Opiniones de BQE CORE Suite

Great way to track time, projects, expenses, and time off.

Puntos a favor:

This is a all in one suite, which is fantastic for tracking everything time and monetarily to a project. It also is great for keeping track of employees billable hours for internal office review.

Contras:

Currently the contacts list is only available to administrators, so we can not use it to have a database of client contact information. Additionally, the way it requests to list someone as client or supplier is a bit odd when we sometimes have them as both.

Yep, there is a feature for that!

Comentarios: Good. Invoicing and time entry in the program fit our needs. There are always more features that we discover when we need more from CORE.

Puntos a favor:

The program is cloud based which keeps us current. Most of the time when I have specific report, feature, or activity that I want, I can find what I need quickly. As with many programs, CORE does more than my office utilizes it for. Invoicing and time entry are usually smooth processes.

Contras:

We migrated from ArchiOffice and feel that the way contacts are managed in CORE is utterly useless. We've abandoned it in favor of a piecemeal assortment of Office 365 and Mac built-in programs.The structure of projects is also something that can be improved. When a project transforms from hourly to percentage or adds phases, CORE has some flexibility but there are troublesome aspect such as migrating time from a single phase project to ensure it can be captured in invoices.

Great Product

Comentarios: It has revolutionized the time tracking process and saved us tons of time filling out spreadsheets.

Puntos a favor:

The ability to track progress and determine where funds are allocated based on the stage of design.

Contras:

Occasionally the website does down but it goes back up fairly quickly.

Software has issues, but their customer support is pretty good

Comentarios: In theory, I like all of the features that core has to offer, however, when the features don't work the way they're supposed to it becomes a bit of a nightmare to use. It has a lot of bugs, crashes often and in general is just not very user friendly.

Puntos a favor:

I like the expense management feature for employee reimbursement and client billing purposes. I also liked the accounting feature that allows you to bill expenses straight from the Cloudfeeds. I also really liked their customer support. They have a solid team on standby for customer support. I would often get the same person when I called. They are super friendly and know how to navigate the software.

Contras:

It's time consuming to use - it's so slow and there are a lot of features that bug out and simply don't work the way they're supposed to, so I spend a lot of time navigating all of that, which is a bummer.

This product delivers...if you want it, it can be done.

Comentarios: the exec. appreciates the overall business analysis that can be obtained, time keeping is given back to the body of the staff and not the admin. staff, and can be seen and impacted live. project management is a complete task, not just partial tasks here and some in another area. Generally positive...difficult at first because change is hard, but once the benefits are realized, embraced ultimately.

Puntos a favor:

once full integration is close, one can really see how the product can fully encompass all aspects. full analysis can be achieved if all data is inputted, but only then. if pieces are missing, so is the entire impact. time keeping can be accurate for all the employees...same story, expenses can be fully analyzed, project costing can be fully analyzed...but one must enter all of the data. it replaces most existing processes so it's difficult for some to "move on" so as not to duplicate. there are some glitches, but there usually is.

Contras:

there might be too many features...not all businesses have them and while some recognize it, some will try to fill in all the blanks and this can be time wasteful. while there is a lot of "help", "dumbing it down" is never a bad thing. why not make it easy to understand? not everyone is an engineer...admins use it as well so keep it easy to understand for all. this gets more important the bigger the company gets...will support more administrative positions, so use the "kiss" principle-keep it simple st***d. admins will get these tasks delegated to them ultimately so make it easier to understand no matter the degree/education

Great time tracking and project tracking

Puntos a favor:

The best thing about it is ease of use.

Contras:

I wish it would let you edit your entries from the timecard area without having to go into the entries list, but other than that I have no negatives.

Easy And Awesome

Comentarios: Its amazing and has made my job 10x easier

Puntos a favor:

It makes my job easier, Has everything you need to get the job done.

Contras:

When they are updates and glitches in the system

Nice!

Comentarios: I enjoy tracking my hours in it

Puntos a favor:

Time tracking how long i have spent on each thing

Contras:

The time tracking should automatically filter out what has not been used that week if the time is at 0

Ruthie Southall's review

Puntos a favor:

I mostly use it for tracking my hours worked, expenses, and PTO, and for those uses it is very intuitive and easy to use.

Contras:

So far I don't dislike anything! I haven't used all of the features yet though, so maybe I'll find a flaw later.

BEQ Review

Comentarios: it's easy to use and useful.

Puntos a favor:

easy to use, and i like it so far. it is easy to follow.

Contras:

I am just using it for time tracking and it is good, but i believe others use it for project management as well. and they ae happy.

I am happy to say that I took a leap of faith in upgrading my office to BQE

Comentarios: Prior to using BQE software I used Wind-2 and SEMA4 which are costly programs. I was not a newbie to using project management software when implementing BQE. My greatest frustration in using those legacy programs was that they did not have any flexibility in them that allowed me to update or “correct” erroneous entries into the system database without having the data reprogrammed in some way by the vendor. Support for BQE can assist making changes on the fly if need be and hopefully will continue to support the services industry in the future. I have witnessed the mission of BQE to continue to improve the software and support for its users. I am happy to say that I took a leap of faith in upgrading my office to BQE and have not been disappointed.

Puntos a favor:

SIMPLICITY – it is an easy transition from paper time sheets in a format that employees can easily understand. Employee time entries can add memos that are invaluable to explain charges to clients or counsel employees on their activities. FLEXIBILITY – Some projects require slightly different reporting/invoicing formats to fit the client’s needs. BQE support assists with accomplishing just that at a reasonable cost. SUPPORT – Over these years, issues in understanding inputs or reporting have been addressed in real-time, on-line, to help maintain operation schedules for billing and reporting. REPORTS – Both summary and detailed reports are available that can include memos to help clarify time and expenses. One can look at a project from different facets based on a manager’s needs.

Contras:

Some of the labor reporting modules need to be reviewed that use an integer formatted numbers that round off and be updated to use an accounting formatted number with 2 decimal places. My accounting department uses two report for payroll that use incorrect time (rounding up) instead of an exact job time/cost figure. I have to review and have them update to the corrected time values each time.

The Value of Core

Comentarios: As mentioned, the product is great. The support is second to none. Core has been the tool we had been missing.

Puntos a favor:

We have used Core for a couple of years. Our firm specializes in foodservice design and our services are performed through architectural firms. This software is an incredible tool for other service related firms. The software and its tools are incredibly robust. The single major aspect is residing in the cloud. This allows connectivity from any where. Additionally, the project and/or staff performance tools are an amazing snapshot of our things are going. We also schedule our project tasks with Core. Those tasks are assigned (allocated) to staff with end/due dates. Task completion percentages allows project management to monitor progress. The notification system alerts the appropriate team members when task have been completed. There is an abundance of management tools and controls.

Contras:

Although the training is great, the online resources plentiful and the on-call support fantastic; there is a bit of a learning curve as the software is so robust. It just take a little time to become familiar with it and proficient. So you must go through the training and then dive in!

My BQE Experience

Puntos a favor:

I like that BQE is user friendly and makes it possible for the entire company to enter their own time and expenses anywhere, anytime. I like that when there are updates to the system, users are informed. I really like that everything entered through the mobile app sinks right away into BQE. The technical support customer services is great. Even when someone is not sure of the answer, they research and get back to you. The support group is dedicated, knowledgeable and professional. Lenny is the best.

Contras:

I do not like that all reports are Word documents. With data, it is impossible to sort and filter when looking for information. It would also be easy if questions/answers could be given directly in BQE prior to invoicing instead of having to print each pre-bill and send to managers for approval and then enter their answer back in BQE. The system allows write up/down of billable hours but you cannot run an accurate report of the amounts that were written up/down (I think in BQE it includes non billable hours). I keep track of mine on an Excel spreadsheet and it would be nice if I did not need to have an additional spreadsheet. It would make more sense if each field that is populated in all categories could be use for reporting purposes. For example, if running a list of client, it would be good if we could choose what fields we want to see on the report for each client (like contact person, email address, industry...). Sometimes, I have to run three reports to get the information that I compile in one Excel spreadsheet. Maybe I do not have this information, but the only way to access report customization is via email. It would be nice to have a support line for easy questions regarding a new report.

Great tool for the Architect's office

Comentarios: Overall, this is a good office management tool for the architect. We have used it for the past 10 years and find it invaluable in all we do in managing projects and running the business.

Puntos a favor:

The product is great for the management of a project from time and expense reports to document management. It also manages the office contacts and calendar of events for all the employees. It will give you in real time if you are making or losing money on a project. It tracks and creates invoicing for all project clients. If you use QuickBooks, it is integrated directly with that software for complete accounting management. It is a great tool for Architects in that it is formatted for what we do (tasks and phasing of projects). If you have internet connection, you can get access to this program while on the road,

Contras:

When opening up project file, it takes 2 or 3 clicks to open up a file, such as Word, PDF and AutoCAD. Very, Very frustrating. Many of my employees do not use is function and simply use Window file manager to open and move files. We should not have to do this. It uses Java in the background for some of its operations, and I am not a fan of Java... it is always updating. Updating of the software is somewhat difficult for the person not a computer nerd.

I highly recommend bqe - Core!

Comentarios: I value honesty, and I value those that take ownership. I recommend bqe-CORE. I just designed a ‘custom report’ for our company utilizing the CORE ‘Custom Report’ section. They were great to work with. We are now using ‘my’ Company report starting January 2020. This ‘custom report’ pulls in all our client ‘project data’ real time. It shows what’s important to us…. our project team. We have many concurrent project-phases (hourly or not to exceed contract phases) under the parent project, that start one year and end the next. This custom report is a great tool for us… color coded – RED, showing when over budget (time or ‘not to exceed’ contract fee).

Puntos a favor:

We transferred 12 years of ‘Project History’ to bqe – CORE effective January 1, 2019. I am the Business Manager and I report directly to the owner of the Company. I keep current the clients we work with…..and all project-phase information for the company , billing – invoicing, using the CORE operating system. As a former Marine Corps officer…. then commercial banker (15 years) I believe that ‘People make the difference’….. not machines. The people at bqe – CORE, particularly the HELP DESK, are all professionals – they know what they are talking about and they care. I highly recommend bqe – CORE!

Contras:

I wish there were more built-in invoice/report customization options

Comentarios: We are an environmental consulting firm operating in Canada. We were using Caseware Time before purchasing BillQuick about 3 years ago. Our previous system was inadequate because it didn't have a strong reporting capability. Caseware also did not roll over projects from previous years - a problem for us because we sometimes have long running projects. We are currently using BillQuick 2011, and we automatically receive current updates with our priority support package. The implementation was not a smooth transition to say the least. Caseware and BillQuick were not at all compatible, and we feel we are still trying to rid ourselves of some of the demons. As a result, we are still trying to work out the kinks after all this time. For the most part, we have had very good help from the folks at BillQuick, especially Irfan and Mario. We are still on a learning curve, and hope to have the kinks resolved before the year's end. BillQuick's pros definitely outweigh the cons, and I think that we eventually will have the system running to our satisfaction. We have not yet done a lot of employee/manager training, since we feel we need to get the system running more smoothly before we unleash them on it! For the most part, the ease of invoicing for straightforward invoices is great. We previously compiled and sent out invoices manually. That being said, we do seem to run into most of our problems with BillQuick in the invoicing and reporting area. We do a fair amount of pre-billing in our business, and BillQuick does not really allow us to properly utilize the reporting required for this type of invoicing, in terms of WIP and over/under contract amounts. For example, when we pre-bill, we would like to see a negative amount reflected in the WIP and then, as time is added, have that WIP eventually even out and possibly go into the positive. We have tried in the past to work with negative WIP, and it has not gone well with the reporting functionality, especially in terms of WIP reconciliation. The other issue we seem to have arises when we use the "Mark as Billed" feature. What good is this feature if you cannot associate a bill with an invoice number? As a result of this shortcoming, our "mark as billed" invoices do not get picked up in the reporting process. When we do a manual invoice versus an hourly invoice, does the software track the non-billable time that may be in the project as well as the billable? All in all, we feel BillQuick is a good program and has the potential to be great. We realize that we need more personalized training, and that some of our difficulties are due to our unique business needs. Thanks for all the help and support.

Do not get this software

Comentarios: I have never in 25 years worked with a more frustrating software and unreliable software

Puntos a favor:

I can have access through any computer. This the only good thing

Contras:

You can count on Mondays of the software not working due to updates that they did, the registries do not add things correctly - ex. The ledger balance is $15,000 and you have an expense of $300 and your new balance is $1000; and the beginning balance of the account is now showing -$33,000 when it was actually 0. We have to keep a separate excel spreadsheet so we know how much money is in our account because random amounts will just pop up in the ledger. When you reconcile you can only see the unreconciled items through a backwards way instead of them appearing on the monthly reconciliation report. Once a contract limit is met, all time goes to non-billable and is never calculated in the total cost of the project. The only way to have all costs allocated to a project is for them to be billed or marked as billed. We are currently looking to switch as soon as possible.

BQE CORE for small businesses

Comentarios: The technical team are superb and the (paid for) training essential to get you up to speed fast. The integration of time/expenses, project setup and control, invoicing and bill payments really good.

Puntos a favor:

Time and expenses recording. Invoice creation. Financial planning and reporting.

Contras:

The ability to customise reports is an additional costed service. It is really set up for USA and I had some tricky times making sure I reset up the currency. Also, you need to use 'Purchase Tax' for 'VAT' to make things work as you would expect.

Core has been a huge time saving for us..

Comentarios: It is such a user-friendly software program and the customer service is definitely great.

Puntos a favor:

Core has been a huge time savings for us. The ease of creating invoices, making and customizing reports, and entering time has improved our ability to get more done overall. We have been very pleased with all aspects of customer service, the integration team, custom reports team, trainers, and call center for the one off type questions and issues. We would recommend Core to anyone on the fence about the service. It is such a user-friendly software program

Contras:

There was a bit of a learning curve in the beginning and training coordination was somewhat challenging but nothing extraordinary.

Slowly getting there

Puntos a favor:

What we like the most about Core is the way everything is integrated in one application instead of using standalone apps that do not talk to each other. The ease of pulling up the needed date is definitely helpful. I have liked how some of my suggestions to Core ideas have been implemented. If more of these could be fixed and added to the software, the use of the software would be more efficient and effective.

Contras:

Although, BQE is working on a payroll module and i have to use a a separate payroll software to process payroll. On projects when you assign a group it doesn't let you assign to all phases and this feature addition would be great.

We have a pleasant experience with Core as compared to previous software

Comentarios: In general, we have a pleasant experience as compared to our previous software. Core works appropriately and has solved our time and expense and billing problems significantly.

Puntos a favor:

Core has a easy and intuitive user interface which makes our day to day processes easier. With Core being a cloud software close to 200 employees are using it on a daily basis for time and expense tracking, billing and engagement management. Our business is not a typical accounting firm with 1 or 2 billing person, we have 75 people in our billing department that do invoice simultaneously out of Core. Prior to switching to Core it was a daunting task. All the processes are faster and better with Core. It is is our main business management software and we before it we had a local system installed on our servers.

Contras:

More tools for creating reports according to our needs and more options for administrators

Tax & Legal Service Invoicing

Puntos a favor:

The user layout is fairly easy to manage and self-explanatory.

Contras:

Online credit card payments via Stripe have not worked well since we began using the product in August 2021. The error codes are never consistent and customer service never seems to be able to provide an explanation for the issues (even after ruling out user error). We also tried to set up ACH payments via Plaid and were never able to successfully link the systems. Many clients have had to call our office or mail a check to provide payment on their Core invoices which should have been online-pay capable.

The automation with the cloud feed is great for accounting

Comentarios: I just love it. Your support, training, sales people are all really helpful.

Puntos a favor:

All of it - we came from a paper, Excel, Filemaker Pro, Timeslips, Quickbooks mess. The automation with the cloud feed is great for accounting. The ePayment option is something I just set up for our company and am looking forward to having clients take advantage of, the project management module helps us track our time and expenses in the project in ways that we could not before. For the first time in our 45 year company history we have a company budget for this year. While I am still learning and looking at how our company can best utilize CORE in all areas, we are definitely benefitting from using it. It has made tracking unpaid invoices much easier, thus making it easier to follow up with clients who we need to receive payment from. We now have a payables system to use, instead of a paper file. I could go on..

Contras:

For a small business, where many approval steps aren't really as necessary, some of these steps become a bit cumbersome. That being said, it does force me to look at the data people are entering and perhaps correct it before things get out of hand too far down the line.

BQE review notes

Comentarios: Nice

Puntos a favor:

User interface is good and it is also good that data is on cloud

Contras:

Slow and always buffering, too much time for processing

Our small business has been using Core for about a year now

Puntos a favor:

Our small business has been using Core for about a year now. At this point it is difficult to imagine how our business timesheets, expenses, and invoices operated without Core. We enjoy the flexibility it allows us to utilize the functionality we need without being forced to use or pay for features that don’t apply to our unique business. We continue to expand the ways Core helps our business through learning new features, creating custom reports, and exporting helpful information. As our business has grow BQE has worked with us to help stay on top of our growing needs

Contras:

Improvement in Scroll & update issue – when doing batch edits to approve time, update bill rates, etc. the only items actually edited are those that load. We only have 15 employees, but a month worth of time can take a very long time to scroll through. There should be an override to load all or apply to all rather than having to scroll through hundreds of entries, loading more every 3-4 seconds.