Discover What’s New in the Latest Product Release

Smarter Risk Planning with AI: What’s New in Acumen 8.11

Project teams today face mounting complexity in identifying, modeling, and mitigating risk. According to Deltek’s 2025 GovCon Clarity Report, nearly half of project leaders rank cost forecasting and risk identification among their top challenges, with poorly defined scope and communication issues continuing to impact project performance. At the same time, the report highlights a shift in how teams are tackling these challenges: 40% now list AI and machine learning among their top three technology investment priorities, and 45% are already using AI to improve internal operations.

Turning Uncertainty into Action

With Acumen 8.11, Deltek introduces Dela-Enabled Risk Discovery & Mitigation, an AI-powered enhancement designed to help project teams work faster and smarter. This new capability surfaces potential risks and generates context-specific mitigation strategies based on project type and location, simplifying one of the most time-consuming steps in risk planning. Teams can now focus on analysis and decision-making instead of manual data entry, accelerating their ability to respond to project uncertainty.

Acumen interface showing Dela AI-generated project risks added to a risk register based on type and location

Dela generates potential risks based on project type and location and adds them to the risk register.

Unlike other solutions that rely on user-entered data and manual scenario analysis, Acumen 8.11 delivers a balanced approach. It pairs AI-driven automation with Acumen’s proven quantitative risk modeling, giving project teams both speed and accuracy. While many tools that evaluate schedules simply suggest alternative activity durations based on historical data, addressing uncertainty rather than true risk, Acumen’s Dela-Enabled Risk Discovery is designed to surface specific risks relevant to your unique project. Importantly, Acumen protects your sensitive schedule data by only sharing additional context information with AI, not your actual schedule, so your proprietary project details remain secure. This combination sets Acumen apart, offering the intelligence to predict what could go wrong and the analytical depth to show how to make it right.

Acumen interface with Dela AI suggesting mitigation actions for selected project risks in the risk register

Dela suggests mitigation steps for selected risks.

Real-World Value for Project Teams

By integrating Dela-enabled intelligence directly into the risk management process, Acumen 8.11 empowers teams to gain deeper insight into project uncertainty while maintaining the rigor that project controls professionals expect. The result is a faster, more data-informed approach to identifying risk exposure and evaluating mitigation strategies across cost and schedule. Whether building proposals, managing active projects, or reporting to stakeholders, Acumen 8.11 gives teams greater confidence in their forecasts and plans.

Enhancements That Drive Results

Acumen 8.11 helps project teams work smarter, faster, and with greater confidence. The latest release introduces improvements across the Acumen suite designed to simplify workflows, strengthen compliance, and accelerate decision-making.

Acumen Risk: Smarter, Faster Risk Management

Acumen 8.11 transforms risk management with AI-powered capabilities that reduce manual effort and speed up planning. Teams can identify risks faster, generate tailored mitigation strategies, and model contract penalties with confidence. Enhanced visualization tools make it easier to communicate risk exposure clearly to stakeholders.

Acumen Fuse: Greater Efficiency for Schedule Analysis

Fuse enhancements streamline complex schedule reviews. Multi-period analysis is now simpler, and improved Excel integration reduces setup time, helping teams move quickly from data preparation to actionable insights.

Acumen Touchstone: Stronger Control and Benchmarking

Touchstone updates give organizations more confidence in managing sensitive data and comparing project performance. Improved security controls, flexible system preferences, and easier benchmarking support better governance and global collaboration.

Acumen Suite: Integrations that Drive Performance

Improved integrations with tools such as Deltek Open Plan, Oracle P6, MS Project and Powerproject make workflows smoother and more connected, ensuring teams can work efficiently at scale.

Together, these updates make Acumen 8.11 the most intelligent, connected, and user-friendly release yet, helping teams plan, assess, and deliver projects with greater precision and confidence.

See Acumen 8.11 in Action

Ready to turn uncertainty into opportunity? Explore the latest Acumen update and discover how smarter risk planning can help your team deliver with confidence. Be sure to join our PPM Solutions Customer Town Hall in December for a closer look at what’s new in Acumen 8.11 and how to get the most out of this release.

For additional information regarding the updates, please refer to Acumen’s release notes available in Deltek’s Learning Hub.

Quarterly Customer Town Hall

Learn about the most recent Acumen release from product experts.

Contributors

Author

Corinne Walker, Senior Product Marketing Manager

Corinne Walker

Senior Product Marketing Manager

As the Senior Product Marketing Manager for Deltek’s Project Portfolio Management (PPM) solutions, Corinne helps organizations optimize project performance and manage risk. Her experience across defense, government contracting, and SaaS industries, combined with expertise in AI, data analytics, and enterprise technology, provides a unique perspective on delivering value through PPM. Corinne leverages this background to help develop Delek solutions that align with real-world project challenges.

Featured Thoughts

Deltek Clarity GovCon Podcast

Article

Slow Down to Speed Up: Key Takeaways from the Deltek Clarity GovCon Podcast

Revenue growth doesn't tell the whole story for government contractors. In this episode of the Deltek Podcast, industry experts Deniece Peterson and Shenê Commodore discuss how pricing pressure, compliance demands, AI adoption, and market uncertainty are reshaping what sustainable growth looks like.

Modern Data Center Infrastructure

Article

AI & Automation in GovCon: Driving Efficiency in Proposals, Compliance & Operations

AI in GovCon takes center stage on the latest Deltek Podcast episode. Per the 17th Annual Deltek Clarity study, 73% of firms are still in the early stages of AI governance. The takeaways cover proposal speed, firm size, integration, and compliance risk. AI adoption isn't the differentiator anymore. Governance is.

People working hard showing the brainpower behind IT

Article

What’s New in Polaris: Helping Teams Forecast, Staff, and Deliver Projects with Greater Confidence

Explore Polaris PSA’s latest updates—estimated billing, revenue forecasting, recurring allocations, resource availability, and a more personalized user experience.

Deltek Clarity GovCon

Article

Five Signals Shaping GovCon Project Execution in 2026

Drawing on the 2026 Deltek Clarity GovCon study, this article breaks down five signals shaping how government contractors execute projects and manage risk. It spans delivery performance, tool integration, risk management, AI adoption and governance, and the gap between top performers and the rest of the market.

People Reviewing Business Documents Beside A Laptop In A Meeting

Article

Why Defensible Pricing Wins Government Contracts

Discover why defensible pricing, not just competitive pricing, is becoming the key differentiator in winning government contracts.