Customer Success Story
Veridian Engineering
Top ranked government contractor Verdian Engineering achieves faster billing processes with Deltek enterprise solution
The Challenge
Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, Veridian (NYSE: VNX) has been carrying out critical work for government and society at large for over 50 years. Its services range from network security and enterprise protection to knowledge discovery, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance to system engineering services. The company operates throughout the U.S. and overseas, and has four operating divisions: Veridian Engineering, Veridian Systems, Veridian Information Solutions and Veridian IT Services. The key to the firm’s success is its more than 7,000 computer scientists, software development engineers, systems analysts and other high-technology professionals who help to solve problems at more than 50 locations.
Veridian Engineering had been using five different software systems to manage its financial and accounting information. Having this many systems created numerous problems for the company. “We had five different software systems providing financial, accounting and other data. This made it very difficult to provide consolidated statements,” says Alan Jankowski, Accounting Manager for Veridian Engineering. “We simply would not have been able to cope in the long-term using our previous software.”
Using different software programs made Veridian’s overall financial and accounting systems cumbersome. For example, in order to monitor time and materials using these non-government contractor specific applications, the company needed its MIS department to run specially developed programs. In addition, even minor changes to the software had to be completed by the MIS department. Simple tasks such as adding a new department could sometimes require hundreds of additional lines of code.
The Solution
To rectify these and other similar problems, Veridian hoped to replace its multiple financial and accounting systems with a single software solution, able to accommodate the needs of a government contracting firm. In 1997, the company formed a requirements committee consisting of seven people from across the organization. The committee compiled a list of key requirements and considered proposals from a long list of tier 1 vendors and selected Deltek as its solution.
The primary component of Veridian’s solution consisted of Deltek Costpoint®, an advanced enterprise-level software solution delivering fully integrated back office automation for sophisticated, medium to large-sized project-based businesses.
Veridian selected the system because it offered the desired functionality and flexibility, delivering a system that integrated its project and government contracting compliant needs firmwide, with financial accounting applications for general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, fixed assets and consolidation and others.
Since Veridian was primarily concerned with the software’s ability to efficiently manage government auditing, reporting and regulation information, and processes, Deltek’s established government contracting expertise clearly distinguished it from other software vendors. “Some of the other systems might have been flexible enough to handle our basic accounting requirements, but none were as deeply versed in government contracting or were as intuitively designed as Deltek’s Enterprise Systems,” says Rose Zontek, IS Manager.
The implementation began in March 1998. By January 1999, the system was fully operational. While the process proceeded with relatively few complications, the complex nature of Veridian’s existing systems required both the dedication and cooperation of Deltek consultants and Veridian’s implementation team.
“Taking five systems down to one meant that we needed to rely heavily on Deltek,” says Zontek. “We depended on them to lead the project, and their knowledge and experience were key to the success of the implementation.”
“The dedication of our respective teams was important to the great success of the implementation project. Deltek’s consultants were very responsive and always available to resolve issues,” says Jankowski.
The Benefits
Veridian Engineering now has 200 licensed system-users working at 16 different sites, helping the company achieve a number of benefits including increased cash flow, enhanced data analysis, and report generation.
In terms of cash flow, the system’s flexibility has enabled the firm to generate invoices far more quickly and efficiently than with its previous multi-program system, thereby causing substantial increases in cash flow. The new system has also decreased the amount of time required for an invoice to be sent, received and processed. In terms of data analysis and reports generation, the Deltek software eliminates the need for staff to complete time consuming tasks, including rate calculation and analysis for statements of indirect expenses (SIE), off-line. Utilizing the new system, employees can now concentrate on analysis while the reporting determines the rate calculations.
| The Challange | The Solution | The Deltek Advantage |
| Veridian Engineering had been using five different software systems to manage its financial and accounting information. Having this many systems created numerous problems for the company. | Veridian selected Deltek Costpoint because it offered the desired functionality and flexibility, delivering a system that integrated its project and government contracting compliant needs firmwide. |
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Many users have also offered positive feedback concerning the built-in government-specific functionality of the system, which prevents the firm from having to implement any additional software in order to comply with government regulations. Instead, the database is flexible enough to cope with all of the company’s requirements. “We no longer have any custom modules to deal with,” says Zontek. “This is nice because we won’t have to worry about making any programming changes in the modules when we upgrade to another version.”
Other users have echoed these sentiments. “The fact that everything is built into the system has really helped a great deal,” says Jankowski. “For example, I don’t’ have to recreate the Statement of Indirect Expenses (SIE) or rate calculations since they are already contained within the enterprise system.”
As with any major new software system, there were initially some users at Veridian who were reluctant to make the switch to Deltek solutions. However, upon having firsthand experience with the all-inclusive functionality and government-contractor specific design, even reluctant employees were soon satisfied by the increased productivity and efficiency the solution has enabled. “As an example of the user feedback we have received,” says Zontek, “we have a contract administrator working on the West Coast who had been critical of switching to a new system. He is now the system’s biggest advocate, and he tells everyone how it gives him access to all the information he needs.”
On a corporate level, the firm has benefited from Deltek’s high profile in the government contracting sector. “People in the field know the Deltek name. So, when we bid proposals or when we are talking to other customers, being a Deltek client carries some leverage,” says Zontek. “Once Veridian mentions its use of the software, federal regulators, procurement officers, partners and customers know we have a very flexible government specific system that keeps operations running smoothly.”
The highly scalable, adaptable and flexible design of the solution has allowed the company to change its financial calendar, payroll periods and consolidate acquisitions as needed. These include changing the financial calendar three time times in three years, changing payroll periods twice, and consolidating three acquired organizations that had to be changed over to the new system.
Although Deltek offers robust payroll systems, Veridian has chosen to integrate its new system with an existing third party human resources application. This integration wouldn’t have been possible with the firm’s previous systems, illustrating the degree to which the flexibility of the solution’s relational database has benefited the company.