this may be a long shot, but we a small architectural firm and need project management software that also handles billing/invoicing/timesheets/payroll. we currently use sema4, which is from like 1865.

do any of you have experience with Ajera by Axium, Deltek Vision, Clearview/InFocus, or BillQuick?

we test drove ArchiOffice for 2 months but it's a piece of shit.

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forgot to search first...but the old thread is old. still looking for people who have used those architecture specific programs. mod, feel free to bttt the other one and i'll post there. oops

[Edited on October 27, 2009 at 12:28 PM. Reason : ]

10/27/2009 12:25:19 PM

not really knowing much about any of this, it sounds like you might need 2 programs.... it would be sweet to have them combined though, and there should be a product that fills that niche

10/27/2009 12:36:27 PM

Don't use timberline. it's a pain in the ass. Lol

10/27/2009 12:41:28 PM

vision & ajera do all of the above. infocus & billquick have parts missing. i really like cosential but it does none of the accounting/timekeeping side of things. it's awesome looking on the front/marketing end though.

10/27/2009 1:37:16 PM

We are in the process of implementing Vision 6.1 right now, upgrading from Deltek Advantage. It's been a hassle to get it up and running. The company I used to work for used Vision as well, and I mean it does everything that you want it to do, but we always had some kind of issue with it. These things ranged from small stuff (won't load up on a user's PC for whatever reason) to larger stuff (SQL server getting destroyed by queries that we didn't even know existed).

I remember having to re-image a workstation one time because Vision had some screwed up error, and Deltek support simply told me they had no idea what might have caused it.

I don't really know much about the ins and outs of the Accounting side but from an IT side, I'd avoid it like the plague.

10/27/2009 2:28:04 PM

uh... Basecamp?

10/27/2009 2:38:48 PM

thanks! we've had similar problems with archioffice. we can't get it installed on one computer. it was installed on another but stalls and locks up all the time. it installed fine on another one, but 9 straight hours of data entry has been lost 4 times (it won't retain anything you enter). their tech lady has used remote desktop to "fix" it twice. the first time she did fix it, the second time it didn't work. they have no useful manual to help you out...it's mostly videos with no progress bar and only some of them show you how long the video is.

10/27/2009 2:39:56 PM

Dynamics SL sounds like exactly what you need: http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/en/us/products/sl-capabilities.aspx

It's got billing, invoicing, timesheets, payroll, and project management. It also has deep integration with Project and Project Server for portfolio management and project management.

If for no other reason, it's nice to have a product with real documentation, a support ecosystem and a big ol company standing behind it to help.

[Edited on October 27, 2009 at 3:22 PM. Reason : .]

10/27/2009 3:21:35 PM

uh... Basecamp?

10/27/2009 9:04:23 PM

uh... Basecamp?

10/27/2009 9:20:13 PM

basecamp doesn't work too well for architecture (or any industry with formal processes for that matter).

10/28/2009 9:06:22 PM

we use a LIMS system here at work, while it's supposed to be this awesome all in one program for shipping, storage/inventory, experiment input, and apparatus/equipment control, we only use it for storage/inventory and even then it's sad, (but that's b/c our own build is so badly done), but it has documentation / audit trails out the ass...

10/29/2009 10:50:16 AM

^^yeah, I should have included in the title that it's important that it's written for architectural firms. There's a big difference in functions

10/29/2009 5:49:42 PM