Deltek Customer Service: comprehensive, practical guidance from a practitioner

Contents

1 Deltek Customer Service: comprehensive, practical guidance from a practitioner

Overview and context

Deltek (headquartered in Herndon, Virginia) is a market-leading provider of enterprise software for project-based businesses. Founded in 1983, Deltek serves thousands of government contractors, A&E firms, and professional services organizations worldwide. For customer-facing teams and IT owners, effective Deltek customer service is not an abstract function: it is a combination of coordinated support channels, tiered SLAs, proactive release-management, and skilled account engagement.

This document focuses on actionable detail: what to expect from Deltek support, how to prepare for and escalate incidents, how professional services and training integrate with ticketing, and the metrics you should track. Wherever possible this text uses concrete, industry-standard benchmarks so teams can compare their own targets (for example SLA windows, MTTR, and CSAT targets) and decide when to buy Premier-level services vs. standard support.

Support channels, ticket handling and typical SLA model

Deltek support is delivered through a combination of channels: the web support portal, phone for critical incidents (phone numbers are account- and region-specific and are published in your customer portal), chat for quick queries, knowledge base articles, and the user community forums. Most enterprise customers log new incidents via the Deltek Support portal (accessible from https://www.deltek.com under Support), attach screenshots and system logs, and then monitor case progress. For urgent production outages you should use the phone escalation path specified in your contract in addition to opening a Priority 1 ticket.

Typical SLA tiers used by Deltek and comparable enterprise vendors are: Priority 1 (production down or severe business impact) — initial response within 1 hour and continuous engagement until resolution; Priority 2 (major functionality impaired) — initial response within 4 business hours; Priority 3 (medium impact/partial loss) — initial response within 1 business day; Priority 4 (low-impact requests/enhancements) — response within 3–5 business days. Note: exact SLA windows are contractual and can vary by product (Costpoint, Vision, Vantagepoint, etc.), region, and purchased support level (Standard vs. PremierCare).

What to include in a support case

Submit succinct, reproducible cases. The faster Deltek engineers can reproduce an issue in a test tenant, the faster it resolves. Avoid “it’s broken” tickets — the difference between a 48-hour versus 5-day resolution is often the diagnostic data you provide up-front.

Product and version (e.g., Costpoint 8.1.2 or Vantagepoint release, include exact patch number)

Environment type and URL (Production, Test, Dev) and tenant or client ID

User identity and role that experienced the error (full username, not just “admin”)

Exact steps to reproduce, starting-to-finish; include sample data if possible

Time stamps (UTC or local), and the approximate server time when the issue occurred

Full screenshots of errors and any application trace or stack trace text

Relevant logs (application, IIS, services) or exported diagnostic package

Recent change history (patches installed, config changes, integrations updated in last 30 days)

Business impact and desired outcome (workaround acceptable? Rollback requested?)

Point-of-contact details including escalation phone and windows when staff are available

Providing the items above avoids multiple back-and-forths and speeds triage. For integrations include API payloads, correlation IDs and network traces when timeouts or authentication failures are present.

PremierCare, training, and professional services

Deltek offers enhanced service packages (often called PremierCare, Premier Support, or Success Services) that include a dedicated Customer Success Manager (CSM), proactive system health checks, release-readiness briefings, and higher SLA commitments. Organizations running mission-critical financials or government-contracting systems typically buy PremierCare to secure faster response windows and a named escalation path; buyers in competitive bids often budget PremierCare at procurement time to reduce operational risk.

Training and enablement are separate but tightly linked to support outcomes. Deltek University (online and instructor-led courses) offers module-specific training (financials, time & expense, HR) and certification tracks for administrators. Practical rule of thumb: plan for 20–40 hours of administrator training per major module during initial onboarding and an annual 8–16 hour refresh for new releases. Professional services engagement for complex implementations (integrations, custom reports, conversions) is sold on day-rates or fixed statements of work; scope and price vary, but a mid-size, 3–6 week integration project commonly ranges from $20,000–$120,000 depending on complexity and deliverables.

Measuring support success and governance

Define internal KPIs and map them to contract KPIs. Good target ranges to aim for in a mature Deltek operation are: SLA fulfillment >95% (by priority), CSAT 85–95% for routed cases, first contact resolution 60–80% for standard incidents, and mean time to resolve (MTTR) under 24 hours for P2/P3 categories. Track case volume trends monthly, time-to-resolution distributions, and repeat incident rates (root-cause recurrence). These metrics enable capacity planning for licensing, staffing and training.

Establish a governance rhythm: weekly operational reviews for high-volume issues, monthly business reviews with your CSM to review roadmap and upcoming releases, and quarterly security/compliance reviews (SOC reports, penetration test findings). For regulated customers (DFARS/NIST/CMMC) ensure your Deltek contract contains the required data processing and security provisions and confirm the cadence for control assessments and audits.

Escalation protocol and contractual safeguards

If a case is not progressing, use the escalation path in this order: (1) re-open ticket with “Escalation” flag and notify your CSM, (2) request an incident bridge (war room) with support engineering, and (3) invoke contractual escalation clauses (VP-level contact) if still unresolved. Keep escalation communications factual — list actions taken, next steps, and expected timeline. For P1 incidents request a bridge and named engineers until resolution.

Document expected deliverables and hold the provider to SLAs in your Statement of Work or Master Services Agreement.

Negotiate service credits, change control processes, maintenance windows, and data handling terms upfront.

Require periodic compliance evidence (SOC 2 reports, penetration test summaries) if you operate in regulated sectors.

In summary: excellent Deltek customer service requires preparation (good tickets and diagnostics), the right contracted support tier (PremierCare for mission-critical workloads), ongoing training and governance, and clear escalation paths tied to contractual remedies. Use the checklists above and the SLA benchmarks to align internal expectations and to negotiate appropriate terms with Deltek or your implementation partner.