Jonas Enterprise Software

Pros

All in one system; all employees use the same system.
Both service and install departments have specific functionalities

Cons

After 6 years using Jonas, I can tell that if you have a recommendation on how to make Jonas better, the management team will listen to you.

When we first came on board with Jonas in 2007 we had some issues being an excavation contractor in Pennsylvania with the state Prevailing wages, taxes, etc. but Jonas worked through those issues with us and now I highly recommend them!! I have been on many different software packages and Jonas is my favorite!!

Pros

Have always loved the support and ease of logging a support call. Staff is very knowledgeable!! Updates are easy to load. Jonas listens to clients needs for any changes that benefit the client.

Cons

I have nothing bad to say about Jonas. I have never had any thing to complain about with them. Everything is great!

Pros

Lots of features and fairly easy to use.
Customer support, when we've needed it, has be good and typically provided in a timely manner.

Cons

Old interface. 15 character limit on inventory items (and having to use alternate part numbers) needs to be fixed. Even the alternate part numbers are too small for many of our parts.
Purchase order numbers, and cheque numbers are too short.
New modules seem like add-ons to the base program, rather than a complete integrated solution.
Inability to access some fields for custom reports. Some built in reports are poorly implemented.

Pros

Jonas is easy to use once you have completed your initial training. Reporting functions that the software provide are great, as well as all of the other information that is available

Cons

Product support has slowed just a bit but most issues are resolved within a few days. No other real negative issues product as a whole is very solid and stable

Pros

Once the setup is complete, the product is very easy to use. I also like the constant updating of the product.

Cons

The interfacing with other products such as Accubid is difficult, as well as the setup is a bit complicated.

Pros

The one thing I do like is that you can customize reports. This is probably the only good thing about this software.

Cons

Everything else about this software is bad. The customer service us horrible, the accounting system has glitches all the time, Information is hard to find in all of the menus they list. These menus are ones that were customized for other companies but show up on your menus. There are some items within the menus that cannot be accessed because they are old yet they do not remove them. Trying to pay out retention is a nightmare. Do not make any mistakes or have to change anything in parables because anything you do will print on the suppliers remittance slip. Lets not even go into customer service what a joke this company is horrific.

Pros

Has all of the features that you would expect of a comprehensive database and easy to learn how to use.

Cons

When making changes or upgrading the version, it has not always been smooth. It took a group of individuals working together to fully understand the changes that were included in the new version.

Overall, the system once you know how to do the functions is fairly easy to use. If you don't know the system, the information is difficult to find, however, the customer support team is very helpful and timely to help.

Pros

There are many things you can do to track costs in this program. It is fairly easy to use once you know how to use it.

Cons

You can't leave very long descriptions, the help documents aren't very helpful to find how to do a specific function, you can't adjust things easily (you might need to do a couple things to fix one thing)

Many thanks to Jonas Management Team and Jonas Support Staff for fantastic adventure at work during past 5 years of using Jonas Software!

Pros

Logical, intuitive software to work with and timely, accurate reports
Actually able to be creative with Design your own report module.

Cons

I find that Help Docs search is not giving the desired outcome. I like better Video Tutorial Section.

Pros

There is nothing about this software that I like.

Cons

Every module has issues and it is obvious that it was not written by an accountant

Pros

Fully integrated software that brings all of our accounting, payroll, and field mobility needs together under one umbrella.

Cons

As with any software, setup, training, and getting to know the in's and out's has been time consuming and, at times, daunting. However, the promise of greater control of our productivity makes the investment of time and resources worth it.

Pros

Jonas provides many modules of an ERP system. The electronic timesheets module is excellent! Remote users can easily enter their time from anywhere they have access to the internet.

Cons

The user interface of the inventory management component is a bit dated. Need to move to web based platform.

Pros

The software gives us all the tools we need to run efficiently with modules for Financial Reports, Payroll, Inventory, Project Management, Subcontracting, and more.
There is plenty of training available both online, by phone, and in person so all questions are answered in a very reasonable time. Comparable products are considerably more expensive and do the same things Jonas does for a far more reasonable price. the value cannot be overstated.
Most importantly, Jonas is one of those companies that truly takes an interest in their clientele and it shows.

Cons

The transition process is intensive so time and dedication is required initially, but once it is done things flow very smoothly.

Pros

That it has good Job Cost reporting features / E-Time Sheets / Direct Deposit / Work Orders that work very well. All modules work well.

Cons

Sometimes support takes a little to long. Some of the modules don't seem like they have been finished.

Pros

Overall the products are pretty accurate in processing data and generate financial reports, most of data can be downloaded in Excel for us to analyze.

Cons

The system should not allow unbalanced JEs to be posted, in addition, it should make it easy to run reports by Dep. IDs

Pros

I have enjoyed working with the VP Business Development, hopefully he will be able to move us forward and enable us to give a better review in the future.

Cons

Many of the screens are not linked for example I had to search an invoice but couldn't jump from that invoice to the Work Order associated with it, I had to go out of the A/R area and then into the Service Billing area. It takes a LONG time to run reports. One report that I need to run twice a month takes 3 hours. We have owned one module for 3 years and have not been able to implement it due to certain set-up items in our system but we have still been charged every year for this module and no one at Jonas has been concerned that we are not using it.

The customer support are amazing and really know their product!!!

Pros

The customer support whenever you have an issue, question or concern is outstanding, when you log a case they get back to you very quickly.

Cons

The system can be a little overwhelming if you do not have some training, but once you have been working with it for awhile (if you have worked with other accounting software) it is very user friendly at least for the general areas of each module. If you search in the tutorials Jonas is quite good at supplies assistance for most of the modules.
Therefore I can not really find a con.

Our company switched software products to Jonas just over 1 year ago. We had outgrown our old system. We've been extremely pleased with both the Jonas software and the Jonas staff we've interacted with. Our company has just over 100 employees in four office locations. This system can handle our multiple divisions without being too complicated or cumbersome to use.

Pros

The primary issue with our last software was an inability to get good reporting and data from the system, especially for our multi-divisional operation. The report writer in Jonas is a very useful tool, and the financial drill-down capabilities are excellent. We also now have real-time job cost data, and more detailed P&Ls, which has helped our ability to manage construction work.

Cons

No software product is perfect. We've had to adapt a few of our internal processes to fit the way Jonas is made to operate, but nothing has come up that we haven't been able to work around. The Jonas trainers are also an excellent resource we've utilized to make the system work as best it can for us.

Jonas is our third ERP software program we have used in 20 years in business. Learned a lot about selection process' by knowing my experiences with the first two. I also learned none of them do everything, all of them will hiccup from time to time. So my selection of Jonas centered around: 1. Is their customer service responsive (yes), 2. Do they constantly try to improve the product based on customer input (yes), 3. Is the product fairly priced (yes). and is the annual fee structure reasonable (yes). We also needed a strong field mobile platform as we have used wireless field mobile solutions for many years. Jonas has worked very well for us, we continue to get training on new modules and features we can use to make our company process/ better.

Pros

Constantly looking for ways to improve a product and they do not wait until year end to release updates if they are ready they release them. Customer service is very responsive if you need immediate help. Training is very high quality, conversion from our old to the new system was without trouble and well planned.

Cons

Dispatch board does not schedule projects or long term service work well (works very well for day to day calls) but they developed a project scheduler that looks promising for that.

We have been live with Jonas for a little over a year. As with ANY software, it isn't perfect and will not suit every need. It is impossible for a software to please everyone as we all run our businesses differently. We shopped several software options, and for our medium size company with a service department, Jonas fit us best. I agree, the reports are very simplistic in format and do take some getting used to. I had to look beyond pretty pictures and format as what is really important to us is the data.

The Pro and Con to Jonas is it is HIGHLY customizable. With that, there needs to be a very thoughtful process to how you set it up in the beginning. Which is a challenge since you won't know how some things work until you are using it. It is a very robust software for the price, in my opinion, and will take patience and time to learn all it can do. I found that the very basics such as entering A/P, work orders, creating jobs are very easy to learn. The complexity comes when you want/expect to rely less on outside software and spreadsheets.

Our company borders two states, one with a multi-jurisdiction sales tax schedule. Every payroll or sales tax requirement Jonas has been able to handle. Jonas is able to handle multi-state, multi union payrolls. Something we found not very many programs could throw in a service department and it became very small unless I wanted to buy a program that equated us to driving a bus down the road for 3 people while spending 6 figures. No thank you.

Pros

My favorite is the Project Control screen. From there, our project managers can drill down and get all the information they need in one quick and easy place. Each person can customize some of the drill down screens to tailor to their individual needs. AIA/progress billing is easy with the step by step menu. It is also easy to go back and adjust if needed. The ability to set controls across the various modules. Your voice is heard. I have always been able to talk thru a challenge with support and management. They listen and if the demand is there they will put it in the next product update.

Cons

The stock payroll reports haven't fit very well for us. But Jonas is working on that. Cluttered menu items that hang in there because their long-time customers still use them. It is confusing when you are first learning.