aka GCS Premier with T&E

As a GovCon system's consultant, I've used/fixed/implemented/transitioned from this system numerous times. It was the accounting solution I recommended to all of my clients looking to be DCAA Compliant. I am sad it's no longer being sold/offered from Deltek.

Pros

I loved most things about this system. It was incredibly simple to implement. The interface was simplified so it became very easy to train new users. Projects and the JSR reports delivered enough information to manage programs/contracts. If setup correctly, it was the ultimate in getting your GovCon accounting system approved by the DCAA.

Cons

Unfortunately, the support for this product is supposedly going away. They're moving everyone to a lite/compartmentalized à la carte version of Costpoint now. This system was expensive but affordable in the sense that your average clerk/bookkeeper could be taught how to use it. Costpoint isn't for the faint at heart! :)

Projeqtor Open source Project Management Platform

I love this platform for projects that require intense tracking of deliverables and project accounting. Project Libra also has a paid cloud version. I would highly recommend this to new firms that are between 1-20 people managing projects.

Pros

Let me start by saying this is clearly the most robust project management platform on the market that falls under open source code.
This platform allows you to do project accounting, deliverable tracking, change management tracking, team allocations, time accounting, and crm functions.

Being a professional project manager I love the robustness of this platform.
All labels are customizable (be careful not to re label something unintentionally).
Project Libra does offer paid setup
Updates seem to be often even as open source

Cons

The paid setup is incredibly expensive
The user interface feels "clunky" and "old" the icons and labels feel like they are straight out of windows 3.1
Open source license prevents companies from charging to sell this software however a means to monetize could be in hosting or supporting on prem deployments (license loophole)
Security becomes an issue for the deployment team to handle

If you're ready...

This software is truly an asset to any company who is willing to put the time, money and resources (human) behind utilizing it to its fullest potential. If you are not ready to completely switch over to this program (leave all other software behind), then do not make the jump!

Pros

If everyone is one board to learn this program, you are in for a real treat.

Cons

Very hard to become proficient at unless you read all online, free resources, and then pay a lot of money to learn the next layer of information at workshops, followed by paying more money for the private consultation to answer follow-up, in-depth questions pertaining to your firms' standard practice.

PPM has a lot of functionality, but a time investment is needed to master it.

Our organization purchased Open Plan and COBRA over 8 years ago. However, we didn't really know much about either application before doing so. The Deltek consultants were very helpful in helping us get each one set up and ready for use. The problem was we didn't start using them on a regular basis or commit resources to them full time, so our knowledge base and expertise didn't evolve. Open Plan proved to be more robust than we needed at the time and we stopped using it. COBRA is used for only specific projects, mainly EVM related, and has provided us some nice benefits. But we still don't have a good handle on all of the functionality, which is holding us back a little. My suggestion is to invest time and resources to these products to get a better ROI.

Pros

Cobra reports are created as Excel files.
Easy budget re-calculation, budget import.

Cons

The integration wizard is a little quirky.

Cobra 8 Release

The latest version of Cobra has many new features that we have been waiting for, we look forward to the future version releases to see what else is in store.

Great for project management

The information available for managing projects is great. There are a lot of new features coming on board that will make this much more user-friendly.

Deltek First takes a lot off the IT dept and gives it to administrator

Pros

The updates get implemented automatically without the need to upgrade on-site servers, and the customer service is always very prompt.

Cons

Most times you have to start with the lowest level of help desk before getting bumped up to someone that actually knows what they are doing. It would be nice to have 1 or even a few experts that were assigned to you so you could build a relationship and skip on some of the frustration of having a novice send you something they copied and pasted out of a manual.

Project Management software is to manage tasks

Pros

It can be used to track the project, Easy to handle, different projects can be managed at portfolio level.

Cons

Since we find few difficulties in updating each and everything and on pulling out a report for analysis purpose.

Project Management

Basically users in the organisation are not as well-versed in PM terminology and for that reason, they tend to fall back on using other software.

Pros

Its an extremely instinctive tool to use and aligned very close to project management terminology.

Cons

Cant see any cons - as I feel the cost is reasonable

Cobra

Cobra is a good earned value system. Great for meeting the government reporting requirements and for managing cost/schedule on projects.

Pros

Easy to use, V8 looks like MS products latest versions, multiple ways a user can get to what they need. Excellent tool for earned value management.

Cons

Not a lot, upgrades sometimes create new issues and have to wait for a patch/fix to come out.

Great for small business.

Pros

Visually appealing and easy to use. Software out of the box is always a plus.

Cons

Nothing specific I like least about the product or vendor.

Increases Quality of Schedules

Pros

This software works best in conjunction with a scheduling software such as Oracle Primavera. It allows us to measure based on industry best practices the quality of schedules.

Cons

Some of the stats given out of the box does not give a good indication of schedule quality. Will need to tweak to fit your organizational needs. May be cumbersome and can take some time to set up correctly.

Open Plan, PMC and Acumen review.

I have been using open plan for about four years and PMC and Acumen more recently. I like how all of these tools (including Cobra) work with each and have found them to be user friendly.

Pros

Accuracy and integration with Cobra to calculate EV.

Cons

Unforgiving at times - greater use of undo function would be nice.

Cloud ERP

Deltek First is a great idea and platform whose time has come.

Pros

Reduced IT overhead cost and up to date patches.

Cons

You have no direct access to the raw data so interfaces for third party feeds are nixed.

SaaS Client - enjoying the server maintenance freedom

Pros

I like that updates are automatically applied and scheduled during non-business hours after our db is backed up and I don't need to ever lift a finger

Cons

There isn't anything I don't like at this point. Works well.

Good tool to assist in schedule development

Pros

This software (Acumen Fuse) allows users to employ industry best practices when developing schedules. Seemless integration with other industry scheduling software to provide users with results targeting quality of schedules.

Cons

The scoring system within the software can be customized but it is not intuitive. Setting up the software to fit your purpose is a one time challenge, but once set up, it is a very powerful software.

Super Support

Dan Zosh is always available to answer questions and provides expert advise! Have used wInsight for many years and Dan is always there to help me when we have any issues. Currently we are working towards a enterprise wInsight database. There are many new structures and unique programs that must have special considerations.

Needs to coexist better with Deltek Vision

managing an overwhelming amount of project e-mails and documents on our server

Pros

It is great for project management. Makes archiving of project e-mails a breeze

Cons

It is not very user friendly. Also we are one of the first SAAS users and the interface between PIM and Vision is not good

Excellent for projects

Pros

What I like about this product is that is very good when managing long projects. The follow up is easy and Reports are easy to analyze.

Cons

No cons. Maybe at the begging it is not so easy to use. You may need to look for some tutorials. For the rest very good tool