Loren Saunders

Business Systems Architect, Developer & ERP Consultant

loren@saundersconsultinggroup.com·(805) 452-3999·www.lorensaunders.com

Professional Summary

Solutions architect, database architect, developer, and ERP consultant with 20+ years of experience automating business systems for architecture and civil engineering (A/E) firms.

Own every engagement end to end: discovery, architecture, data model, code, reports, testing and go-live support.

Serve as a consulting CTO/CIO, from process audit and operations strategy through design, build and rollout.

Working in Deltek Vision/Vantagepoint since 2003.

All work done remotely, on-site as needed.

Core Competencies

  • Systems thinker: sees how system and technical configurations impact operational workflows, and flow through to billing and financial results
  • Multi-level: moves easily between nitty-gritty detail and high-level strategy, and between frontline teams and senior leaders
  • Highly structured: solves problems with structure and analysis, and brings answers, not just issues
  • Strong prioritization: quickly identifies the handful of items that matter and focuses relentlessly on those
  • Business partner: becomes a trusted partner to business leaders and takes full ownership of outcomes, including adoption after launch; doesn't just go through the motions to get a team live; confident pushing back on leaders and vendors, with evidence
  • Change management: calm, steady presence when change is hard; clear communicator who develops the people around him

Core Expertise

  • Current Platforms: Deltek Vantagepoint and Deltek Vision
  • Strategy: consulting CTO/CIO, business process audits, operations strategy, applications infrastructure strategy, mission critical business path analysis
  • ERP Implementation: fitment analysis, configuration, data conversion and migration, historical data cleanup, Vision-to-Vantagepoint migrations, vendor accountability, legacy ERP to Vision/Vantagepoint migration, implementation rescue and re-implementation
  • ERP Customization: custom components, setup wizards, cross-entity workflows, job cost modules, invoice design, database triggers, stored procedures
  • Reporting & analytics: custom reports and dashboards for project performance, utilization, financial reporting and compliance
  • Integration & automation: application integration, workflows, notifications, data validation, ETL
  • Technical: SQL Server, T-SQL, SSRS, SSIS, database and data warehouse architecture, C#/.NET object-oriented development, API and web service integration
  • Business analysis: requirements, process re-engineering, project work breakdown structure design, general ledger cleanup and design, training, documentation

Professional Experience

Owner & Principal Consultant — Saunders Consulting Group, LLC

2003 – Present

Independent ERP consultant serving architecture and engineering firms of 200 to 5,000 employees.

Own the full business and every engagement: business development, estimating and proposals, client management from C-suite to end users, and delivery from design through go-live.

Lead each engagement through agile, iterative mission critical business process for development.

  • Implemented Deltek Vision, Deltek Vantagepoint and Unanet A/E (formerly ClearView InFocus), and delivered Vision-to-Vantagepoint migrations, including data conversion, strategy and execution.
  • Rescued at-risk and abandoned implementations, including two Deltek partner projects left unfinished.
  • Built custom components end to end — job cost modules, invoice designs, cross-entity data entry, setup wizards and automated workflows that enforce business rules and cut manual effort — writing MS SQL stored procedures, triggers and reports behind them.
  • Extended Unanet A/E past its standard UI with contract management and project setup wizards, dashboards, time/expense and line-item approval, and subconsultant management tools.
  • Designed, built and sell a line of Vantagepoint utility reports (see Products & Articles below).

Selected Client Projects

RMF Engineers (Baltimore, MD)

2017 – Present

  • Implemented Purchasing module for subconsultant cost control; Rebuilt purchase order history from existing transaction data (1,200 POs) so data is contiguous with complete history.
  • Designed and implemented the purchase order origination and daily processing workflow for subconsultant cost control.
  • Built custom workflows to enforce business rules and automate data entry, including automatic PO numbering and PO voucher summary data.
  • Provided comprehensive subconsultant cost report including a PM view of each project's POs, vouchers and paid/unpaid status.
  • Continue to deliver custom reports, workflows, custom hubs.

Ghirardelli Associates (GAI) (Pleasanton, CA)

2021 – Present

  • Took over and corrected a prevailing wage automation solution abandoned by a Deltek partner, including Certified Payroll Report, payroll report and paystub report extensions.
  • Rescued Vantagepoint Purchasing implementation abandoned by a Deltek partner to manage subconsultant budgets, contracts and commitments on large, multi-year projects.
  • Rebuilt purchase order history from existing transaction data: 500+ POs with transaction data running continuously back to the original Vantagepoint go-live.
  • Built custom components to bypass cumbersome UI and provide single point of entry for contracts.
  • Custom built Purchasing workflows.
  • Built consolidated reporting solution providing top down visibility from project, PO, consultant all the way through vendor invoices and payment details.

I & S Group (ISG) (Mankato, MN · ~250 employees · 20 offices in nine states)

2019 – 2024

  • Rescued at-risk implementation and migration from Peachtree to Unanet A/E and reached go-live within 90 days.
  • Re-architected and rebuilt invoicing and contract management framework inside Unanet A/E to overcome limitations of product native design.
  • Built custom workflows and project setup wizards to replace cumbersome UI elements.
  • Built a custom timesheet review and approval solution to replace the out-of-the-box process.

Civil Engineering Consultants (CEC) (San Antonio, TX · now part of KCI Technologies)

2019

  • Migrated the entire enterprise from Deltek Vision to Unanet A/E.
  • Found and corrected flawed historical transaction data in Deltek Vision before the transition.
  • Rewrote the chart of accounts and project structure.
  • Delivered custom solutions and reports as needed.

Valicooper & Associates (Emeryville, CA)

2018

Provided lights out solution for prevailing wage labor cost tracking and project assignment, cutting time-entry errors from 50% to 10% and reducing admin hours for labor processing and payroll by 60%. Solution included integration with a self-service benefit selection SaaS platform through SSIS ETL.

Ronald Lu and Partners (Hong Kong · ~300 employees)

2010

Took accounting department from 10% to 80% automation in six months; restructured project work breakdown structure (WBS) across current and legacy transactional data.

Andrews Engineering (Springfield, MO · ~150 employees)

2008

Redesigned project structure, chart of accounts, timekeeping and accounting methods, moving firm to a new configuration with business continuity and historical data intact.

MNS Engineers (Santa Barbara, CA · ~130 employees)

2008 – 2009

Rescued at-risk Deltek FMS-to-Vision conversion - legacy data scrub, GL account remap, re-architecture, implementation and user training.

FMV Opinions (Irvine, CA · ~75 employees)

2006 – 2008

Evaluated 40 ERP platforms, then led a two-year phased Deltek Vision implementation replacing every mission-critical business application with Deltek Vision. Included custom InfoCenters, reports, workflows and data migrations.

Products & Articles

  • SCG Deep Scan — Vantagepoint report that searches the entire database and returns hits with integrated data dictionary and schema context.
  • SCG Column Analysis — impact analysis that maps a field's dependencies across stored procedures, views and workflows before configuration changes.
  • Workflow Visibility Reports — searchable views of Vantagepoint automation: workflow hub, email verification and button logic documentation.

Articles at lorensaunders.com:

  • Implementing Vantagepoint Purchasing to manage subconsultants (Feb 2026)
  • Surfacing audit trail history in the Projects hub (Jan 2026)

Technical tools, programming languages:

MS SQL Server, SSRS, SSMS, Visual Studio, C#, Javascript

Claude Cowork (desktop)

Earlier Career

Database Architect, Senior Developer & Business Systems Analyst

1996 – 2003

Business systems architecture, database design, ETL and application development, data warehousing, full stack development.

House of Blues (Hollywood, CA), architected customer data warehouse for data mining, integrated Ticketmaster data feeds and automated in-house sales groups.

Education

  • University of California, Santa Barbara — B.A., Business Economics; B.A., French Linguistics
  • Institut d'Études Politiques, Grenoble, France — year of study abroad

November, 2026