Deltek Workbook

Make Better Decisions With WorkBook Intelligence Dashboards

Being the decision maker for your business isn’t always the most comfortable role. But for agencies who want to grow or mature as a business, whether that be for acquisition or not, the kinds of decisions that need to be made are of greater importance and have a significant impact. For these agencies, it is crucial they take their business intelligence (BI) reporting to the next level. To accomplish this enhanced level of analytics, decision makers sometimes turn to out-of-the-box BI tools to translate large volumes of data into generic insights, but too often they must spend additional effort translating that into what works for their agency’s specific needs.

But with Deltek WorkBook Intelligence, decision makers can improve reporting with customizable dashboards that fit their agency’s specific needs without the hassle of gathering and translating gobs of data into something useable. WorkBook Intelligence makes it easier to discover actionable insights that lead to better decisions for growth.

As part of the total agency management solution, WorkBook Intelligence includes several standard dashboards that provide valuable analysis of agency KPIs.

Client Analysis Dashboard

The Client Analysis dashboard is useful for comparing the relative performance of clients and the margin that each client is delivering.

This dashboard provides an overview of the sales and profit attributed to clients based on the jobs contained within that client record. The available filters allow you to refine the specific client or group of clients on which you want to get analysis. The analysis provided shows the sales values of costs incurred and the associated profit of those costs.

Jobs Analysis Dashboard

The Jobs Analysis dashboard is best used to compare the relative performance of multiple jobs to identify anomalies or outliers and, once identified, to drill down into the specific detail of those jobs to the transaction level to pinpoint potential problems or issues that require action.

This dashboard provides an overview of the sales and profit attributed to jobs and enables you to compare the performance of jobs relative to each other, either across the entire Company or within a selected client or clients, depending on the filters that you apply. The available filters allow you to further refine the nature of data to analyze, based on the status of the jobs or the approval status of the transactions within them. The widgets on the dashboard show the sales values of costs incurred and the associated profit of those costs.

Finance – All Years Dashboard

The Finance – All Years dashboard is useful for agencies that are part of a network with different offices or companies sharing the same WorkBook solution. It shows an overview of the financial results of a single selected Company across all finance years in your WorkBook system, as it enables you to filter one Company at a time. It displays numeric data in the Company currency of that selected Company.

Finance – Single Year Dashboard

The Finance – Single Year dashboard is similar in that it is meant to show the financial data of a single company within a network of agencies. This dashboard shows an overview of the financial results of a single selected Company for a single selected financial year. Again, it displays numeric data in the Company currency of that selected Company.

CRM Dashboard

The CRM dashboard provides an overview of the value of pipelines on clients and prospects within your WorkBook system. An extensive range of filters gives you the ability to remove unwanted detail and focus on pipelines for specific clients, time periods, statuses, and levels of progression.

Data is shown both in a “full value” state and with the consideration of any probability that might have been applied, which means you can see a weighted total of pipelines, based on their respective probabilities which has an impact on expected revenue. All values are displayed in the Company currency of the selected Company.

Resourcing Dashboard

You can use the Resourcing dashboard to identify individuals, or groups of employees—for example, in departments—who have limited available capacity relative to the scheduled bookings made against them, or who have outstanding timesheets relative to their total capacity. For this dashboard, a large number of filters are available, including the ability to filter on more than a single Company, by department, or by employment type.

Create your own WorkBook Intelligence Dashboards with a Designer License

For agencies that are ready to elevate their business intelligence and need dashboards that provide insights not found in the standard offering, a Designer License allows you to create your own WorkBook Intelligence dashboards using the predefined data models provided.

With a Designer license you can:

Create a dashboard on the Analytics tab of the WorkBook Intelligence Design page.
Create and edit dashboard controls in the header ribbon when a dashboard is in Design mode.
Customize a dashboard’s layout by rearranging the widgets that are part of the dashboard.
Create nested dashboards that are suitable for drilling down into the detail of widgets on a dashboard.
Use filters to show only the data you want to be shown.
Copy, export, import, and delete dashboards.

3 Steps Toward a More Efficient Agency

If you’re in a leadership position, you’ve undoubtedly become used to being the person in the hot seat, responsible for making significant and sometimes unpopular decisions. The abrupt transition a few years ago to a work-from-home model, the challenge of offering more services, and in some cases, the burden of instituting salary freezes weren’t easy waters to navigate. With inflation increasing and whispers of a potential recession on the horizon, your decision-making responsibilities aren’t likely to get any easier anytime soon. No pressure, right?

Having spent 15+ years in agencies big and small as a Project Manager, Creative Resource Manager, and Operations Director I understand the demands facing many agency leaders. Today I want to share three steps you can take right now to become more efficient as we head into 2023 to set your agency up for future success.

1. Clean Up Your Data

This may sound like a no-brainer, but if you’re managing projects in spreadsheets – having multiple people from multiple departments manually enter estimates, budgets, and costs in Excel – how can you be confident that your reporting is accurate? Not to mention, it is inherent in manual processes that there’s always a lag. So while your data may be an accurate snapshot of a moment in time, that moment is already in the past. The manager making important decisions on outdated data won’t be a manager for long.

Similarly, if each department is managing project data in its own bubble, there are bound to be errors when it is time to bring it all together in a report. Every minute it takes to reconcile the data, track down and correct any errors, and create a report, is one more minute that makes that report out of date and less valuable.

The way to ensure that your data and reporting is accurate and up to date is to digitize and connect all the facets of your agency’s operations into a single source of truth. A system where Project Managers, Resource Managers, and Finance can manage project data that feeds all the other departments automatically can help you get better reports, so you have what you need to make better decisions.

2. Customizable & Digestible Reporting

Once you’ve got accurate operational data in real-time, the next step is to customize the output to give you precisely the information you need in the most digestible way. A spreadsheet showing late timesheets won’t be as useful to you as a visual chart showing budgeted time yet to be incurred compared to time already incurred on a project that is dangerously close to going over budget. With the first report, you’d need to gather more information from other departments to really understand its impact on performance. With the other, you have the visual information you need in one place to make a better decision regarding how to reallocate resources to avoid over servicing. When operational data from multiple departments are shared in one system in real-time, and the output is more palatable and sharable with other decision-makers, you can connect the dots much easier and take corrective action much faster.

3. Add Business Intelligence

The next step beyond reporting is to introduce some form of business intelligence analytics. BI helps you dig deeper into the data, evaluate trends, and uncover actionable insights that might not have been so obvious with simple reporting.

By adding BI into your agency’s operational ecosystem, you can take decision-making to the next level. By analyzing P&L across projects and clients for a period of time, you might see a trend in the type of projects that yield a higher profit margin. On the other hand, maybe the most profitable and impactful decision you can make for your agency’s growth would be to specialize and pass on certain types of projects. Who knows? But after taking these three steps, you can be confident that you do.

Insights like these can have a direct impact on your bottom line. For example, Deltek’s 2022 Creative Agencies Report found that firms who were further ahead with their digital strategy initiatives, such as BI, had 12% higher profit margins than their immature peers. Unfortunately, not many agencies are currently focused on this area, with only 21% in our 2022 SoDA Survey on Talent, Culture & Operations saying they expect to invest in analytics & reporting next year.

6 Reasons to Attend Deltek ProjectCon

Deltek ProjectCon, formerly known as Deltek Insight, is the destination for project-based business professionals to gather for inspiration, education and collaboration.

This year’s Deltek ProjectCon will take place on November 15-18^th at the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, TN! PCI is excited to participate as a Platinum sponsor at this year’s event!

Check out these six reasons to register for DeltekProjectCon:

Deepen your Product Knowledge – This conference offers hundreds of product educational sessions teaching new skills, tips, and tricks. PCI will be hosting three sessions, listed below. Be sure to add them to your agenda!

CPSPON-13: How to use the MS Word reporting tool in Costpoint

CPSPON-14: Offers and Decisions

CPSPON-15: Do your contracts have CLINs/SLINs/ACRNs? Do your employees complain because they have too many project codes? See how ACRN billing will fix all your problems.

Networking! – Connect with thousands of attendees, Deltek leaders and visit with the PCI team in the Xpo Hall!
Ignite Innovation – Hear how companies like yours are leveraging Deltek’s solutions!
Certifications – Be sure to take advantage of the complimentary Deltek University certification exams while on-site!
Meet 1:1 with Experts – Meet 1:1 with the PCI team, Deltek Customer Care, Solutions Engineering team and more!
Enjoy your time! – There are a ton of fun activities planned throughout the conference such as philanthropic activities, special networking events and a customer appreciation party!

We hope to see you there! Register now to attend!

Grow Your Agency in 2022

What Industry Leaders Predict

Hitting just about the mid-point of 2022, it’s a good time to reflect on how agencies have been performing through the first quarter, and what they should be prepared to face for the rest of the year. Deltek’s recently released 2022 Outlook: Marketing Agency Leadership Report amalgamated the experiences and expertise of hundreds of agency leaders worldwide, capturing their top concerns and noting the priority challenges they expect to face through the remainder of the year.

The good news is that the collective attitude of these agency leaders, including CEOs, owners, and department heads, is essentially optimistic. The market recovery means demand for agency services (and, accordingly, budgets!) continues to rebound. In many ways, the year ahead has potential for more performance and profit than pre-pandemic times. This can be ascribed to a kind of “great awakening” we all experienced during the past few years. We collectively realized that operational efficiency and internal systems improvement had big bottom-line impact.

Increase Investment in Technology

The takeaway from that realization, applied going forward by savvy agencies, is the importance of investing in project management systems, software and tools that make your staff as productive as possible. This might seem challenging at a time when the fight to attract and retain top talent is at the top of leadership priority lists of late, but survey respondents understand the long play here. These investments amplify the agency workflow process, efficiency and thus productivity of your talent. Furthermore, in the face of the inevitable talent churn impacting the industry, these systems and solutions keep intellectual property within an agency. Ultra-valuable information doesn’t walk out the door when there’s talent turnover.

2022 Outlook: Marketing Agency Leadership Report

Agency leaders reveal their predictions for 2022 including industry challenges, priorities and investments.

Download the Marketing Agency Leadership Report Now!

Focus on Professional Development

Stemming the tide of that turnover is another issue agency leadership is dialed into for 2022. This is driving a sharp focus on professional development, giving personnel access to training, education and certifications that make them increasingly valuable team members, and also build in some backup within teams themselves. Whether strengthening day-to-day abilities or introducing new skills that benefit clients, the agency can offer more competent, diverse services to clients while talent is incentivized to remain on board. It’s seen by enlightened leadership as a means to improving employee health and wellness as much as it is a way to better serve clients.

Emphasis on Profitable Growth

In terms of agency growth, the 2022 Outlook: Marketing Agency Leadership Report reflects a cautious optimism among industry leaders. More than 90 percent of respondents expect to realize more revenue in 2022. Interestingly, this won’t necessarily be the result of increased client expenditure. The report makes it clear that top-line and overall profits are growing, but not margin percentage. The reasons for this disparity include more detailed project scopes, better team/client communication, and meticulous review of current service agreements with key clients.

The 2022 Outlook: Marketing Agency Leadership Report is packed with revealing information and data on agency goals and challenges, and the strategies and tactics being deployed to address them. Give it a read and get a stronger sense of how your agency can move towards greater success in 2022.

Get WorkBook Certified in the Deltek Learning Zone (DLZ)

The content in this blog has been repurposed from our partner, Deltek.

Deltek University are delighted to announce the launch of the WorkBook Core Certification, giving you the opportunity to validate your WorkBook expertise by completing the WorkBook Core Certification examination.

A Deltek product certification is a great opportunity for professional development. Many Deltek customers are already taking the time to add new learning and development opportunities to their weekly to-do list and getting Deltek Certified helps demonstrate their value by going a step further with product certification. Getting noticed by your peers for earning your Deltek Certification will help demonstrate the value you bring to your organization.

The new examination will test your WorkBook knowledge with 75 multiple-choice questions covering Inbox and navigation, Time and Expense, CRM, Scheduling, Jobs, Settings and the mobile app. The Finance and Administration module will have a separate exam launching in 2022.

Once you successfully complete your exam, participants will receive an email with a link to the Deltek certification badge and a certificate of completion, which you can proudly display on your email signature or Linked-in profile.

Product certifications are valid for two years and provide quantifiable proof of product proficiency and industry expertise – a great way to help advance your career and improve overall job performance.

Deltek customers can access the exam through the Deltek Learning Zone. You can get help with logging in here or if you have any questions, please contact us at any time.

API Acronyms Uncovered

We live in a world filled with acronyms. For those who are not familiar, an acronym is an abbreviated formed word, formed by letters of other words and pronounced as a word.

The Application Program Interface (API) world is no different when it comes to abbreviations and acronyms. We have outlined some common API acronyms below.

API – Application Program Interface
WIC – Web Integration Console
SOAP and REST– types of API calls that can be made
- SOAP – Simple Object Access Protocol
- REST – Representational State Transfer
CRUD – Create, Read, Update, Delete
SFTP– Secure File Transfer Protocol
AWS – Amazon Web Services
SSS – Simple Storage Service
VPN – Virtual Private Network
SQL – Structured Query Language
CSV– Comma Separated Values
- Type of file that can be used if SFTP sites are used
JSON and XML– Formats data from API calls can be in
- JSON– JavaScript Object Notation
- XML– Extensible Markup Language
200, 400, 500 responses– responses that tell you if the API call was successful or not
- 200– indicates successful API call
- 400– indicates an error caused by the user
- 500– indicates an error caused by the server
DNS– Domain Name System
- Service that enables a link between domain names and the IP addresses with which they are associated
IP Address– Internet Protocol Address
- unique string of characters that identifies each computer communicating over a network
SSL– Secure Socket Layer
- Uses a public key to encrypt data transferred over the connection to communicate securely with the web server
TLS– Transport Layer Security
- Authentication and security protocol widely implemented in browsers and Web servers
HTTP– Hypertext Transfer Protocol
- protocol for information systems that allows users to communicate data on the World Wide Web.
HTTPS– Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure
- Adds SSL/TLS to the HTTP for added security
DB/DBMS– Database/Database Management System
- Secure system where data is stored
SDK– Software Development Kit
- Collection of software development tools in one installable package
CLI– Command Line Interface
- Processes commands to a computer program in the form of lines of text
GUI– Graphical User Interface
- Type of user interface where users interact with electronic devices using visual representations

We hope you have learned a new acronym or two from this today!

PCI offers cutting-edge solution integrations to complement and enhance your Deltek product investments. Our consultants help to identify and bridge gaps between various business systems, offering several third-party integrations into Deltek Costpoint and Deltek WorkBook. Our API capabilities include data pulls and custom-built integrations.

To learn more about API integrations, visit our LINK API Integration page.

What Is New In WorkBook 13.1

WorkBook 13.1 allows users to streamline workflows to support faster performance and scalability. With enhancements to the user interface, components, and system checks, this release helps agencies manage large data sets, save time when collaborating with the team, and improve data integrity.

ADDITIONAL CHECKS WHEN ENABLING/DISABLING EMPLOYEES

WorkBook has added another level of system checks to ensure that when you enable or disable a user, you can resolve any open timesheets or expenses associated with that user before doing so. Now you can be confident that your budget data remains accurate and intact when enabling or disabling a team member in the system.

UPGRADE TO WIJMO COMPONENT

We have upgraded the Wijmo component to ensure users experience WorkBook’s newest UI improvements correctly when using Apple’s Catalina operating system.

STORED PROCEDURE RE-WRITES AND CODE REFACTORING

By re-writing and refactoring some of the stored procedures in the system, we can better ensure proper performance at scale. For example, agencies that manage large data sets will notice a faster and more streamlined experience.

Three Ways WorkBook’s Collaboration Can Help Agency Teams When Working From Home

Agency ERP system Deltek WorkBook‘s collaboration feature, allows agency teams to collaborate with ease. And best of all, all communication stays within the system so there’s no searching through emails looking for a vital piece of correspondence.

If you’re a WorkBook agency and not using this feature yet, here are 3 reasons to give it a go!

1. BRIEF COLLABORATION

Getting a brief right is important for so many reasons. In WorkBook you can collaborate on briefs at both a job level and a task level.

At a job level, collaboration helps get the initial brief right before it’s shared with the wider team.

While at a task level it allows those working on tasks to review them easily and ask any questions should anything be unclear.

2. ESTIMATE COLLABORATION

Getting an estimate right is important. Collaborating on the estimate allows the person creating it to liaise with all the individuals involved on the job. This will ensure the correct number of hours for each role have been included.

Estimate collaboration will also ensure scope creep is kept to a minimum.

3. OVERALL PROJECT COLLABORATION

Collaboration in WorkBook is not just limited to estimates and briefs, agencies can also collaborate on pipelines, invoices and purchase orders. Meaning all project related communication is stored in the system against the job, so it is easy to access and get an understanding of where a project is at any given time.