BQE CORE Suite Reviews

Valuable software for billing at a law firm

Comments: Bill quick is a perfect solution to create invoices and be able to bill many different attorneys on different projects.

Pros:

The ability to customize many of its features is great. You can setup and keep track of time associated with various cases, clients, projects. There are so many reports that you can run to keep track of your spending. Able to export invoices to LEDES format. Able to import time from excel spreadsheet.

Cons:

It takes some time to learn the software, the tech support team was great in getting me up and running. If you want additional reports they have a custom report group but their cost is a bit high to modify reports. It looks a bit complicated but actually it is easy to use.

Best product out there, basically out of the box .... no implementation needed

Comments: Just great, it allows me to have a far quicker pulse of the business in financial terms and also marketing wise keeping track of proposals.

Pros:

It is very well structured, in a logical manner and has put a lot of attention into details of how projects can be deployed in so administrative ways in the AE industry. It can keep a project very simple o very sophisticated in terms of phases, budgets, reporting, etc.

Cons:

Moving from Archioffice (the previous software from BQE) to CORE was not flawless at all. I would have liked more support from BQE and that they acknowledge it is not flawless or that things willl appear automatically.

BillQuick - A look at one year post conversion

Pros:

BillQuick is a powerful tool in tracking project time and expenses for professional services. We converted from 7 years of Quick Books data. Although the conversion and integration was not a seemless process, and the learning curve was much longer than originally anticipated, we are now tracking project profitability at a much higher level than we ever have before. BillQuick Tech Support is fantastic. They are patient and knowledgeable, and we have received a lot of added value by having the Gold Care Tech Support package added onto our services. Additionally, we have invested quite a bit of extra money on having Bill Quick Customization Department write customized reports. Although the standard reports section is extensive, we were unable to find reports that gave us exactly the data we wanted to see. It's nice that this additional service is offered, but it would be nice for them to give us a handful of customized reports as part of the conversion process and then charge extra from there on out.

Cons:

The software is not as user-friendly as it could be. Some things are overly complicated and require detailed use before you understand the functionality of the software. It could not be more different that QuickBooks, and the transition for us was difficult. Personally, I highly underestimated the learning curve. In the beginning, we were only using BQ for time and expense logging and we maintained our Quick Books file for all other general accounting, which I would strongly discourage. Although the SYNC feature does work to sync data between programs, it is not a clean sync and much of it needed cleanup on either side of the sync. This was very frustrating. We just recently converted all of our general accounting in QB over to the Accounting portal in BillQuick. This has helped to have all of our financial records in one software system and our data is much more consistent. However, the "Accounting" portal is not perfect and there are a number of features that are lacking where QB has it all dialed in. Examples: 1) in looking at a vendor bill, there is no indication or PAID FLAT to see it has been PAID or not. To see if it is paid, I have to look at the previous checks. 2) In a report that lists all AP checks written for a particular time frame, there is no TOTAL at the end of the report. 3) BQ allows duplicate check numbers. (This is not a complete list, but the top 3 things that drive me insane.) These seem like basic accounting features and for them to not be included in an accounting software is frustrating. DISCLAIMER: we have not yet upgraded to BQ2015 and remain on BQ2014 for a while longer. My understanding is that BQ2015 has updated a number of accounting features, so I look forward to seeing if any of those issues are remedied.

As seen from the perspective of Administration.

Comments: The entire team is more accountable for a wider list of aspects of the job. Time, expense are now relatable to the team, not just to management due to the analytics being on everybody's screens, not just management. Awareness is the first step toward making the effort to make changes.

Pros:

The time tracking is the first and most impactful of the features. As the team grew more comfortable, they found it easier to get more specific with the breakdown...not being so vague. After six months most of the team seems very comfortable with the use of the product.

Cons:

I am HR Admin, and we do not yet have the HR module, so it is likely having the smallest affect on me. The time and expense features that I use the most is not always accurate due to some of the automatic features, but we have/had not stipulated our needs. It is customizable to make this work more in our favor, but we had to know of the effects first. I like least that we had to wait and experience the detriments to see what it would do first, so that we could then make those changes

BQE Core key to Business Operations

Comments: CORE allows us to operate efficiently as a business. Overall, the CORE product I would recommend to any business who relies on billable hours as their core business. The ability to invoice directly from the platform and customize project fields are nice features.

Pros:

BQE Core is critical to the overall operation of our business. CORE allows us to charge time and expenses to different projects, in which we utilize CORE's invoicing suite to invoice customers in a timely manner. CORE's suite helps us manage cashflow and WIP better than we ever have before.

Cons:

CORE has moments where the platform loads very slowly. Invoices can be customized, but that comes at a cost. We would like for CORE to have the ability to allow it's customers to customize their own invoice templates. When a project has many phases, invoicing by master project is not possible.

Review on BQE CORE Suite

Comments: In conclusion, I would highly recommend BQE CORE Suite to any architecture firm looking to streamline their operations. The software is packed with useful features and has greatly helped our firm become more organized and efficient. The CRM and HR features are particularly impressive, allowing us to easily keep track of our clients and team members. The initial setup and learning process was a bit challenging, but with the help of the support team, we were able to overcome it. Overall, BQE CORE Suite has been a valuable addition to our firm.

Pros:

BQE CORE Suite has been a valuable asset for our architecture firm. The integration of front and back office operations through this software has made managing projects, tracking time and expenses, handling invoicing and electronic payments much more efficient. The CRM and HR features are incredibly robust and allows us to keep our clients and team members organized and informed. Thanks to BQE CORE our profitability and project efficiency has seen a significant boost.

Cons:

The only downside to BQE CORE Suite is the initial setup and learning process. It took some time for our team to fully understand and utilize all of the features, but once we got the hang of it, we found the software to be very user-friendly and easy to navigate. The support team was helpful in guiding us through the process, and it was well worth the effort.

I don't pay for it but I would!

Pros:

I love BQE, it makes it really easy for me to track my projects and see where I am vs where I should be on a project. I've also used it in conjunction with my hand written tracker to do my hours for AXP & Licensure. It is invaluable! They also have a iOS app that I use regularly when I am not near my desktop.

Cons:

My boss locks some features, I assume for client privacy. I think that isn't much of a flaw as its functioning as intended, but I wish I could use some of the features unrestricted.

BQE Core is a perfect solution designed for professional service firms

Comments: BQE Core is a perfect solution designed for professional service firms, providing project management, time tracking, and invoicing capabilities.BQE Core is very user-friendly, with a straightforward and intuitive interface. Additionally, it has a range of integrations with popular tools like QuickBooks, Xero, and Microsoft 365, making it easier for businesses to manage finances. Overall, BQE Core is a comprehensive solution to streamline business operations and improve its financial management. It's worth considering for businesses in need of such solutions.

Pros:

BQE Core is very user-friendly, with a straightforward and intuitive interface. Additionally, it has a range of integrations with popular tools like QuickBooks, Xero, and Microsoft 365, making it easier for businesses to manage finances

Cons:

Its a bit slow and take time to load and work.

BQE Review

Comments: our experience has not been a good one . many frustrating efforts from our team and bqe team to get this underway

Pros:

easy to navigate. there are some great features in this software

Cons:

this software is more of a US product . i believe if this is to be sold to the Canadian market they need to make sure there are canadian taxes, for the most part. there are quite a few features that just dont compare to Deltek Vision....

A great tool for Management

Pros:

It is a very powerful tool for management, it helps us to track all the KPI in the project which is very important for having a healthy project in all matters.

Cons:

I think that it works in a low-trust environment, and only one project manager can be assigned for reviewing the information and keep track of the project.

BQE Core Review

Comments: Since the minute we began to research and consider switching our project management software to BQE Core, we have felt that the team at BQE has been nothing but helpful through the process. The sales team were there to answer questions, suggest videos/webinars to get familiar with Core and to let us know about sales promotions we may be interested in. When we finally made the choice to move to Core, they were excellent at getting us set up with the software and following up on any questions we had. Since implementing Core, we have found that we have much better control over how our projects are managed, we are seeing much better performance data and are very happy with the product.

Pros:

We like that there is a lot of control over how we set up our projects and the integration options available through Core. We recently made the switch to this software and find that we are able to track project time, expenses and profitability much easier than with our previous software.

Cons:

Because there are so many options and settings it can take a bit of time to get used to finding what you are looking for. Things are taking us a bit longer to manage in this software - however, with more time using it and the training/support options available, we recognize this will only be a temporary issue to using Core.

Robust Software Program

Comments: Tech support is the best I've ever experienced. Very knowledgeable and helpful. Just wish I didn't have to call them so much.

Pros:

There were a lot of interfaces to this software. It did everything we needed, but not everybody was on board with the difficult of use.

Cons:

It was probably way more than a company of our size needed. We are switching to Squava after just a year and a half. We felt like a beta tester of this software. Our project managers thought it was hard to use, and didn't feel our data was always accurately depicted.

Invoices have been easier to process compared to previous software

Comments: Overall experience is great. As mentioned we experiencing error free time tracking, billing and the presentation of invoices is far better.

Pros:

We use the time, billing and accounting functions frequently and it has made my job a lot easier and smoother compared to tracking down expenses and time for the team members. Processing reports are simple as well. Less error of tracking time/expenses as compared to our previous software. Invoices are more accurate. Invoices look professional and clean.

Cons:

Cannot think of anything at this time. We are really enjoying the software

So far we have had positive experiences in Core

Comments: Core has greatly solved our resource allocation, project management and Time & Expense tracking.

Pros:

We are getting more and more use out of Core. So far we are just diving in, but it has helped our time tracking and expenses and keep our documents in one place. Allocation and forecasting, project management and time and expense setup are all helpful. We are using our custom report for allocations and it is working well for us.

Cons:

Any changes, we pass through ideas and so hopefully they are updated as new features - we would like to know the status of our requests just so we can discuss in our meetings.

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

Comments: 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.

Pros:

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.

Cons:

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.

Great Time keeping and Billing software for Architects and Engineers

Comments: We discovered BillQuick on line after struggling with a user friendly way to record, retrieve, report and correct errors in time entries for our Clients. Filling in time sheets accurately is a critical part of our business and billing process. Unintentional errors on time sheets, with time entries logged under incorrect work phases or project scopes are inevitable and our previous billing software only allowed time entries to be moved one at a time, which was done when the WIP was being reviewed. The result was a painful and time consuming process at the end of each moth for our accountant which resulted in delays in getting our invoicing out in a timely manner. With BillQuick, time sheet errors can be moved quickly and easily across data sets in batches. Changing time keeping software can be a stressful decision, often met with resistance from staff. However after carefully researching BillQuick and completing the training session, and seeing the ease and intuitive nature of the time keeping options, I was confident that I would be able to coach staff through the process with ease. The ease of time entries means that fewer staff are delinquent on keeping time sheets up to date. This has numerous benefits, the primary one being being able to bill on time. There are other time allowance features such as limiting time assigned to a team member for a project, and notifying team members in real time when the Fee for a work stage has been exceeds (time entry presents in red). I was a bit skeptical about the claims of vastly reducing invoicing time, but from experience can confirm this is true. This software has enabled us to consistently get billing out within the first 10 days of the month, with invoicing taking a fraction of the time it used to. This enables us to close out each month efficiently, properly monitor quarterly and annual targets, and focus on fixing problems quickly. Ease of monitoring Fee Expenditure also means it is easier to stay out of trouble and address problems as soon as they arise. There are many linked features such as monitoring staff and project profitability which provide solid back up data when assessing bonuses etc.

Pros:

It is very easy to learn to use for both staff entering time and new accounts staff. The ease of time entries means that fewer staff are delinquent on keeping timesheets up to date. Projects can be broken down into phases - this is KEY for tracking fees within an Architectural Full scope of services. You create your own Activity Codes which you can align with your preferred Contract It REALLY does speed up invoicing tremendously It offers a WIDE range of invoice templates and reports to analyse project Fee expenditure and report to Clients It allows for various levels of security access so that Senior Staff are not beholden to the Accounts Department when they need to report to a Client or check the Fee against the Contract All staff can monitor Fee in real time (assuming time sheets are up to date) Senior Staff can easily monitor and give feedback to staff on performance and productivity, based on various time periods, for example on Billable vs non billable hours, contracted hours performance etc The technical support is excellent Integrated with Quick Books very well

Cons:

I can't think of anything really....If I had to be critical I would say: - there are so many reports that you are unlikely to use them all and can get lost in the Report Centre. However there are tabs for your favourites and memorised reports. - Expenses are very very to enter but not as easy to unwind/change as Time entries

My BQE Experience

Pros:

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.

Cons:

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.

ArchiOffice has definitely been useful for our firm

Pros:

ArchiOffice has definitely been useful for our firm over the past six years! We don't use all of the features that are available but the time tracking, budgeting and invoicing have been incredibly helpful for us. I used to spend a lot of time with spreadsheet updating to get accurate information on where we were in each client's budget and with ArchiOffice this is done for me and it is information I use daily. I especially like how we can see the hours to date as they are entered and how many hours we have exceeded our estimate. This information becomes valuable when we create new proposals. We have a much better handle on exactly what it is taking for us to complete each project so we can forecast with more accuracy. Also helpful has been the Performance report which gives us a real look at how each project performs financially. I would not go back to doing this all in spreadsheets! ArchiOffice has made my job much easier over the years. Another thing I appreciate is the project list which saves me from tracking that in another program.

Cons:

The only thing that would help us out would be to run ArchiOffice on a Mac platform.

The logic/use process seems to flow very well

Comments: The logic/use process seems to flow very well. The QuickBooks integration is very stable and makes sense once you understand it. The user interface looks nice, is operationally smooth and is very responsive both in design and speed.

Pros:

Overall, very good. There was a learning curve, as with all software, but it makes sense once you figure it out. There are lots of connectors/features so knowing what you need is a big part of this. Support has been very good. They methodically think through processes and help with issues, configuration settings, or bugs (which I recently filed and it will already be fixed by the weekend). The software appears to do what I need it do (Project/Time/Expense Management) and may also be our replacement for QuickBooks once we get the processes figured out. The cost seems to be fair and it’s Tiered Usage based on user needs was great and something competitors didn’t offer very well. We look forward to continue to use the product

Cons:

Its big and complicated. I would spend time investing in documentation on what things really do for the back-end. For example: The QuickBooks integration is great, but finding out what actually happens is confusing. I had to set up small tests to figure out that “activities” really mean “services” in QuickBooks and you can have select what records have to sync… documentation (very technical) is very good for people like me!

Our experience with BQE Core has been incredibly great!

Comments: Overall our experience with the product and people supporting it has been incredibly great. All along our journey of selection process and then on-boarding and finally day to day support we need has been a wonderful experience. The easy setup of projects using templates and option to assign bill rates by projects using fee schedules has finally reduced the steps and workload.

Pros:

We were struggling with using many software applications to run our business. With Core we everything is in one software from tracking time, expense reporting, billing and project tracking. Our project managers have real-time project progress on a wide variety of reports and the best part is they can customize dashboards to fit their needs. Rest of the management team has easy access to the information using the scheduled reports without even logging into Core. We really love the automation.

Cons:

Early on we had a difficult time understanding the vendor bill workflow.

Using Core has helped us analyze our data better

Pros:

This software has lot of features and the best part is you can pick and choose the features that best fit your business. Although, Core is feature rich it is amazing how intuitive this software is. Support is great but most of the times we are able to figure out or answer our own questions if we get stuck that how simple and user friendly Core is. After switching to Core our management team is able to analyze the real time data to figure out the areas of improvement.

Cons:

No real changes to suggest as of yet. There is already a lot to absorb. Anytime we need help or improvement in the software we send the feedback to BQE

9 months into our migration to this new software and still not willing to cut the cord from our current accounting software

Comments: If you are a single division company the migration to this process may be an easier process. But for our seven division business, making the move to BQE has been nothing less than a nightmare. Way more time spent than I expected (which is compounded by the fact that it is time I don't have). The fact that BQE is California based, effects their customer support efforts to those on the east coast ...at least in my experience it has. Be sure to spend a lot of time testing the software before you buy...I made the mistake of buying it based on their sales communications (which you be offered a lot of deals and promotions of the bells and whistles the software has)..I find that it is not easy to use and have found that my clerical support flat out hate using versus our current, more intuitive accounting software.

Pros:

It's easy to get sold on it's capabilities and functionality. Real time dashboards and remote access to timesheets via any electronic device are very nice touches.

Cons:

Despite being told it would be an easy transition, it has not been the case. Software is not nearly as intuitive as current software (QB), for my needs had to buy a report writing software (SAP) which also requires training. First time through with data conversion on four of our company files, two came back incomplete and wrong, one came back with our project structure flipped upside down, and we never got back the fourth file which may be because it was for a Canadian entity and despite being told they know how to handle the tax issues faced in Canada, we did not have that confidence in them, and we have yet to see the first run through of the data conversion three months after uploading the file. Customer support is also not as responsive as I'd like and I would say working with them is just another negative issue

Switching to Core has been a big improvement

Comments: The overall experience has been good for the management and our staff. Tech support people are very knowledgeable, professional and patient.

Pros:

In our previous software we were not able to run reports that are helpful to our business. After switching to BQE Core we are now able to run all kinds of reports and it has been a big improvement just in this area. We are utilizing Core for time and expense tracking and billing. All our staff use it and with everything in one place it makes data mining easier.

Cons:

Some bumps in the road in the very beginning but well past that now.

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

Pros:

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

Cons:

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.

We like invoicing in Core

Comments: Time is good and so is billing

Pros:

I like using the invoicing and payments process, quick and easy to follow through with CEO and clients. Reports are also great, just trying to figure out the best reports to use takes time and experience. We also use the Retainer aspect which is helpful for our clients, much better than trying to keep track of in manually in excel or quickbooks. My monthly financial meetings with the CEO and Principal have become extremely efficient when using the AR Aging report with retainage by easily showing what is outstanding including the retainage portion is important for them to understand. The Account Transactions report have been helpful when reconciling with clients or even project managers the balances owing by phase.

Cons:

Most times I have to hit enter twice for CORE to respond...not sure if I am keying too fast? Being Canadian I would like to see the verbiage of "Retainage" changed to Holdback. Having Retainer and Retainage on the same report can cause confusion here up North! LOL! We don't use the work retainage; we just call it holdback.