Global Resource Solutions Gains Greater Confidence in its Data with Deltek

An Interview with Michelle Rubie-Smith, CFO, Global Resource Solutions

Global Resources Solutions (GRS) is a service-disabled veteran-owned small business with approximately 250 employees throughout 32 states and 4 countries that provides services to federal, civilian, DoD and intelligence agencies. As the small business was looking to grow, it sought out a solution to better manage its operations while keeping its back office compliant.

Q: What led GRS to implementing Deltek and how did you know it was the right choice for your organization?

Michelle Rubie-Smith: As a small business, we needed to grow and with that, we wanted to ensure our back office was compliant. It was essential that our back office could support our clients and that we could create repeatable processes to streamline our operations. We looked at several products before selecting Deltek, which offered both time and expense and the accounting system, as well as contract management and market intelligence with GovWin IQ.

We knew it was the right solution for us because it could support our contract management, business development, accounting and our operations by integrating our time and expense data. It also had name recognition within the federal agencies. Plus, we found that there were several individuals within the market that had experience within Deltek, which made it easier for us to recruit in our accounting and contracts departments.

Q: Were there any concerns with migrating to a new system?

Michelle Rubie-Smith: We originally implemented Deltek GCS back in 2010, and when we initially considered upgrading to Deltek Costpoint, there were some internal concerns on whether our organization was ready for such a system. Costpoint had a reputation for being for large businesses. I’ll admit, when we first started, it was a little scary. It seemed like a big-name product—and we were a small business.

But we quickly found out through the implementation process that Costpoint could be scaled for a small business and that our staff was ready and able to accept the system and learn how to operate within it. We worked with a great Deltek partner for the implementation, who supported us throughout the transition, and we’ve maintained a positive relationship with them.

Q: How has your business changed since the implementation? What types of benefits and ROI are you experiencing?

Michelle Rubie-Smith: Information is what drives our entire business, so access to accurate, real-time data is essential for us to have more informed conversations and make better decisions. Prior to Deltek, we didn’t have the ability to segment data the way we needed it. The graduation to Costpoint has given us better visibility into projects, with access to real-time data, expenses and our overall cost structure. Now we can easily track project information, make more informed decisions with the leadership team, and manage our targets more effectively and efficiently. 

Additionally, Deltek provides us deeper insight into our cost structure and our indirect rates, which helps us with our pipeline opportunities and bid strategies and supports our operations to ensure a successful outcome for each project. Many of our projects are labor-hour-based or time-based, which means asking how many people are there? Are they spending the hours appropriately in support of the client? Are they providing the specific product or service within the timeline the government has requested? This critical data helps us determine how we are meeting our clients’ needs.  

The return on the investment to Deltek for GRS has been twofold, both with the efficiency in our operations and having a greater confidence in the information that we provide, both internally and externally.  It's not always just about the actual dollar that was saved but determining if the business is able to provide the services that it’s committed to on a consistent basis, with pride, and I think we can say that today.

 Managing Operations While Keeping Back Office Compliant with Deltek

 

 

Q: Can you share an example of how Deltek powers the success of a particular project?

Michelle Rubie-Smith: Over 70 percent of GRS employees are military, retired military or reserve duty so one project that we are quite proud of is the Visitor Operations Center that we support for Arlington National Cemetery. GRS employees assist visitors with parking, entering the facility, answering questions and showing where their loved ones may be laid to rest so that each visit is respectful and meaningful.

We have over 100 employees there and we leverage Deltek to collect time data. With Deltek, we’re able to provide a report directly to our client to show that each position is staffed on time each day. It is very important to our client to ensure that each one of the locations within the cemetery is properly staffed at all times, and Deltek allows us to capture that data real-time.

Q: You stated that as a small business, GRS was looking to grow. Did you achieve that growth and how do you feel the business is prepared for future growth?

Michelle Rubie-Smith: The growth trajectory at GRS has been from approximately 30 employees when I started in 2010, to almost 250 today. Our Deltek solutions have empowered us to identify the right opportunities to go after through GovWin IQ and calculate our rates correctly through Costpoint – both of which have been instrumental to our growth. Deltek also provides a compliant billing system for our government clients and supported our performance to achieve unqualified audits.

And now, we are positioned for even more growth in the future. We’re able to use the budget and planning module and we’re looking forward to the integration of GovWin IQ and contract management with Costpoint, which we believe will prepare us better for the next opportunity.

Q: Based on your experience, would you recommend Deltek to other SMBs?

Michelle Rubie-Smith: Absolutely – and we do! GRS was founded in 2006, and originally, we were in the Mentor Protégé Program at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), as a protégé. We have since graduated and we are now a mentor to several companies. Since 2012, we have helped eight separate small businesses grow so that they can support the federal government, DIA, or other intelligence agencies, as appropriate. As each small business grows, they need to grow their back office, which is the main function of the program – to advise companies on their back offices.

We've advised businesses several times to use Deltek. They’ve used GovWin IQ as a way to build their pipeline, Costpoint in support of their accounting system, and Time & Expense to gather data for their billing. Based on our support of our protégés, we’ve been awarded the Nunn-Perry Award through DIA twice, which is an incredible honor for us.