In today’s complex project landscape, organizations face mounting pressure to deliver on time, maintain compliance, and manage costs across increasingly regulated environments. Deltek's 2025 Clarity Report reveals that 42% of government contractors cite accurate cost forecasting as their #1 project management concern, while 54% expect compliance costs to continue increasing. Additionally, with 96% of IT teams ranking cybersecurity as a top priority and CMMC compliance costs mounting, government contractors need solutions that enhance security without breaking the budget.
Deltek Cobra 8.7 rises to meet these challenges, addressing pain points such as login friction and access control, inflexible EVM reporting, manual month-end tasks, and compliance development costs, to help project teams work smarter, faster, and with greater confidence.
Security and Compliance Built for Today’s Demands
Cobra 8.7 delivers the security and compliance features that address challenges raised by our customers. With full integration to PPM Administrator, users benefit from modern authentication, self-service password management, and enhanced access controls. This not only streamlines the login experience but also reduces helpdesk burden and ensures sensitive project data is protected.
For organizations operating globally or under export control regulations, the new Authorized Control Countries feature enforces compliance by restricting access to projects based on country assignments. Sensitive information remains accessible only to authorized personnel, supporting industries like aerospace, defense, and advanced manufacturing.
PPM Administrator brings enterprise-grade authentication and access control to Cobra.
Flexible Earned Value Management—Analyze What Matters Most
Cobra 8.7 expands earned value management (EVM) capabilities, giving project analysts unprecedented flexibility in how they analyze and report performance. New features allow users to filter reports and processes by Earned Value Technique (EVT), making it easier to generate targeted insights and streamline compliance verification. Support for assignment percent complete on apportioned resources ensures progress tracking reflects real-world scenarios, while integration with Open Plan’s Steps EVT enables more accurate schedule/cost alignment.
Specify EVT as a filter criterion to generate reports that include only activities using specific EVTs such as Percent Complete, Level of Effort, or Milestone.
Automation That Drives Productivity
Month-end close should not require manual intervention at every step. Cobra 8.7 introduces Batch API enhancements that automate forecast freezing and zero-out data operations—tasks that previously required manual effort and were prone to inconsistency. Organizations can now script and schedule these operations, ensuring they happen reliably without tying up project teams.
This release delivers several new automation enhancements designed to streamline month‑end processing. Cobra can now automatically create any missing control accounts and work packages during actuals import, including all required key‑field elements such as WBS and OBS, eliminating one of the most common causes of failed imports. Resource‑replacement capabilities have also been expanded with more precise, flexible filtering options. Together, these improvements remove day‑to‑day friction and help project teams maintain momentum during their most time‑critical reporting cycles.
Compliance Made Simple for Government Contractors
Government contractors will find significant value in Cobra 8.7’s expanded support for regulatory data exports. Enhanced IPMDAR Cost Performance Data (CPD) export now includes custom summary performance data, eliminating manual reconciliation between detailed and summary reports and streamlining the reporting process while ensuring consistency. Department of Energy contractors gain additional DOE Performance Analysis and Reporting System (PARS) support with DS22 Financial Calendar generation, removing dependency on custom development or third-party tools. Additionally, UK Ministry of Defence contractors benefit from built-in MOD report formats, significantly reducing implementation time and cost while eliminating the need for custom development expertise.
The Cost Data Export wizard now includes options for custom summary performance data, allowing organizations to provide aggregated performance metrics required by specific contracts or customer requirements beyond the standard IPMDAR format.
Designed for Real-World Project Challenges
Cobra 8.7 is built for organizations that need to manage complexity, maintain compliance, and deliver results. Whether you’re a program controls manager, cost analyst, or government contractor, this release empowers you to:
- Protect sensitive project data with enterprise-grade security and access controls
- Ensure compliance with global regulations and government standards
- Analyze project performance with flexible, targeted EVM tools
- Automate routine tasks to boost productivity and reduce risk
- Deliver accurate, audit-ready reports for stakeholders and regulators
Take Control
Despite industry challenges, progress is possible. Deltek's 2025 Clarity Report shows 80% of projects were delivered on or under budget in 2024, a 4% increase from the previous year. Cobra 8.7 represents a step forward in cost and earned value management, helping organizations close the gap between where they are now and where they want to be. With enhanced security, smarter compliance, and powerful automation, Cobra 8.7 gives project teams the tools they need to join these high performers and be successful in today's demanding environment.
Visit the Deltek Learning Hub to watch the What’s New in Cobra 8.7 video and access release notes, demos, resources, and more information about how Cobra can help your team deliver with speed, clarity, and control.
