IT Consulting Firm VOLI Enhances Operational Insight with Deltek Maconomy

An interview with Mads Jensen, Director at VOLI

At VOLI, nothing matters more than helping its clients take full advantage of modern digital tools to simplify workflows and processes. And, as a Deltek partner, that means helping clients maximize the benefits of Deltek Maconomy ERP.

Building on its success in its native Norway, the company now has clients spanning the globe, including UK, US, Denmark, and Sweden, with plans to expand further afield. But VOLI needed an integrated finance and project management solution for total visibility and control to drive consistent growth.

So, to better understand its project budgets and processes, optimize resource planning, and democratize business insight – the IT consulting firm deployed Deltek Maconomy across its own business.

Making Sense of Legacy Challenges

We spoke to Mads Jensen, Director at VOLI, to learn more about the company’s move to Deltek Maconomy and how it’s helping to streamline operations.

“Our journey with Maconomy arguably started when we became a Deltek partner in 2019, but until recently, we used a very basic accounting system ourselves,” says Mads. “Each month, we had to log our hours and perform invoicing manually, which made it difficult to monitor accuracy and retrospectively edit the data.”

Its legacy accounting solution also prevented VOLI from achieving the project visibility needed to scale its growing international client base effectively. A frustration that is amplified when managing subcontractors globally.

“We needed to ensure time and expense was billed accurately, regardless of where our clients or subcontractors were based,” says Mads. “We also needed to know how to best use subcontractors to plug our skills gap – and invoice them on time in their preferred currency.”

VOLI was also creating one-off budgets and performing resource planning in disparate spreadsheets, making it difficult to get a single, accurate view of projects and financials.

“We knew what needed fixing, and the solution was right in front of us – we just needed to rip the band-aid off,” says Mads. “Our business was healthy, but by moving to Deltek Maconomy, we could see everything that was happening and why.”

Maconomy Onboarding Made Simple

Implementing Deltek Maconomy wasn’t a difficult choice for VOLI. In fact, by using the same system as its clients, onboarding proved seamless.

“We didn’t have to encourage anybody to adopt Maconomy,” says Mads. “We help our clients use it every day, so we all knew what to expect.”

Mads and his consultant peers work directly in the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system benefiting from the added visibility and control. This gives VOLI more insight into how its small and enterprise clients use the system and what works best for them.

“With everyone at VOLI using Deltek Maconomy, we can better understand the challenges our clients may be facing,” says Mads. “And because Maconomy is part of our daily work, we understand how to tailor processes for our clients so that they can get the best out of the system.”

A New Era of Connected Visibility

Moving to Maconomy has also given VOLI a more accurate, connected view of its business, clients, and employees. By retiring its legacy accounting software and empowering its employees with a single source of truth, it can better coordinate resources and identify opportunities to drive efficiency and better serve its clients.

The company made the decision early on to use the Maconomy People Planner module for its resource management. The simple graphical interface offers real-time insight into resource plans, including automated timesheets and progress tracking. This enables VOLI to utilize its resources more effectively, allocate the right people to the right projects and keep workloads manageable, leading to a more engaged and happier workforce.

“Maconomy People Planner gives a more granular view of our resources, what people are doing, and how it relates to the wider business,” says Mads. “This also makes it easier to plan work for and invoice our international subcontractors. Everything is accurately tracked on a single platform.”

As for the future, VOLI is planning on using the Credit Control module to implement periodic budgeting in response to its clients’ use of software-as-a-service (SaaS). This way, the firm can plan recurring revenue into its forecasts and budgets.

Three Pieces of Advice When Looking to Implement a Project ERP

When asked what advice he would give to other businesses getting started on their cloud-based ERP journey, Mads offered the following three tips:

1. Find the right ERP partner
“With so much choice on the market, you must be clear with any potential ERP vendor about what you want. Sit down with them and get to know what they can deliver and what’s possible before you commit. You also need to choose a core system that delivers a single source of truth and can be built on over time.”

2. Get to know the product first
“One of the benefits of Maconomy is that it’s built specifically for project-based businesses so you should have everything that you need from an ERP, but you need to work with somebody who really knows the system to do it right. The key is to know the product 100% before moving any critical processes and be sure to test it too.”

3. Explore possible API integrations
“It’s much easier with cloud-based platforms to access APIs and integrate your ERP with other systems. With the right platform, you can automate routine processes, bring your business together in one place, and easily connect your existing programs to improve efficiency and reduce costs.”

An ERP to Power Project Success

Deltek’s project-based ERP solutions – including Maconomy – help organizations increase visibility, improve efficiency, reduce costs, and get a more accurate view of their business.