Project and Business Management Software

[goldyvb]

Hi All,

I am in the process of updating our business software. Currently we use Quickbooks for invoicing/etc and am looking to get another software package which tracks projects, labour, materials, etc and let me see where everything is at (including financials, etc). We are looking at something that will interface with Quickbooks. We have had a consultant come in and recommend The Service Manager, which looks quite good but costs $ 12,000. I don't mind paying the money but thought seeing as it is over 3 times more than I was expecting that I woudl guage what other people are using. Comments will be well received.

Thanks

Michael

 

[ToweringSkills]

Microsoft Accounting might offer the capability you need at a reasonable cost.

 

[KirkGH]

I can only think of three things an office needs to keep track of finances / taxes.

1] "Open Office" software

2] a good (looking) secretary

3] liberal use of a trash can

Beyond this I don't know much

 

[MadMango]

Have a look at:

http://www.project-open.org/

http://www.openworkbench.org/

http://www.taskjuggler.org/

I have limited experience with OpenWorkbench, but it was several years ago when they were not as mature. I am not sure how far they have come in recent years.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read faq731-376 to make the be

 

[mkberry]

Our firm is looking to expand out of quickbooks as well. I assume you are small (less than 20 people). I've never heard of "The Service Manager" but when I checked it out, it looks geared to a field intensive business. (i.e. most of your direct labor is out at job sites) We are strictly a consulting practice and have narrowed it down to Ajera by Axium. Vision by Deltek. and just found a new one: InFocus by Clearview.

Maybe they will work for you. Anyone else have an opinion on these?

 

[FreddyNurk]

My company uses Deltek's Vision, and while it seems to be a very capable program, its rather complex to set up and use, with the result that a lot of people are looking at importing data into excel to process, along with complaining that they don't like the report formats.

Everything is configurable in Vision, and depending on the packages you install, its very good for being a central database that tracks things including time, budgets, invoicing, budget and project planning (apparently it can do Gantt charts, but I don't have access to that function. It can interface with outlook and allow you to store contacts that relate to projects and so on.

Its greatest asset is also its biggest downfall, as in my rather cynical experience, no one looks at setting the thing up, they just expect the whole thing to work, and Vision isn't one of those programs. Or worse, they customise it backwards, i.e. change their operation to suit what they think the program requires. Examples of this are setting up tasks in a WBS to track areas and deadlines in a project, but setting up overhead as projects with your location as the task, rather than using different breakdown methods. At the end of the day, its recoverable in the database, but not that easy.

If you've got the cash to pay for it, and the time to seriously consider what you need from it, I'd reckon its great. If you want something thats easy to setup and get running quickly, its probably not for you.

While the magnitude of cost for Vision is far greater than the previous software my company used, its also far and away superior to their previous system.