Engineering and architecture
Deltek project history: what to export before a migration
By SourceX Editorial · Updated
Short answer
Before a Deltek migration, export full detail for projects, timesheets, expenses, billing, receivables and project notes, not only the balances the conversion carries forward. Keep the linking keys together: project and WBS numbers, employee IDs, client IDs and invoice numbers. Then tie the export to the old system's totals before anyone retires it.
Key takeaways
- Conversions usually carry open projects and balances; closed-project detail often stays behind unless someone exports it.
- Export raw detail tables together with their lookup tables, not only saved reports.
- Project number with WBS, employee ID, client ID and invoice number are the joins that hold project history together.
- Tie the export to the trial balance, AR aging and hours totals before the old system goes read-only or away.
- Keep pay rates, salaries and bank details in a restricted archive, separate from the working copy.
Why does project history get left behind in a Deltek migration?#
Project history gets left behind because a conversion is scoped around what the new system needs to run, not around what the firm may need to look up later. Open projects, current balances, active employees and active clients move; closed-project detail is often summarized or skipped to keep conversion effort down.
The pattern holds whether the move is Vision to Vantagepoint, Ajera to Vantagepoint, or Deltek to another ERP entirely. Read the conversion scope in your statement of work line by line and list everything it excludes. That list of exclusions is your export list.
Finance has the strongest reasons to care. Audit requests, tax questions, fee disputes, claims on old projects and future fee proposals all rely on detail that a carried-forward balance cannot answer.
The export checklist: projects, time, billing and notes#
The export checklist should cover every table that records what was planned, worked, billed and collected on each project. Use the table as a starting point and match the names to your Deltek product and version.
Do not skip user-defined fields and custom tabs. Many firms built their own fields over the years for building type, delivery method, fee basis or market sector, and those rarely appear in a standard conversion map.
| Record family | Fields to keep | Why it matters later |
|---|---|---|
| Project master and WBS | Project number, phases, tasks, client, project manager, contract type, fee, status, dates | Every other record joins to it |
| Timesheets and labor detail | Employee ID, date, project, phase, task, labor code, hours, billing status | Hours by phase show how work was actually delivered |
| Expenses and consultant costs | Vendor ID, voucher, project and phase, cost type, billable flag | Reconciles reimbursables and consultant markups |
| Invoices and billing history | Invoice number, billing terms, amounts billed, held and written off by phase | Explains fee disputes and write-offs |
| Receivables and cash receipts | Invoice number, receipt date, amount, adjustments | Supports collection history and audit |
| Budgets and plans | Budget versions, estimates at completion, revisions with dates | Shows how estimates moved during delivery |
| CRM and proposals | Opportunity, client, stage, win or loss, linked project number | Connects pursuit history to delivered work |
| Project notes and descriptions | Free-text notes, descriptions, user-defined fields | Holds context no structured field captures |
Which keys hold project history together?#
Keys hold project history together, and an export without its identifiers is just a set of disconnected lists. Each transaction table should leave the system with the identifiers that tie it to a project, a person, a client and a period, plus the lookup tables that explain what those identifiers mean.
Renumbering is the trap to watch. If the migration renumbers projects or phases, keep a crosswalk from old to new numbers in the archive. Without it, history in the old export and activity in the new system cannot be joined, and multi-year project reporting breaks at the cutover date.
- Project number with full WBS, using phase and task codes as they were, not as they were later renumbered.
- Employee ID with a lookup of title, labor category and organization unit at the time of the work.
- Client ID with a lookup of client names and parent relationships.
- Invoice number, linking billing, receivables and cash receipts.
- Opportunity ID, linking CRM pursuits to the projects they became.
- Labor, expense and organization codes with their descriptions.
- Fiscal period tables, so each transaction lands in the right month and year.
Should you keep reports or raw tables?#
Raw tables are the archive and reports are the evidence, so keep both for the periods that matter. A saved project earnings report or billing history PDF shows an auditor what the system displayed at the time, but it flattens detail and cannot be re-sorted or joined to anything.
Export detail tables to CSV or a database backup, depending on how you run Deltek. Firms on their own servers can often take a full database backup and restore it read-only for lookups, but a backup is only useful if someone can query it later: keep the table and field documentation, a list of user-defined fields and a few saved queries with it. Hosted customers should read their subscription agreement for export rights and ask Deltek what a full data extract includes and how to request one.
For each closed fiscal year, also save a standard set of reports as PDF: project earnings, billed and unbilled detail, AR aging and labor by project. Those become the reference point for every later tie-out question.
Tie-out checks to run before sign-off#
Tie-out checks prove the export is complete before the old system is switched off. The controller should own them, because they reuse reconciliations finance already trusts.
Record each result, who ran the check and when, and file the record with the archive. If the old data is needed later in an audit or dispute, that record shows the export was complete at cutover.
- Trial balance by period from the export matches the old system's trial balance.
- AR aging rebuilt from exported invoices and receipts matches the old aging report.
- Hours by project and year from exported timesheets match the system's labor reports.
- Project counts by status and invoice counts by year match the old system.
- Unbilled work in progress at cutover matches what the new system opened with.
- A handful of closed projects check out end to end: budget, hours, invoices, receipts and notes.
Which fields need restricted handling?#
Pay rates, salaries, bank details, tax identifiers and personnel notes need restricted handling, separate from the project history most staff will use. Cost-rate columns can reveal individual pay when combined with hours, so treat labor cost fields as sensitive too, along with client contact details.
Keep a full restricted archive for finance and legal use, and a second working copy with personal details removed or replaced by consistent pseudonyms. Use the working copy for project analytics, pricing studies and any outside review, including an assessment of whether the history could be licensed.
Illustrative: a regional engineering firm leaves Deltek Vision#
Illustrative: a fictional civil and structural engineering firm, Brightwater Engineering Group, planned to move from Deltek Vision on its own server to a hosted ERP. The conversion scope covered open projects, active employees and open receivables only.
The controller listed every exclusion, then exported detail tables for all closed projects with their lookup tables and a crosswalk for renumbered phases. Trial balance, AR aging and hours tied out; one gap in user-defined fields surfaced and was fixed before cutover.
The firm kept the Vision database as a restricted read-only backup alongside a pseudonymized working copy. When a fee dispute arose later on a closed project, finance answered it from the archive without restoring the old server, and the estimating team used the working copy to compare budgeted and actual hours by phase when pricing new proposals.
How SourceX looks at Deltek history#
SourceX looks at Deltek history as one record family among several, most useful when project numbers link it to proposals, RFIs, submittal reviews and QA/QC comments. Under the SourceX Enterprise Data Value Framework, project notes and decisions carry domain expertise and human-generated signal that bare transaction totals lack, while pay and personnel fields add privacy burden that reduces net value.
Supply, the first step of the SourceX five-step transaction, works from table names, date ranges and field lists only. If a package proceeds, the Preparation step removes personal and confidential details, and the SourceX Evidence Packet records what was included, under which rights and with whose release authorization.
Frequently asked questions
Can we keep the old Deltek system running read-only?
Often, if your license and hosting terms allow it. On-premise firms can usually keep a restored database for lookups, though it still needs security patches and someone who knows how to query it. Hosted customers should ask Deltek what read-only access, if any, is available after cutover and on what terms.
How far back should we export?
Export everything the system still holds, then decide retention separately. Storing tables costs little compared with discovering a gap after the old system is gone. Your retention schedule, set with your CPA, counsel and insurer, decides how long each part is kept, not the conversion budget.
Is an Ajera migration different?
The principles are the same: export detail with its keys, keep lookups, tie out and restrict sensitive fields. Ajera's tables and export options differ from Vision and Vantagepoint, so build the checklist from your own system and test it on one closed project before exporting everything.
Who owns the data in a hosted Deltek environment?
Your subscription agreement decides it. Many enterprise software agreements state that customer data belongs to the customer and describe how it can be exported during the term and after termination. Read those clauses before giving notice, because export windows can close once a subscription ends.
Should project notes and free-text fields be kept?
Yes. Notes often hold the only explanation for write-offs, scope changes and client decisions. They can also contain personal details or client confidences, so keep them in the restricted archive and review them before they appear in any shared or licensed copy.
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