Current and Past Winners

2019

For the SilverEdge 2019 Project Excellence Award, we were excited to explore multiple nominations. Now, we are fortunate to announce two finalists and this year’s winner – all of whom have demonstrated a unique and innovative implementation and utilization of Deltek Vision!

Congrats to the 2019 Project Excellence Winner 

BHC Rhodes Team Led by Linda Ross

BHC Rhodes won the 2019 Project Excellence Award for its use of Deltek Vision that enabled them to manage employees, projects and assets more effectively. Their accomplishments have earned them a $500 donation to the charity of their choice, one complimentary registration to Deltek Insight 2019 and a submission to the Deltek 2019 MVP Awards.

BHC Rhodes, an architecture, engineering and construction firm headquartered in Overland Park, KS, started taking advantage of additional useful features of Deltek Vision after attending Deltek Insight 2018. Through their journey, they put more workflows in place, updated dashboards, created User Defined Info Centers, revamped their CRM module and implemented Project Planning.

BHC Rhodes Deltek Vision enhancements generated an ROI of:

  • Reduced administrative work by 20%
  • Increased end user knowledge by 80%
  • Increased compliance with standards by 50%
  • Reduced risk management by 50%
  • Increased knowledge of resource utilization by 75%

“For 12 years, our company has used Deltek Vision to track our business. It’s our go-to resource to manage all aspects of our business.” – BHC Rhodes

Learn more about the company here: https://ibhc.com/

2019 Project Excellence Finalists

The finalists for the award, who both received a $250 gift certificate and a Deltek 2019 MVP Award submission, were:

Pat Valliere of Design Systems, Inc.

Pat has led her team at Design Systems, Inc. to use Deltek Vision to increase the company’s bottom line profit and reduce the time it takes to address any project financial issues. As a result of their efforts, the Business Manager and Ownership team now closely reviews reports on a weekly basis, enabling them to make changes to the team makeup or rates in a timely manner and ensuring that projects are managed properly and hit their target billing rates.

“Engaging more fully with the Deltek Vision Platform and leveraging its capabilities enables us to continue to see improvements in our operational efficiencies.” – Design Systems, Inc.

Maggie Browning of Walker Consultants

Due to leveraging Deltek for Professional Services solutions across 2017 and 2018, Walker Consultants achieved its best three months in business in May, June and July of 2019 and has given employees access to accurate information allowing them to focus more on design. Walker Consultants is on track for a net revenue increase of 30% and an overhead rate decrease of 5%.

“Walker’s people are focused every day on delivering superior service and value to our clients and their dedication has placed us at the forefront of our industry and positioned us for the growth that will keep us there. We have a bright future together.” – Jim Orchard, CPA, CFO

2018

2018 was an exciting year for our SilverEdge clients! We witness inspired innovation in project implementation, and we are pleased to recognize some truly best-in-class projects.

Each year SilverEdge recognizes a client for Excellence and Innovation in utilizing their Deltek Vision system.  We absolutely love that many of our clients have also been recognized by Deltek in their annual customer award programs.

Congrats to the 2018 Project Excellence Winner:

Draper Aden Associates Team

DAA’s incredible efforts have earned them a complimentary pass to Deltek Insight 2018, a $500 donation to the charity of their choice and they were submitted as a nominee for the Deltek 2018 MVP Awards for which they have been named a Finalist!

DAA was able to combine the CRM and Accounting systems into one Vision system to reduce data redundancy, inefficiency and manpower while maintaining two systems. They configured their Vision system with all of its tools and functions to save several days a month on invoicing and reduced their paperwork tremendously. DAA was also able to improve cash flow by getting invoices out 5 days sooner.

2018 Project Excellence Finalists

We would also like to give some love to our Project Excellence Finalists, whose efforts stimulated efficiency and growth in their organizations. Project Excellence Finalists received a $250 gift certificate from SilverEdge and their projects were submitted as nominations for the Deltek 2018 MVP Awards.

Elizabeth Seagrave of GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc

Elizabeth implemented Electronic Invoice Approval, which decreased Billing Coordinator turnover by 90% and increased billing response compliance by 40%. The company’s future growth planning is now easier to manage on the billing side.

Kim D’Amato of Applied Technologies

Kim implemented a self-serve process for new projects and opportunities. This reduced duplication of effort, made managers more efficient and allowed Project Managers to create work plans immediately.

Klein and Hoffman Team

The Klein and Hoffman Team implemented a Project Renumbering system to allow for easier reporting, iAccess usage and arming their project managers with better information to help manage their projects and stay on budget.

2015

This year, SilverEdge chose two winners and three finalists for the annual SilverEdge Project Excellence Awards recognizing innovation in using Deltek solutions to meet particular business challenges. Following their tradition,  SilverEdge sent a singing telegram to present awards to each of the finalists and winners.

The winners of the 2015 SilverEdge Project Excellence Award were:

Kevin DeWitt of Alliance Engineering, Inc

Kevin’s project streamlined the flow of information within Alliance Engineering by integrating all critical information into a single source. Automatic updating of records, generating reports, and making information easily accessible in a timely fashion to all who need it has increased efficiency company-wide. Making creative use of Deltek Vision and Deltek’s User-Defined Info Centers was key to the transformation.

Richard Borbe and Carey Goetz of DCI Engineers

Richard and Carey had a three-pronged project that addressed accessibility of information to employees in the field, complicated calculations of benefit accruals in multiple states, and integrating over 40 classifications into company history, allowing quick access to similar projects needed for interviewing and placing bids. Creating unique information centers with Deltek’s User-Defined Info Centers was a part of each solution.

2014

The winner of the 2014 SilverEdge Project Excellence Award was:

Nathan Mintier of GaiaTech

Nathan received the award for creating a Change Order Request Processthat has created greater insight into projects and created more revenue opportunities for the company. Nathan was serenaded by Neil Dixon Smith as he played a song and sang, “SilverEdge has sent me, Neil Dixon Smith, to deliver this message to you Nathan, their valued client.” He then played a few more songs and presented him with his CD as a gift.  As the winner, Nathan also received a pass to Deltek Insight and $500 donation to the charity of his choice.

The finalists for the award, who both recieved a $250 gift certificate, were:

Pat Yedlicka of the Farnsworth Group

Pat’s team implemented a validation workflow that would track common errors at the time of entry for both expenses and time. Not only would the workflow point out the error to the user, but it would give input on how to correctly input the information, thus educating the employee and preventing future errors. Pat received her news from a special singing telegram Elizabeth Lakamp of www.entertainmentbyelizabeth.com.

Laura Ott of Christopher B Burke Engineering

Laura’s team developed company practices including staff training in their use of Vision Navigator. For her special on-site announcement, Laura was also serenaded by Neil Dixon Smith.

Each of the SilverEdge finalists and winner were also submitted to nomination for the Deltek 2014 Project Excellence Awards. During Insight 2014 General Session, Nathan Mintier was selected as a Finalist for the Deltek Project Excellence Award.

2013

The winner of the 2013 SilverEdge Project Excellence Award was: DCI Engineers

2012

The winner of the 2012 SilverEdge Project Excellence Award was: Zak Companies

Award Details:

  • A free pass to Deltek Insight 2012
  • A $500 donation on behalf of Zak Companies to the charity “Our Little Haven”(www.ourlittlehaven.org)

Zak Companies, a mechanical, electrical, plumbing and technology design engineering firm,  rose to the challenge to develop an organized solution to eliminate a very time consuming, inefficient process for tracking information needed to effectively measure and market their past and current projects. What was lacking was a process to seamlessly search on what specialty design features were included in projects as well as types, sizes of projects and other related information. Previously when an engineer or a marketing person was looking for this type of information they would travel the corridors asking each engineer or director if they remembered any projects with the criteria they were looking for.

During the development process they included key staff to view and ask questions about what they were creating, how it looked and how it would be accessed. They took feedback from each of these sessions reviewed the requests and comments and implemented the changes that they felt were relevant. Once the core group was satisfied they had the correct information and layout, they took several weeks to test and try to see if they would find any issues or holes in the information. As expected, they did identify some items to modify and add.

Once they felt it was rock solid, they did a final presentation and described how this information would be entered into Vision and how staff will be able to access and query the information. They then set up individual training with each member and actually gave them homework to run several queries and provide the results. This insured each team member understood the process and the information that is available. Typically the training took less than 30 minutes per staff member and most of that time was just reviewing and describing what information is available for them to access. Now, as they add new staff members this will become a part of their new employee training just as they are trained on filling out timesheets and other day to day assignments.

2011 

The winner of the 2012 SilverEdge Project Excellence Award was: Butler Fairman & Seufert

Key Innovations

  • A web-based “Graphical Employee Status” applet that lets employees manage their status from anywhere
  • A Document Tracking System that helps HR manage safety and policy requirements
  • An Overtime Analysis Module that applies customized rules to approved timesheets and makes any necessary changes before the timesheet is posted
  • Graphical representations of projects and an online bulletin board to highlight both project and company activities

Significant Benefits
Butler Fairman & Seufert (BF&S) implemented Deltek Vision as part of a multi-year, multi-tasked project.  They’ve received significant benefits as a result:

  • Up-to-the-minute information delivered via dashboards, reports and custom integrations
  • Improved cash flow and accuracy with invoices being sent out four days earlier
  • Saving 30 hours per month entering and reviewing timesheets and expenses
  • More efficient and more accurate billings
  • Better insight into project and company activities

BF&S’s started with key modules including Time, Expense, Accounting, and Billing.  CRM and Custom Proposals modules were later integrated to manage their customer base and to bring in new work.  InfoCenter, Reporting, Document Management, along with project management and performance metrics were implemented to address resource planning.

BF&S is a civil engineering firm based in Indianapolis, IN with annual revenues of $21M.

Finalist: Airfoil Public Relations

Key Innovation:  Automated Paid Time Off (PTO)
Using Deltek Vision’s workflow functionality Airfoil created an automated time off process that that has increased employee satisfaction and saved manager’s time.   The automated process notifies supervisors of a time off request and subsequently notifies the employee of the PTO decision.

PTO requests are tied to what an employee has earned to date and what time has already been taken. Supervisors can easily see all requested time off and how many people could be out on the same day. Employees have immediate access to their PTO information.

Supervisors can be assured that teams are staffed appropriately and employees are no longer left wondering if they can take the day off.

Finalist:  Baxter & Woodman, Inc.

Key Innovation:  Client Info Center Contractor Specifics Tab
To streamline management of Contractor data and link Contractors to construction projects, Baxter & Woodman, Inc created the Contractors Specifics tab. This combination of drop-down menus and memo boxes tell about the firms experience with a contractor, while number fields provide details regarding contractor capacity.  A Contractor Skills Grid uses a Text Library to define the Contractor’s abilities in terms used in standard specifications.

Data previously hidden away in the firm’s network of 27 supplemental databases was imported into Deltek Vision.  The single data source provides information critical to the firm’s final product and has eliminated the need the for expensive monthly maintenance and specialized database training.  In total, the firm estimates saving 550 hour per year while improving employee access to real time information.

Finalist: Design Concepts, Inc.

Key Innovation:  The Projects Report
Design Concepts, Inc. has utilized Deltek Vision to replace an entry-level accounting package and a variety of project management spreadsheets with a single report.   The Projects Report provides an at-a-glance look at how projects from across the firm are being managed.

Project managers now rely on easy-to-read graphs that monitor budget, burn rate, project hours worked, overages, schedules and milestones.  Color coding highlights project status and the internal perception of the quality of work being performed.

Increased project visibility has allowed Design Concepts to allocate resources more effectively, ensure accurate billings, and hold project managers more accountable.