Customer Success Story
Camber Corporation

Deltek Costpoint^® Budgeting & Planning Improves Visibility and Forecasting Accuracy for Greater Cost Control, Improved Profitability

The Challenge

From conducting advanced technical training to developing detailed computer models and simulations, government contractor Camber Corporation helps federal agencies maintain operational readiness. Camber provides operational, technical, engineering and logistics services to commercial enterprises and U.S. federal agencies, including the Department of Defense.

With three distinct business units encompassing five legal entities, the 80+ organizations within Camber had developed their own methods and nuances for budgeting and planning. Those differences made compiling, comparing and managing the organization's forecasts and project budgets a difficult effort that often resulted in delays and additional inquiries. To keep its business thriving and to meet its aggressive revenue targets, spreadsheets were no longer an efficient way to keep financial data comprehensive and accessible company-wide.

"Like many companies, we lived in spreadsheets. It was time to find a new way to plan and budget," said Robin Entrekin, Director of Information Assurance for Camber Corporation.

The Solution

Camber's aggressive growth strategy and new, major projects with earned value management requirements forced them out of their spreadsheet mentality when it came to forecasting and managing its financial information. In addition, with project managers and finance employees spending much effort in their individual spreadsheets, visibility into financial information across the company was difficult until the information was manually combined into still more spreadsheets. That led them to Deltek Costpoint Budgeting & Planning.

By adding the module to their existing Deltek Costpoint system, Camber was able to increase visibility and improve comparability in project and organizational operations which led to improved forecasting. Entrekin added: "With the Budgeting & Planning tool we now have the ability to drill down into the lowest levels of the organization for information."

Costpoint's Budgeting & Planning tool enforces consistency and accountability by empowering finance managers and project management professionals with access to up-to-date, accurate information for developing, adjusting, auditing, approving and re-forecasting project budgets and annual operating plans. It's a centralized, web-based solution that combines project and organizational budgeting, resource planning, indirect rate forecasting and project and financial reporting into a single, unified application that may be deployed in a matter of weeks.

"The out-of-the-box aspects of the solution meant it could be up and running very quickly which was very attractive to us," Entrekin stated.

The Benefit

Camber realized the benefits of its Costpoint Budgeting & Planning implementation almost immediately. The solution now drives increased visibility into financial data that allows Camber to access real-time cost information including un-posted labor from its electronic time keeping system (Deltek Time & Expense). The solution also helps enforce uniform forecasting policies across the organization, promotes the sharing of information to key stakeholders and increases government compliance. Camber is now able to get ahead of the budgeting process, and more quickly and accurately produce the upcoming year's budget and additional multi-year projections into the future. This enables Camber to make smart business decisions now to set the company up for success down the line.

"Many of our users see the most benefit from the reports they are able to get and the timeliness of the information they have at their fingertips," Entrekin said. "Budgeting and Planning has allowed us to relax a bit too. We are in the midst of completing our first budgeting cycle on it now and the angst and stress of the normal budgeting process has been reduced this year. I can see our budgeting and forecasting activities becoming routine as we continue to become more familiar with the product."

Most importantly, the Budgeting & Planning module seamlessly integrates with other Deltek Costpoint solutions. This enables Camber to tap into other Deltek solutions such as Deltek Performance Management for increased business intelligence and Deltek Costpoint CRM to project the impact of potential contract wins and any number of what-if scenarios. "Costpoint is the backbone of our financial reporting and management," Entrekin stated. "Without it, being a successful federal government contractor would be much more challenging."

Camber Corporation at a glance

Company Name: Camber Corporation
Headquarters: Huntsville, AL
Primary Business: Camber Corporation is a leading provider of engineering and technical services with key competencies in Systems Education including Distributed/Distance Learning, Technical Program/Project Management, and Decision Support Systems development. Headquartered in Huntsville, AL, the Corporation maintains supporting operations across the country and over 100 additional Joint, military service, and coalition locations worldwide.
Industry: Aerospace and Defense
Deltek Product: Costpoint Family
URL: www.camber.com