Cameron + Ross Transform Productivity with Deltek Cloud ERP & PIM

An interview with Jon Anderson, Director at Cameron + Ross.

For more than 30 years, Cameron + Ross has provided civil and structural engineering consultancy services to firms throughout the UK. Based in Scotland, the firm's small but accomplished team has completed a diverse range of projects, including hotels, leisure facilities, offices and residential spaces.

A change of ownership in 2015 prompted Cameron + Ross to expand its offices and modernise an aging on-premises database that was slow to generate custom reports, prone to failure and made it difficult to track costs and manage project timelines accurately.

The firm opted to move to the cloud to stay competitive and meet the rising demand for remote and collaborative working. That's when Jon Anderson, Director, recalled a Deltek ERP presentation that had impressed him many years prior. One phone call later, and Cameron + Ross was ready to begin its Deltek journey.

We caught up with Jon to see how life at the firm has changed since going live with Deltek Vantagepoint ERP and Deltek PIM in March 2020. We also learned what's next for the firm as it continues to develop its project management capabilities.

Going Live with the Right Platform at the Right Time

Cameron + Ross had previously allowed a limited number of people to work remotely, but with COVID forcing its entire workforce out of the office, it couldn't have planned a better time to introduce Deltek Vantagepoint and Deltek PIM.

"The appetite for remote working was already there before COVID, and it was clear that we needed to modernise our system to stay competitive," said Jon. "Our on-premises system was very difficult to access remotely over any kind of VPN – so when COVID arrived, we had the ideal opportunity to get up and running in the cloud."

Uniting the Organisation Around a Single Source of Truth

After four years of working with Deltek, 90% of Cameron + Ross's IT infrastructure is cloud-based. This provides a unified view of the end-to-end project lifecycle, including intuitive scheduling, accounting and reporting tools. Now, everyone at the firm can coordinate projects and make decisions from any location.

"The office is wherever your laptop is, but we're aware that not everyone wants to spend five days a week working from home," said Jon. "We recently opened a new office in Edinburgh to expand our physical reach and accommodate hybrid working. Plus, being in the cloud means they can work seamlessly with the rest of the firm in real-time."

When asked how the firm's engineers have responded to the improved visibility offered by Deltek Vantagepoint's live project dashboards and reporting tools, Jon jokes that its engineers may love them a little too much.

"Having that level of business intelligence gives the team everything they need to work more proactively. I love how enthusiastic our engineers are about it, especially the KPI metrics and graphs, which some of the team just can't stop playing with. Engineers love to visualise data, which has totally changed how they work."

Driving Efficiency Through Independence

Since streamlining many of its routine processes and improving project visibility, Jon has noticed the firm's culture become more independent and accountable.

"Before, if an engineer needed to issue an invoice, multiple people needed to manually process and approve it. Now Deltek Vantagepoint alerts the relevant project manager whenever someone submits a draft invoice to help expedite approval," said Jon. "It was the same when new enquiries came in – we'd have to go to reception, consult handwritten lists in a lever arch file and ask the receptionist to digitise any contract data manually. To say it was slow would be an understatement."

Partially automating the invoice approval process in Deltek Vantagepoint allows even junior team members to draft invoices quickly and accurately. For a business that processes thousands of invoices each year and is 99% fee-based, this is a huge win for efficiency.

Reward From Discipline with Deltek PIM

Cameron + Ross built its IT system around Deltek Project Information Management (PIM) to streamline access to emails and project-related documents. It also used Deltek PIM's document lifecycle manager (DLM) to help retire the firm's paper-based folders, transforming company efficiency and productivity.

"We stored our drawings in folders that made tracking revisions extremely difficult,” said Jon. "DLM was initially very alien to us, and we had to be disciplined in getting everyone to use it. Now, 90% of the firm does – and it's so efficient that we can now afford to work a nine-day fortnight, with half the office alternating to take each Friday off."

Jon also saw Deltek PIM as a way to deliver a more confident service, especially when interacting with clients and filing emails with the appropriate details.

"We can access and reference the latest project information instantly, such as on the phone with a client. It helps us field project queries so much faster and provide a much more professional level of service," said Jon. "Plus, PIM can filter out non-essential emails in our archive and earmark the most important details – such as confirmed billing details – for faster, easier access."

Recommendations For a Successful ERP Migration

So, what's Cameron + Ross' secret to getting the most out of a new ERP and information management solution? Jon graciously shared his recommendations for those looking to modernise their business systems.

1. Optimise your project information tagging
   
   "I underestimated how disparate our project data was and how time-consuming it would be to get it in order. Ahead of migration, take the time to identify the data tags that'll help people find relevant information quickly. They need to be intuitive."
2. Don't feel like you need to use everything at once
   
   "It's easy to get excited by all the possibilities a new solution offers, but everyone needs time to get familiar with a new system. Introduce features organically to avoid overwhelming people. Otherwise, it causes chaos – especially for your most senior employees."
3. Use Deltek Vantagepoint – but not if you're a competitor
   
   "I'd recommend Deltek Vantagepoint to anybody, as long as they're not competitors – I don't want them getting the advantage!"

Modernise Project Management with Deltek

Cameron + Ross is just one of many engineering firms using Deltek's solutions to improve efficiency and drive competitive advantage.

To learn how you can use Deltek ERP solutions to power project success and maximise productivity in a single, connected platform – click here.