HII Mission Technologies Consolidates ERP Systems in Just Six Months

Delivering Mission-Driven Solutions to Support National Security

HII Mission Technologies (Huntington Ingalls Industries) is a global engineering and defense technologies provider with a 135-year history of trusted partnerships in advancing US national security. Today, HII is the largest military shipbuilder.

The company’s motto, Hard Stuff Done Right, relates to the complex challenges it tackles every day inside and outside the walls of the office and shipyard. These words also convey its unwavering commitment to tackling these challenges well and ethically.

With a long shipbuilding legacy, HII has evolved in recent years to deliver critical technology solutions. These include unmanned systems, artificial intelligence and machine learning, synthetic training, electronic warfare and C5ISR—command, control, computers, communications, cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

Today, HII’s ongoing digital transformation efforts extend into all areas of the business and impact the full breadth of its workforce, from skilled craft employees and engineers to designers, accountants and cybersecurity experts.

Robin Entrekin, HII’s Director of Shared Financial Services, says: “HII is a defense leader and recognized as America's largest shipbuilder. We build aircraft carriers and maintain a lot of the ships in the naval fleet. We also have a fleet sustainment division and a nuclear division. So, certainly in the defense industry, I think we're a very important cog in that wheel.”

An Acquisition That Doubled Hii’s Size

HII Mission Technologies has been using Deltek Costpoint to manage its operations for more than two decades. A project-based ERP built specifically for government contractors, Costpoint delivers innovation and intelligence through an all-in-one system across the project lifecycle.

So, in August 2021, when HII completed an acquisition that doubled its size, the technologies provider wanted to ensure the newly acquired company was quickly converted to the same ERP system that it had been relying on for so many years.

“Deltek Costpoint is clearly an industry leader in government contracting compliance and capabilities,” says Robin. “The timeliness of information, the ability to monitor costs primarily—as well as scheduling—has allowed our managers to stay on top of things and monitor progress as we execute and complete those projects.”

But integrating such an enormous entity into HII’s Costpoint infrastructure was a challenging project, even for Robin, who holds a Deltek Costpoint product certification and has been working with the system since 1999.

“We have over 7,000 employees, and all of them use our timekeeping capabilities and Costpoint,” he explains. “We also have about 1,200 or so subcontractors that also use our time system, hundreds of program managers and project controllers, those that monitor and manage projects and our back-office staff.”

To help synchronize systems across the two organizations and ensure the needs of all these people were met, HII needed support from one of Deltek’s systems integration partners, Baker Tilly.

A Rapid and Successful ERP Integration

HII chose Baker Tilly to help implement Costpoint for the newly acquired company. And, despite the size and complexity of the implementation, the project was completed successfully in a matter of months.

“I think it's important to focus on the scale and timeline of this project,” says Colt Meraw, Senior Manager on Baker Tilly's digital team. “HII acquired a company that was running on a JAMIS system, and we were able to successfully complete a mid-year conversion within just six months.”

As part of the integration project, Baker Tilly also worked closely with Deltek Global Consulting’s data conversion team to help them translate requirements and convert and validate data.

From Robin’s perspective, the project was a noteworthy success: “It’s been highly successful—we completed that in June 2022, and we've been six months on a combined system and are still harvesting benefits from that.”

Endless Business Opportunities

As with all ERP implementations, there’s always more work to do after go-live. But the future offers lots of opportunities.

Cloud-hosted ERP empowers users to take a proactive approach to business expansion. Deltek's industry-based ERP is a robust cloud solution that merges an array of vertical-specific modules and tools into one comprehensive, user-friendly interface. By leveraging Deltek Costpoint in the Cloud, HII will be able to embrace its future of enterprise transformation and solidify its position as the nation's largest military shipbuilder.

Colt says: “I think the possibilities are endless when it comes to the digital transformation space and how Deltek Costpoint can assist and the many ways that HII is using the tool. We'll continue working closely with them to determine what's next on the road."

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