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As Deltek Vision systems are implemented and processes are written, the common denominator is most often the connection between the Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS) and the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). Whether it be the uniqueness of each or the relationship between the two, the attention paid to these early stages of development is instrumental in the flow and reporting of information in your Vision database. In the following, we’ll explore some areas to consider when designing the structure of your database.

Company Structure and the Organizational Breakdown Structure in Deltek Vision 

The OBS can take on many different builds from the very simple to extremely detailed. Various example options include: 

• Location approach
• Discipline/department approach
• Market sector BD driven 

When designing the OBS in Deltek Vision, the system allows for up to five hierarchical levels and allocation of overhead requirements to be incorporated into the structure of the database. If you are using a multi-company database, then level one needs to be reserved for the different companies in your enterprise. Learn more about Vision Multi-Company in this article. 

Additionally, when building the OBS it is most important to be aware of financial accountability in your organization. For example, if you are using two levels, such as office and department, each combination will produce an income statement. As a result, someone within the organization is responsible for these statements. 

Furthermore, various cross sections can be extracted for combined financial reporting. For instance, if you have mechanical department in three offices, firms can create a mechanical income statement. A structure such as this allows for: 

• Office accountability
• Office/Department accountability
• Overall Department accountability 

Projects and the Work Breakdown Structure in Deltek Vision 

The WBS specifically relates to how a project will be organized and the firm’s preference for the flow of revenue and costs. The majority of firms find it to be most effective if they build their WBS based on project budgets. Generally, this should be driven by the fee and scope using a bottom up approach. 

Deltek Vision allows for three levels in the WBS, which are commonly labeled, Project, Phase and Task. However, this can be tailored to your firm’s preference. Even more, accountability within a project can be assigned through the WBS. As a result, the entire project can have a manager and/or phase and task managers, which can be assigned based on the scope and budget responsibility. 

It is important to note that project builds and WBS don’t have to be the same across all projects. While not all firms are the same, it is highly recommended for most firms to let every project have at least one WBS 2. In other words, another WBS variation. Additionally, projects can be built with no WBS 3 or only some parts of the WBS 2 extending into the WBS 3. 

Team Work Makes the Dream Work 

Like the players on any type of team, the OBS and WBS need to play their roles both individually and in tandem to support the greater good of the team. The WBS at its lowest level drives how revenue and cost post to the lowest level of the OBS. Here are additional items to consider: 

• “Mirroring” the OBS in WBS for overhead projects
• The combinations of cross charge, intercompany billing and high accountability you plan to build into WBS
• The division of financial and operational accountability

Final Thoughts 

In today’s robust business environment, many firms are evaluating and updating both their OBS and WBS in Deltek Vision. A popular build methodology is using both geography and market sectors to build and operate under a 3D matrix solution. When considering changes to your current structures, the help of both functional and data consultants can result in a new and more productive Vision system. Timing and cutover planning is essential to success. Now is the time to get creative and strive to get the most out of your operations.  

Within Deltek Vision lies a very handy tool, which enables a firm to have multi-company functionality. However, the benefits of this multi-company functionality feature seem to elude many firms that would greatly appreciate its capabilities. So let’s talk in detail about multi-company functionality and the why, when and how firms should use this fantastic feature.

Intro into Deltek Vision Multi-Company

Basically the need for a multi-company environment comes down to having to track a separate entity with its own tax id number in a single Deltek Vision database. Some of the scenarios that require multi-company management include:

• Banking relationships
• Investments and/or holding company requirements
• Tax reporting
• Professional licensing requirements
• Foreign country reporting requirements

Additionally, the need for intercompany billing can occur when two or more related companies make payments on behalf of the others. The most common reason for intercompany billing is the sharing of labor resources between companies that have separate payrolls and/or making vendor payments for another related company.

When a firm decides to utilize multi-company functionality, it is recommended that sub-ledgers be set up to track the due to and from, and clear intercompany balances. This creates the ability to use both the AP and AR aging reports for the intercompany balances.

Determine Internal Pricing Structure

Upon implementing multi-company functionality in Deltek Vision, firms must determine what internal pricing structure to adopt. The options are:

• Re-class only - moves the transaction to intercompany AR/AP at cost
• Project Centric - leaves the transaction on the books of the project’s company with some amount of compensation also moving to keep the loaning organization whole
• Employee Centric - moves the transaction back to the employee’s company with some amount of revenue moving back as well
• High Accountability – which uses work breakdown structure to manage transactions and point directly to the company who owns the transaction

Keep in mind, there is a lot of flexibility within the options above. Different scenarios can be created for different transaction types. Also, by order of operation, the various options can be overwritten at the individual company level or at the lowest work breakdown structure level by project.

Intercompany billing makes accounting’s job easier in regard to multi-company transactions. When transactions are made to projects not in the home company (company where the transaction is being posted), invoices and vouchers are created through a series of postings that are reflected in GLs of the respective companies. These invoices and vouchers also appear on the AR and AP aging reports noted above. Accounting can then clear the reports using standard check processing and cash receipts.

More Benefits of Multi-Company

Using Deltek Vision’s multi-company functionality provides another benefit to firms with consolidated reporting. Consolidated reporting allows a view of the performance of all the companies within the database. Consolidated groupings can represent all companies or a cross section of companies depending on the needs of company leadership. The consolidation process incorporates standard eliminations of configured control accounts as well as client-defined accounts, such as capital investments in related companies. Consolidations are “memo” entries and not posted to the GL.

A multi-company database permits each company to maintain a unique GL while still only creating one set of shared GL account numbers. Furthermore, firms can restrict GL account numbers, and other master records can be shared and/or restricted as well. Also, Vendors can be shared. However, the accounting tab is company specific for account and 1099 purposes.

In addition to the benefits mentioned above, the multi-currency function works in tandem with multi-company to allow firms to have unique GL/functional currency. This is a great feature for firms that work internationally. Lastly, the consolidation process can include GAAP compliant currency translation and a gains/losses entry.

Final Thoughts on Deltek Vision Multi-Company

Firms of all sizes can benefit in many ways by using the multi-company functionality that is part of the core capabilities in Deltek Vision. Being aware of when, why and how to use a multi-company database will help your firm make important business decisions and operate efficiently. For more information, contact Full Sail Partners here.

Is your firm ready for the inevitable year-end process? Sure, year-end is always a stressful time. However, it doesn’t have to be overwhelming if you make a plan, document your actions and prepare Deltek Vision.

Setting-up for a Successful Year-End

Don’t be a headless chicken running around trying to get through the year-end process. Let’s review some considerations and tips to make your year-end close just a little easier.

Communication | Communicate with the rest of the firm that year-end is approaching and provide the important dates that they should be aware of, such as final timesheet due date, final expense report due date, etc.

Create a Calendar | Develop a calendar noting key items you need to complete before the year-end. Your calendar should contain all of your year-end deadlines, such as:

• Final AP check run
• Final timesheet due date
• Final bank reconciliation

Develop a Year-End Checklist | Given that year-end procedures change very little from year to year, you should create a checklist. In addition to your firm’s specific year-end tasks, you may want include these steps in your list:

• Review the unbilled detail report and make sure the allowance for doubtful accounts is current
• Reconcile all sub-ledgers to the general ledger
• Update accrued vacation
• Calculate depreciation
• Complete bank reconciliations
• Create a budget for the new fiscal year

Reconcile Monthly | Stay on top of your monthly reconciliations. Nothing adds to the stress of year-end more than having to perform several months of reconciliations that could be have been done monthly.

Recurring Transaction Files | If there are yearly JE’s or other transactions that you only post once a year, consider creating a recurring transaction file. Each year those files will already be in place so you don’t have to re-create them from year to year.

Order Year-end Forms Early | Why wait until the last minute to order your 1099 and W-2 forms? By ordering your forms in advance, you know they are on hand when you are ready to use them.

Prepare Deltek Vision for 2017

In Vision, opening the 1^st period of your fiscal year also opens the new fiscal year. If your security role permits, you can still process in the prior fiscal year if needed.

There are a number of Initialization Utilities that need to be performed in Vision. Take note that these utilities need to be completed once per fiscal year. Vision will generate a posting log for the initialization utilities, which are available in the Transaction Center under the Posting Review Report. If your Vision Database is set up with Multi-company functionality, the Initialization Utilities need to run in each company.

There are also tax forms that will need to be processed in Vision:

• W-2s if you use Vision Payroll
• 1099s for vendors that require a 1099 form

As part of the year-end process, a new benefit year will need to be opened to roll over any PTO or vacation time into the next year and to start accruals for the new benefit year.

In addition to the information above, you can view the 2016 Year-End Vision guide in the Deltek Customer Care Connect Portal here.

Take note that Vision Year-End updates in 2016 will be provided for versions 7.4, 7.5 and 7.6. If your firm is running Vision 7.3 or older, you must upgrade to a supported version to receive a 2016 year-end update. Please refer to the Support Assurance Product Lifecycle for maintenance phase descriptions.

Is Your Firm Prepared for 2017?

Following the suggestions above should make for an efficient completion of the tasks required for 2016 year-end. Don’t forget to make sure your firm is using the latest version of Deltek Vision - 7.6. If you need any assistance with completing your year-end or moving your firm to version 7.6, just let us know!

The Deltek Vision to Concur Connector allows both systems to work together seamlessly, automatically synchronizing finance data throughout the entire spending process, from pre-spend approval to reconciliation. Manage every expense and invoice transaction accurately and with ease, and get a complete view of your finances in one place. 

Gain Complete Visibility and Greater Control of Your Finances with the Deltek Vision to Concur Connector

For project-based firms, measuring current firm performance is the most significant indicator of future firm performance. Furthermore, by using trend data, firms can forecast cost and schedule variances in the early stage of a project. A preferred method by project managers to factor this trend data is the earned value management technique.     

Using Earned Value Management

Earned value management allows firms to evaluate cost and schedule variances in both dollars and percentages on projects. These factors are derived by considering planned value, actual cost and earned value over time.

A common way of looking at earned value is by using both the financial percent complete job to date (JTD) and the estimate too complete (ETC) by using the formula, JTD/(JTD + ETC) and the project managers reported physical percent complete. These two factors when equated provide a quick and easy comparison. For example, the financial percent complete on construction documents may be at 75% when the reported percent complete on construction documents is 50%. There are several possible explanations for these variances, such as:

• There were many revisions that were client driven and not in scope
• The complexity of the work was under estimated
• We have just been very inefficient

Keep in mind, there are a number of other scenarios that can also explain these factors as well.

Factoring Earned Value Management

Getting the information above is actually simple. It requires holding project managers to a high level of accountability. Project managers need to evaluate the amount of hours budgeted, hours burned (JTD), and the effort required to finish the scope of work (ETC).

As a result, this will produce the financial percent complete. Project managers then need to record where the project is from a physical percent complete, which should tie to progress on the project schedule.

Much like a crossover episode of two TV shows, this is where EVM crosses over with a previous blog about FASB 606. EVM will ultimately meet the requirements that in turn will keep the accounting team compliant with FASB 606.

Enter Deltek Vision

The Resource Planning module in Deltek Vision addresses EVM by:

• Allowing the financial percent complete to be calculated
• Providing a physical percent complete plan in the form of an EV%
• A default report in the Resource Planning module known as the Earned Value Chart, which represents the S Curve

By maintaining a project plan in the Resource Planning module, firms can be successful in developing a project report that shows cost and schedule variances in both the dollars and percent (CV, SV, CPI and SPI). If your firm has a benchmark or standard range, you can then compare the actual to that standard to identify anomalies in your projects performance.

The title of this blog is, “Why Your Firm Should Use Earned Value Management” and the answers are:

1. It’s an industry standard and proven method for project management and project accounting
2. It’s a common language among project managers across industries
3. It provides quick visibility into a projects performance
4. It brings firms closer to compliance with FASB 606

Learn more about Michael Kessler and his more than 30 years of experience of working in and around project-based accounting here.

Deltek is at it again! With the introduction of Deltek Vision version 7.6, professional services firms are now able to streamline their credit card processes thanks to several new key enhancements. Providing some background, the introduction of credit cards was one of the many improvements to Vision in version 7.3. When 7.3 was released, firms gained efficiency with employee expense reporting as employees could import charges from the credit card company. This feature allowed employees to associate those charges within their expense reports. Now, based on user feedback, credit card functionality has been expanded.

Review and Reconcile Credit Card Expenses with Ease

Deltek has enhanced the Credit Card Review application in Vision 7.6 which now allows users to easily review, filter and analyze credit card charges. This updated Credit Card Review offers additional information such as the expense report or voucher details and the General Ledger account number for each charge. Furthermore, any user-defined fields imported to help the employee categorize the charge can now be displayed in both the Credit Card Review and Credit Card Reconciliation screens.

More Functionality than just Company-Paid Credit Card 

When credit cards were initially introduced, the focus was on cards paid by the company. In Vision 7.6, purchases made by employee paid credit cards are now included. These charges are treated like typical expenses that are reimbursed to the employee.

As with the company paid credit cards, these charges can be uploaded and made available for the employee to associate with the matching expense within expense reports. Additionally, the Merchant/Description from the imported credit card charge now appears in the expense report description field. This option is available for selection when setting up credit cards in Vision.  

Do More with Deltek Vision 7.6 

Deltek has been listening to Vision users over the years. With each new version, Vision becomes more robust in order to meet the growing needs of professional services firms. If your firm is on Vision 7.6, make sure to activate Credit Cards and begin to streamline your expense report process.

Full Sail Partners today announced it joined the Concur Solution Provider program and can now refer clients, including those using Deltek, to Concur, the leading provider of spend management solutions and services.

This partnership expands the Full Sail Partners offering to include Concur solutions and allows Concur data to flow into Deltek Vision, helping professional services firms create a better expense reporting experience for their employees and also enable the firms to realize significant cost savings.

“We are ecstatic to introduce Concur to our clients,” said Tanya Drake, Full Sail Partners Technology Division’s Technical Consultant. “This partnership gives project-based clients the most efficient expense reporting solution ever. Our clients will experience firm-wide cost savings and eliminate mistakes and fraud with the automated controls and duplication verification. Employees will love the automatic pull of data to their expense reports, virtually eliminating manual entry of expense reports. It’s a win-win for both the firm and employees.”

Concur Travel, Expense and Invoice are the industry’s leading solutions to help businesses manage spend and gain insights that drive savings. Concur has more than 40 million users globally, and in 2015 the company processed transactions worth more than $70 billion in travel and expense spend.

Kelly Duquette, Principal Solutions Consultant at Full Sail Partners who has worked with the Concur product at a previous firm said, “We believe this is a great opportunity for the Deltek Vision community to leverage Concur to create a fast, efficient process that allows employees to spend less time on tedious tasks and more time focusing on their billable work.” 

Together, Full Sail Partners and Concur will enable HR and accounting professionals to better manage expenses and invoice processing from approval to payment posting. The expanded capabilities offered through Concur will enable professional services firms to capture paper and electronic invoices, enabling efficient, automated processing – from purchase request through payment, including 2-way and 3-way match capabilities. 

“Travel and expense is the second largest area of controllable business spend – a challenge especially significant to SMBs. With a partner-focused initiative like the Concur Solution Provider program, we can help partners like Full Sail Partners expand the value they provide SMBs while driving business growth and profitability,” said Christal Bemont, SVP and GM of SMB and National Accounts, Concur.

To receive details about this partnership and the Concur solutions offered through Full Sail Partners, please visit http://www.blackboxconnector.com.

Full Sail Partners provides technology services and solutions for more than 1,000 professional services firms nationwide. Blackbox Connector, a division of Full Sail Partners, helps bring data together with a no-code, low cost, integration solution connecting Deltek Vision users to any API-powered application within minutes. Full Sail Partners represents project-based products focused on integrating business processes by connecting front-end and back-end systems. We seek to help organizations identify the critical resources needed to create a faster, more efficient, and cohesive business infrastructure.

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.

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.

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