What reporting tools does Deltek Vantagepoint include?
Deltek Vantagepoint includes a built-in report writer for standard operational reports, saved searches for filtered data views, an interactive dashboards module for KPI monitoring, and SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) as the underlying engine for custom report development. Custom SSRS reports can be built directly on Vantagepoint’s SQL Server database and deployed within the Vantagepoint application.
When do AE firms need custom Vantagepoint reports?
When the standard Vantagepoint report library doesn’t produce the specific format your principals, project managers, or clients need — particularly for project profitability by phase, multi-project portfolio views, custom invoice formats, utilization dashboards outside Vantagepoint, and pipeline-tobacklog reports that combine CRM and project data.
Who This Guide Is For
Deltek Vantagepoint is the ERP of choice for architecture, engineering, environmental, and consulting firms — project-based professional services businesses where every financial decision traces back to a project, a client, a phase, and a person.
If you are a principal, CFO, operations director, or project manager at an AE firm running Vantagepoint, this guide is for you. Not for IT — for the people who need the reports.
We build custom Deltek Vantagepoint reports and dashboards for architecture, engineering, and consulting firms since 2021. Here is what we’ve actually learned about
Vantagepoint reporting — including the gaps that every firm we work with eventually hits.
What Makes Vantagepoint Reporting Different From Other ERPs
Vantagepoint is not a manufacturing ERP or a distribution ERP with a project module bolted on. It was built from the ground up for project-based professional services — which means its data model, and its reporting, reflect the specific metrics that AE firms track.
The core data structure is project-centric. Every transaction — labor, expense, fee, billing — is tagged to a project, a phase, a task, and a person. This structure makes Vantagepoint unusually capable for project-level financial reporting compared to general-purpose ERPs.
The challenge is that Vantagepoint’s standard report library, while extensive, still has gaps — particularly around the multi-project portfolio views, custom invoice formats, and external dashboard access that growing firms increasingly need.
Vantagepoint’s Built-In Reporting Tools
Vantagepoint ships with four reporting mechanisms. Understanding what each one does — and where each one stops — is the starting point for every Vantagepoint reporting conversation.
1. The Vantagepoint Report Writer (Standard Reports)
Vantagepoint’s built-in report writer generates formatted reports from a predefined set of report templates — project status reports, billing reports, labor cost reports, utilization summaries, AR aging, and more. Users select a report, apply saved search filters, and generate output in PDF, Excel, or print format.
What it does well:
- Standard project status reports showing budget, costs to date, and remaining budget
- Billing reports by project and invoice
- Labor detail by employee and project
- Standard AR aging and accounts receivable reports
- Overhead and multiplier reports Revenue recognition reports
Where it falls short:
- Reports are formatted in Vantagepoint’s standard layout — you cannot easily produce a report that matches your firm’s branded format or a client’s required template
- No automated scheduled delivery — someone has to log into Vantagepoint and run the report manually each time
- Cross-project portfolio views are limited — it is difficult to produce a single report showing profitability across all active projects simultaneously in a management-ready format
- Reports cannot easily pull data from outside Vantagepoint (pipeline data, HR data, benchmarking data)
2. Saved Searches
Saved searches are filtered data views — essentially dynamic queries that apply criteria to Vantagepoint records and display matching results in a grid. They are used extensively for operational monitoring — finding all projects over budget, all invoices over 60 days outstanding, all employees below target utilization in the current period.
What saved searches do well:
- Quick operational views for project managers and PMs
- Filtering large project lists by status, client, PM, or financial threshold Input for dashboard widgets
Where they fall short:
- Grid output only — not formatted for external delivery or management presentation
- Cannot produce calculated summary rows or cross-project aggregations easily Not a substitute for formatted reports
3. Vantagepoint Dashboards
Vantagepoint’s built-in dashboard module displays KPI tiles, charts, and saved search grids inside the Vantagepoint application. Project managers can see their project portfolio at a glance. Principals can monitor firm-wide metrics. Finance can track billing and AR status.
What Vantagepoint dashboards do well:
- Real-time KPI visibility inside Vantagepoint
- Project-level health monitoring for PMs
- Firm-wide operational metrics for principals
Where they fall short:
- Only accessible inside Vantagepoint — principals, clients, or board members without a Vantagepoint login cannot see them
- Limited visual sophistication compared to Power BI
- Cannot easily combine Vantagepoint data with data from external systems (CRM pipeline, HR, benchmarking services like Deltek’s own industry surveys)
- Dashboard configuration requires familiarity with Vantagepoint’s setup — not always accessible for non-technical firm leadership
4. SSRS Custom Reports (The Custom Development Path)
Deltek Vantagepoint utilizes SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) for powerful custom reporting. Custom SSRS reports can be set up in a development environment, built to specification, and published directly within Vantagepoint.
This is the most important reporting fact about Vantagepoint: it runs on SQL Server, and SSRS is its custom reporting engine. This means:
- Custom reports can be built by any SSRS developer with Vantagepoint database knowledge — Deltek Professional Services involvement is not required
- Custom SSRS reports appear inside Vantagepoint alongside standard reports — users run them the same way
- The full SQL Server ecosystem is available — complex multi-table queries, crossproject aggregations, custom calculations, formatted professional layouts
- SSRS subscriptions can deliver custom reports automatically by email on a defined schedule — eliminating manual report runs entirely
The Reporting Gaps Every AE Firm Hits
After working with architecture and engineering firms on Vantagepoint reporting, these are the gaps that come up repeatedly — the reports that Vantagepoint’s standard library doesn’t produce cleanly.
Project Profitability by Phase — In a Format Principals Actually Use
Vantagepoint tracks project costs and fees at the phase level. It does not naturally produce a single report showing profitability across all phases of all active projects simultaneously — comparing original fee, approved additional services, total fee earned, costs to date by phase, and projected margin — in the format a principal review meeting actually uses.
The standard Vantagepoint project status report shows this data for one project at a time. Getting a portfolio view across 40 active projects, ranked by margin or flagged by threshold, requires a custom SSRS report that queries across all active projects simultaneously. This is one of the most common custom Vantagepoint report requests we receive.
Employee Utilization Dashboard Outside Vantagepoint
Utilization is the primary operational KPI for every AE firm — billable hours as a percentage of total hours available, by employee, by department, by office, trended over time.
Vantagepoint tracks all of this.
The problem is that utilization dashboards inside Vantagepoint require a Vantagepoint login. Principals who want a morning dashboard showing firm-wide utilization, department directors who want their team’s utilization without logging into Vantagepoint, and operations directors who want utilization trended against targets — these use cases need a Power BI dashboard connected to Vantagepoint’s SQL Server database. The data is there.
The accessible, external visualization layer isn’t.
Custom Invoice Formats
Vantagepoint’s billing module generates invoices — but standard Vantagepoint invoice formats are Vantagepoint’s design, not your firm’s. AE firms with specific client invoice requirements — detailed billing by phase and task, specific fee arrangement presentations (lump sum, percent of construction, time-and-materials), firm branding and letterhead — need custom invoice templates.
Custom Vantagepoint invoices are built as SSRS report templates connected to Vantagepoint’s billing data and deployed within Vantagepoint’s invoice printing framework. Once deployed, they appear as print options alongside the standard templates.
Pipeline to Backlog to Revenue Bridge
The report that firm principals and CFOs want most — and that Vantagepoint doesn’t produce natively — is the pipeline-to-backlog-to-revenue bridge: current proposal pipeline (by probability and expected start date), contracted backlog (signed work not yet started or in progress), revenue recognition forecast (earned revenue from active projects by month), and a combined view showing how today’s pipeline converts to future revenue.
This report requires combining Vantagepoint’s CRM/opportunity data with project financial data — a cross-module query that the standard report writer doesn’t handle easily. It is a custom SSRS or Power BI development engagement and is the single highest-value custom report for strategic firm planning.
Multiplier and Overhead Rate Analysis
AE firms use overhead rates and multipliers to price services and monitor firm health. Actual overhead rate vs. target, actual multiplier achieved vs. proposed, overhead cost trends by category — these are the financial KPIs that determine whether a firm is pricing its work correctly. Vantagepoint has the underlying cost data. The specific multiplier and overhead analysis format that firm principals and their CPAs use requires a custom report that matches the specific calculation methodology the firm has agreed on.
Multi-Office Consolidated Reporting
Firms with multiple offices or studios need consolidated reporting — total utilization across all offices, project portfolio by office, revenue by office compared to office overhead — while also being able to filter to a single office’s view. Vantagepoint’s standard reports handle single-entity views well. Multi-office consolidated management reporting typically requires custom development.
Vantagepoint vs. Deltek Vision and Ajera: Reporting Differences
Deltek has historically sold multiple ERP products to the AE market. If your firm migrated from Vision to Vantagepoint — or is evaluating the migration — the reporting differences matter.
Deltek Vision was the predecessor to Vantagepoint. Custom reports built in Vision used Crystal Reports as the primary custom reporting tool, not SSRS. Vision ran on SQL Server as well, but the custom report development path was primarily Crystal Reports rather than SSRS. Firms migrating from Vision to Vantagepoint often have existing Crystal Reports custom report libraries that need to be assessed and either migrated to SSRS or rebuilt.
Deltek Ajera is Deltek’s ERP for smaller AE firms — simpler than Vantagepoint, designed for firms that don’t need Vantagepoint’s complexity. Ajera’s reporting architecture is different from Vantagepoint’s — it does not use SSRS in the same way, and custom report development in Ajera requires different skills.
If you migrated from Vision to Vantagepoint and your existing custom Crystal Reports are breaking or no longer available, that is a Crystal to SSRS migration engagement — rebuilding the same report logic in SSRS connected to the Vantagepoint database.
When to Hire a Deltek Reporting Consultant
Hire outside help when:
Your principals are still assembling reports manually in Excel. If the monthly project review package involves someone exporting from Vantagepoint and reformatting in Excel, that process should be automated. A custom SSRS report connected to Vantagepoint and scheduled to deliver automatically eliminates the manual step permanently.
Your standard reports don’t match the format your clients or bonding agents require. Invoice formats, project status report templates, and fee reconciliation formats that need to match specific client or contractual requirements are custom development work — not Vantagepoint configuration.
You need utilization and project health dashboards accessible outside Vantagepoint. Leadership who want a morning dashboard without logging into the ERP, or who want to share performance data with board members or investors, need an external dashboard layer — Power BI connected to Vantagepoint’s database.
Your Vantagepoint custom reports broke after an upgrade. Vantagepoint version upgrades occasionally change the database schema in ways that break existing custom SSRS reports. Diagnosing and repairing broken custom reports after an upgrade is a common consultant engagement.
You migrated from Vision and your Crystal Reports no longer work. Vision-era Crystal Reports do not automatically convert to Vantagepoint SSRS reports. Assessment and rebuilding is required.
You need project profitability and pipeline reports the standard library doesn’t produce. The high-value strategic reports — portfolio profitability, pipeline-to-revenue bridge, multiyear utilization trends — are custom development work.
What We Build for Vantagepoint Users
We build custom Deltek Vantagepoint reports and dashboards for architecture, engineering, environmental, and consulting firms. Specifically:
- Custom SSRS reports deployed within Vantagepoint — project profitability by phase, portfolio views, utilization summaries, multiplier and overhead analysis, multi-office consolidated reports
- Custom invoice templates — branded, professionally formatted invoice reports matching your firm’s format and client requirements
- Power BI dashboards connected to Vantagepoint’s SQL Server database — utilization dashboards, project health scorecards, pipeline-to-revenue views, accessible outside Vantagepoint without an ERP login
- Automated report delivery — SSRS subscriptions that email project status reports to PMs, utilization reports to department directors, and financial summaries to principals automatically on a defined schedule
- Vision Crystal Reports to Vantagepoint SSRS migration — rebuilding existing custom Vision reports in SSRS for the Vantagepoint database
- Post-upgrade repair — diagnosing and fixing custom reports that broke after a Vantagepoint version upgrade
No minimums. No retainers. No up-front cost. US-based team. Same-day responses.
FAQ
What database does Deltek Vantagepoint use?
Deltek Vantagepoint uses Microsoft SQL Server as its backend database. This is significant for custom reporting — SQL Server is directly accessible to SSRS, Power BI, Crystal Reports, and Excel Power Query with readonly credentials. The entire Microsoft reporting ecosystem is available for custom Vantagepoint report development without requiring Deltek Professional Services involvement.
Can you build custom Vantagepoint reports without Deltek Professional Services?
Yes. Custom Vantagepoint reports can be built by setting up a development environment, building the custom reports using SSRS connected to Vantagepoint’s SQL Server database, and publishing them directly within Vantagepoint. This does not require Deltek’s involvement. Any SSRS developer with knowledge of Vantagepoint’s database schema can build, test, and deploy custom reports. Independent reporting consultants — including ReportingGuru — do this regularly for AE firms.
What is the difference between Deltek Vantagepoint and Deltek Vision for reporting?
Both Vantagepoint and Vision run on SQL Server, but their custom reporting paths differ. Vision used Crystal Reports as the primary custom report development tool. Vantagepoint uses SSRS. Firms migrating from Vision to Vantagepoint often have existing Crystal
Reports custom report libraries that need to be rebuilt in SSRS connected to the Vantagepoint database structure — which differs meaningfully from Vision’s database schema.
Can Power BI connect to Deltek Vantagepoint?
Yes. Power BI connects directly to Vantagepoint’s SQL Server database. This enables interactive dashboards for utilization monitoring, project health tracking, pipeline analytics, and financial KPI views — accessible to firm leadership, board members, and operations directors without requiring a Vantagepoint login. Power BI dashboards refresh automatically on a defined schedule, so the data is always current without anyone manually running a report.
What reports do AE firms most commonly need custom help with in Vantagepoint?
The most commonly requested custom Vantagepoint reports are: project profitability by phase across all active projects simultaneously (portfolio view); employee and department utilization dashboards accessible outside Vantagepoint; custom invoice templates matching firm branding and client format requirements; pipeline-to-backlog-to-revenue bridge reports for strategic planning; multiplier and overhead rate analysis matching the firm’s specific calculation methodology; and multi-office consolidated reporting for firms with multiple locations.
How are Vantagepoint reports delivered automatically?
Custom SSRS reports deployed in Vantagepoint can be configured with SSRS subscriptions that generate and email reports automatically on any defined schedule — daily, weekly, monthly — without anyone logging into Vantagepoint or manually running the report. This is how we implement automated delivery of project status reports to PMs, utilization summaries to department heads, and financial packages to firm principals. The report shows up in the right inbox at the right time without any manual action.
What is the Deltek Vantagepoint report writer?
The Deltek Vantagepoint report writer is the built-in report generation tool included with Vantagepoint — it produces standard formatted reports from a library of predefined templates covering projects, billing, labor, expenses, AR, and overhead. It is accessible to non-technical users who select a report, apply filters, and generate output. For reports outside the standard library — custom formats, cross-project portfolio views, custom invoice templates — SSRS custom development connected to Vantagepoint’s SQL Server database is required.
Related Pages
Deltek Vantagepoint Custom Reports — Our Vantagepoint reporting service page — SSRS custom reports, Power BI dashboards, invoice templates, and Vision-toVantagepoint migrations.
SSRS Consulting Services — The primary tool for custom Vantagepoint report development — SSRS connected to Vantagepoint’s SQL Server database.
Power BI Development — Interactive utilization dashboards, project health scorecards, and pipeline analytics connected to Vantagepoint data.
Crystal to SSRS Migration — For firms migrating from Deltek Vision with existing Crystal Reports libraries that need to be rebuilt for Vantagepoint.
Crystal Reports Services — Vision-era Crystal Reports development and maintenance for firms still on Vision or in mid-migration.
Job Cost, WIP & Project Reporting — Project-level financial reporting concepts — job cost summaries and WIP schedules — that apply directly to AE firm project reporting.
Financial & GL Reporting — Overhead, multiplier, and firm financial reports built on Vantagepoint GL data.
How to Automate Business Reports — The step-by-step guide to moving from manual Vantagepoint report runs to automated SSRS delivery.
Why Your ERP Reports Aren‘t Enough — The structural reasons Vantagepoint’s standard report library doesn’t cover every AE firm need — and the four options for fixing it.
Custom Business & Enterprise Reporting — What a complete custom reporting engagement looks like for an AE firm.
External Resources
Deltek Vantagepoint Official Documentation — Official Deltek documentation for Vantagepoint including the report writer, saved searches, and dashboard configuration.
Deltek Community — The official Deltek user community — useful for Vantagepoint reporting questions, database schema questions, and shared report templates.
Microsoft SSRS Documentation — The authoritative reference for SSRS — the custom reporting engine used for Vantagepoint custom report development.
Need Custom Vantagepoint Reports Built?
We build custom SSRS reports deployed inside Vantagepoint, Power BI dashboards connected to Vantagepoint data, custom invoice templates, automated report delivery via SSRS subscriptions, and Vision Crystal Reports migrations — for architecture, engineering, environmental, and consulting firms across the US.
No minimums. No retainers. No up-front cost. US-based team. Same-day response.
Deltek Vantagepoint Reporting Services → Contact us → or call 1-800-921-4759