BQE CORE Reviews

Summary: The strong support that BQE offers for customization has resulted in effective time billing management but also leaves us with satisfied clients seeing their contracts clearly on a custom invoice based on their requirements. In the past, I found it very difficult to track time and transition those hours into a contract based invoice.

Positive: Our company transitioned many years ago to BQE from Timeslips as it was not as detail oriented as we needed for project budgets as well as client satisfaction on invoicing. Offering services to many different types of agencies - from federal to local government agencies to the private sector, each client requires a different level of detail on invoicing. BQE was the only option for us to be able to capture time billing and customization of client invoicing by project.

Negative: Cannot say if it is a deficiency because we had to customize invoice templates as our client billing needs are unique and I do not think any software would have satisfied it out of the box.

Summary: We are really excited to see how Core is helping us improve our ability to invoice clients and reimburse our independent contractors due to their unique pay structure. We love the mobile phone app as it allows us to do everything that we need to do from time tracking to billing.

Positive: We are new to Core but we were able to set it up very quickly. Our employees learned the software with very little hand holding. It is safe to say Core is user friendly software that I have experienced in my many years of managing software. The entire customer service team is just fabulous and they really do know what they are doing. Core has helped us in the reporting areas as well.

Negative: So far everything is working as per our expectations. We are trying to use also Core CRM and have given our feedback during the beta.

Summary: Project templates have been very helpful for setting up projects and now we can have a new project setup, including activity items, rules, and fee schedules within minimal time. Our Project Managers have clear and concise access to project information through reports and dashboards. My experience has been incredibly positive. Every step from the evaluation phase through our renewal for three years. Everyone that I have engaged has been very knowledgeable and are clearly well educated in the use of the software. The account management team has consistently informed us of new developments and tools.

Positive: The ability of BQE Core to memorize and schedule reports allows PMs to be sent weekly cost reports so that they are more aware of the charges on their projects without even having to open Core. BQE Core has allowed us to put time and expense tracking, project management, and billing all in one application. We no longer have to use three applications to perform those functions.

Negative: We had an issue with entering notes against projects and it has been reported to support.

Summary: We are loving the crisp user interface and customizable dashboards are definitely a plus. Having a software accessible from anywhere on any device is a life saver.

Positive: After using BillQuick for more than 10 years we switched over to Core. The transition was extremely smooth. Core is an excellent product which my staff transitioned to with ease. The online tutorials were so good that staff just dove right in to working with Core with almost no support needed. Any questions that I have as I was setting things up were quickly answered but staff who are always quick to respond, extremely knowledgeable and always friendly. I would definitely recommend Core to anyone!

Negative: Cannot say 'least' but definitely would like to see incomplete time card notification feature that we used to enjoy. I was told it is on the road-map.

Summary: Above all else Core is giving us the ability to present the client with beautiful and easy to understand invoices, and at the same time we can see behind the scenes everything that went into that project and measure whether we made a good profit or lost our shirts on it! And with the custom dashboard widgets we can watch ourselves lose our shirts in real time! But now we can see clearly exactly how to prevent that from happening the next time. Invaluable since we're in the business to make money.

Positive: Having used Core for a couple of years now I find that the software never blocks me from being able to handle any of our unusual projects and weird circumstances our clients throw at us. (We work on hundreds of commercial projects in a year.) Core is able to handle it all because it's a new system built from scratch that stands on the shoulders of their experience with BillQuick, ArchiOffice and Engineer Office and more. It's a huge reason why we picked it against the competitors. The tightly integrated accounting, HR, project management, etc, is essential to us as well.

Also, most people *think* they'd love to be able to design their own reports, but BQE chose to implement our custom reports for us instead, and when I look at the impressive results I know I wouldn't be able to achieve that with the report generators I've used in the past. A tradeoff I now appreciate.

Negative: The extensive library of built-in reports are sometimes a little too verbose, of course. It would be great to see a flexible "quick list" report that provides one line per item that we can highlight or check off as we go through something.

Also, the user interface is so easy to use that EVERYONE can input their own data, but I still wish there was an easy way to simply draw boxes on a timeline to enter timesheets for both hours worked and billable hours within that. I think these things are in the pipeline.

Summary: We track mileage extensively for our project visits. Mileage tracking on the mobile phone app is phenomenal. We track time and expenses mostly using Core mobile app. Billing is extremely easy as compared to our previous software.

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

Negative: Cannot say we dislike but whenever we find an issue it gets addressed in a timely manner.

Summary: Overall experience for me since I am only a few months in with learning the software has been great.

Positive: It is helping us see the real data to analyze areas of improvement for our company. I like how intuitive the software is, and how its set up to help me answer my own questions sometimes. I also appreciate the availability of the support team.

Negative: No real changes to suggest as of yet. There is a lot of information with CORE and I'm sure its a lot of work to accommodate everyone's special requests and customization, so I appreciate the consideration of the ideas and feedback of the clients.

Summary: We've had our ups and downs. After a couple of days on the phone with customer support, things have been clarified and settled. I understand some of my problems now and how to fix them. It is really the first time I have felt comfortable with my choice in software. As I learn new things, play with it more and talk with customer support things that I thought might be deal burners, are really not. We all need to accept change, and for me as a former development programmer, I am used to it. I was not that into our existing software that we are replacing as I only had to deal with it for a year as I am kind of the new employee. Yes, I looked at several different software options. Yes, some had more features than others, some less. It is going to be pretty difficult to find a replacement software that is exactly like the one you are replacing. My original review stated there were a lot of bugs. I'm not so sure about that statement any longer. For me, it works better through Crome than Edge. I did have quite a few issues when running in Edge. This may be a problem that has since been fixed, but I'm okay in chrome.

Positive: I have had more time with the software since my last review. As I slowly convert the firms old data to this new software, things are falling into place quickly. I'm becoming attuned to the software. Learning little things I didn't know where there, both by playing around and talking with customer support. This software is easy to learn. Not a real big learning curve, assuming you are familiar with project management, accounting, project setup or you have people familiar with those areas. I do it all, and basically maintain everything for everyone else.

Negative: I don't have many, but if I had to pick... they are not really cons, as I hope they will expand to these later on. API with Office 365/Outlook would be a nice added bonus. For me, especially Outlook. Also API with Quickbooks desktop version. This isn't a big issue, as I hope to also phase out QB and only use that software for payroll. Which I will then have an API if I go with QB Online/payroll. I will always use QB for payroll, so I am use to doing journal entries into systems to reflect the payroll numbers. This is not a hardship for me.

Summary: Overall we are very satisfied with BQE Core. The price is right for the functionality you receive.

Positive: Rather than having to keep track of time and expense in excel, we use BQE Core and it saves time, keeps records, and allows for reports. We use BQE for time and expense entry only. It is a useful tool to track time, run reports, and generate invoices.

Negative: The rolling scroll slows down functionality, and the inability to generate invoices and download to PDFs on our hard drive is a drawback as well.

Summary: Overall we love Core and it has made our tasks of time tracking, expense reporting, billing and project management much more efficient and easier.

Positive: Time entries are easy for the project managers. For most part calling customer service is easy and the staff is knowledgeable and patient when we are asking for help. Core does give a good view as to where we are with invoicing, budgets, contract etc.

Negative: There is room for improvement in reporting area as find some reports do not show totals at the bottom and more invoice customization options would definitely help.

Summary: Overall we are happy with easy to use time and expense tracking, wide variety of billing options and project management features of Core.

Positive: I have had more time with the software since my last review. As I slowly convert the firms old data to this new software, things are falling into place quickly. I'm becoming attuned to the software. Learning little things I didn't know where there, both by playing around and talking with customer support. This software is easy to learn. Not a real big learning curve, assuming you are familiar with project management, accounting, project setup or you have people familiar with those areas. I do it all, and basically maintain everything for everyone else.

As I learn new things, play with it more and talk with customer support things that I thought might be deal burners, are really not. We all need to accept change, and for me as a former development programmer, I am used to it. I was not that into our existing software that we are replacing as I only had to deal with it for a year as I am kind of the new employee. Yes, I looked at several different software options. Yes, some had more features than others, some less. It is going to be pretty difficult to find a replacement software that is exactly like the one you are replacing.

Negative: I don't have many, but if I had to pick... they are not really cons, as I hope they will expand to these later on. API with Office 365/Outlook would be a nice added bonus. For me, especially Outlook. Also API with Quickbooks desktop version. This isn't a big issue, as I hope to also phase out QB and only use that software for payroll. Which I will then have an API if I go with QB Online/payroll. I will always use QB for payroll, so I am use to doing journal entries into systems to reflect the payroll numbers. This is not a hardship for me.

Summary: I am very pleased with what I am experiencing with CORE. It's simplicity in Time and Expense tracking and the way it handles all types of invoicing needs of design professional services is excellent. Time and expense reporting, invoicing, accounting and project management are the areas of our business that are solved by Core

Positive: The fact that we do not have to deal with multiple apps to run our firm is in itself a huge deal. The real time performance metrics of projects on beautiful dashboards keep our management team informed about the project management aspects of our projects. Invoice is very flexible and easily supports different invoice formats.

Negative: Would like to see more industry specific chart of accounts.

Summary: We love the easy time and expense tracking and different billing options of Core to meet our variety of clients we deal with.

Positive: 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. 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.

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

Summary: 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.

Positive: 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. 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.

Negative: It will be great to have more tools for creating reports according to our needs and more options for administrators

Summary: Overall we love Core. It is a complete software for professional services with beautiful and easy to use interface.

Positive: The flexibility of Core is exceptional, and their technical support is top notch.

Core has helped us manage our projects and streamline our billing process, which includes 3-tier structure. Prior to Core we use to use excel to manage our multiple database. We are utilizing one application which is Core for time tracking, expense reporting, billing, project management and accounting

Negative: I hope Core is going to have the payroll module soon. This will help cut down the manual steps and use of multiple application.