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CRI’s Costpoint Implementation Process: Insights, Planning, and What to Expect

Updated: May 24


Office Whiteboard Explaination

Knowing what you’re getting into when moving forward with a Costpoint Implementation is key for both choosing the right implementor and ensuring the end result is what your organization needs. Having guided many firms through successful implementations, we stand by our practiced and perfected process as the gold standard for Costpoint Implementations. As transparency is an important part of that process, we wanted to share a breakdown of how our Costpoint implementation process identifies your needs, guides you through the procedure, and ensures the functionality and support you need during and after the implementation.




Insights from What We’ve Seen

The most common client needs/objectives we’ve seen and addressed have revolved around:


​Flexibility

  • Project/Work Breakdown Structures (More Levels)

  • Unlimited Indirect Rate Structures (More Pools)

  • Multi-Company Accounting Structure with multiple lines of business

  • Automated Revenue Calculations


Visibility

  • Into all Business Processes ( i.e. Purchasing, A/R Collections)

  • Better and more timely Project Management Reporting (Get rid of spreadsheets, one version of the truth)


​Integration

  • Between Time, Expense, Accounting and HR

  • Credit Card imports for A/P and Expense Vouchering

  • With other software packages (i.e. Benefit Vendors)


​Automation

  • Invoicing for ACRN and WAWF (Improve Dales Sales Outstanding)

  • A/P to Fixed Asset Integration with ability to track government assets/property

  • Leveraging technology to streamline business processes (e.g. A/P, Billing, HR, etc.)




Planning a Successful Implementation


Team High Five

​Things to Consider

  • Know your data conversion options (There are several)

  • Understand the IT Environment choices (On-Premise, Cloud, etc.)

Assemble the Team (Internal & External)

  • Small teams work best, but make sure they represent all major functions

  • Know what your external partner is bringing to the party

Define the Project

  • Understand your implementation options (Big Bang vs. Iterative Approach)

  • Important to ensure the project is completed successfully and on time

Have a Project Plan and Schedule

  • Decide on the number of tests you’ll need

Develop Communication Plan

  • More is better

  • This will ramp up as you get closer to Go Live




Data Conversion Options


ETL

  • Uses a predefined methodology to create Projects, Accounts, and Organization codes

  • Requires Data Verification & Validation

  • "Is What it Is" - Is it what you want?


Costpoint Celerity

  • Predefined structures for Projects, Accounts, and Organization codes

  • Options for Data Conversion from previous system

  • Does this work for your business?


Design & Build

  • Design & build structures for Projects, Accounts, and Organization codes

  • Options for Data Conversion from previous system

  • Built for your business and processes




CRI's Costpoint Implementation Process


  1. Software Installation or Deltek Cloud Previsioning

  2. Project Planning & Scheduling

  3. Business Rules Analysis

  4. Review of all Business Processes that will be implemented in Costpoint

  5. Requirements & Design Sessions

  6. Requirements Documented

  7. Data Conversion Specification (Don’t bring bad data into Costpoint)

  8. Design Sessions (Documented)

  9. Project (WBS) – Why Pillar

  10. Account – What Pillar

  11. Organization – Who Pillar

  12. Other Ids – Employee, Vendor, etc.

  13. Data Mapping, System Configuration, and System Implementation

  14. Project

  15. Account

  16. Organization

  17. Control & Setting Screens

  18. System Security (User Group, Users, File Management, etc.)

  19. Test #1

  20. User Training

  21. Create Training media

  22. Functional Testing (Using Test Scripts)

  23. Update Design & Mapping Docs as Needed

  24. Test #2 (Optional)

  25. Regression Testing

  26. Completely “tie-out” Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Open A/P & A/R, etc.

  27. Recommend a “mini” parallel type approach

  28. Integrated Testing

  29. Time & Expense – Import/Export

  30. Cognos – All reports

  31. Others – Employee Preprocessor, A/P Voucher Workflow Automation, etc.

  32. Go Live Prep

  33. Review Test Results and Ensure All Requirements are Met

  34. Prepare cutover plan

  35. End User Training

  36. All users trained on the system and workflows that they are responsible for

  37. GO LIVE

  38. Post Go Live Support

  39. Helpdesk for end users

  40. 1st Month End Close Support

  41. Are there any items that got moved to a post Go-Live Status?

  42. Implementation Review




Timeline


Costpoint Implementation Timeline


CRI as Your Functional Implementation Partner


You have a lot of options when picking an implementation partner, but with all those options comes a wide range of quality and service. We take a “Goldilocks” approach with our implementations, looking at your needs from a functional perspective to provide the appropriate balance of intimacy and expertise.


Costpoint Implementation Partners

At CRI, our philosophy is rooted in providing the best possible customer service and ensuring that you get exactly what you want and more. We cultivate a relationship with our clients so they know who is working on their implementation, where we are in the process, and how we are aligned in our unified goal. Our transparency and knowledge base has proven to be an effective combination in ensuring customer satisfaction.


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