Customer Success Story
OPUS International Consultants Ltd.
Deltek Vision® Helps International Engineering Consultancy Streamline Their Operations Around The World
The Challenge
As a 2,500 person international engineering consultancy with offices in New Zealand, Canada, Australia, and the UK, OPUS has come a long way from its beginnings as the New Zealand Ministry of Works. Today, OPUS provides specialist advice and project management across a wide range of service sectors. OPUS's main areas of work include highway asset development and maintenance, architecture, structural design, infrastructure development, asset management, water management and environmental planning.
Strong growth and numerous acquisitions were straining OPUS's legacy systems. A long-time Deltek Advantage user, OPUS had reached the limits of Advantage's capabilities and recognized the need for a more advanced, integrated system that combined their CRM, project, and accounting databases together in one system. In addition, OPUS had a large international operation and needed one solution that could manage multiple locations and multiple currencies to give OPUS one complete view of how their business was performing. “When we'd run a project - or its billing - through multiple offices, it would become a logistics and accounting nightmare,” said Graeme Ross, Information Systems Manager for OPUS.
Seamless integration and multi-company, multi-currency capabilities were the key drivers that led OPUS to Deltek Vision.
The Solution
After briefly evaluating other options, OPUS turned again to Deltek. OPUS had previously implemented a number of Deltek products, including the Advantage accounting system. Their positive experiences with Deltek's products, including their familiarity with Deltek's world-class service and support, made Vision the obvious choice to meet OPUS's needs. Vision offered much richer functionality than they had in the past, and it integrated all of OPUS's important functions and eliminated the separate databases that previously existed. “It was as if we were using the same systems, just with more features and different dashboards. Everyone was comfortable and the transition was seamless,” Ross continued.
Specifically designed for professional services firms like OPUS, Deltek Vision automates and integrates the planning, tracking, and administration of both resources and projects. From Project Management to Resource Utilization, CRM to Project Accounting, Deltek Vision helps many of the largest A&E firms in the world run their global businesses.
OPUS took full advantage of Vision and implemented numerous modules, including Project Accounting, Billing, CRM, Project Planning, Timekeeper, Purchasing, and Multi-Company and Multi-Currency. Each delivers the power and flexibility to streamline their business, while eliminating multiple project, accounting, and client databases.
The Benefit
Almost immediately, OPUS began to see the benefits of their new integrated Vision system. From managing client relationships and real-time project status updates to web access for employees around the world, every aspect of the new system now saves OPUS time, and ultimately, money. “Deltek helps us to streamline every aspect of the business, and gives us an outstanding level of consistency and accuracy in our data,” Ross continued. “Knowledge is power, and Deltek Vision has made us a very powerful organization.”
OPUS now takes advantage of customized reporting to better manage their marketing campaigns and customer interactions. Invoices and projects are now better aligned since they're drawing from the same database, and bills are being sent out sooner than before. Automated alerts make sure that employees submit timesheets on time and project managers know which clients are past due on their bills, which helps OPUS improve their collections process and reduce their Days Sales Outstanding (DSOs). But the biggest benefit has been the new multi-company, multi-currency capability. Ross concluded: "The huge headaches and accounting nightmares in dealing between the international offices are gone. The amount of time and effort Vision saved us in that area alone has more than paid for the entire implementation, hands-down."
OPUS International Consultants At A Glance
Company Name: OPUS International Consultants Ltd.
Headquarters: Wellington, New Zealand
Primary Business: OPUS is a multi-national engineering consulting firm providing specialist advice and project management primarily for highway asset development and maintenance, architecture, structural design, infrastructure development, asset management, water management and environmental planning.
URL: www.opus.co.nz
| The Deltek Advantage |
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The implementation of Deltek Vision enabled OPUS to:
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