deltek insight 2011: planning, projects, & project budget worksheet integration

VI-229 Planning, Projects, & Project Budget Worksheet Integration

Presented by:Barbara Bunting &Krista Gruendler, H. W. Lochner, Inc.

04/18/20232 ©2011 Deltek, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Agenda Where We Started Various Challenges Project Budgets What’s Next Questions


Where We Started


H.W. Lochner, Inc. National transportation firm established in 1944 Corporate office in Chicago 40 profit centers throughout the United States Currently ~550 employees Advantage used for accounting (2002) Vision CRM used for marketing (2005) Integrated Advantage and Vision CRM in December 2008 Implemented Vision Planning approximately 1 ½ years ago

Early incentive: October 2009 Full implementation: January 2010


H.W. Lochner, Inc. Barbara Bunting Vision System Manager 15 years with Lochner 6 years working with Vision CRM / 2 ½ years working in integrated Vision system

Krista Gruendler Accounting Manager 8 years with Lochner 2 ½ years working in integrated Vision system


Flow of Information

Opportunity to Plan to Project Everything starts with an opportunity record Plans are created from the opportunity Regular projects are created from the plan

by corporate accounting Fields needed for project analytical

reporting are either system required or required via a validation error workflow on the opportunity record so that they can be mapped to the plan and to the project


Various Challenges


Various Challenges Hard to know if a plan was reviewed/updated by the PM Needed various user defined field information from planning on a Project

Earnings report Multiple plans for one project Plans for dormant projects still included in utilization and reporting Project budgeting – changes to compensation numbers allowed on plan but one

time pull of information into project record Duplicate entry of information in the Project Budget Worksheet and the Project

Info Center Incorrect information on Dates & Costs tab which is used for marketing efforts Manually activating the Ready For Use in Processing checkbox


Plan Updates by PM


Challenge We were unable to tell if a PM had reviewed/updated their plan Our PM’s and our Contract Support Specialists (CSS) update portions of each

plan The Modified By field on the General tab wouldn’t give us the information we

needed (could be PM or CSS that last modified the plan) Some plans didn’t need modifying during the update process (only needed to be

reviewed to ensure they were still accurate)


Solution

We created a user defined tab called Plan Information

Allows PM to “certify” that they have reviewed the plan

Allows management to query which plans have not been updated in the last 4 weeks


Reporting


Challenge

We use the Project Earnings report to view our overall project JTD, ETC, and EAC information

We needed the ability to include the user defined fields from the Planning – Plan Information tab Plan Reviewed By Plan Reviewed On Plan Notes fields


Solution We duplicated the Plan Information tab in the Project Info Center We couldn’t use the user defined field mapping since this information only

carries over from the plan to the project record one time (when the project is created from the plan)

We installed triggers for these fields When the information is updated on the plan, the trigger enters the information

into the same field on the project record This allows us to include the information on the Project Earnings report


Multiple Plans for One Project


Challenge PM’s can create multiple plans for one project and map the JTD information at

the phase or task level Task order projects Multi-year contracts Large projects with multiple phase or task managers Supplements Projects with multiple overhead or profit rates

The user defined fields on the Project Info Center – Plan Information tab only have a one-to-one relationship between the plan and the project

Our Project EAC report only had user defined field information for one plan (whichever plan was saved last)


Solution We created a grid on the Project Info Center – Plan Information tab to capture

information for multiple plans The information from each plan comes into the grid via a trigger When a new plan is created for the project, the trigger inserts a new row If a plan is deleted, the trigger removes the row from the grid When the information is updated on the plan, the trigger updates the information

in the grid


Multiple Plan Reporting


Challenge A user defined grid cannot be included on the Project Earnings report (our

Project EAC report) The standard Project EAC report only includes Plan Reviewed By, Plan

Reviewed On, and Plan Notes information for one plan (whichever plan was saved last)

This is fine when there is only one plan for the project but we are missing information for projects with more than one plan


Solution We created a SQL report to capture information for multiple plans We use the information from the Project EAC report along with the information

from the user defined grid on the Project Info Center – Plan Information tab


Incorrect Status


Challenge PM’s and CSS staff have to update all active and inactive plans every two to four

week (depending on the office policy) PM’s forget to make plans dormant and to uncheck the Include in Utilization and

Reporting checkbox when the project was closed Staff utilization projections can be incorrect because Resource Utilization reports

were including information for dormant projects (plans) which could still have future planned work


Solution A trigger was installed to update fields on the

plan when a change is made to the project When the project is made dormant, the

trigger unchecks the Include in Utilization and Project Reports box and changes the plan status to dormant

The plan status is also updated in the Project Info Center – Plan Information grid


Project Budgets


Project Budget Worksheet Cost reporting Changes are made to the Project Budget Worksheet when executed contract is

received. Plan compensation values can be changed by the PM when a budget change is approved by the client but before the executed contract is received. This allows the PM to use the Summary tab in Planning.

Consultant Ledger report is used to track vouchers against individual vendor budgets

SQL report was written to provide remaining budget by vendor (Vendor Budget; Vouchers for Vendor; Vendor Remaining Budget)

SQL report was written to provide an estimated Billing Multiplier (Billing Labor/Cost Labor). Planning only allows for one multiplier.


Budget Changes


Challenge Because compensation values are brought over in a “one time” pull from

planning when the project is created from the plan, budget revisions resulted in duplicate entry by PM and Accounting for additional phase and task values

Values had to be manually entered into both the Project Budget Worksheet and into the Project Info Center

Manual entry allows for the chance for human error


Solution A revised Project Input Form is sent to Accounting after the PM has added the

new portion of the WBS to the plan including the compensation

Accounting adds the new WBS to the Project Info Center

Accounting updates the values in the Project Budget Worksheet


Solution (cont.) Upon saving the Project Budget Worksheet, triggers fire to update the

compensation values on the Budget & Revenue tab of the Project Info Center

The triggers update all WBS levels starting from the lowest level and rolling up to the project level


Solution (cont.) We added a user defined field

(Total Contract Amount). A trigger totals the Compensation, Consultant Fee, and Reimb. Allowance fields at each level and populates this user defined field.

This serves as a double check control number

Accounting emails the PM that the updates have taken place

PM or CSS maps the new portion of the WBS to the plan


Dates & Costs Tab


Challenge Values on the Project Info Center – Dates and Costs tab were not being updated

for supplement or budget reallocation amounts Manual entry allows for the chance for human error Staff often forgot to update this tab in the Project Info Center Incorrect information for marketing efforts


Solution Upon saving the Project Budget

Worksheet, triggers fire to update the Project Info Center – Dates and Costs tab (Total Project Costs, Firm Cost, and Subconsultant Cost)

The triggers update all levels of the WBS starting at the lowest level and rolling up to the project level

A Summary Table populates the user defined Total Costs to Date field at the end of each day


Ready for Use Checkbox


Challenge When a project is created from a plan the “Ready for Use in Processing” box is

unchecked at EVERY level of the WBS This had to be updated manually phase by phase, task by task This was very time consuming – especially for large projects with many phases

and tasks Manual entry allows for the chance for human error (missing checking the box

for a task or two affected timesheet processing) Held up additional steps in project creation such as adding the revenue method

and project OH rate


Solution Since workflows do not fire when a project is created from the plan, we created a

user defined checkbox called Fire Workflows. We use this field to fire various workflows.

Added a stored procedure to check the “Ready for Use in Processing” at all levels of the WBS

Projects take less time to set up so accounting can now focus on adding the OH rate and revenue type to each phase

Accounting can now use search and replace at all levels to update the Revenue Type for the project from the system default revenue type

ENHANCEMENT REQUEST: It would be nice to be able to create a Project from a Plan and a Project Template


What’s Next?


Project EAC Summary Grid


EAC Summary Grid Added a EAC Summary grid to the Project Info Center A stored procedure runs at the end of each accounting period and populates the

EAC Summary grid at the task level The grid sums to the phase and to the project levels Allows the PM and management to review the information reported for previous

periods


Stop using Excel Project Input Form

Automate Even More


Project Input Form PM will populate a grid in planning on a user defined tab titled “Project Input

Form” A trigger adds a new line to this grid when a new phase is added to the plan

Labor tab. The trigger populates the Phase Number column which is a locked column to the user.


We can designate Project Type/Discipline, Contract Type, and Org Code by phase as these can differ from the single WBS level available when the plan was created from an opportunity

If the phase Principal, Project Manager, and/or Supervisor varies from the main project level (WBS1), this information is also entered into the grid


The PM then will populate information for the phase by completing information in each column for various billing term items Overhead Rate FCCM Profit Percentage Overtime Multiplier Fixed Fee Max Amount Contingency


We have created the same tab and grid in our Project Info Center. This allows for the information to be included on various project reports.

When Accounting creates the project from the plan this grid is populated in the Project Info Center at the phase level

A trigger keeps the information updated with changes made in the plan


We have used an Update Billing Terms checkbox to trigger an action to be able to use workflows which will then populate the information in the proper fields in the Billing Terms

The Project Budget Worksheet cost values will then be populated by taking the billing values and dividing them by the billing terms for the phase

Once the record is saved, the Update Billing Terms checkbox returns to unchecked for the next use


Contact Information Barbara Bunting, Vision System Manager [email protected]

Krista Gruendler, Accounting Manager [email protected]

Joel Haugen, Senior Developer [email protected]

April 18, 202347 ©2011 Deltek, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Engage With The DeltekAE Community

@DeltekVision

deltekae.wordpress.com

deltekvisionblog.wordpress.com

facebook.com/deltekinc

youtube.com/user/deltekinc

http://twitter.com/deltekvision

http://twitter.com/deltekvision

http://www.deltekae.wordpress.com/

http://www.deltekvisionblog.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/deltekinc

http://www.facebook.com/deltekinc

http://www.youtube.com/user/deltekinc

http://www.youtube.com/user/deltekinc

deltek insight 2011: planning, projects, & project budget worksheet integration

Business

project plans

vision crm

project analyticalreporting

project earningsreport

reviewedthe plan

plan updates

opportunity record plans

project budget worksheet