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.  

“I can’t find anything in our CRM system.”

“Our CRM system isn’t user friendly.”

“Our CRM system doesn’t provide me the data I need.”

The statements above can apply to any Client Relationship Management (CRM) system. Yep, you heard me right. These comments are shared with me daily by prospects and clients alike. These complaints may seem valid, but the truth behind why your CRM system sucks is much harder to swallow and admit. Deep down inside, you know the real reasons. Today I’m going to share with you why your CRM system doesn’t work and what you can do about it.

The main reason why CRM implementations usually fail isn’t because of the system, it’s because of you. I told you this was going to be hard to swallow. A CRM system is meant to provide a place to house all of the important information about your clients and opportunities. However, many firms purchase a CRM system thinking it will miraculously do the work for them with no effort required. 

A CRM system can work for you, but not if you haven’t set it up or implemented it with forethought. More importantly, it can’t work for you if you don’t actually touch or use it. So stop pointing your finger at the CRM system and placing the blame. As the saying goes, when you point one finger, there are three fingers pointing back at you. 

If you want a successful CRM implementation, here are some things to consider. 

Stop Focusing on the Wrong Things about Your CRM 

Your CRM system should focus on a few reports to make sure sales people are generating business for your firm. Each of those reports need to be automatically sent to you at the same time every week, month or quarter. As a Sales Manager, you need to know: 

1. Do we have enough pipeline?
2. What opportunities require follow-up?
3. How are we getting new deals?
4. Why are we losing deals?
5. Who previously spoke with the client?

No system in the world can save you if you haven’t set up a way of monitoring these core activities. No bells and whistles of a new system will accomplish this essential task. Stop whining and making excuses. The fact is, if you don’t have these key reports, you haven’t established your processes. Take a step back and identify what really matters first.

Whip It! Whip it Good!

Every system needs someone dedicated to managing it. In the AEC industry, QA/QC is a must with projects to avoid potential failure. Your CRM system is no different. Make sure each area of the system has someone that “owns” it to ensure there is integrity with the data. Give these people some whipping power! Management must stand behind them, it is expected that everyone will update their own clients, contacts and opportunities. Above all, these system “owners” should know the system inside and out and take full responsibility for its success.

Making Excuses, Excuses, Excuses

Firms that are successful at CRM make it a part of their culture. It’s not an option to use the system, but rather a requirement. Don’t let excuses stop your team from using the system. Provide them training and support to learn the system and expect in return that employees use the system as designed. Anyone can find a reason why they can’t or won’t. However, accepting excuses won’t provide your firm the information needed to make informed decisions about sales pursuits.

Don’t Let Your CRM Suck

So what are you going to do? Are you going to keep making excuses and blaming the system or are you going to take the necessary steps to whip your system into shape? We at Full Sail Partners are available to help firms successfully implement their CRM. We expect all of our employees to practice what we preach and will work hard with you to ensure that your CRM no longer sucks.

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.

As the New Year starts, many people find it the perfect time to identify areas of opportunity to improve themselves. In addition to making resolutions for their personal lives, many people also focus on creating resolutions for the workplace. To support this process, our team of Deltek Vision experts at Full Sail Partners has put together a list of New Year’s Resolutions for Vision users.  

Top Resolutions for Vision Users

1. Make sure your firm is using the most current version of Deltek Vision. The latest version is 7.6 and is full of new enhancements. Learn more about Vision 7.6 in this article.
2. Clean up duplicate records in your Vision database, specifically the Vendor and Client records, to prevent billing errors and other problems.
3. Go paperless for Accounts Payable (AP) Invoice Approvals that require consultant/project manager sign-off.
4. Setup a yearly reminder for the accounting department to run the 1099 Initialization process after all AP checks have been processed for the year and before any AP checks are processed in the next year. It can be run in either period since it is not period specific. This process transfers the “Paid This Year” amount to the “Paid Last Year” field on the Miscellaneous tab in the Vendor Table Maintenance and resets all vendor “Paid This Year” values to zero.
5. Start using Revenue Generation in Vision to allow for recognizing project revenue as it is earned, matching revenue with expenses incurred to data. Without this, Vision recognizes revenue only as it is billed.
6. Stop printing reports for directors and project managers. Instead, have them use the Vision Dashboard. Custom Dashparts can be created to give each user individualized information that is relevant to them.
7. Remember to never un-post or create journal entries to control accounts. This is more about accounting best practices.
8. Login to Vision more often than timesheet completion requires and manage your timesheet frequently to avoid over or under billing clients.
9. Take the time to understand and implement standard functions in Vision such as Expense Report Approvals, using Benefits Accruals, and Account Groups for General Ledger Reporting to decrease workload.
10. Plan to attend more Full Sail Partners’ webinars to learn helpful tips and new tricks in order to fully harness the power of Deltek Vision. Check out our past webinars here.   

Do More with Deltek Vision this New Year

With each New Year comes both potential opportunities as well as challenges. Begin this New Year by following these resolutions. Do more with Vision and save your firm much wasted time.

By the way, as you are closing up last year, check out our recent article about Year-End processes for Deltek Vision users here.

Do you have a tip of your own? Comment below with your New Year’s Resolutions for other Vision Users.

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!

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.

In the Deltek world, the Blackbox Connector is the trending topic. From marketing professionals gaining insight within Deltek Vision from their Constant Contact mailers, to finance managing risk and controlling expenses through Concur, people are asking about getting more out of their Deltek Vision system. Have you heard the buzz surrounding the Blackbox Connector? If you haven’t, your first question might be, so “what is the Blackbox Connector?" If so, then this blog is for you!

What is the Blackbox Connector?

The Blackbox Connector is a no-code, low cost, integration solution for your Deltek Vision system with an easy to use API wizard. The purpose of the solution is to eliminate data silos by providing a better and more powerful way to create, update, reference and report on critical business intelligence across multiple platforms using Deltek Vision as your master record set. Our goal is to bring data together in a low cost, easy to maintain manner.

What Makes Blackbox Different?

Historically, integrations meant ‘expensive’ and required a lot of technical involvement. Not anymore. So what are the key differences between a custom integration and the Blackbox Connector?

1. IT teams are no longer bogged down with costly development cycles or constant evolving maintenance updates.
2. Users can utilize Blackbox’s drag-and drop mapping wizard to link critical fields across systems to synchronize the two systems in a manner consistent with your business.
3. Data accuracy improves across your entire organization by eliminating manual imports and duplicated efforts because the integration is automatic.

The results? Providing a low, yearly cost that includes continued upgrade for both solutions and a seamless connection to Deltek Vision.

How Does the Blackbox Connector Work?

The Blackbox Connector’s API Wizard enables you to easily connect Deltek Vision to third-party software. The configuration is as easy as setting up your phone to your Outlook email. Users will need access and links to both solutions and in minutes your software is connected. IT is provided scripts and user documentation through our Blackbox Connector portal. Standard mapping is pre-configured and users can further configure their field mapping using Blackbox’s drag-and-drop mapping wizard. The Blackbox Connector portal handles the behind the scenes data processing, including advanced error handling and testing of your connectivity scenarios. 

The connections are all made over web secure communication channels using web services to feed data to and from Deltek Vision – whether you host your Vision system locally or in the cloud, the Blackbox Connector platform can help your firm bring data together.

Why Blackbox?

The Blackbox Connector is a critical game changer with how organizations work within their Deltek Vision system. Our programmers are continuing to invest in commonly requested integration programs and your feedback can impact the next solution. Combine the best features of Deltek Vision with your other critical business systems to save significant hours for your staff and provide them with the tools needed to make faster, more-informed decisions.

Learn More.

Could the Blackbox Connector bring data together for your firm? Check out our website or schedule a demo to see how Blackbox can help your firm save time and money, while improving your overall experience in Deltek Vision.

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

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.