Deltek Unionpoint at the Heart of NRP's Digital Transformation Strategy

An interview with Harry Lavender, Digital Transformation Manager at Norman Rourke Pryme.

A seasoned player in the built environment industry, Norman Rourke Pryme (NRP) is a multidisciplinary consulting business with expertise in transportation, civil engineering, project management and cost consultancy services.

NRP works with a diverse clientele, tackling innovative and often complex projects ranging from the transformation of unique public spaces to highways and infrastructure projects. The company is known for its commitment to supporting both public and private sector initiatives.

As users of several Deltek solutions, including Deltek Vantagepoint, Deltek PIM  and, more recently, Deltek's integration platform Unionpoint, we wanted to gain insight into how these solutions support the company's digital evolution. We spoke with Harry Lavender, NRP's Digital Transformation Manager, who shared his experience implementing Deltek Unionpoint and its transformative impact on the organization.

As Digital Transformation Manager, Harry combines his IT consultancy and solutions design background with a vision for improving the company's digital capabilities. "My role involves looking after the overall strategy, overseeing all IT-related activities and new developments, identifying areas for improvement such as automation, AI reporting, business intelligence and collaborating with our service providers."

Revolutionizing Efficiency with Deltek Unionpoint

When Harry joined NRP, the opportunities for improvement became clear. He recognized that enhancing the strategic direction of earlier digital initiatives could significantly elevate the effectiveness of the company's systems. "When I arrived, there was a strong foundation of systems in place, but we saw the potential for greater impact through the integration of our existing tools like our HR platform, PIM and Vantagepoint," he shared.

Under Harry's guidance, the last 12 - 14 months have been marked by substantial achievements. The team improved Cybersecurity protocols and began integrating their key business solutions using the pre-built connectors within Deltek Unionpoint. This system integration enabled them to automate key business processes and manual tasks. "My aim is to digitize operations in a way that supports a self-service culture. To date, process automation has significantly reduced manual errors and saved time." Harry said.

Enhancing Project and Client Management with Integration and Automation

One area of focus for Harry is improving project management processes. "We have ongoing initiatives aimed at automating everyday client and project management workflows," he shared. These developments are crucial in ensuring that NRP provides the best service, optimally allocates resources and allows employees to focus on valuable billable hours rather than administrative tasks.

Client Onboarding and Contract Management: Using the connectors in Unionpoint, NRP are developing sophisticated workflows for enhanced contract management. "We've established a system that automatically sends terms and conditions to be signed upon onboarding a new client, which requires a framework of work that ensures we're legally protected and that the clients agree to our terms. All of this information is trackable and traceable within Deltek Vantagepoint."

Previously, much of NRP's corporate governance was stored outside of Vantagepoint, frequently in Excel spreadsheets or SharePoint. By linking this crucial information to Vantagepoint, the team created a single view of the data where nothing gets lost and vital information is easily accessible.

Data Validation: In addition to contract management, NRP is actively developing workflows that enhance data validation processes. Harry emphasized the importance of reducing the reliance on expensive human resources for manual tasks. "We don't want our team to be manually reviewing data or making amendments to contracts and projects," he stated.

The goal is to automate these processes to improve efficiency further. As part of this initiative, workflows are being built to clone projects, enabling the team to track fee extensions without manual intervention. This strategic shift saves time and ensures accuracy across the board.

Addressing Timesheet Challenges: Like many organizations, NRP faced challenges with manual processes for timesheet completion and submission. "Recognizing that timesheets aren't everyone's favourite task, our leadership challenged me with streamlining the process for greater efficiency." Harry said. 

Previously, the finance team would produce a list of people who still needed to submit their timesheets. Then, managers would have to manually chase their teams through various channels, which was incredibly time-consuming. "To address this, I developed a process that automatically chases people for their timesheets. It listens for notifications when timesheets are submitted, produces a weekly list of those who have and haven't submitted, and sends customizable reminders."

This automation saves a significant amount of time and ensures more accurate billing and invoicing, which is crucial for a time-charge business. "The finance team loves the bot; they have provided a lot of positive feedback", Harry confirmed.

Through these innovative automated workflows, NRP has streamlined its operations and empowered its team to focus on higher-value tasks, ultimately driving greater success in its digital transformation journey.

Building A Better and More Efficient Employee Experience

A core component of NRP's digital transformation strategy has been streamlining various internal business processes to improve the employee experience. Harry discussed a key example for existing employees: "We've built approval workflows in Unionpoint, allowing line managers to approve requests without needing IT intervention." This eliminated outdated practices such as manual budget sign-offs and excessive paperwork. When day-to-day tasks are simplified, our employees become more productive," he added.

Harry has also used automation and integration to improve employee onboarding across the organization: "Our onboarding process, which used to involve an eight-page PDF and manual account creation, is now automated. Once a new employee is added to our HR system, Unionpoint automatically creates their user accounts across all systems, informs the line manager and runs a pre-start questionnaire to address any requirements. That way, we can ensure that all new starters have everything they need on their first day with us."

In addition to enhancing onboarding, NRP has made significant strides in automating the offboarding process. Harry elaborated, "Our offboarding is seamless now. Previously, there was often a time lag between an employee leaving the company and HR notifying the respective teams. This discrepancy could sometimes extend over a week or even longer."  By utilizing Unionpoint, the offboarding procedure is now fully automated. "As soon as an employee is marked as terminated in our HR systems, all associated accounts are instantly deactivated. This ensures that access is promptly revoked on their final day, eliminating any risks related to data security or unauthorized access." The benefits of this automation extend beyond just operational efficiency. Harry mentioned, "It allows me to sleep much better at night knowing that proper corporate governance is followed. It's a significant win for us, both for improving security and enhancing our overall processes."

Deltek Unionpoint Offers Seamless Integration and Usability

As NRP continues its digital transformation journey, a pivotal factor has been Deltek Unionpoint's ease of use and integration capabilities. "The interface is intuitive—it's a 'what you see is what you get' system," Harry remarked. This simplicity empowers users to navigate the platform without extensive training, allowing them to focus on higher-value work rather than wrestling with complex interfaces.

While NRP ventured into more complex automation involving multiple systems, Harry noted that the foundational Deltek functionalities remained straightforward and efficient. "The connectors are nicely labeled, making it clear what actions are required and what fields to engage with," he added. "This clarity is not always present in other systems, making Unionpoint stand out as a reliable tool for businesses looking for comprehensive automation solutions."

Deltek Unionpoint has transformed NRP's processes by streamlining operations and enhancing employee productivity. The platform's user-friendly design and robust integration options signify that organizations can confidently embark on their digital transformation journeys, knowing that the tools at their disposal are easy to use and highly effective.

Speak to an expert to learn more about Deltek ERP and how it could help your business automate key business processes, mitigating risk and increasing efficiency.