top talent your firm needs to ensure future success?

By using these key performance indicators in their recruiting metrics, firm leaders can evaluate which strategies are worth keeping and which are not beneficial. Need help with deciding which talent acquisition KPIs to focus on? Full Sail Partners can help with our HR Consulting Services.

As a Deltek representative, we have heard all kinds of misconceptions about Deltek Vantagepoint. Despite our monthly newsletters, webinar series, and continued communication, we are still speaking to firms that are confused or have been advised incorrect information about transitioning from Vision to Vantagepoint. Most are honest mistakes conveyed by all kinds of people. However, many of these "untruths" come from competitors spreading incorrect rumors so they can take advantage of your firm and convince you to leave Deltek.

We need your help! Please send this blog to everyone at your firm. Share it with user groups you are involved with and other firms that you know use Deltek Vision. Below are the real facts about upgrading from Deltek Vision to Deltek Vantagepoint. Please help us to dispel the misconceptions.

What is Deltek Vantagepoint?

Deltek's reimagined flagship project-based solution, the next version of Deltek Vision for architects, engineers, and other professional services businesses.
Designed to help you manage the entire project lifecycle better than before.
Based on feedback from Deltek customers over the past 10 years.
An intuitive, powerful solution that puts your people and projects at the center of your business so you can be more efficient, productive, and profitable.

For executives or employees wanting to view the upcoming changes, we recommend checking out our hour-long monthly Deltek Vantagepoint demonstration. Additionally, our team has put together tons of resources to help firms including our Deltek Vantagepoint mini demonstrations. In each of these demos, viewers will see how Deltek Vantagepoint empowers the different roles within your firm. Each demo goes into detail on a specific feature of Vantagepoint, with each video being 4-20 minutes long.

Dispelling the Misconceptions about Deltek Vantagepoint

Q: Is Deltek Vantagepoint a new product?

A: It is a continuation of the Vision product. Think Vision 10!

Q: Will our firm need to repurchase to move to Deltek Vantagepoint?

A: No! If you are current on maintenance, it is free. This does not mean upgrading to Vantagepoint should be done without a strategic plan in mind.

Q: How long will Deltek Vision continue to be supported?

A: The short answer is Deltek hasn't set a date.

The long answer is that under the Deltek Support Assurance program, Deltek provides three distinct phases and levels of support: Active, Maintenance, and Sustaining. Even when the product moves to Maintenance and Sustaining Support, your firm is still supported and will have plenty of time to upgrade. The product is currently under Active Support, which means that software enhancements, hot fixes and service packs are supported. Maintenance Support still receives hot fixes for severity 1 issues and tax, legal and regulatory updates and lasts 12 months. Sustaining Support is where you still have access to all of the pervious fixes and service packs. Additionally, Deltek has stated they will give us at least a year's notice before moving it to Maintenance Support. So, that provides your firm plenty of time.

Q: To get Deltek Vantagepoint, do I have to move to the cloud?

A: No! However, it might make sense, so reach out to your account manager if you are interested.

Q: Will Deltek Vantagepoint be available on-premise?

A: Yes!

Q: Will Deltek Vantagepoint require me to migrate my data?

A: No! Your data will move over. There are considerations due to the way that Vantagepoint handles data differently than Vision, especially if you have repurposed any info centers. 

Q: Will all of my user-defined fields and user-defined info centers move over?

A: Yes!

Q: Will Vantagepoint contain the exact functionality as Vision 7.6?

A: No. The product is being reimagined and improved. There are certain areas that will not move forward. Please read on for more details.

Q: Can my firm request to upgrade to Deltek Vantagepoint and move next week?

A: We do not recommend that. There are considerations that need to be made. We highly recommend starting with reviewing Deltek and Full Sail Partners’ resources and requesting a Vantagepoint Upgrade Consultation.

What Are My Options for Getting a Vantagepoint Test Environment?

For firms that are seeking to obtain a Vantagepoint test environment, the answer to this question depends on your current deployment method. Below are the options:

My firm is hosted by Deltek Cloud or On-Premise: Visit the Vantagepoint Upgrade Resources page on the Deltek website, and scroll about three-quarters of the way down the page to the “Get Preview Environment” section of the page.

My firm is hosted by Full Sail Partners: If your firm is hosted by Full Sail Partners, email your Account Manager or hosting@fullsailpartners.com.

My firm is hosted by an external hosting provider: If your firm is hosted by an external hosting provider, request that your provider set up a test environment. If they have not set up a Vantagepoint environment before, then we recommend you reach out to Full Sail Partners or your partner of record. It might make sense to consider moving to Deltek's cloud, hosting permanently with Full Sail Partners, or utilizing Full Sail Partners' transition hosting service. Contact us if you are interested in any of these options.

Keep in mind, the upgrade to Deltek Vantagepoint requires a new install and has new installment requirements. For on-premise clients, please check out our past webinar: Is Your Firm Technically Prepared for Deltek Vantagepoint?

Who Do I Contact?

If your firm is seeking assistance with upgrading to Vantagepoint, our team is here to help. Request a Vantagepoint Upgrade Consultation. Additionally, here are other resources to know.    

Deltek Vantagepoint Resources Page: Please click here to check it out, and to clarify some distinct areas on this page, please read below:

What is the Customer Assistance Program (CAP)?

CAP is focused on helping Vision customers prepare for their upgrade to Vantagepoint. This is a complementary program for Deltek Vision customers. It runs for eight weeks, and you can have as many people as you want from your company participate. This program will cover specific upgrade topics and best practices. You will also be able to join live sessions with the experts to ask questions. You can register here for any of the sessions. The next sessions from Deltek in 2023 will be session 14 starting January 25, 2023, and session 15 starting April 19, 2023.

What is the Vantagepoint Readiness Portal?

The Vantagepoint Readiness Portal is your go-to resource for all things Vantagepoint. This portal includes videos, demonstrations, and presentations by Deltek experts to give you a perspective of how things have changed from Vision to Vantagepoint. This is the first step on your journey toward understanding Vantagepoint. There are also resources specifically for administrators including details about preview environments. The Portal has info about CAP too. To access the portal, just follow these simple steps:

Log into the Deltek Learning Zone (DLZ) platform with your DLZ account credentials.
On the opening Dashboard screen, use the “Enter Search keyword” feature to search for the “Readiness Portal.”
The “Deltek Vantagepoint Readiness Portal” will come up as the top result for all Vision and Vantagepoint product users, and you can simply click to enroll and launch the portal.
Once enrolled, you can access the portal at any time from your personal Learning Profile where it will appear on your “Courses” list.

Deltek Vantagepoint Resources

Make sure to check out our webinar series about preparing for the upgrade to Deltek Vantagepoint. In this series, our team of consultants covers a variety of topics such as technical requirements, resource planning, and project management, new CRM functions, and the improved accounting interface. This webinar series page also includes demonstrations of Deltek Vantagepoint. If you prefer to read about the enhancements, check out all the articles we have posted about the enhancements Vantagepoint offers to firms that upgrade from Vision!

Eric’s programming and development experience adds value and further strengthens the Development Team

Full Sail Partners, a Deltek Premier Partner and creator of the Blackbox Connector, is pleased to announce that Eric Gray has joined the Development Team as a SQL Developer. Eric focuses on data migrations and merger and acquisition data loads, the creation of custom reports and automation in Deltek Vision and Vantagepoint. In this role, he collaborates with clients and key stakeholders to help provide enhanced analytical insight into the information that impacts their business.

“We are excited to have Eric be part of the Full Sail Partners’ Development Team,” said Peter Nuffer, Full Sail Partners’ Director of Solution Development. “He offers a lot of experience and brings enthusiasm to the team. His positive attitude and strong work ethic helps to create an even better experience for our clients further strengthening our team.”

Eric comes to Full Sail Partners with experience in SQL programming, reporting, product development and designing process automation. Furthermore, he has a strong background and understanding of database development and migration practices. His hire further strengthens the capabilities of the Development Team and provides more opportunities for the team to help clients accomplish their database, process, and system improvement initiatives.

“When considering what more we can offer to our clients to support meeting their initiatives, we knew that bringing Eric’s experience to the team would be the right move. We’re looking forward to Eric and our clients’ continued successes,” stated Wes Renfroe, VP of Technology.”

For more information, please contact Full Sail Partners’ Marketing and Communications Department.

Amy Balassone

Full Sail Partners, a Deltek Premier Partner, is pleased to announce the promotion of Amy Balassone to account manager. Amy joins the sales team to provide account services for Full Sail Partners’ clients throughout the United States. In this position, she works as a liaison between Full Sail Partners and clients to help identify ways to gain more value from their products.

Formerly working exclusively in both marketing and sales, Amy has been with Full Sail Partners for six years. During her tenure, she worked with lead generation, marketing, and our Blackbox Connector sales teams. Through her various positions, Amy has gained an in-depth knowledge of how both the Deltek and Full Sail Partners’ products can help to improve business processes and efficiencies. Now as an account manager, she expands on her role in onboarding new clients and supporting existing clients through cloud conversions and add-on modules and services.

“All of my past experiences with Full Sail Partners have really set me up for success in this new role as an account manager,” stated Amy Balassone. “I am excited to continue to provide client services with a personal touch.”

Full Sail Partners is committed to excellent client service and building partnerships with our clients. As we move further into 2022, we will continue to improve our client management approach to increase engagement with our clients and anticipate their needs. Adding Amy to the account management team demonstrates this commitment to providing attentive and dedicated support to our client base especially as many of them are moving to the Deltek Vantagepoint platform.

“Amy is a very proactive person and being helpful and responsive to clients is something she is passionate about,” noted Joel Slater, Product Sales Manager. “She was promoted to account manager not just because of her past successful client service positions but also because she truly cares about what clients say and need.”

For more information, please contact Full Sail Partners’ Marketing and Communications Department.

2022-DVP CRM Adoption Challenges-01

For professional services firms to be successful, they need a client relationship management (CRM) system to help them focus their business development strategies to identify prospective projects and to nurture client relationships to ensure they win new projects. Furthermore, an effective CRM system requires firm employees to use the system and this is not just directed to the business development team. This requires the entire firm to be updating client records to ensure the most up-to-date information is available for business development. However, firms that have invested in a CRM system seem to have a common hurdle which is employee adoption. Here are a few things that can negatively impact user adoption at your firm.

The Lack of Defined Processes

Time and time again, firms roll out a new CRM system with the assumption that it’s just requires switching it on, and it’ll take care of itself. However, this is not the case. Firms need to first start off by identifying what goals they want to achieve so they can actually see results. Once they have their goals identified, a formal process needs to be outlined to ensure the CRM system is utilized in a way the benefits firm and aligns with current marketing and business development procedures. Here are some things to consider when defining a process:

What is a lead and when does a lead become an opportunity?
Who has the information at your firm that needs to be entered about a contact?
Who can update contacts and what can they update?
What role is responsible for cleaning up the CRM database?
What reports are required for different roles?

Misguided Goals

Goal setting for business development teams are far too often focused on dollar amounts and win rates. However, this thought process ignores setting goals that align with the firm’s strategy for achieving their targeted dollar amounts and win rates. For example, the sales cycle to win a project for many professional services firms can be months to years depending on the industry. Therefore, having a goal that helps the business development team keep up with touchpoints helps ensure client relationships are being properly managed. So when considering goals, it’s important to develop goals that align with your firm’s strategic client management process.

Picking the Wrong CRM Solution for Your Firm

There are several things to consider when selecting a CRM solution for your firm. Firstly, not all CRM systems are the same and have different capabilities to support different industries. For instance, having a CRM system that integrates with your firm’s accounting and project management platforms is essential for professional services firms. Especially if you want all your firm’s data in one central location and your desire is for people to utilize the CRM system. An example of this is a firm that uses Deltek Vantagepoint or Vision for their accounting and project management, the obvious CRM system selection is Deltek CRM.

Additionally, system integration is great, but having a CRM system that has a friendly user interface is important as well to increase user adoption. By selecting a system that is intuitive and well designed, implementing a CRM adoption directive will most likely succeed across your firm.

Increase CRM Adoption

Many firms struggle with getting employees to adopt a new system. However, this does not have to be the case. By setting goals and processes for different teams within your organization to encourage use, your employees will be able to see the value of the CRM system. Lastly, make sure to point out the fact that a CRM system will help your firm continue to grow and be successful in the future.

Carolyn McKnight, Senior Consultant, Full Sail Partners

Full Sail Partners, a Deltek Platinum Partner and creator of the Blackbox Connector, has announced the hiring of Carolyn McKnight as a senior consultant. In this role, Carolyn will be a leading member of the Deltek CRM Consulting Team at Full Sail Partners and contributing her expertise to Blackbox Connector team. Her wealth of knowledge will help Full Sail Partners’ clients leverage their Deltek CRM system to maximize the value of their investment.

Carolyn brings more than 15 years of experience in the A&E industry specifically using Deltek Vision and most recently Vantagepoint. During her career, she has served in several roles from a firm CRM knowledge manager to senior business analyst, and she served as a Deltek User Group leader in Nashville, TN. Carolyn has experience with creating workflows, using SQL and importing data in Vantagepoint and Vision. Additionally, she has used and is knowledgeable about OpenAsset, the Client Feedback Tool and business intelligence tools.

“As a longtime user of Deltek products, I have direct hands-on expertise to help clients take advantage of all the features and capabilities available in the CRM module,” explains Carolyn. “Joining Full Sail Partners will allow me to share my insights and knowledge to allow firms to improve and streamline their CRM processes.”

As a senior consultant, Carolyn will work with clients to understand their business development processes and strategy to ensure their Deltek CRM system is configured to meet the needs of the firm. She will also assist in the Deltek CRM implementations and Blackbox Connector products integrations. Carolyn’s knowledge of the A&E industry and how Deltek CRM supports firm efforts in winning more business makes her a great resource for Full Sail Partners and their clients.

“Carolyn is a triple threat. She is creative, technical and analytical and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our Deltek CRM Consulting Team,” stated Sarah Gonnella, Vice President of Marketing & Sales, Full Sail Partners. “We are beyond excited to have her as a resource for our clients and a mentor to our team.”

For more information, please email Full Sail Partners’ Marketing Communications Department. Interested in meeting the rest of the crew? Check out the link below!

Amanda Roussel, CRM Consultant

Full Sail Partners, a Deltek Premier Partner, is excited to announce the promotion of Amanda Roussel to CRM Consultant. In this role, she will work with the marketing and sales teams in professional services firms to strategize on how to centralize, optimize and streamline their Deltek Vantagepoint CRM processes.

Since joining the Full Sail Partners’ marketing team in 2020, she has been focused on assisting clients with the upgrade process from Deltek Vision to Vantagepoint. This experiential knowledge of the upgrade process will allow Amanda to both help more clients and Full Sail Partners continue to meet the growing demand for Vision to Vantagepoint transition services.

“I have worked with various roles within firms throughout my career and learned to appreciate how firm wide strategies can give firms a competitive advantage. Establishing efficient CRM processes gives firms the tools they need to build and enhance client relationships. To me, business is about how I can help others reach success,” stated Amanda Roussel.

With more than fifteen years of marketing experience in the AEC industry, Amanda is very familiar with the challenges that clients face in their day-to-day business operations. She also understands how these issues can be addressed utilizing both Deltek Vision and Vantagepoint and is aware of the impact CRM has on developing client relationships. She will focus on helping firms learn how to manage their client, pursuit and campaign data to build stronger relationships with their clients.

“Amanda has already become an integral part of our Vantagepoint upgrade and CRM implementation team. Her past Deltek Vantagepoint experience along with her enthusiastic and professional demeanor makes her an ideal consultant,” stated Sarah Gonnella, VP of Marketing & Sales. “We are excited to have another rock star consultant on our team!”

For more information, please email Full Sail Partners’ Marketing Communications Department.

Marketing is a necessary function in business, and AEC firms are no exception. First off, there’s general brand awareness, and then there are the marketing campaigns that firms spend resources on to drive quality leads. Marketing efforts cover a variety of outreach methods such as conferences, sponsorships, golf tournaments, and email campaigns. Can you name the projects awarded to your firm as a result of particular marketing efforts? What campaigns would you consider a success based on the efforts and dollars spent? Let’s see how Deltek Vantagepoint marketing campaigns can help you with your marketing efforts.

Organize Marketing Efforts

For each marketing effort, information can be collected and organized in one place inside a Vantagepoint marketing campaign record. The marketing campaign name, its description, associated promotional project used for budget tracking, marketing campaign manager, and marketing manager are all fields that may be useful to planning efforts.

Beyond the marketing campaign record, organizing a marketing plan in the same system as your CRM allows for efficient associations. With Deltek Vantagepoint, teams can associate resulting projects in pursuit and awarded projects to the marketing campaign that led to that effort. Therefore, you have visibility to:

Measure Costs Against Goals

A Revenue Goal can be identified as you begin the campaign. Other monetary fields are populated based on project information in your system. There are fields for Actual Revenue, which recognizes dollars from awarded projects associated back to the campaign, and Potential Revenue, which recognizes dollars from projects in pursuit. A promotional project can also be created for the marketing campaign to track time and expenses. Using the promotional project number, Actual Costs are populated on the marketing campaign. This gives a quick view of the success of the marketing campaign as it relates to resulting projects.

Build Email Lists or Tally Responses

It’s not always about the dollars. For events in which attendee information should be collected, responses can be tracked using contacts in CRM. The responses, or contact list, can be used to create mailing lists or distribute follow up information.

Stay on Target with Activities

With each marketing campaign comes tasks and to-do lists. Those activities can be managed and tracked in the marketing campaign record. This brings all activities together, whether it’s registering for an event, completing sponsorship information, creating marketing materials, or making reservations. Deltek Vantagepoint allows Activities to be assigned to other employees so the appropriate team members will see their Activities as well.

Measure the Effectiveness

Tying actual revenue to a marketing campaign gives firms the opportunity to measure the effectiveness of various marketing efforts. By doing so, firms can determine which efforts to repeat and which ones to modify or discontinue. One example is conferences. Many dollars can be spent on industry conferences, and we simply cannot attend all. Using marketing campaigns, teams can see the return on effort. These metrics can help prioritize event involvement for future years and be an integral part of strategic marketing and business development plans.

Be Smarter with Vantagepoint

As Deltek users, marketers can take advantage of the marketing campaigns in Vantagepoint and discover which marketing efforts work the best. Based on what these marketing campaigns identify, your firm can strategically plan better. Additionally, by using marketing campaigns in Vantagepoint, the marketing department can easily translate their outreach efforts to a monetary value.

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