Small architecture firm owner here. Looking at CORE by BQE, and it all sounds great so far and will probably try the 15 day free trial. Looking for feedback from people who are using it or have used it.
In the meantime, are there other platforms that others have used that they really like? I have used Ajera, which was pretty good functionally and reporting wise (but user interface could have been improved, maybe it has by now), Deltek Vision seems great but too expensive for us. We are ambling along with Quickbooks right now but it is just AWFUL and we need to switch to something better soon. I know there is other software. I'd like to hear from owners and managers what software they are using and what is or is not good about it.
Thank you. Big decision for us here... constructive feedback needed.
urbanity
Sep 22, 18 12:07 pm
haven't used core by bqe, but i have used archioffice by bqe. check out the trial version of archioffice for comparison.
financial information can be exported to other programs for use by your cpa.
yarchitect
Sep 22, 18 12:48 pm
I think CORE is the new version of Archioffice. How do you like it? What are the pros and cons?
urbanity
Sep 23, 18 9:14 pm
I do like it, and I know of a few firms that use it.
it's fairly user friendly and you will know where you are at with a project on the fly as long as others are inputting their time daily. cons are, others are not good about inputting time daily
urbanity
Sep 23, 18 9:16 pm
you can customize reports fairly easily, but someone needs to take the time upfront with the setup to do so. as with anything,
users can make or break the system.
yarchitect
Sep 24, 18 7:22 am
Thanks for the feedback! I appreciate it!
cajunarch
Sep 23, 18 5:20 pm
Ajera seems the best features versus cost. Vision is great but way too much $$ InFocus is horrible and not the solution it proposes to be.
yarchitect
Sep 24, 18 7:15 am
I haven't priced Ajera. We used Ajera at a previous firm with more people so can't really use the old pricing as a guide... CORE will potentially cost us around $1400/year, which isn't bad. How does Ajera compare to that price-wise? Any idea? Has Ajera evolved much from 5 years ago?
_SAM
Oct 2, 19 10:23 am
How is the pricing for Deltek Vision ??
senjohnblutarsky
Sep 24, 18 8:19 am
My experience with Deltek was pretty terrible.
Regular Billquick was a pain.
ArchiOffice is fine. It's a bit slow, and having to save after every change you make in the project details section is irritating at times. ArchiOffice has a lot of features and power. There are some people who really don't need those features and power. They can be dangerous and irritating.
husarchitect
Feb 18, 19 6:36 pm
Hi, not sure if you've already made your purchase, but we've had a really bad experience with CORE. The program did not integrate well with QBO as promised, information was quite glitchy (memo's would disappear, time would move unexpected, hours would get lost), any customization was an upcharge, and the information (tasks/projection) took so long to enter that it was not an intuitive scheduling software. There were some great things, but the program became the most frustrating part of my day for the six months we used it.
Jordan Parnass
Apr 29, 19 12:59 pm
This is an old thread, but I also want to express our frustration with CORE. It seems like it's about 5 years away from being truly usable and glitch and bug free.
We've used QB as well as Xero so I am well versed in the pros and cons of desktop vs cloud based systems. Generally QB desktop was ugly and stupid, but very reliable and once you figured out how it wanted you to do something, had a lot of flexibility. Xero was glitchy, but much cheaper (especially when it included payroll) and better at online integration.
CORE unfortunately has terrible online integration (you have to manually update the downloading of bank transactions. Account by account. And it only accepts 3 months of transactions). CORE has almost no self- customization ability (you pay through the nose for everything) and is full of amateur-hour interface and usability limitations (want to add a project? Better make sure you've added a Contact in the contact form first etc.).
If there is a perfect solution out there, I'm not aware of it.
J.
Jun 19, 19 3:54 pm
We are using ArchiOffice and at once time transitioned to Core only to go back to ArchiOffice because of how bad the invoicing and search was through Core. I have also had demos with Deltec Vantagepoint which seems more promising, but to be honest I can't find anything for what we need to include, project/ employee scheduling, accounting/ finance and CRM. We found a product called Frank, but they won't get back to me, which isn't a good sign.
vladislavdechev
Nov 9, 20 11:08 pm
Hi there, folks. I realize it's an old thread, but I sure hope you can help.
We are facing the same important decision in our company of 40 architects. Used some different products over the years - nothing memorable. We have now been introduced to a few options - supposedly good functionality, good looking interface, all cloud-based. The main favourite is CMAP-software.com, there's also Monograph and Ingenious IO. CORE is also an option , but I'm not convinced yet.
Have you guys heard of any of these and can you share some thoughts on this.
Small architecture firm owner here. Looking at CORE by BQE, and it all sounds great so far and will probably try the 15 day free trial. Looking for feedback from people who are using it or have used it.
In the meantime, are there other platforms that others have used that they really like?
I have used Ajera, which was pretty good functionally and reporting wise (but user interface could have been improved, maybe it has by now), Deltek Vision seems great but too expensive for us. We are ambling along with Quickbooks right now but it is just AWFUL and we need to switch to something better soon. I know there is other software. I'd like to hear from owners and managers what software they are using and what is or is not good about it.
Thank you. Big decision for us here... constructive feedback needed.
haven't used core by bqe, but i have used archioffice by bqe. check out the trial version of archioffice for comparison.
financial information can be exported to other programs for use by your cpa.
I think CORE is the new version of Archioffice. How do you like it? What are the pros and cons?
I do like it, and I know of a few firms that use it. it's fairly user friendly and you will know where you are at with a project on the fly as long as others are inputting their time daily. cons are, others are not good about inputting time daily
you can customize reports fairly easily, but someone needs to take the time upfront with the setup to do so. as with anything, users can make or break the system.
Thanks for the feedback! I appreciate it!
Ajera seems the best features versus cost. Vision is great but way too much $$ InFocus is horrible and not the solution it proposes to be.
I haven't priced Ajera. We used Ajera at a previous firm with more people so can't really use the old pricing as a guide... CORE will potentially cost us around $1400/year, which isn't bad. How does Ajera compare to that price-wise? Any idea? Has Ajera evolved much from 5 years ago?
How is the pricing for Deltek Vision ??
My experience with Deltek was pretty terrible.
Regular Billquick was a pain.
ArchiOffice is fine. It's a bit slow, and having to save after every change you make in the project details section is irritating at times. ArchiOffice has a lot of features and power. There are some people who really don't need those features and power. They can be dangerous and irritating.
Hi, not sure if you've already made your purchase, but we've had a really bad experience with CORE. The program did not integrate well with QBO as promised, information was quite glitchy (memo's would disappear, time would move unexpected, hours would get lost), any customization was an upcharge, and the information (tasks/projection) took so long to enter that it was not an intuitive scheduling software. There were some great things, but the program became the most frustrating part of my day for the six months we used it.
This is an old thread, but I also want to express our frustration with CORE. It seems like it's about 5 years away from being truly usable and glitch and bug free.
We've used QB as well as Xero so I am well versed in the pros and cons of desktop vs cloud based systems. Generally QB desktop was ugly and stupid, but very reliable and once you figured out how it wanted you to do something, had a lot of flexibility. Xero was glitchy, but much cheaper (especially when it included payroll) and better at online integration.
CORE unfortunately has terrible online integration (you have to manually update the downloading of bank transactions. Account by account. And it only accepts 3 months of transactions). CORE has almost no self- customization ability (you pay through the nose for everything) and is full of amateur-hour interface and usability limitations (want to add a project? Better make sure you've added a Contact in the contact form first etc.).
If there is a perfect solution out there, I'm not aware of it.
We are using ArchiOffice and at once time transitioned to Core only to go back to ArchiOffice because of how bad the invoicing and search was through Core. I have also had demos with Deltec Vantagepoint which seems more promising, but to be honest I can't find anything for what we need to include, project/ employee scheduling, accounting/ finance and CRM. We found a product called Frank, but they won't get back to me, which isn't a good sign.
Hi there, folks. I realize it's an old thread, but I sure hope you can help.
We are facing the same important decision in our company of 40 architects. Used some different products over the years - nothing memorable. We have now been introduced to a few options - supposedly good functionality, good looking interface, all cloud-based. The main favourite is CMAP-software.com, there's also Monograph and Ingenious IO. CORE is also an option , but I'm not convinced yet.
Have you guys heard of any of these and can you share some thoughts on this.
Thanks in advance. Vladi