Event Summary
While
many enterprise applications providers can rightly say that the early 2000s
were "interesting" years to conduct business in, if only due to the ongoing
difficult economic milieu, Deltek Systems, Inc. (www.deltek.com),
the leading provider of enterprise software and solutions for project-based
businesses and professional services firms might have a few more reasons to
consider these years as unforgettable. For one, in early 2003, Deltek announced
that its investment in product development for 2002 exceeded 24 percent of the
year's revenue which only increased by a mere 1 percent to approximately $94
million. Product development expenditures increased by 14 percent to $22.5 million.
Despite a flat economy, Deltek remains committed to a potentially unique, high level of investment in product development when compared to other software companies. According to Kenneth E. deLaski, Deltek President and CEO, the average public software company is only investing approximately 14.5 percent of its revenue in product development but at 24 percent, Deltek customers have a strong sign that it is deeply committed to investing and improving its product suites for project businesses and professional services firms. Deltek also announced that it once again, achieved strong profitability and cash flow for fiscal 2002 reportedly for its 18th consecutive year. In addition, the company added more than 300 new customers from a variety of industries including aerospace, construction, engineering, IT services, consulting, architecture, and project-based manufacturing that time period.
Possibly
the best testimony of its continued investments in research and development
took place in the summer of 2003, when Deltek announced significant new releases
of Deltek Vision, Deltek Costpoint and Deltek
Time Collection. Combined, these solutions are utilized by more than
350,000 users in nearly 3,000 companies in industries including architecture
and engineering, construction (A/E/C), IT services and management consulting,
and systems integration (SI).
This
is Part One of a six-part note.
Part
Two will cover product announcements for 2002.
Part
Three will provide the company background and discuss market strategy.
Part
Four will detail Deltek's differentiators.
Part
Five will discuss Deltek's major product lines.
Part
Six will present challenges and make user recommendations.
Product Announcements - 2003
Deltek
Vision 2 is a second release of the fully integrated, web-based enterprise
automation solution for professional services firms building on the success
of its predecessor by adding over 200 new features. Over 400 companies have
reportedly purchased Deltek Vision since its first release in September 2002,
including HOK, one of the world's largest design firms; GZA GeoEnvironmental,
Inc. (GZA), ranked #83 in The ENR Top 200 Environmental Firms; and Noel Levitz,
a nationally recognized consulting firm and Sallie Mae subsidiary. New features
of Deltek Vision 2 include
-
Resource planning functionality offering strengthened security settings, additional
reporting options, and more flexible revenue forecasting tools
-
A new payroll module with dozens of features to help professional services
firms and their employees to meet the most demanding payroll requirements
-
Marketing campaign management tools that give marketing and business development
managers the ability to track the activity, costs, leads, opportunities, and
projects generated by marketing initiatives
-
Expanded reporting capabilities, including user-designed calculated fields
and "E Reporting Library" functionality that gives users the ability to easily
create reports and report templates
-
Tax codes and tools updated for compliance with the recently passed Jobs and
Growth Tax Reconciliation Act of 2003, which was signed into US law by President
Bush in June 2003
Deltek
Costpoint 5, a pivotal part of the Deltek Enterprise
front- and back-office suite, is an integrated back-office ERP solution for
project-based firms with complex business requirements. The latest version of
Deltek Costpoint includes more than 125 new features. Multi-company functionality,
the most important of these new features, allows multiple companies to exist
within a single Deltek Costpoint database, each with its own business rules
and functional currencies, while still maintaining common information such as
accounts, vendors and customers. This should provide users with the strength
and flexibility needed to efficiently manage and provide reports for multi-company
organizations, such as those formed through mergers, acquisitions and corporate
takeovers. Additionally, Deltek Costpoint 5 provides features including
-
Subcontractor Management functionality that allows users to enter subcontractor
invoices in standard percentage-of-completion format and eliminates the need
for tracking subcontractor retention payable in a spreadsheet
-
Restructured People Menus that combine all employee information screens--including
Employee Master Data, Employee Payroll Setup, Employee HR Setup, Employee
Benefits and Deferred Compensation Setup, Employee Reviews, Employee Reports,
and Termination Processing--under one menu for easier, more user-friendly
employee maintenance and employee-related processing
- Subcontractor
Management for the engineering and construction industry with features for
handling original cost commitments and change orders
Deltek also released an updated version of Deltek Time Collection, a web-based employee timekeeping solution for driving labor, payroll, job costing and billing functions by project. Featuring fully web-based, zero-client technology, Deltek Time Collection 5 is a time management application aimed at eliminating paper handling processes and redundant data entry. The product is part of the Enterprise Application Suite and fully integrates to the back-office application, Deltek Costpoint. It is a completely redesigned version of Deltek's well-liked, traditional time collection system, and it offers the following new features:
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Multi-level charge look-ups enabling users to create a detailed account of
work breakdown structures (WBS) to construct workflows more efficiently and
give firms with multiple divisions a granular breakdown of activities and
attributed costs
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An entirely new interactive desktop feature giving employees the ability to
schedule all tasks, events and alerts involving timesheets using one easy-to-use
desktop
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Integrated interface scheduler helping companies improve data reliability
and lower system management costs by allowing for the transparent synchronization
of employee hours and costs
-
Advanced audit trail functionality allowing companies to track revisions and
comply with auditing standards for internal and government reviews
-
Multi-language support in English, Spanish, German, French, and Dutch
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Line level approval allowing project managers to approve or reject hours charged
to their projects in summary or in detail
-
Integrated project and employee reporting allowing real time labor reporting
by project, employee, department, labor code, pay type, and date
Last but not least, in the fall of 2003, the vendor released Deltek Employee Self Service 3. First released in October 2001, Deltek Employee Self Service is a web-based system that gives employees direct access to important benefits and payroll information and the ability to update personal information from virtually anyplace , at anytime. The system integrates directly with Deltek Costpoint to automate open enrollment, provide online access to electronic pay stubs and eliminate the need for change of address forms. It also includes twenty-one new features and enhancements such as Life Event Changes, Direct Deposit Elections, and Expense Check Display.
This
concludes Part One of a six-part note.
Part
Two will cover product announcements for 2002.
Part
Three will provide the company background and discuss market strategy.
Part
Four will detail Deltek Differentiators.
Part
Five will discuss Deltek's major product lines.
Part
Six will present challenges and make user recommendations.