Deltek ProjectCon 2022: Bringing Costpoint Customers Together

Last month, as part of Deltek ProjectCon, more than 1,800 Deltek Costpoint customers gathered in Nashville, Tennessee for our annual user conference.

The 4-day event offered Deltek Project Nation various opportunities to learn about key investment areas of Digital Transformation, Purposeful Innovation, Improved User Experience, and Cybersecurity Compliance to better support our government contracting customer needs and keep abreast of changes in the industry.

During this exciting time of education, inspiration, and networking, Deltek ProjectCon attendees had the opportunity to choose from Costpoint breakout sessions spread across 11 different disciplines. In addition to roadmap sessions that highlighted new releases and features, content ranged from in-depth product knowledge and best practices to tips & tricks that bring efficiency to everyday tasks. We also had a variety of customer-led sessions that allowed our everyday Costpoint users to share lessons learned and tried-and-true practices that help them get the most out of their investment.

This year, we added content for two new disciplines in our Deltek Costpoint track: Small Business Leadership and Strategic Innovation. Deltek understands that small business leaders wear multiple hats and because of that delivered content to optimize their learning experience and focus on the most critical Costpoint functions across each domain. The Strategic Innovation sessions demonstrated the innovative approach we are taking to better support the industries we serve while enabling your digital transformation initiatives.

Deltek Costpoint attendees also had the opportunity to connect with Deltek experts, industry thought leaders, sponsors and fellow members of Deltek Project Nation during Meet the Expert appointments, XPO hours, Meetups, networking events and more—all culminating in an exciting Customer Appreciation Party!

Every year we request customer nominations for our MVP Awards, which recognize Deltek customers and partners who are improving business processes, driving innovation, or increasing profitability while using our solutions. The winners reflect the growing number of industries we serve and the vast number of project-based businesses that rely on us to power their project success.

MVP Awards

Congratulations to three Deltek Costpoint customers who were recognized with our annual Deltek MVP Award:

• Enterprise MVP Award: Went to Battelle for their work in the science and technology space, where they create a safer, healthier, and more secure world. Battelle trusts Deltek Costpoint as its global ERP solution to transform its business strategy and moved to the Cloud to create more agile and efficient processes, from employee payroll to client billing. With Deltek, the company has reduced annual operating costs by $2.4M and saved 13,000 hours supporting their legacy system. 
• Government Contracting MVP Award: Went to Qarbon Aerospace for their work as a premier manufacturer of cutting-edge composite components and assemblies, with products installed on the most advanced commercial and military aircraft, and spacecraft. Qarbon Aerospace used Deltek Costpoint to consolidate and move all previous business systems to Deltek Costpoint and Deltek + TIP Technologies while leveraging 90% out of the box functionality in a GCCM (GovCon Cloud Moderate) environment. 
• Partner MVP Award: Went to Deltek Premier Partner, Infotek Consulting LLC and customer Applied Insight, for successfully implementing Deltek Costpoint as its fully integrated ERP system in just three months.

Digital Transformation Leads the Way

Earlier this year, the Deltek Clarity Government Contracting Industry Study identified digital transformation initiatives as a top priority for government contracting firms. Recognizing that firms are working to automate more business processes to deliver on their internal transformation initiatives, the Costpoint track had a heavy focus on technologies that can act as force multipliers.

Our Deltek ProjectCon attendees had the opportunity to learn more about:

• Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) for expense receipts with AP automation
• Digital Signatures
• Smart AI capability with Deltek Costpoint Business Intelligence (BI) powered by IBM Watson
• Mobile improvements, including our new Mobile Time & Expense app
• Natural Language Processing (NLP) or Voice Recognition for time entry and calling contacts

Attendees were able to hear directly from our Product Strategy team and fellow customers on how to put these and other new technologies in Deltek Costpoint to use in their businesses, while learning more about what’s to come in our 8.2 release.

Purposefully Innovating to Meet Customer Needs

At Deltek, we are committed to actively listening to our customers’ feedback and intentionally incorporating purposeful innovation into our product roadmap to create new and improved efficiencies. This includes new capabilities that change the way you do business.

One of the key ways we’re meeting our manufacturing customers’ needs is by continuing to expand our digital manufacturing capabilities, one place this can be seen is in the new manufacturing dashboards in Costpoint BI.

We can’t bring up manufacturing without mentioning our recent acquisition of TIP Technologies, whose Quality Management capabilities and Shop Floor Execution software serve as a natural extension of our manufacturing capability in Deltek Costpoint. With an existing integration already in place, this acquisition will allow us to better support our manufacturing customers across the entire project lifecycle.

During Deltek ProjectCon we also held sessions that highlighted some of our other valuable integrations and how customers can get the most out of solutions, including:

• How Deltek’s GovWin IQ integration can help you get the most out of Costpoint Opportunities while tracking key information such as opportunity value, status, CMMC level and Opportunity Assessments.
• How Resource Planning can work with project budgeting, opportunity management, and talent management to create a seamless PSA lifecycle with Costpoint.
• How the Costpoint Supplier Portal can streamline your Source to Pay processes by helping with Procurement and Accounts Payable from Requests for Quotes to Supplier Payments.

Improved User Experience

Our Deltek ProjectCon attendees also had the opportunity to learn about the many ways we’re intentionally improving the user experience, including a tighter device integration via Progressive Web Applications (PWA) and interactive real-time communication using Adaptive Card. These enhancements include full-screen UI, the ability to start an e-mail and make a phone call directly from Costpoint, and the ability to use text messages, device notifications, and real-time status to approve a workflow.

Customers also shared their own tips and tricks for getting the most out of these new features, including User Interface Profiles, Navigation Banners, and Project Templates, among others, and how these allow their entire team to save time.

Attendees also had the opportunity to hear more about the exciting changes coming with our Costpoint 8.2 release and give their feedback in our UX Lab!

Continued Support for Cybersecurity Compliance

We know that cyberthreats and changing compliance requirements are requiring firms to quickly mature their security posture.

Deltek ProjectCon attendees had the chance to learn more about the ways we are actively helping our customers meet cybersecurity compliance requirements, including our efforts to achieve Ready status on the FedRAMP Marketplace and our steps toward CMMC Maturity Level 2 certification. 

We also shared more about our GovCon Cloud Moderate (GCCM) cloud offering, which launched in 2020. This cloud offering allows customers to store Covered Defense Information and export-controlled ITAR data, while aligning to Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) requirements—helping them gain increased confidence and peace of mind.

Attendees had the opportunity to hear from our Cloud experts, including Chris Knight, Deltek’s VP of Product Management, to learn how they can remain agile and evolve with changing industry requirements. 

Until Next Year

Being back in person with our customers made this year’s conference one to remember, and we hope every who attended walked away with new ideas, actionable takeaways, and fun memories!

For those who attended Deltek ProjectCon and want a copy of the session material, you can download PDF copies of the presentations via the Deltek ProjectCon Web Portal until December 31, 2022.

And to all of Deltek Project Nation, we hope to see you at next year’s conference! Mark your calendars and plan to join us October 16-19, 2023 in Orlando, Florida for another opportunity to come together and learn more about Deltek Costpoint.