Helping Engineers Reimagine Project Success Throughout the Project Lifecycle

From wastewater treatment plants and roadways to bridges and architectural masterpieces, engineering firms are integral to the designs that improve our everyday lives. Despite the pandemic's challenges, firms remain vibrant as they reimagine how they manage projects and meet client expectations. Regardless of project size or complexity, they continue to adapt to challenges like dispersed workforces, shifting client priorities and ever-changing technology.

As businesses look to the future, investments in technology are critical to maintaining competitiveness and attracting top talent. And, as they reimage how to deliver better projects, Deltek is committed to supporting engineering firms and powering their project success throughout the entire project lifecycle.

 

Find and Win the Right Projects

Securing projects is crucial to keeping your business running. Some firms employ dedicated business development and marketing teams to manage this effort, other businesses follow the seller/doer model, and some adopt both methods. Regardless of which method firms deploy, the pandemic forced engineering firms to reimagine how they connect with clients in meaningful ways. Finding the right balance of virtual and in-person business development and networking could take time but is well worth the effort. According to the 42nd Annual Deltek Clarity A&E Industry Study, firms indicated that over the next five years they anticipate client-specific marketing, along with social media and thought leadership, to be the three most important marketing techniques.

One of the challenges is finding the right opportunities so firms can strategically position their business to win. Deltek's GovWin IQ solution helps firms grow by providing critical market intelligence and visibility into state, local and educational opportunities before the RFP (Request for Proposal) hits the street, giving firms time to reimagine how they build the best team to win the work.

As engineering firms look to find new and creative ways to secure new work, Deltek Vantagepoint CRM, designed specifically for professional services firms, can help teams identify potential projects early, pinpoint projects worth pursuing, and better position the firm to win. With Vantagepoint, teams can also proactively manage pipeline and nurture client relationships so firms can stay in touch with clients when it matters most.

Put the Right People on the Right Projects at the Right Time

People are key to delivering successful projects. Businesses must ensure not only that they have they hired the right talent, but also that their projects are properly staffed with the most qualified teams – for active projects and for what’s coming through the pipeline.

The switch to a distributed workforce not only challenged traditional workforce management, but also created new challenges for acquisition and onboarding. Talent acquisition continues to be challenged by the availability of good candidates with 33% of firms having reported more open positions year over year. As engineering firms rethink their workforce composition and distribution, employee engagement and compelling reasons to stay with the current firm are critical, but also more difficult than ever.

Employees are looking for a mix of great culture, better benefits and flexible work options and engineering firms have to find ways to stay competitive not only with clients, but in the talent management space as well. Additionally, investments in talent acquisition and performance management tools could yield positive returns. Deltek Talent Management allows you to recruit and onboard at top speed and provides project-focused performance management to supply your teams with feedback that leads to increased success at the project level, leading to better engagement and better retention.

With a pool of talent in place, project managers can now ensure that their projects are adequately staffed for on-time and on-budget delivery. Depending on the needs of your business, Deltek Vantagepoint or Deltek Ajera can help pinpoint the right resources based on their skills and availability to meet schedule and budget demands. Project managers can build profitable project plans to boost utilization, balance the workload and quickly adjust resources to meet changing project demands.  

Proactively Manage and Deliver Successful Projects

As the pandemic unfolded, project teams settled into a new way of delivering projects and meeting client needs. While the last few years required adapting to new and unforeseen conditions, firms appear to be getting more serious about project management as a discipline, just like engineering and architecture. Project managers continue to be challenged by competing priorities, which 60% named as one of their top three challenges in the Deltek Clarity A&E Report. Access to software that provides greater insight into project resources, performance and financials is the first step in enhancing project manager accountability and project profitability, which also increases client satisfaction.

Industry-specific solutions such as Deltek Vantagepoint and Deltek Ajera deliver complete visibility into every aspect of your project in a single user-friendly hub. In real-time, teams can monitor the health of their projects from planning and budgeting through monitoring project performance and project closeout to deliver better projects. 

To ensure that designs are properly executed by the construction teams, Deltek Specpoint – home of AIA MasterSpec^® empowers engineering teams to efficiently write construction specifications by bringing them into a digital environment. Project teams can intelligently research and select building products to deliver successful projects. The digitalization of specifications was built on the idea of reimagining the possible, bringing architects, engineers, building product manufacturers and owners together in one place for better collaboration.

Throughout the project lifecycle, it also is essential to properly manage the influx of communications, submittals, RFIs and active drawings to keep teams connected and the project on track. Deltek Project Information Management (PIM) provides one location to find and access the latest version of emails, documents and drawings – whether they are stored in Deltek PIM or in network folders. 

Finally, the work doesn’t stop when the final drawings are submitted. Engineers play a critical role during construction administration, documenting project progress and identifying challenges on the job site. With Deltek+ArchiSnapper or Deltek PIM, teams can create field reports and complete site inspections from any mobile device. With project and client details readily available in Deltek’s industry-specific ERP solutions, teams can save hours in the field and conduct paperless site work.  

Streamline Cash Flow and Increase Profitability

Reimagining the possible can go beyond just project delivery. Evaluating back-office processes and workflows can not only save time, but free up teams to reimagine the possible in other areas of the business.

Engineering firms continue to face the challenges of balancing how they can increase profitability, manage growth and attract top talent. According to the latest Deltek Clarity Report, the operating profit on net revenue rose to 19% and is likely driven by the curtailment of travel, events and other expenses in the pandemic. While sustaining this level of profitability may be challenging, firms will be looking for the right balance of profitability and expenses to drive the business forward.

Looking ahead, the top three financial initiatives for firms include improving business processes, training project managers on financial management and better forecasting. Project-based ERP systems like Deltek Vantagepoint or Deltek Ajera – designed specifically for small businesses – can help firms eliminate manual work, more accurately capture time and expense, leverage workflows to improve business processes and deliver greater visibility into all aspects of the business financially.

Firms will better understand how the business is performing in one place to improve productivity, boost collaboration and increase profitability so teams can make better, more informed decisions to drive businesses forward. These systems also can help engineering firms improve cash flow and get paid faster with accurate invoices and interactive billing tools for greater precision and control.

Make Better Faster Business Decisions

The pace of change in the engineering industry continues to increase. To stay competitive, it’s imperative that firms get the business intelligence needed to make faster, better-informed decisions and drive business forward. That can happen when project teams have complete visibility into every aspect of the business – from project initiation through completion – via Deltek Vantagepoint or Deltek Ajera's interactive dashboards and easy-to-use reports. These solutions deliver actionable insights into the health of the business so that teams can hone in on potential challenges and highlight bright spots. 

Going Beyond Traditional Engineering

Engineering may traditionally be thought of as civil, structural and mechanical/ electrical/ plumbing, but there are many other areas of engineering that are driven by projects and Deltek supports the needs of these companies as well. For those in government contracting, Deltek Costpoint is the industry-leading solution that delivers more innovation and greater intelligence through an all-in-one system across the project lifecycle that is specific to the needs of government contractors.

Deltek also delivers high-impact solutions for high-risk projects. For engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services firms, Deltek understands the unique challenges of this industry and can help companies manage budgets and baselines; provide multiple forecasts for cost and earned value; and graphically analyze and report across the business. Our Project & Portfolio Management (PPM) solutions such as Acumen, Cobra and more, deliver powerful planning, scheduling and risk mitigation solutions for complex projects.

Powering Engineering Success

If your engineering firm is exploring new technology or ways to measure success, get the clarity you need to start your innovation journey with the Deltek Clarity Architecture and Engineering Industry Report. This leading market trends report provides in-depth industry analysis that helps architecture and engineering firms benchmark performance and improve results. 

To learn more about how Deltek can help power project success for your project-based business, subscribe to our Inside Deltek Project Nation newsletter and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.