Making it Your Own –

User Defined Info Centers in Vision

Presented by Mike Held, IT Analyst

V3 Companies

What are user defined info centers?

A completely separate set of fields and screens for the

entry, display and reporting of information (data) that may

or may not be related to other data in Deltek Vision.

UDIC = User Defined Info Center

How is this different from custom fields?

Custom fields have been available since forever!

Allowed organizations to create new data fields related

to and within EXISTING info centers e.g. Firms,

Contacts, Projects, etc.

When might you use UDICs?

Store information INDEPENDENT of existing info centers, or

Related to one or more info centers but different security settings are

needed, and/or

Reduce user dependence on spreadsheets for shared data needs

Some Examples of User Defined Info Centers at V3

Accounting Team Custom Feature

Applicant Tracking

Bid and Budgeting - Construction Group

Business Card Management

Business Planning

Ecological Restoration Team Work Orders

Employee Recognition (High Five!)

Information Technology

Marketing Project Matrix

Marketing Requests

New Hires

Quarterly Check-In

V3 Tables

Appendix of Presentation includes comments and screenshots on a variety of these Info Centers.

What my users say…

The greatest benefit of (Project Sheet Request)info center for the marketing group is that once atechnical staff person has completed a request, wehave everything we need to create AND store anew project sheet. No more tracking people downfor bits and pieces of stray information!

– Rozanne Ferguson, Manager of Marketing

The New Hire Info Center acts as a checklist forwhen a new hire is made. It is really helpful whenwe hire someone a few months before they startand we can keep track of what they need, whatthey don’t have yet, etc. When it is on my Deltekpage, the checklist is always in front of me, insteadof on a piece of paper that could get lost. ForService Anniversaries, the process is 100% easier.Before we had to create a packet, hand deliveritems to employees, and now that it is all donethrough Amazon/Deltek a lot of the admin time hasbeen cut down.

– Rachel Urbanski, HR Generalist

We typically have over 1000 work orders enteredand executed per year. The system makes it veryeasy for me to isolate a certain parameter such asdates, budgeted hours etc.. Being able to do thismakes scheduling much faster and easier. Wehave also been able to use the system forforecasting staffing needs, keeping a record ofpesticide usage and even logging notes on staffperformance. Being able to do all this in one placeis excellent.

– Brad Millis, Manager of Field Operations,

Ecological Restoration Practice Area

Deep Dive

Let’s use one of our UDICs as an example and dive

deep into the Tips and Tricks of UDICs

Employee Performance Reviews

Online performance review tool costing $10,000s of dollars per year

Complex; more than we needed

Philosophical shift from one to many discussions

HR asked the question “Can Deltek Vision Do It?”

– Answer: “You Betcha!!”

But Where? In Employee Info Center?!?!?

Rejected!

Why?

– Security primarily

• No good way to limit access to a tab or to certain

fields to just the employee and/or supervisor

Solution?

Created a User Defined Info Centers

called….

Quarterly Check-In

Allows for up to four check-ins between Employee

and Supervisor / Reviewer each Year

Considerations when creating a new UDIC

UDIC_UID field “behind the curtain”

UDICs have to have either a “Name” or “Number” field

– Name = mix of alpha and numeric

– Number = unique record identifier, typically numeric

Look “behind the curtain”

1. UDIC_UID = unique identifier

2. CustomCurrencyCode = money related

UDIC

3. Create Date, etc.

4. CustNumber

5. CustName

Populating UDIC_UID field

Manually added Record

– System Assigned

Loaded Record

– You must assign e.g via Stored Procedure

– Must be unique and not repeat

– Consider using the NewID() feature of t-sql

• NewID default to 36 characters

• right(NewID(),32) to shorten

– BETTER is to use an existing ID if possible e.g. EmployeeID

Populating Cust Name or Cust Number

Manually Entered Record

– Enter it by hand

– Create using a column update workflow item

• For example:

– cast(year(getdate()) as varchar)+CONVERT(varchar(2), GETDATE(), 101) +

CONVERT(varchar(2), GETDATE(), 103) +cast(datepart(hour,getdate()) as varchar)

+cast(datepart(minute,getdate()) as varchar) +cast(datepart(second,getdate()) as

varchar)

– Result is: 2016101092846

– Year Month Day Hour Minute Second

Loaded record e.g. via Stored Procedure

– Assign as needed

– Use NewID(), etc.

• Keep Name, Number or Both

• Default checks in

• Standard Search By

• Display in Result List

• Display in Result List need to

be identifying fields

Back to Quarterly Check-In

Actually Composed of Three UDICs

1. Employee Diary

2. Supervisor Diary

3. Quarterly Check-In Discussion and Sign Off

Employee Diary

Fields

– Trick: Employee ID is

used as the UDIC_UID

– “Employee” field

– Employee ID is

CustName

– URL

– Memo

– Character

• “Employee Name

for Search” field

– Date

Available Field Types in UDIC

Field Types

– Character

– Checkbox

– Currency

– Date

– Dropdown

– Lookup

– Memo

– Numeric

– URL

System field types

– Name = CustName

– RecordID = CustNumber

Info Center Linked

– Displays the “Key” field

• Project – Project Name (not

number)

• Employee – Employee Name

• Contact – Contact Name

• Firm – Firm Name

• Opp – Opp Name

– UDIC can also be linked

• Displays the CustName or

CustNumber

Sample of Display of Info Center Fields

Supervisor Diary

Similar to Employee Diary

Trick: UDIC_UID is the

EmployeeID

concantenated to

Supervisor Employee ID

Access control

A simple query for each Info Center

Same for all security roles

Quarterly Check-In – Discussion tab

• Enter initial thoughts

and notes

• Buttons insert pre-

defined questions or a

time stamp entry.

• Report Links

• If employee is on screen

then can access

Quarterly Check-In – Sign Off tab

• Text area is running

history

• Initials, save updates

mod user

• Employee sign off

• Supervisor sign off

• Availability of skip

Security for the Discussion and Sign Off Screen

If employee is on

screen, then they

can access.

HR has full control.

Q & A about UDICs from Deltek

What version was the first to have custom fields (not info centers)?

– Vision 4.X

What versions of Deltek Vision have user defined info centers (UDICs) available?

– Vision 7.0 and up

Will UDIC be available via any touch app or via iAccess?

– UDICs are currently on the roadmap to be added to iAccess in 2017. The exact timing is still to be determined and may change.

What are you doing with UDICs?

Let’s see what is being done by other firms!

Please submit a survey for this session via the

mobile app.

29

Learn More

Get plugged in

• Join a user group (regional, virtual)

• Interact in Kona – Client Advisory Council

(CAC) and more! (VisionPSM@Deltek.com)

• Join the MVP program

Visit the Vision kiosks in the Expo Hall

Follow the Vision Blog @ http://bit.ly/Vision_Blog

Attend a live VPM, CRM, Resource Planning,

demo or sign up for an upcoming webinar at

Deltek.com

©2016 Deltek, Inc. All Rights Reserved 30

Contact Information

Feel free to email me any questions at mheld@v3co.com that we don’t get to today.

Appendix:

Brief Overview of Each User Defined Info Center at V3

Accounting Team Custom Feature

I needed to provide the Accounting Team with a way to run a custom stored procedure on

demand. This is the simplest of User Define Info Centers with just a couple fields and a

user initiated workflow to launch the stored procedure. The user enters a code in the

“Confirm Clearing…” box and the stored procedure runs.

Information Technology UDICs

I am required to keep track of all of the static IPs that are assigned to

systems. The custom info center provided a perfect location for the

information. It’s nice to have one location for IT department documentation

that can be shared with the whole team.

– Sean Sheehan – System Administrator

Information Technology UDIC

1. Backup tape contents

2. Wifi passwords

3. ISP info

4. User assigned software and

licenses including product keys

5. IT accounts and passwords on

vendor websites

6. Internal IT Accounts and

passwords but NOT highly secure

accounts

7. File server security exceptions

8. Equipment assigned to employees

including serial numbers

9. Details on servers in the server

room

10. Printer details including IP

addresses

11. Logins and password for non-

employee users of the computer

systems

Used to track a wide array of IT information for main and field offices including:

Access to this info center is limited

to the IT Team!

V3 Tables

This info center is used to store

information used in other parts of

Deltek Vision and in reports.

For example, we use Market Sectors

to categorize projects and then each

Market Sector is part of a Business

Development team. In order to allow

for aggregating revenue, backlog etc.

I needed a place to store the

relationship. The V3 Tables give me a

place to do that.

Other data stored there includes:

– Bill group prefixes used in

discrepancy reporting

– Type of work look up for ER work

orders

– Revenue and Sales Goals for

each BD Team

Human Resource UDICs

The New Hire Info Center

acts as a checklist for when a

new hire is made. It is really

helpful when we hire

someone a few months

before they start and we can

keep track of what they need,

what they don’t have yet, etc.

When it is on my Deltek page,

the checklist is always in front

of me, instead of on a piece

of paper that could get lost.

For Service Anniversaries,

the process is 100% easier.

Before we had to create a

packet, hand deliver items to

employees, and now that it is

all done through

Amazon/Deltek a lot of the

admin time has been cut

down.

- Rachel Urbanski

HR Generalist

How has the info center made things easier?

V3 wanted to move from a traditional annual performance review process to an informal quarterly review process to

encourage timely and pertinent conversations between supervisors and their staff regarding the employee’s

performance. The Employee and Supervisor Check-In diaries provide a secure place for supervisors and employees

to record topics that they wish to discuss at the next Check-In. The Check-In Discussion tab also provides a secure

place to record and document the topics that supervisors and employees discus during the Check-In meeting. The

Quarterly Check-In Info Center has built in alerts to remind employees/supervisors when Check-In’s are due; when

sign-offs are needed, to inform supervisors when an employee elects to skip an upcoming Check-In, etc.

What manual processes have been replaced?

V3 previously used an annual Performance Appraisal software tool where we had to “build” the performance review

process each year and add new hires, remove terminated staff and update supervisor review responsibilities. With

the custom Deltek Info Center, HR no longer needs to make these updates prior to each review process because this

maintenance is done throughout the course of the year as we update the Deltek Employee Info Center. Our former

system also did not have the ability to generate alerts when appraisals were due or when sign-offs were needed so

those manual processes have all been automated with the custom Deltek info center.

Any other insights you’d care to share!

The feedback that we have received from directors, supervisors and staff is that the process of using the custom info

center is very user friendly. In addition, the use of the customized info center allowed V3 to move the emphasis of

the performance appraisal conversations from the employee’s past performance that couldn’t be changed; and

instead to place the focus on helping the employee put forth their best future performance.

- Stephanie Lindemann, Director of Human Resources

Applicant Tracking

As the name suggests, we needed to track the

applicants for open positions but didn’t need

the full functionality of the new HR solution

available from Deltek.

The Human Resources group generally uses

the list view and a search to locate the records

to report.

They also use the available built in reporting

feature.

HIGH 5! & Service Anniversary

This UDIC allows for the awarding and tracking of

employee recognition related information.

V3 has a program for peer and supervisor

recognition of individual achievements. The

award is referred to as giving and receiving a

“High 5” and there is an associated cash award.

The award may be used on Amazon for products

or gift cards.

In addition, service anniversary milestones also

result in recognition and an award.

The screen has a place for the employee to

nominate a colleague, a section to review their

balance information and a section where they can

request a redemption.

Note that the employee sees balances related to

both the High 5 program and the service

anniversary recognition program. There are also

screens for managing awards and for

redemptions.

Construction and Ecological Restoration Team UDICs

For me, I really love the ER Work Order center that you

created. It has streamlined the field work to a level I could

never have imagined. It has done this without all the face

to face meetings, phone calls and emails that where

necessary in the past to get our field work completed.

In addition to the improved scheduling mechanism it

provides, the field staff can easily provide feedback after

the work has been completed using the same system.

This feedback is utilized by the project manager to

increase efficiencies of future work. What an incredible,

user-friendly tool that has allowed us to reach higher levels

of efficiencies.

George Milner, Senior Restoration Ecologist

We have been able to take what used to consist of 4-5 spreadsheets, a weekly

meeting and a lot of phone calls and create a very powerful, centralized work

order system. It has saved a lot of time, is much more organized and makes

getting work done a lot easier. It has been especially helpful that Mike has

been able to tweak and customize the reports, fields, etc. as we got more

familiar with the system and discovered items we wanted to add or modify.

It is much easier to train new employees on using our work order system than

the method we used in the past. It also has better “safety nets” in the event a

trainee makes mistakes.

We typically have over 1000 work orders entered and executed per year. The

system makes it very easy for me to isolate a certain parameter such as dates,

budgeted hours etc.. Being able to do this makes scheduling much faster and

easier. We have also been able to use the system for forecasting staffing

needs, keeping a record of pesticide usage and even logging notes on staff

performance. Being able to do all this in one place is excellent.

My only wish is that we could access the work orders from an ipad in the

field. It would make entry/finalization a lot easier. The potential is great for the

system but in the end you deserve the credit Mike. If you didn’t have an open

mind about problem solving and be as determined as you are to help us find

solutions, it would just be potential unrealized. Hopefully you can stress that

importance to them.

• Brad Millis, Field Operations Director

Bid and Budgeting - Construction Group

This is one of our most complex

User Defined Info Centers. It

contains more 970 fields and 50

grids.

It functions as a method of

creating an estimate for an

Ecological Restoration proposal

and, when won, a budget for the

budget vs. actual comparison.

Screen shot shows the estimate

for the Prescribed Burn service

we provide on Twin Lakes Park

2014.

Totals are at the top of the

screen.

Bid and Budgeting - Construction Group (continued)

The general tab summarizes

the content of the other tabs.

It provides a place to link to a

“Resultant Project” for the

budget to actual comparison.

Note the boxes under each

tab at the top. A stored

procedure puts a dollar sign in

when a tab is used.

Ecological Restoration Work Orders – General tab

V3’s Ecological Restoration group manages a wide

variety of field work using a UDIC. This info center

allows the PM to enter the requested work, a general

timeframe and the specific work to be performed.

The field manager then uses this information to build a

schedule for the field staff including our seasonal

interns.

Note the “Link” field at the bottom right. This link opens

a custom SQL Server Reporting Services report that

can be printed and distributed.

Note that the “Enter Project” field allows for entry of a

project number but then displays ONLY the Project

Name. This is why there is a “Project Number” field

under “Project Information – Display Only”. A simple

workflow action copies the project number into a

character field for display.

Ecological Restoration Work Orders – Field tab

Upon returning from the

field, the field lead enters a

variety of additional post

work information. This

communicates the work

details back to the PM.

The herbicide grid allows

the team to accurately

report on use for

government reporting.

Executive and Management UDIC

“Our firm’s use of custom Info Centers has revolutionized our approach to a number of business

practices. For example, our Business Planning now is done completely in Vision, allowing us to use

our client database to build a “bottom-up” revenue estimate. Using actual performance data from

Vision helps us create a more pragmatic budget. Because all of the budget assumptions are input

into Vision at the client level, we’re able to assess our ongoing performance against those

benchmarks throughout the year as well as direct our business development activities.”

Ed Fitch, Senior VP

V3 Companies

Business PlanningV3 prepares its annual budget by reviewing detailed historical revenue information and backlog in a UDIC. The information

below is loaded from the Firms, PRSummaryMain reporting table and a custom grid on each project where PMs estimate

backlog.

The Business Development Teams then review and add “unnamed opportunity” information based on their market and client

knowledge. Once this completed the information is aggregated via a custom SSRS report to provide a budget for the next year.

Marketing Team UDICs -

The Project Sheet Request Info Center defines the workflow for

creating new marketing project sheets. Information Technology

has incorporated several items to simplify the information required

from our technical staff; making it much more likely that they will

create new marketing project sheets. These items include:

– Bringing over information from the Project Info Center that

is needed for the final sheets (project name, client,

location, cost, start date)

– Using check boxes for commonly-used items such as

service codes

– Including instructions for description text

– Providing a place to link to photos and graphics

The greatest benefit of this info center for the marketing group is

that once a technical staff person has completed a request, we

have everything we need to create AND store a new project

sheet. No more tracking people down for bits and pieces of stray

information!

– Rozanne Ferguson, Manager

The customization of our matrix has cut the time in half for

extracting information needed for proposals. Reference

information, location, project value etc. Everything you need to

fulfill requirements of a proposal are at your fingertips. Less time

spent on trying to find all this information means more time spent

on the proposal message with winning themes, compelling text

and graphic concepts.

• KJ Fyten, Business Development Coordinator

Business Card Management

V3 wanted to have a place to

track Business Card orders and

customizations SEPARATE from

the information on the Employee

Info Center.

The base record is copied via

stored procedure from the

Employee Info Center.

Marketing and the

Administrative Assistants

maintain this information

including using it to order.

Marketing Matrix -Request

The Marketing Team creates and manages a

variety one sheet summaries for both

completed and in progress projects. This

information is then used in subsequent

Proposals and Submittals to support

obtaining that next project.

The Matrix has a UDIC for PMs and Directors

to request the creation of a project sheet.

Once initiated the Matrix is used to track

creation and maintenance of the Project

Sheet and related documents.

Note tabs where additional details including a

write are collected. Information is moved from

the Project Sheets Request Info Center to the

Matrix info center via a stored procedure. May

be initiated by a Director, PM or by Marketing.

Marketing Matrix

The Matrix serves the

Marketing team as

THE place for all the

details that are used on

the Project Sheets.

Users also use the

Matrix to locate project

sheets they want to

use in Proposals and

Submittals.

Note additional tabs

that track all the related

details.

Note url fields that

provide links to the

Project Sheet pdfs on

the network.

Sample Marketing Sheets

Miscellaneous Marketing UDICs

Text Library (not pictured)

Marketing Digests

Statement of

Qualification Requests