Deltek ProjectCon 2024: A Recap of Vantagepoint Innovations

The Deltek ProjectCon 2024 conference was a resounding success where more than 3,700 users gathered to connect and learn. The week’s theme was how Deltek’s innovative technologies are Powering Transformation for project-based businesses.

More than 1,000 Deltek Vantagepoint users learned tips and tricks, uncovered best practices and explored the future of Vantagepoint. During the kick-off session, Bret Tushaus, Vice President of Product Management, and the Vantagepoint product team shared recent enhancements and future plans to make Vantagepoint users more productive and efficient.

Keep reading to explore how far we’ve come by leveraging technology to transform our business processes, particularly with Deltek Vantagepoint.

Timesheet Transformation

Ed Zanaty, Senior Director of Product Management, shared the evolution of timesheet processes in Vantagepoint. Gone are the days when employees needed to fill out carbon-copy paper timesheets or manual Excel spreadsheets. The Timesheet Assist tool now offers employees a list of suggested projects for time entry based on recent timesheets, plan assignments, and recent expense reports. Users can view these suggestions upon login, making the timesheet process more efficient and reducing the stress for timesheet administrators. Additionally, Vantagepoint will automatically populate holiday hours and approved absence requests into timesheets, further streamlining the process.

Complete timesheets faster with Timesheet Assist

Digitalization and Automation

Brent Johnson, Senior Director of Product Management, took attendees on a journey through the digitalization of data input, highlighting the significant strides made in automating document workflows. Intelligent character recognition (ICR) now automates data entry for AP invoice approvals and expense receipts, processing hundreds of thousands of documents per quarter. The approval engine automates complex approval rules, making the process faster and more accurate. The future looks even brighter with plans for AI-driven automation that can ingest, read, and associate contracts, providing predictive insights and anomaly detection.

Automatically extract crucial information from invoices, eliminating the need for manual data entry

Client Engagement Enhancements

Product Director Teresa Bever showcased how Vantagepoint is transforming client relationship management (CRM). The integration of CRM with planning and accounting ensures that every department works with up-to-date information. The business card scanner uses ICR to populate contacts from an image of a business card, eliminating manual data entry. Deltek Dela, the AI-powered business companion, provides Client Smart Summaries^TM and can help draft personalized emails, making client communications faster and more efficient. Future enhancements include document templates for creating client-facing project documents and reports using Microsoft Office tools.

Empower teams with better client intelligence using generative AI

Project Management Innovations

Dawn Gajewski, Senior Director of Product Management, highlighted the transformative power of Vantagepoint Resource Planning. AI-powered tools can provide critical information at your fingertips, ensuring successful project delivery within scope, on time, and on budget. New features coming in 2025 include the ability to create multiple plans for various purposes, enhanced resource assignment capabilities, and AI-powered resource optimization. These innovations leverage AI and machine learning to transform how projects and resources are planned, managed, and optimized.

Automatically update the plan once a manager approves an absence request.

Data Access and Analysis

Senior Director of Product Management Melissa Coffey discussed the transformation in data access and analysis. Dashboards provide real-time data in an easy-to-consume format, with enhancements like the funnel dashpart type, forecast collections dashpart and the incorporation of data from the Deltek Clarity Architecture & Engineering Industry Report. The Data as a Service (DaaS) solution expedites the flow of data from Vantagepoint to third-party applications, enabling greater automation and efficiency. Ask Dela, the AI-powered digital assistant, allows users to interact with Vantagepoint data through natural language inquiries, providing quick answers and insights into project status, outstanding AR and much more.

Clearly understand when to expect payments from your clients over the coming weeks or months

Conclusion

Deltek ProjectCon 2024 demonstrated how Deltek Vantagepoint continues to innovate and transform project-based businesses. From timesheet automation to AI-driven client engagement and project management, these innovations are set to drive efficiency, productivity, and success. We are excited to see how these advancements will empower users and look forward to the future of Vantagepoint.

In addition to these exciting announcements made during the Vantagepoint kick-off session, Vantagepoint users learned tips and tricks from our Deltek product experts, discovered best practices from other Vantagepoint users, met one-on-one with Deltek experts and explored Deltek Dela hands-on in the XPO.

Start planning today for next year’s event in Denver, Colorado for another incredible opportunity to experience three days of content, connections and customer appreciation.