BQE Core - Time and Billing

Comments: 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.

Pros: 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,

Cons: 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.

Comments: As architects, we get set in our own way of doing things and never want to change. In ArchiOffice 2013 we found a product that pretty much adapts to how we do things. Sure we changed our methods a little, but for the most part it does what we want it to. We began looking for an office management software in 2007. We realized that the old method of using a spreadsheet was making us miss lots of opportunity for reimbursements that we could have been charging clients until too late. Just recapturing these lost revenues has paid for ArchiOffice. After 6 years, the program is so comprehensive, there are modules for everything you need in an architects office. The main points are easy; project lists, contact lists, time records, billings, and a shared calendar. But dig deeper and you get time tracking per job, project phases or tasks; time records, that at entry, keep everyone informed as to project progress; intelligent records, filling in more than you really want to know about project time expenditure; RFI logging, shop drawing logging; billings, showing cash flow and work in progress; phone call records and a shared calendar; not to mention dozens of reports, and more. For example - when a project Architect is out, and an electrical shop drawing comes in, the office manager can look up the engineer in project info/contacts, and forward the submittal on the same day. Then, they can place a task on the architects to-do list, 7 days out, noting that it should be returned; and then also they can set another task for 10 days out, reminding them again that it should have been returned. We use it for document management; scanning and storing the shop drawing when it is returned. Remote access from anywhere with an Internet connection makes it easy to reach information in the field. The superintendant, without his copy of a spec or shop drawing, can remotely access it thru Archioffice. 6 years of use, and we love it. All that glowing review, and yes, it does have a few flaws. The biggest is that Syncing with Outlook is nearly a waste of time. It can be done, but it requires that you run old Java, then run parallel Outlook files. We just don't even bother. When we do have a problem, the tech support is awesome. In 2010, after a major upgrade, I think I wore out tech support for 3 months. But currently, I think I have emailed two questions in the last 3 months. Always fast and complete responses. AO2013 is mature enough of a product that problems are few and far between. I will admit, as Architect/IT guy/Managing Partner, I use every aspect of this program - not just a few areas like most of my employees. I still look at competing programs, and haven't found one that adapts to my ways as well, or is as comprehensive.

Comments: I just want to witness to the fact that everything that Engineering Office says about their wonderful support is true. A lot of companies over embellish and when you have a problem it is like pulling teeth to get some help. Not at Engineering office. They respond to phone calls and emails very quickly. The employees that they have in training and support should be the jewels in their crown. I have had the pleasure of working through frustrating problems with customer support, only to find it is some small thing and getting it fixed or training me to fix it goes quickly. Customer support representatives are FABULOUS and they have great patience and compassion for their customers. They realize that customers can't fix everything and that sometimes it is just beyond us. I learned this software quickly and came to a company that had not set it up correctly and nothing Sync'd together right. Customer support representatives held my hand and walked me through knowing that I was under a deadline. That is what is wonderful about this support team. They are human and they realize that you are human too and that things happen and they are there to guide the way, educate, and even fix the big problems. Anyone who chooses this software should realize that the Maintenance and Support fee that you pay is well worth it. Keep up the good work. It is very appreciated by your Customers.

Pros: It is very easy to use and you can learn it quite quickly with help of online webinars, the help pages, and just fishing around in the menus. Very clear and concise.

Cons: I wish that the SYNC process was done with a macro and I didn't have to do anything more than schedule it to go.

Recommendations to other buyers: If you are a small to medium firm, use Quick Books, and want a job costing solution that it is so much easier to use than Quick Books, then Engineering Office is a great tool to use. Simple and straight forward and easy to learn. Tons of Reports and management tools for Job Progress, Accounting, Job Costing, and Budgets. There are tons of ways that you can manipulate each of the reports that are provided. The reporting is truly amazing for canned reports. You can change your criteria all over the place to design a report that best works for your needs.

Comments: This software has allowed us to organize and manage our projects unlike ever before. It also has allowed us to eliminate a staff member that managed the invoicing, time sheet management and in general, all the work involved to chart and track a project's profit or loss. It also has a calendar of events and to do lists for all the staff that has helped us to manage the activities of all the staff members. Being web based, it also allows us to access the software from multiple offices, job sites or from anywhere else we have access to the internet (phone or computer).

Pros: The project planning and tracking of the finances (budgets, timesheets, and invoicing/receipts of payments) are great!

Cons: Hard to come up with a con, but the only one I can think of is that it takes 2 (sometimes 3) clicks to open a file. I think they are working on improving this to get it back to one click as it was before. Also, uses Java that I am not a huge fan of.

Recommendations to other buyers: The server for the software and project files needs to be dedicated and not a staff member's workstation.

Comments: The BQE company has been very responsive to suggestions and is making steady improvements. It is nice to use software that gets better over time.

Pros: The product is very powerful and provides quick information about how our projects are progressing - it allows us to know precisely how we are doing financially on each project. I like how flexible it is - much more flexible than other similar software I have used over the years. I like the interface and the customer service has been really excellent - they have been very responsive when we get stuck, and there has rarely not been a solution to our problems.

Cons: Sometimes the flexibility of the software makes it a little unwieldy. This software requires you to pay attention to what you are doing - because you can mess things up pretty quickly. There are times when I wish it had the ability to turn off some options - I would give up some power and flexibility to make it easier to work with. Invoice formatting needs some work.

Pros: Henderson Architectural started using BillQuick in 1999, while I began using this system in mid-2002. With the assistance of BillQuick's customer support and specialized tech support, we were able to run BillQuick more efficiently and to its full capabilities for what our firm needs. In the 9 years that I have been working with BillQuick, I have established an outstanding relationship with them to the point where they know what my needs and expectations are without me having to re-state them. The software has many capabilities, along with Crystal Reports, that allows you to design or edit existing reports/invoices to your needs. I have created special invoices for specific clients, and I am able to tie these invoices to specific projects without having to worry about them printing on the wrong template. The capabilities to tie expenses, activities, employees, etc to specific projects is endless.

Cons: I truly do not have any cons for this product only because if you are in need of something special, feel there should be something brought to their attention or any issues that need to be resolved, you may email them and most likely your suggestion/issue could end up in the next upgrade.

Overall: Even though we do not integrate BillQuick with QuickBooks, this is an option that does sync with ease. What is nice is that you can have endless users working in this software system, independently entering their time and expenses without having issues. I have used many different software systems, and this one is quite easy to use and well worth the price.

Pros: ArchiOffice is an easy way to track time both billable and non-billable and to generate client invoices. In addition, ArchiOffice is able to run specific reports to help track phases and time by individual employees.

Cons: Some aspects are not intuitive. Running specific detailed reports can be a troubleshooting process until you happen to check and uncheck the correct check box. There is no user "How To" manual for reference or short video clips to view. It would be nice to see a page of every report that ArchiOffice can generate, use a dummy project and print out what is possible. I am sure that there are so many other features that our company could benefit from if we only knew the capabilities of ArchiOffice (without joining a training session that cost money)

Recommendations to other buyers: I would recommend that others figure out exactly what you are looking for in a software program like this and ask specific questions of the company of whether this software program can produce the reports and/or calculates you are seeking?

Pros: BQE Core's insightful dashboards and business intelligence tells us exactly how our projects are performing. The fact that I can review this important data from anywhere anytime is a huge benefit. We love the easy of use and the flow of the software.The important KPI's in Core for our projects, clients and staff help us run our business efficiently. Love the mobile phone app!

Cons: We track mileage extensively for our project visits. Mileage tracking on the mobile phone app will complete the app

Cons: What I used to like the least was the difference in time zone. BillQuick is on the West Coast while we are located on the East Coast. I previously had to wait until close to noon to call Tech Support. However, they resolved this issue a few years by expanding hours to start at 6:00 a.m. PST which means I can now call for support at 9:00 a.m. No more delay! Emailing your questions is also an available option.

Overall: There are many facets that I love about BillQuick, it's hard to pick one. Its ease of use is high on my list along with price. We have been using BQ for almost 14 years, and I have seen great leaps and bounds since December 2002. An upgrade is released every year in which BQ tries to stuff as many improvements as they can, many requested by their customers. BQ is always looking for ways to improve, this software never remains static.

Recommendations to other buyers: Compare the ease of setting up clients and projects, adding budgets, and creating invoices in BillQuick, as well as the lower cost, and you will see BQ is the way to go!

Pros: This is fairly intuitive for a non-programming type of user. Results have been good and reliable. Support help has been very good, both from my account rep and tech support. It is good to have backup when things get lost, and BQE has been there. I look forward to exploring other features as my needs grow.

Cons: I have the basic level program and am curious about extended planning tools and features. We will see if these are as intuitive and the basic functions.

Cons: We work on the east coast and from time to time we have needed morning support and had to wait until support staff arrived at BQE who works in the pacific time zone. Not a major issue by any means, but still resulted is some downtime that otherwise could have been eliminated.

Overall: We switched to Bill Quick at just the right time! It allowed us to respond to client demanded invoice templates and enabled us to continue to grow without adding additional back office support staff. The mobile app is also great for time and expense entry and so is web suite for all our remote offices and mobile staff. Billing can be accomplished quickly with this product!

Recommendations to other buyers: I highly recommend this product. We only used QuickBooks before and needed a product that would integrate and provide enhanced project management tools and project structure with multiple phases. I highly recommend the initial support and training services offered that helped us get up and running faster and with less stress.

Cons: As you can tell, I like the product. BillQuick offers service/application discounts, usually for a very limited time period. Possibly these marketing efforts can be extended of existing and tech agreements users for a longer time period. It is usually easier and less expensive to sell more to an existing customer base.

Overall: The product is extremely user friendly. Employees, young and senior age, have no problem using the product to accomplish their daily activities. BillQuick conducts, at no cost, frequent training sessions where participants are encouraged to learn time saving ways to use applications. Employees in their tech department have a deep knowledge of the software. Their goal is to assist in what you want the application do. Tell the tech people what you want and they will get it done. "No problem" is their attitude. BillQuick has the best product at an economical price that I have found.

Recommendations to other buyers: Try it, you will like the results. Try other high price software and you will realize the solutions found in BillQuick.

Comments: We have been utilizing Engineer Office since 2011 for a Civil Engineering and Survey firm. We have been happy with the refinements that BQE has put into place throughout the years to make it functional. We utilize it mostly as a timekeeping and billing complement to Quickbooks. In the last few years, we have successfully cut our time for billing down by implementing best management practices on entering data. Billing used to take a week from the closing date and now it only takes a day or two at the most. Overall the project management when it comes to billing is what we need to operate our business efficiently.

Pros: The billing functions on this product are very efficient when setting up correctly. The ability to have multiple fixed fee and time and expense items on an invoice is very useful.

Cons: The connection to QuickBooks can be somewhat difficult and inconsistent at times. It is best when you start fresh and have someone that understands the system. Beginners can make a mess of things if they don't understand the system.

Recommendations to other buyers: Take your time setting up billing practices with your business managers and your employees. If you follow a strict pattern of input, it will save you time in the end. Make sure all your projects are set up with correct billing addresses and contact information up front for proper connection to Quickbooks.

Pros: The ability to track hours easily and to do invoices easily. The options for how to handle a project a great too - hourly and stipulated sum with budget %. CUSTOMER SUPPORT is absolutely FABULOUS. Have never worked with a software vendor that gives this level of customer support; I've always had every question answered and any problems fixed right away. And when you send an e-mail asking for help, it is followed up in a timely manner.

Cons: The time clock on the hours can't be adjusted to fit the situation. But, there are other free software programs that will track this and then the data can be dropped into ArchiOffice.

Recommendations to other buyers: Remember it is NOT a bookkeeping/accounting system. But what if you want to making invoicing to your clients easier and faster, this is an excellent option. We went from the desktop version to the online version. It took a bit of getting used to, and now would never go back.

Pros: I like the ease of use, i am an architect, not a financial type, i understand this product and am able to use it effectively. It has helped us control our billings and receiveables. I also really like the customer support, Alan Schlieper, is very good at working with me in any issues that come up. I tried to mark a 10 in the ratings below, but the survey would not allow. He is that good!

Cons: I wish i could better utilize all of the services the product offers, but we are a bit entrenched in our own processes.

Recommendations to other buyers: I think that evaluating software has to come from experiencing working with the software. I know that for software to be effective, it has to meet it users at their ability level. ArchiOffice is organized to work well with the way architects work. We used to have Deltek, for 25 years, i had very little understanding of how to use that software, i was therefore reliant on our office financial manager to run the analytics.

Comments: Love it and definitely worth a try!

Pros: We love BQE and cannot imagine running our business without BillQuick. Last year we switched to subscription and it's great to see new features that are getting added. We enjoy unlimited support.

Cons: We have been using BQE product for 10 years and it definitely is improving every year and we cannot think of anything that it does not do for us

Comments: Have been using archioffice fairly frequently for the past five years. I work for two companies - an architecture firm and an owner's representative. The program makes more sense for architecture firm - as it has trouble with the fee structure that we use for the owner's representative. Customer support is great - there are a lot on online tutorials, but we pay for the Gold support package - so we have a dedicated support representative who is familiar with our programming. Since our company is small - I don't have familiarity with the batch invoicing, but on an individual input - it works great. I find it pretty intuitive to pick and start using.

Pros: Access - app syncs nicely with the main project - for timesheet entry Online/web access - makes it platform independent - so you can access program on Mac or PC Duplicate projects - you don't need to start from scratch to create a project Invoice/Transaction Entry - easy to enter and track

Cons: Timesheets are not as easy as they could be - other programs allow you to enter time by the week - this is an individual entry per project, per day NTX is for the project or phase - can't be coded as monthly - tried many work arounds - nothing worked Back function doesn't work - if you are looking at a timesheet entry in a specific project - you will back out to the home page of the project - not the timesheet screen

Recommendations to other buyers: If you want to sync to QB (for expense and revenue tracking) - you need to set up the phases and job codes properly and do not veer from the templates set up - otherwise the synching will not work well

Cons: I wish i could better utilize all of the services the product offers, but we are a bit entrenched in our own processes.

Overall: I like the ease of use, i am an architect, not a financial type, i understand this product and am able to use it effectively.

It has helped us control our billings and receiveables.

I also really like the customer support, Alan Schlieper, is very good at working with me in any issues that come up.

I tried to mark a 10 in the ratings below, but the survey would not allow. He is that good!

Recommendations to other buyers: I think that evaluating software has to come from experiencing working with the software. I know that for software to be effective, it has to meet it users at their ability level. ArchiOffice is organized to work well with the way architects work. We used to have Deltek, for 25 years, i had very little understanding of how to use that software, i was therefore reliant on our office financial manager to run the analytics.

Pros: BQE is awesome it makes things so easy when entering time and billing clients. Before we got BQE we would do everything by hand, when switching over it made thing go 10 times faster. Its a great software.

Cons: little glitches here and there but the customer support is so fast and responsive and the are willing to fix the software glitches.

Cons: Future projections are difficult. Being able to share budget v actual additional services is a bit complicated. I wish we could track benefit time separately from typical work hours so properly calculate efficiency.

Overall: The product, when used efficiently by all staff is very useful for tracking projects, future work, time and keeping contacts and those involved in projects clear cut. - If staff is not using the software as trained it can be a bit of a hassle.

Recommendations to other buyers: Through all of the versions we have used. Software based (on the server) to the current SQL version the senior support staff have been extremely helpful. They communicate what we need to complete and when we are in a bind they are always there to help. Without their support and knowledge of the product line as a whole I'm sure we would not be as efficient in trouble shooting when necessary.

Comments: Give it a try and you won't be disappointed. We once had a confusion about the upgrade and it was amicably settled by the customer service manager.

Pros: We have been using BQE products for 12 years now. Its ease of use has really helped us manage time and send invoices to our clients on time. Customer service is great too. Overall we are happy with the product and services

Cons: Integration with QuickBooks is not as good as they advertise, and information only flows easily one way. Also, the accounting package which cost extra has a long way to go before it comes close to the functionality of QuickBooks. The fact that it doesn't import Quickbooks reports was a major reason we don't use this add-on.

Overall: The system is very comprehensive and flexible. We've got a number of divisions that each operate quite differently and BQ handles them all. In a few cases, the BQ staff have been able to work with us to provide customization that proved very helpful. Training and support is an area where BQ really shines. You can always get helpful support when you need it. We also value that the software is DCAA compliant.

Recommendations to other buyers: Check compatibility with your accounting software and fully demo the program before you buy.

Comments: ArchiOffice is a useful program for architectural practices of all sizes. You should consider this software even if you are a one-person firm. Our firm has 12 employees and we use Quickbooks as our accounting software. Before ArchiOffice, we used Quickbooks for time slips and invoiced our clients directly through QB. But we could not easily track our project billing progress vs. our project budgets, much less profitability and the ability to break out our additional services. ArchiOffice 2011 is a one-stop program that contains all of our project info, contact info, and time slips in one location. It is kind of like Outlook: you open it up first thing and leave it open all day long. No longer does a project manager have to ask the bookkeeper about a client's invoice, where we stand on a project budget, or if the client is fully paid. ArchiOffice pulls the right data out of Quickbooks and puts it back in the firm Owner or project manager's hands where it belongs. Quickbooks then becomes a simple General Ledger... All of your financial and/or project reporting are available at the click of a button. This software even works remotely over the Internet, so you can run reports or enter your timesheets while away from the office. The security levels built-in also restrict the information to those who do not need access to it. We started using the program in V8 about February of 2009. We've been through AO2010 and are now using AO2011. Customer support is immediate. We have had our share of issues, but typically they were resolved in a few hours. The ones that weren't, usually were fixed in the next service release.

Pros: We have been using BQE Online product for almost 2 years. Customer service has been very receptive and all of the support engineers we speak with are knowledgeable. We recently reported a usability issue in one of the areas of the software, the issue was right away recognized as a friction and top management got involved to make sure it gets expedited

Cons: There are some things that bother us but we are sure BQE as usual will take a timely action to resolve them

Cons: There are no dislikes we are very satisfied with the product.

Overall: We really like the software because it is really user friendly and the customer service at Bill Quick is outstanding. We were really amazed that Bill Quick was able to set us up remotely and everything was absolutely seamless. We were a little skeptical at first because we are located in Canada but that wasn't an issue at all. We also like how easy it is for Bill Quick to integrate with Quick Books.

We were also very impressed with their customization of all of all our invoices and reports. Their on line web training is also very good. Everyone at Bill Quick is very knowledgeable and very helpful.

Recommendations to other buyers: If anybody is using say excel to track time this product is truly amazing and I would highly recommend that they at least try it for 30 days and evaluate how easy and user friendly the product is.

Comments: This is only my 3rd month using the software, so my review is limited by my brief experience. With that said, I have had some challenges, but mostly because there are SO MANY ways to get data from AO, that it's hard to set the right criteria. That's where support from customer service has been a recent lifesaver!!!! Support was GREAT in getting us up and running very quickly, and covering the basics so we had no downtime in our billing, but the representative has been the BEST at helping me get through the day-to-day "Why isn't this doing what I want it too?!!" challenges. She is always quick to respond, either by e-mail or by phone/remoting-in often both. As for the actual software, I'm overall, very impressed so far. There are a few things I think could be easier to navigate, a quick link added here or there, but I'm getting used to where to find things. Regarding features and functions, most of what I've asked to get, output-wise, has brought the response, "That would be a custom report set-up." That's getting a bit frustrating to hear, but I do think this system will be very helpful - once we get all of our data entered, and we get used to using the system.

Pros: I like the concept and features of this software, It helps to me to monitor the projects of my team. Very easy to use and organize.

Cons: Need additional time to learned this software but it is easy to use. Billing idea is great and useful.

Comments: Overall, I am satisfied with AO. There are a couple of things that are a little cumbersome like the AO/QB syncing and customizing reports but overall, AO is easy to use and it gets the job done.

Pros: There are some people in your customer support that have been outstanding and very helpful such as Denise Karp and Michael Ybarra. They have been a delight to work with and is always helpful. However, there are others that has been a little hard to talk to and understand.

Cons: AO/QB syncing. It would be nice to make the syncing easier esp when an error is found. Correcting the errors could get confusing to fix w/o the help from your customer support. Another con is the capabilities to customize your reports. It would be nice if we as the customer can customize our own reports such as to give us all various options to customize on our own. Also, upgrading to the next version should be easier. There are so many steps to upgrading and a step can be missed.

Pros: Ease of use for a land surveyor that had little project management experience at the start.

Cons: Can't think of anything

Pros: We started using Archioffice in 2007 in the V8 days. It was a godsend. Despite some minor glitches (it never worked with Quickbooks), the ease of use, the ability for non-computer technical staff to customize templates, and the online user guide and videos (free and easy staff training) made it perfect for a small design office. We soon transitioned all our office management and project paperwork to the system. Support was great (despite the time difference; we are in Australia). They knew their product and got us back on track with minimal stress. It was a solid product, reasonably priced, well supported, and easy to use and customiae.

Cons: But then along came AO2010/2011 (a shift in technology) and the sale to BQE. The party was over. After a painful transition process to AO2011, our data was corrupted, the custom templates we had invested a lot of time setting up stopped working, Outlook sync ceased functioning, etc. The list went on and on, as did the time spent dealing with BQE support, who seemed to have no idea what this product did or how to deal with problems on the spot. They always had to refer to a senior tech somewhere else in the world. 'Wait until AO2013,' they said. 'This will be the best version yet; everything is being sorted out.' So we are trialling AO2013 (yet another shift in technology), and we are so unimpressed. There's more frustration and more time wasted on an office system that we can barely use.

Recommendations to other buyers: What was an effective and affordable product has become an increasingly expensive piece of junk. We've held out long enough and spent a fortune in time trying just to make do with patches and workarounds. That's not good enough for a product that is supposed to be professional software. I'd recommend using a series of Excel sheets and Word templates over this software. It really has become that unreliable. We are going elsewhere.

Comments: Our business focus is financial consulting and accounting. BillQuick was recommended to us by another accounting firm as a solution to our time-keeping problem. Prior to our instituting BQE, getting our staff to report their time was like pulling teeth! Now. . , it's done, and on time! All of our staff appreciate that the program could be customized to meet their needs and that it is easy to use. They love it. . . and that's 90% of the battle!

We do record our invoicing in BillQuick but find that, because of the way we bill, it can be a multi-step process that is laborious and time consuming. However, we do use it so that we can take advantage of the unlimited number of outstanding reports that the program offers. If needed, BillQuick staff will work with the customer to create a custom report that will fit any need. They are wonderful!

BillQuick is a great program! It is dependable, visually appealing and user friendly because the BQE Team works with you from the beginning to customize the program to meet your needs.

Any program is just a program without the team that supports its use. The BillQuick Team IS the program. In my opinion, they CAN'T BE MATCHED in customer service and support!

Try the program, get the Platinum support package, and hope that you are assigned to Scott as your trainer. If that's the case. . . . you've hit the jackpot!

Comments: This is one of the top business management software solutions that we've encountered.

Pros: We switched over to Core after using several other project/time management and accounting programs over the past several years. Since the switch to Core, we've been very happy with the results and the ability to automatically indicate to employees when they are overbudget on projects/tasks.

Cons: There is a bit of learning required on the user's parts before they know where to input time, expenses, and deliverables.

Comments: Help is really fantastic in getting us up and running. Support engineer was really quick and really efficient, and I really appreciated that. Our company has been using ArchiOffice for 6 years and so far things are going smoothly.

Cons: I cannot think of anything I don't like. As Steve Jobs used to say about Apple products - "it just works"!

Overall: Versatility of the product, ease of use, seamless integration with Quickbooks, superior low-cost support and most importantly, the increase in revenues because time capture works so well. I have used BillQuick since 2008 and it just keeps getting better.

Recommendations to other buyers: Purchasers of time and billing software will find that BillQuick is unique in its breadth of capabilities while still being easy to use. I conducted an exhaustive search for time and billing software and had almost given up on finding a product that would do what I needed - luckily I persevered and found BillQuick.

Pros: The accounting features are easy to access & use. It's lead to a much greater sense of control of our business and best yet, we can access it even from our mobile phones.

Cons: Signing in multiple users can sometimes take some time to set up, but once that process is complete everything goes extremely smoothly.

Pros: We have been using BQE BillQuick for 12 years and the program and support team are unmatched. Quick, efficient billing and attentive customer support.

Cons: I can't think of anything that I do not like about this program, if there is something, you have the opportunity to voice a request or change and they will add it to the "wish-list" and try to work it into the program.

Overall: Our employees are based all over the country, this program is very user friendly and their support is excellent! Any time I call for support, I am able to speak with someone immediately. If they cannot provide a quick solution, they research the issue and always come back with a resolution in a very short time frame.

Recommendations to other buyers: I would suggest viewing their interactive demos and attending one of the many webinars they offer.

Pros: The product is great and makes the tedious aspects of practice more bearable. BQE (Denise in particular) is consistently the best customer service experience our firm has -period. Has been that way for years. It is amazing. And the ability to receive prompt and helpful guidance when we run in to issues (which is rare) often immediately is the icing on the cake.

Cons: We have been using AO for 10 years now and I cannot think of anything but when an issue arises BQE has been there to Support us.

Pros: The time and expense features are the key reasons we started using Core over 6 months ago. It has simplified our accounting process by billing directly to projects and saved time on generating invoices.

Cons: It took a while to configure when you have a large running list of projects. We ultimately had to get support from BQE to setup our database initially, and it took several weeks to get through that process.

Comments: Anytime there is an issue, prompt response is given, with friendly etiquette. Thanks to the whole team for making every year great!

Pros: Ease of use.

Comments: The AO program enables us to be more professional in so many ways and, if we do run into any snags, their staff are always right there to rescue us!

Comments: We're a small firm that started off using BQE's Billquick software, a reliable, rock solid performer but not completely suited to Architectural Practice. When BQE acquired ArchiOffice we decided this was for us. The promises of what this software would do are amazing. Reading the claims was akin to reading the Fountainhead for the the first time. This is a program that understands our profession and its challenges. We took the plunge and following BQE's advice they converted our data into a format that AO could use. Without dwelling too much, it didn't turn out well at all. After we worked through all those data issues it was clear that the AO platform was not nearly as reliable as BQE on a day to day basis. The program would crash moving from tab to tab etc... Data was generally correct but there were an inordinate amount of issues. After a flurry of calls to Tech Support you will learn the work-arounds for known issues and areas of the program to avoid. Finally we were acclimated to AO 2011 which was not perfect but quite stable and usable. Then on August 6th, 2012 we got the email that that AO 2012 was here. Considering they had Beta Tested the software and felt comfortable enough to release we again took the plunge. We installed in August 27th 2012. At this point we've been working through issues since then. These have caused us to spend hours on tech support calls, delayed our ability to invoice, and cost us considerable in terms of man hours and lost productivity (while our database is uploaded analyzed etc....). Our hope is that this is just a bump in the road and that once our issues are resolved we can move forward. Until then it's at least a weekly call to tech support when we're up against a show-stopping error. So here's my review: I love the theory behind this software and once it up an running its fairly worry free. I would recommend the software but implement with eyes wide open. If I had to start over I would 1) only initiate new projects in the software to keep the data pristine, and 2) never update to the latest version until 6 months after release.

Pros: Overall we are happy with BQE solution that we have been using for almost a year now. Their technical support is good.

Cons: Although BQE offers report customization service, you need a Crystal report designer if you want to do it on your own.

Cons: Overtime hours are not always flagged correctly. This is not an issue for our company.

Overall: BillQuick is simple to use for the majority of our employees who do basic time and expense entry. It has user friendly functionality and their online tutorials and webinars help our company maximize the software's capabilities. If I ever have a question or concern their customer service is the best I have experienced.

Recommendations to other buyers: In past years I have researched more expensive options, but continue to use BillQuick as I have not found a product that compares in terms of value and functionality.

Pros: We switched to Core just over 6 months ago after struggling with a competing service for years. Core is very intuitive to use and easy to enter time and expenses for each internal and external project!

Cons: So far so good! My only critique is that I wish the dashboard had more customization available and that I could create specific widgets for various project metrics.

Pros: - Create projects and individual project phases as independent billing items. - Assign budgets and tasks on a phase level, allowing for greater delineation of phases. - Notify team members by email when tasks are assigned.

Cons: - Sorting time entries by individual tasks is not as straight-forward as other programs. - Dashboard customization is limited.

Cons: There are a few glitches, such as adding unnecessary multipliers to reports that make them incorrect, and we have to go back and fix all of these. Something our previous product from the 90's, did much better at. There is a lot of manual corrections

Overall: I've worked with BillQuick for the past 6 years. Overall it is a pretty easy system to use, it also interacts with Quickbooks nicely.

Recommendations to other buyers: Make sure you gift the system as much information as you can from the beginning, going back later to correct things, doesn't always work.

Pros: The program has several features for time and expense reporting and also multiple invoicing templates and reports which drew me to the program at first glance.

Cons: We purchased the BQE software program for a year's subscription in advance, however, from the start we had extreme issues with the program's performance. Multiple phone calls and emails were made to technical support to resolve the speed performance and timing out of the program, but it was never resolved. You would think that the tech people would know their software enough to know what caused the slow response time and timing out of their own program! A few weeks later we were forced to purchase another software program in order to continue with our business and discontinued using the BQE software program. We have not used this program since. Several attempts were made to ask for a refund, however, the company refused our refund. Read the contract, somewhere in the middle of about 50 pages, there is an 'all sales are final' clause.

Overall: Buyers beware, unless you are sure you want to use the program for the full amount of time you paid for, do not buy a year in advance until you try it out! Pay a little more for the monthly charges then you won't be gouged for a couple thousand dollars of unsatisfactory product.

For the reports and invoices, even though there are multiple templates, they are hard to customize or change most of the formats.

Cons: I really have not had any issue with billquick.

Overall: I have been very pleased with BillQuick meeting our needs. On the IT side of things the Product is very easy to install/upgrade and maintain. The Vendor has been very supportive and attentive to our needs.

Recommendations to other buyers: My recommendation to others that may be evaluating Billquick is to thoroughly test the software. Should there be any missing or misbehaving features make sure you work with your sales and technical team at billquick. They do actually listen and make accommodations to meet your needs.

Comments: A rep was brought in to iron our a long standing issue we had with invoicing using your Online version. It has been reported many times before but the problem was unable to be replicated. The rep took the time to understand the problem and followed it through, successfully identifying the problem lay with the Custom invoice. It was able to be rectified and our next invoice run worked perfectly. Her support was worth a five star, and in the past 70% of the time the support issued have been resolved (although not necessarily in a timely manner) hence the 4 star rating on customer service above.

Pros: Problems are being resolved slowly - we've used the online version for two years now and have worked out way around the quirks to invoice successfully.

Cons: Response times, some functionality, being able to switch between screens quickly (e.g. when editing multiple timeslips), no way to quickly check GST being charged on each item. Invoicing process takes longer than it did pre the Online version, partly due to the process required to download invoices to the correct files (which used to be done automatically) to email through our Outlook for Mac. Often a problem needing support from the US because of the time difference.

Recommendations to other buyers: Online version has its challenges - slow to respond at times, and doesn't talk to outlook so exporting emails to email through our program is a lot more laborious than it used to be. (although, that said one of our staff members now advised there is a server in Sydney which should rectify thisso we will monitor that in future.