New Features to Drive Engagement and Help Your Business Do More

The Deltek PIM solution is kicking off this summer with a new release that is one of our biggest releases in recent years. Below is a summary of what you can expect to see in Version 20.0.

Simplified Document Management System

You spoke and we listened.  We heard that the existing Document Management System (DMS) was overwhelming and difficult to use for the average user. Our customers shared that most of their users need to perform simple tasks quickly and easily. Based off of your feedback and 18 months of researching how existing customers were interacting with the system, we reimagined and reinvented the DMS. The DMS now provides an updated and modern user interface without sacrificing the unmatched searching power of PIM.

In the new ‘smart view’, the most popular filters are available at the top of the screen to help users narrow their search. In addition, we have introduced the concept of modes: Document Mode, Basket Mode and Email Mode. Simply, these are additional filters to help users find the documents they need more quickly.

• Document Mode: This mode displays all documents within the DMS.
• Basket Mode: This mode allows users to see and manage their baskets and contents.
• Email Mode: This mode displays only emails that meet any search filters already defined.

Additional new ‘smart view’ features include the ability to search for document pools along the left side of the screen and to share documents more easily via the ‘share’ icon.

It’s important to note that each individual user has the option to work either in the classic view of the DMS or the new smart view, allowing those users to interact in the interface that is easiest for them.

Semi-Automated Email Publishing

In the last release, we engaged with some of our customers to participate in an Early Adopter program for a semi-automated email publishing feature through the Outlook plug-in. Those customers provided consistent feedback that our team found extremely valuable. Now available for all customers in the latest release is the improved semi-automated (or smart) email publishing tool to help you publish your emails even more quickly.

So what is semi-automated or ‘smart’ email publishing? The Deltek PIM Outlook plug-in will now make weighted suggestions of where to publish an email based off of a few algorithms. This will help your teams publish emails faster because the smart email publishing tool is scanning your emails for content and making suggestions of where to publish emails so you don’t have to manually select the project record and/or the document pool.

Based on customer feedback, harvesting the original email upon reply is massively important. Therefore, you now have the ability to publish both emails (the original and your reply) at the same time instead of having to return to your inbox to publish the original separately.

In addition, users can publish up to 100 emails at a time even if they each need to be published towards different projects and/or document pools.

Mobile Access to Live PIM Data

Historically, customers needed to have purchased the Mobile Working module to access their Deltek PIM data, which was limited to data associated with projects assigned to an individual user. This release introduces Phase 1 of the concept of “mobile access to all” or “live browsing.”  In this phase, customers who have purchased the “Mobile Working” module will now automatically receive access to all of the company’s contacts and organizations, whether or not they are associated with an individual’s assigned projects.

Looking forward to the next release, all Deltek PIM users will eventually have mobile access to not only contacts and organizations, but also documents stored within a company’s Deltek PIM system. Stay tuned to the Deltek PIM blog for further updates.

The ultimate goal is to further empower project teams to access and manage project data anytime from anywhere.

Additional v20.0 Release Highlights

Self-Upgrade Tools

For customers who host Deltek PIM on their internal servers, your teams now have the ability to manage your own upgrades to the latest version. We have deployed a simple tool that will walk you through the upgrade process.

Workflows for Submittals

To better support the architect’s requirements in North America, we have introduced the new submittals workflow to streamline document approvals during construction. Working with a few North American customers, the new submittal workflow will fully support contractual communications among the architect, engineer, specialists and contractors.

Observations Reporting

We have expanded our use of SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) into observations reporting, where you now have greater flexibility in creating observation reports tailored to your business. You can select from a wider range of data types to include in your reports, including the ability to insert thumbnails of images and drawings. Recipients of that report also can click on those thumbnails to zoom in to view the details more clearly.

Observations Bulk Edit

No more wasting time editing one observation at a time. The new Observations band includes a bulk edit tool that allows you to update multiple records simultaneously, saving you time.

Deltek Collaboration 3.2

We have added the ability to support multiple renditions of a single file (i.e., PDF, DOC) allowing more flexibility when sharing documents.  The interface within Deltek PIM has been improved to make it easier to set up the connection between Deltek PIM and Deltek Collaboration. Finally, we have added the ability to export documents and associated conversations once a project is complete.