Deltek Insight 2010: What's new in Costpoint 7

CP-129: What’s new in Costpoint 7

Delivered by

Sidra Berman & Warren Linscott

1

Copyright © 2010 Deltek, Inc. 2

Costpoint 7 – Feature Map

User Experience

Visual Style

Navigation

Usability

New Features

Accounting

People

Projects

Materials

System

Extend

Integration

Extensibility

Partner Solutions

Deltek Solutions

Deployment

Installation Automation

Hotfixes & Patches

Document

Online Help

Quick Reference

Technology

Architecture

Performance

Compatibility

Implementation

What’s New in Costpoint 7

Costpoint 7: User Experience

Visual Styling Navigation Usability



Interactive elements restyled:

Date picker restyled and simplified

Informational tips & Tooltips

Progress indication for longer-duration system processes

Dialog, result set and group titles

Action buttons, Checkboxes, Select (combination) boxes, Multi-select combination boxes, option-select lists, List box, Radio button, Scroll bars, Group boxes (nested), Text input fields, Static text fields, Hyperlinks

Context improvements:

Visual hierarchy (drop-shadows, modal dimming, varying color, tone, shade and weight)

Animations, transitions and dynamic updates for improved user context

Product wide modifications:

New softer color palettes

Optimized for 1024x768 pixel screen size



Visual Styling


Menu Redesign

Familiar 4 tier drill down menu (Domain \ Module \ Action Area \ Application)

Bread Crumb Navigation

Easy Access to any menu tier from current application

Consistent naming & placement of applications

Access to menu items based on your user or user group security

My Menu

Standard star icon, easy to find

Add items through administration or from the Bread Crumb navigation

Open Applications – Easy access to open applications

File Menu – Standard file menu just as in client server

Standard Shortcut Keys – File menu, Toolbar, Applications actions have been linked to standard shortcut keys

User Flows – Order of operations focused navigation tool available key business processes, Project, Employee, Parts, Goods, Services, etc.



Navigation

Application Menu Navigation

Open Applications

My Menu

Application Breadcrumb

User Preference / Configuration

Select Company

Product Log Out


Navigation



Domain

• Accounting• Projects• People• Materials• Administration

Module

• Approximately 42 distinct areas, divided by function within each domain

Area

• Master Data• Process-

oriented Flows• Reports• Audit Reports• Module Utilities• Interfaces• Controls• Administrative

Utilities

Application

• Various, end of the navigation path

Navigation


Breadcrumb Navigation

Module Icons Navigation Path Recognition


Navigation


User, Group, and Role Improvements:

Consolidation of ‘User Preferences’ and ‘Screen Configurations’ into single ‘User Settings’ panel.

Redesigned simplified Login Screen

Toolbars - custom configuration, including drag-drop reordering and add/remove

Toolbars

New more recognizable Icons

True split button functionality

New Required Field Indicator

Action Cues – Consistent Action buttons throughout dialogs, result sets, and message popups

Validation, Information, Warning, and Error Messages

distinct visual style to distinguish between message type

“Jump to field” for actionable messages


Usability


Record-level tool bars

Product-level tools bars

Toolbar with icons only

Toolbar with icons and labels


Navigation



Usability


Distinct Messages

Field Level Lookups

Infield lookup icons for form, table, and grid views

Enhanced Look up dialog box

Find \ Query

Begins With & Like qualifiers for Find elements.

Default Table view for viewing query results

Enhanced Save Query functionality

Standard controls for building Queries

Table View / Form View

Toggle between familiar Form View and new Table View

Create, View, Edit, and Action multiple transactions at the same time in Table View



Usability



Usability

Client Server Look up from tool bar CP7 Look up from field



Usability

Client Server Query & Find CP7 Query & Find

Grids \ Result Sets

Re-order columns and save as a User, User Group, or Company configuration

Resize column for higher resolutions to view more data at once

Record set paging controls and position indicator ‘1 of N’, next, previous

Row state visualizations, Unselected, Selected, and Focused

Fencing key columns to freeze

them in place

Visual queues for moving between table and form views

New clear visual style for result set tool bars and labels

User tab re-ordering configuration by user, user group, or Company



Usability

Costpoint 7: New Functionality

Accounting People Projects Materials System



Cash Receipts Preprocessor – Convert EDI and NACHA lockbox transaction files into cash receipts transactions in Costpoint.

Fixed Asset Preprocessors – Import fixed asset additions and disposals into Costpoint and includes export features that facilitate the migration of asset records between systems.

Fixed Asset UID (FAR 45) – Generate and store the Unique Identifier (UID) within the Fixed Asset module’s asset master for government furnished equipment. Compliance with FAR 45

Positive Pay Functionality – Modification of check printing to accommodate positive pay requirements from major banking institutions.

Vendor Master Preprocessor – Import vendor master records into Costpoint.

Accounting


Payroll Quality Initiative – Systematic improvements to Compute Payroll, Negative Gross Pay, Local employer Taxes, and Taxed Based on Check Date

Labor Proration – Automate pro-ration of labor wages on the timesheets for new hires and terminations that are salaried employees. Add the to pro-rate salaried employee wages at any time in accordance with DOL and corporate policies.

One time local tax with ceiling limit – extends additional methods to properly account for Local Taxes by enabling a ceiling limit on local taxes and allowing for a one time deduction.

Check / Advice Print in Alpha Order – Print payroll checks and direct deposit advices in Alpha Order and add validation for the Locator Code field.

Leave Reconciliation – True up Accrued Leave balances by automatically looking for changes in employees’ salaries and balancing against past accrued leave.

Accounting


ACRN / WAWF improvements – Ability to submit standard ACRN bills through WAWF. Improved mapping of ACRNs with CLINs to facilitate processing. Addition of Fast Pay functionality for commercial and combo invoices.

Restrict Revenue on Closed Periods – Restrict a user from entering or calculating revenue for a previously closed period.

Status on Open Billing Detail Report – Modification to the open billing detail report to reflect the status of the transaction (billable, on hold, write off, etc.). The ability to display transactions on the report based on billing user group.

Billing Rounding – An alternative rounding methodology for calculating and displaying T&M transactions on standard Costpoint bills..

Projects


Enhanced PO Voucher Preprocessor – New options to upload subcontract or vendor invoices into Costpoint’s Purchase Order Vouchers application.

Improved Sales Order Entry – The ability use the project revenue level set up and project owning organization with in the sales group abbreviation to specify sales order charges.

Downloaded UID and RFID info to tag Generation – ability to download from Costpoint new unique identification identifiers (UID) and radio frequency identification (RFID) information to third party software and specific barcode printers to generate the physical tag.

Assign UID upon Manufacturing Order Initiation – The ability to generated Unique Identification information at the time of entering manufacturing order serial numbers.

New Supply Consumption Options in Master Production Scheduling – option within the MPS module to allow the user to choose how supply will be consumed by forecasted or sales order demand.

Materials


Customization of Standard Labels – The ability to customize standard labels through out the system such as changing ‘Projects’ to ‘Contracts’ throughout Costpoint.

Segregation of Duties – The ability to configure access restrictions by user or user group to Costpoint applications.

Workflow Enhancements – Additional workflow management capabilities introduced in Costpoint Web.


System


Jump to field – Action messages contain a hyper link which will place the focus on the field which needs action taken.

Displaying Multiple Messages – Costpoint 7 will display multiple action messages to the user at one time rather than the one at a time paradigm that existed in Client Server.

Application Configurations – Users have the ability to manipulate the layout of any application and save that configuration. Manage customization to application layout, size, grid fencing and field ordering by user, user group, or company.

Job Server Enhancements– Batch mode processing replacing the client server process server. The Job server will no longer run on a designated work station but will now run on the Application Server:

Process & Report status inquiry - Monitoring Process Server Use and Expected Availability

Job Prioritization – determine which jobs have priority in the queue or when there is a conflict.

Retry Locked Jobs – System will automatically retry jobs and will notify when the retry limit has been reached.


System


Report Customization

support for company-wide and report specific logos

support for dictionary/custom terms for report labels

custom page footer disclaimer statement (configurable by users in System Settings)

conditional display of currency symbols (configurable by users in System Settings)

support for custom fonts (users can choose fonts before printing)

Report Localization and Internationalization

support for formatting of currencies, numbers, dates/times based on locales and currency codes (reports can be previewed differently based on different user profile settings – country/locale)

Localization and International supported for reports stored in reporting archive without re-executing report.

data-driven formatting of currencies, numbers, dates/times based on locales and currency codes.


System


Report Execution and Performance

New supported format; PDF, HTML, RTF/DOC, EXCEL, XML

Asynchronous execution of reports from the application, job server, or print preview

Store and share archived reports

Deliver reports to email, file, network printers, local printers (1-click print), or archive

Control what delivery options by user

reporting archive security by user

ability to run “quick reports” on data from the maintenance screens

In posting applications any report delivery option (file, e-mail, archive, etc) is sufficient to proceed with posting

Report Layout

Improved readability, multiple colors, & separation lines

rich html formatting in preview

standardized layout for listing and grouped types of reports

standardized cover page, page headers/footers

hyperlinked Report Table Of Contents (TOC)


System


Enterprise Content Management Integration:

Link a document in Costpoint with a document in CMS

Linked CMS documents will stay attached with Costpoint document as it is being processed

Ability to view linked CMS documents from Costpoint

Ability to define link between Costpoint applications and CMS document types

Using metadata describing CMS documents as a starting point to enter Costpoint documents

Updating metadata in CMS based on information in Costpoint documents

SharePoint integration through native API.

Support for OASIS Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS)

Microsoft announces support for CMIS in SharePoint 2010

ECM announced support for CMIS in Documentum 6.7 release


System


Security Features:

Costpoint Security Services – create & maintain users & user groups

Dynamic Menu – Users will only see menu items they have access too

Standard User Groups

Strong User Password, Password Expiration, User Failed Login lockout

LDAP & SSO support

Security Controls at the User, User Group, and Company levels for:

Applications and Modules; Read Only, Full, Deny,

Result Sets; Select, Update, Insert and Delete

Subtasks; None, Execute

Report; None, Execute


System


Multi-User Functions (MUF) will be delivered in two phases. Below is a depiction of the generic steps a user must take

Locking occurs during the Open Application process in the current Client\Server versions of Costpoint causing the majority of pain for the user community.

Costpoint 7 will allow users to perform the first three steps concurrently:

The remaining Multi-User Functions will be delivered in a future release of the Costpoint 7.x product family.

Open Application

Data Entry

Save Data

Execute Process

Process Complete

Open Applicati

on

Data Entry

Save Data

Execute

Process

Process

Complete

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System


Costpoint 7: Extend

Integration Extensibility Deltek Solutions Partner Solutions



Costpoint Integration Console – A tool to build customized web services for your specific integration needs. The integration console will help you build, test and deploy web services.

Web Services – Web APIs used to Invoke specific transactions, processes, and reports within Costpoint

Basic Authentication through CP directory services

Costpoint Integration Platform– An integration framework deployed to facilitate integrations for our clients:

Deltek to Deltek integrations e.g. Costpoint CRM to Costpoint

Client 3rd Party systems to/from Costpoint

Deltek Partner Solutions to/from Costpoint


Integration

Costpoint 7: Extend

Extensibility Services through Deltek Consulting Services will provide the capability to extend baseline Costpoint functionality:

Reposition fields & labels

Add new or hide existing non-required fields

Make non-required fields required

Set or change default field values

Customization of labels for specific applications

Add custom data entry validations

on top of existing application logic

Add custom data defaulting logic on top of existing application logic

Invoke custom logic before and after process/action execution

Support for custom Stored Procedures, Java classes and e-mails

Segregated extensions from Deltek code


Extensibility

Costpoint 7: Extend

Costpoint Advanced Planning & Budgeting (New) – Budgeting creation and reporting sandbox integrated with Costpoint financials.

Costpoint Analytics (New) – Executive analytical dashboard solution for slicing and dicing Costpoint data.

Costpoint CRM – Customer Relationship Management solution (formerly GovWin).

Enterprise Planner – Advanced Custom Budgeting

TESS – Time & Expense, and Employee Self Service

DPM – Deltek Performance Management for custom reporting

EVM – Earned Value Management solutions; Cobra, MPM


Deltek Solutions

Costpoint 7: Extend

Dynafact – Advanced Planning and Scheduling

ECP (Enterprise Consulting Partners) – Document Management

Lumigent – Database auditing

TIP Technologies – Quality control for manufacturing

SilkRoad – HR solutions

Data Max – Barcoding and Shop floor control


Partner Solutions

Costpoint 7: Extend

Costpoint 7: Deployment

Installation Automation Hot Fixes & Patches



Automating the current 100+ step installation process into a wizard applications which prompts users for information and automates configuration of 3rd party components.

User prompts and guidance

32-bit and 64-bit installations combined in the same installer

Full logging and audit trail for clean or unclean installation runs


Installation Automation


Maintenance Console

Automatic download , manually driven install of hotfixes and patches on an instance basis

Automatically high-lighting or downloading hot fix dependencies into a single installation package

Instance Audit trail of previous downloads and installation record

Integrated with Customer Care support site based on user credentials


Hot Fixes & Patches


Costpoint 7: Document

Online Help Quick Reference Cards



Improved Help Interaction

Screen Location Drop-downs

Improved topic organization & shorter topics

Embedded links to related topics

Improved Help Content

Match new Web applications and UI

Concept overviews

Procedural documentation


Online Help


New Quick Reference Cards (QCR) to provide help at a glance:

Example


Quick Reference Cards


Costpoint 7: Technology

Architecture Performance Compatibility Implementation



100% Web based architecture – Costpoint 7 is build on a n-tier web based architecture creating a rich user experience on J2EE technology.

N-Tier architecture – Presentation, Web, Application, Database, and Reporting

Report Server – Actuate iServer for increased scalability

Client Server will be completely decommissioned with this release!

Citrix, terminal server, and remote desktop solutions can be decommissioned.

Only a supported browser will be required for the Client

Architecture





Architecture – Historic Client Server Architecture


Architecture – Basic CP7 deployment


10.3.3 10

Oracle 10g/11gMSS

2005/2008

BrowserIE 7 & 8

20 step closing process executing in half the time, 3 hours vs. 6 hours, as Client Server when using CP 7 Job Server and Parallel Execution

Individual processes and application performance up to 4 times faster! (e.g. Update PSR & Create Project Report Tables)

Optimizations include: Oracle 10 SQL Tuning Parallel Execution Support Database Table Partitioning



Performance

Target Costpoint 7 3rd party platform support:

Oracle 11g R2 (pending release)

Oracle 10g R2 Oracle RAC support SQL Server 2005 SP3 SQL Server 2008 Internet Explorer 8 IIS

Windows Server 2003 32-bit Windows Server 2008 64-bit WebLogic 10.3.3 (pending

release) Actuate 10 Client side requirements will be

based on Internet Explorer compatibility since CP7 will be fully web enabled.



Compatibility

Costpoint 7 will a web based, J2EE compliant, multi-tier application. The following considerations highlight the changes that will be required to your environments:

For clients not running CPWeb today setup of a Web server, Application server, and Web server will be required.

Web Server – IIS (provided by Microsoft) or Weblogic 10.3.3 (licensed through Deltek)

Application Server – Weblogic 10.3.3 (licensed through Deltek)

Report Server – Actuate 10 (licensed through Deltek)

Client Server End Users, will be migrated to CP7 web security during the migration\upgrade process.

Migration\Upgrade Paths, will be from 6.1 SP2

Citrix servers or Terminal Servers, are no longer required.

Client-side Requirements, will be driven based on Internet Explorer versions that are supported given that the UI will be all web based.



Implementation

Date post:	20-Aug-2015
Category:	Technology
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