How One Small Government Firm Shifted from Survival Mode to Thriving with Deltek Costpoint

INFINITY Conference Group, a women-owned small business with fewer than 20 employees, has expanded beyond the private-sector conference management organization it started as in 1991. Now specializing in providing exceptional event planning, logistics and project management services to both government agencies and the scientific community, they have transitioned more formally into a professional services firm with a focus on government contracting.

Working Smarter, Not Harder

It’s not uncommon for small businesses to heavily rely on Microsoft® Excel and manual data-entry to execute day-to-day operations for cost savings. But, with spreadsheets comes additional hours worked and an increased margin for error. INFINITY Conference Group learned that spending countless hours reconciling timesheets, only works for so long.

“Everything was so manual, and the real tipping point was that over the last few years, we had seen an increase in the number of cost-plus contracts that we’d been awarded,” says Amanda Curran, Director of Financial Operations and Analysis for INFINITY Conference Group. “With that, came the growing need and requirement for an increased volume of manual calculations for labor costs and invoicing.”

Not to mention the added steps of industry compliance. Government contractors require a clear audit trail – tracking entry approval, posting sequences and record of when changes were made. Deltek Costpoint has guardrails in place to support the market’s nuanced compliance requirements, while providing the needed level of transparency should an audit occur.

Eliminating manual transactions easily increases productivity by automating many processes, big and small, which INFINITY Conference Group experienced when they moved to Costpoint.

“Data is available at the click of a button. We’re no longer having to manually calculate data, whether it be project costs, labor breakdown, invoicing, project analysis or indirect rates. Everything is automated and readily available,” Curran states. “The migration period forced us to reevaluate our accounting processes, to streamline roles within the department and become more efficient in our day-to-day operations.”

Gaining a Holistic View

With automation comes a collection of trusted and reliable data. As teams become more mobile and global, it’s critical that data is easily accessible and accurate.

“The routine financial reporting is so much more efficient and informative with Costpoint - the data is always available. It’s fantastic to know that at any point during the month, I can click a button and know exactly what our actual indirect rates are, or I can calculate the profitability of any given project any day of the month,” says Curran. “It’s also nice to have a robust timesheet system in place, not only for the accounting department and the actual users, but it’s nice that the project managers can see cross-charges for their projects within the timesheet module and that they have the ability to approve those hours before the timesheets are able to be processed and posted.”

Having a holistic view of your data, across the organization, from indirect rates, to hours billed on a specific day for a particular project, is invaluable, reducing the number of timesheet revisions and enables version control, thanks to the real-time access of project and financial data that Deltek solutions provide.

Gaining a complete view enables businesses to operate in a more strategic manner. With the ability to set up detailed work breakdown structures and customizable reporting capabilities within Costpoint users can easily:

• identify the information that you want to track with the needed level of detail
• monitor or analyze revenue, cost, and/or profitability for each project – be it at the task level, roll-up level, or project level

“Even a company as small as ours has really benefited from Deltek Costpoint over the last year. The time savings, the peace of mind, the scalable pricing and licensing options, and the reporting capabilities - you get what you pay for – Costpoint’s an investment but worth every penny.”

– Amanda Curran, Director of Financial Operations and Analysis, INFINITY Conference Group

Investing in a Partnership Not Just Software

When selecting an ERP, it’s not just deciding which system to leverage, you must also consider the implementation and migration, which can be time consuming and burdensome to take on internally, particularly for smaller firms. Deltek recognizes implementing a new solution is an investment, hence ready access to an extensive partner network to oversee the implementation process.

INFINITY Conference Group knew they would need to call in the experts to help manage their migration from QuickBooks to Costpoint, so they enlisted Deltek’s 2020 GovCon Partner of the Year, InfoTek.

“I knew that having a partner like InfoTek with the proper tools, knowledge and experience to do the data migration efficiently and accurately, would play a vital role in the overall success of making this a smooth transition,” says Amanda Curran. “InfoTek has a very knowledgeable team of consultants and experts. We were provided with a dedicated project manager who was assigned to monitor the overall progress of the project, highlight milestones and assign action items to both parties, along with a team of experts who each brought extensive, hands-on experience to the project.”

Not only is Deltek’s partner network made readily available should a business choose that route, but Deltek also acts as a partner through implementation and beyond.

“In addition to all of the time savings we’ve experienced because of Costpoint itself, Deltek also helps provide us with a true peace of mind,” Curran states. “We’re using the cloud-based system, so it’s very reassuring to know that all maintenance, patches, fixes, as well as tax table and regulatory updates, are all done by Deltek directly – we don’t have to worry about any of that.”

Industry Focused and Forward-Thinking

With more than 30 years of government contracting experience, and purpose-built solutions for government contracting firms of any size, Deltek makes managing projects, people and finances easier. Deltek has firmly established a reputation as the industry-leader for contractors, and is trusted by more than 90% of the top 100 federal contractors. With Costpoint, the odds are pretty good that the agencies for which a business is fulfilling contracts, or firms that are being teamed with have prior experience using Costpoint.

“Because Deltek and Costpoint are widely used in the government contracting industry, clients are familiar with the reporting and invoicing templates, so it’s very reassuring to know that we are leveraging a system that’s so widely accepted by DCAA [Defense Contract Audit Agency] and other auditing agencies,” Curran states.

As the industry-leader, it’s critical to know what’s happening in the market and shift with those changes. Deltek is dedicated to purposeful innovation, incorporating cutting-edge technologies into all solutions at the right time and in the right way, helping customers drive project success.

“I know Deltek is very focused on innovation and has many offerings available to enhance the overall functionality for contractors. So not only are additional products available, but it’s also nice to know that Costpoint itself has additional modules – to scale as our company grows,” shares Curran.

Watch this on-demand webinar to learn more about how small government contracting firms like INFINITY Conference Group are making the move to Costpoint to thrive!

About INFINITY Conference Group

Founded in 1991, INFINITY Conference Group, a women-owned small business is deeply rooted in supporting their clients' missions, delivering results that meet the bottom line. Through real-world experience and diverse talents, they deliver exceptional solutions above and beyond expectations, meeting the needs of each client they serve.