We make it a point to attend the annual user conference. At the conference we are able to meet and talk with other users, as well as VMS staff. We can voice concerns or problems we have and also are encouraged to suggest new ideas or features we would like to see added to the software. We always come back from the conference with new information and ideas for improving our workflow. Above everything else, we value the Vertical Market Support staff. All software has issues and the client portal allows us to log issues and check the progress. The staff is courteous, helpful, and knowledgeable.

From an accounting standpoint, it works very well because all modules, including General Ledger, are part of the Ventus product. The dispatch board is very dynamic especially when running mobile data. We are also implementing the barcoding module and DocU, the paperless document management module.

Because the software is so versatile, sometimes we struggle with finding the best way to set up our work flow process.

We were lacking in the inventory/bar coding processes and are slowly becoming better at using this feature. It made Physical Count a lot faster. I know we will see better tracking between warehouses once everyone gets it under control. Also, the ability to transfer estimates to a job or service ticket will change things for us and make us more efficient.

Pros-One software for all facets needed to operate a business. The staff at VMS make you feel like family and are personally vested in your success. Bar coding capabilities. Ability to transfer Estimate to Job Cost and Service. The ease of searching is great. Docu - ability to attach all documents. Vast number of reports, very diverse in what you can pull. Ability to save to queue to have a history of all transactions.

Cons - No user's manual. Inconsistency between modules in where to go to search really just inconsistencies between modules period (Ex. some modules you go through Tasks to execute things, others you can do directly from the screen you are in). Can't set zero quantities doing a cycle count for a portion of inventory. Lack of synchronized data (Ex. PM Inquiry -must execute function to make sure it is current; Job Cost - when changing contract through JOB BUDGET/COST SUMMARY - it does not update contract amount in Job File) Passwords - need ability to set override capabilities for specified actions. Daily Password needed for everything under Options. Lack of automatic GL entry or notice that one is needed if a user performs a transaction that needs to have a GL trans done (ex -physical count, inv adj) Lack of "locked for editing" warning when accessing something that someone else is currently in.

The people are great. Not always very good at getting back with you. Feel like a small fish and not as important in comparison to other companies that use the software so we sometime get bumped.

The program has a lot to offer. Can be an all inclusive software system.

No or very little training on the software. No idea how to use most of it. Not consistent from one module to another. EX. spell check in service billing but not in accounts receivable billing.

We have been able to drastically reduce the time for our inventory with the barcoding solution. We have gone from 2 weeks of a 8 person team to 2 days with a 3 person team. We are getting accurate counts, transfers and costing. It has eliminated duplicate item files for the same product (you can use cross reference to link multiple skus to the same item). The job costing has allowed us to run more efficiently and know when we are going to do way better (or way worse) on an estimate. The service reports help us understand which technicians are profitable and which need help. They are always improving and coming out with new features and add-on's to help with processing.

I like most that the software contains almost everything that we need. It has service for our dispatching and bill of service. It has job costing for all of our larger projects. It has Payroll, Inventory, Accounts Payable, Purchase Orders, Equipment Controls, Call Management, Estimating, Order Processing for over the counter parts sales and Accounts Receivable. You wont need anything separate to run your day to day transactions. The Dispatch board is our FAVORITE part. You can schedule your technicians, maintain contracts with billing, bill by time and material, fixed dollar or flat rate.

There is few online add options. For example, when you need to make a new inventory item, you have to go to the item maintenance file. So you have to leave the screen to you are and go somewhere else - however, you can keep the tabs open so don't loss what you are working on. Some of their add ons (like e-time) don't really work for technicians that are multi-taskers (work both on jobs and service tickets).

Ventus is helping us find ways to keep our costs lower and we have not implemented all of the capabilities yet. It does take awhile to learn the functions. However, the software makes more sense if you understand how it functions!

Item inquiry is one of my favorite functions. Ventus makes it easy to find when a part came in, where it came from and the open and past sales. This has became a time saver in many ways. Writing checks in Ventus is a breeze. It allows us to change the information prior to creating the check if discount amounts were entered in incorrectly. There is a new credit memo function in AR for applying checks to invoices has saved time and allowed us to keep a better AR record. The new lookup functions that have been added everywhere makes finding information easier. One downfall is not being able to lookup a number with begins with.

The item inquiry is one of my favorite features in Ventus. However, we do not have a way to look up customer part/material sales history. This can be difficult when a customer would like something that they ordered before but is unsure of the part number. Post-match: The overall idea of post-match is wonderful! However, we are a company that pays our invoices by the discount date. We were unable to create checks for parts that were not received in. Loved the idea of being able to see what po was applied to the invoice. However, saving money was a bigger priority. We had to leave post-match so we were able to write checks. Still waiting for that function to change so we are able to utilize Ventus to the fullest. There has been a recent change to where our overall control of our company maintenance was taken away. Our company takes pride in the controls that we have over our accounting software and the upkeep of it. Because of this we have set-up controls to keep others out where they do not belong. Our control over this has been taken away because of other companies and their misuse of the company maintenance, AR Inquiry and AP History. This should be regulated by the company and not VMS.

Our company has been using VMS software to run our business for 17 years and rely on their software as the heart of our back-office. Their software is a great asset for us and I honestly don't know what we would do without it. The software does all of the tracking and number crunching our business needs from taking an initial service call all the way through accounting for the payments from our customers , it is constantly evolving so you are not stuck on an antiquated platform after a few years. Their support team is excellent and is quick to remedy any issues be they user caused errors, or the occasional software issue. I have evaluated several other software packages over the last few years and have seen nothing better on the market for the needs of our business. In a market with out many guarantees, I feel like they always deliver and more importantly they want to help us benefit from their product, not just sell it to us and then walk away.

It works well, gives us accurate information, and bottom line, makes running our business simpler by being able to integrate everything we do on one platform without compromises.

My only criticism is that we will sometimes experience a new issue after loading a software update. We always get a quick response to any issues that result from that when contacting their support personnel.

Enjoy working with VMS. They seem to be able to fix most problems in a timely manner and willing to listen to ideas and new problems when they arise.

Bar-coding has allowed us to tag each individual item as it is received. Once tagged it makes the transfer of material from warehouse to Tech van much easier and faster (saving time) and this allows us to scan the item versus typing it in which can lead to many typos and errors which leads to wrong parts getting transferred and of course that leads to loss of money and extremely time consuming to fix (MONEY SAVER $$). Bar-coding also has allowed our Techs in the field to be able to scan the item directly to their tablet. This is much faster and no room for typos and picking the wrong part. Not only has this helped us in the everyday operation but Bar-coding and Scanning also has cut our time for inventory down by more than half. What would take us (2) full days we are now doing in less than an (8) hour day.

Bar-coding and Scanning has been a positive for us.

If you are considering purchasing Ventus for your company - the first thing I would recommend you to consider is that implementing ANY new software will be a headache. Not everyone learns at the same rate and everyone hates change. When we first started, [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] told me very clearly to plan on a year to get all of the bugs (both software and personnel based) ironed out. He was right. We have actually gotten most of the rough waters behind us in six months. The customer support system is exceptional. We are a petroleum based company and because of the specialized nature of our business Ventus has made MANY customizations. While no software will be able to do everything your company needs, I feel like Ventus bends over backward to get you the information you need for your business.

Customer Support and ability to customize

Reports. But there is now a designer function and more reports that are Excel Raw - improving each day

We have used Ventus products for over 20 years with predominantly great success. The software can do everything we need to run our business and is a great tool to do so.

What I like most about Ventus is that our company is able to use one software for all of our database needs, everything we do is run through one database that covers us from contracts, service management, purchasing/accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, billing, it does it all and each module communicates with the other.

My only dislike is that due to the system constantly being enhanced via software updates, our company experiences a higher than desirable frequency of bugs and issues when we do software updates. These can often be solved fairly quickly, but the amount of issues our company has faced has been a real hardship both in terms of time we have to spend tracking issues and on the flip side, waiting on fixes for the issues that we experience. We have only been on Ventus for a little over a year so we are hopeful that as time goes on the problems will become a less common occurrence for us.

I have had a good experience with VMS. If I have a question about how something works they will show you how to use their program so it works for you.

I like how easy it is to use and understand VMS. You are able to get reports that show you valuable information. You are also able to put things in order by job number or area.

I don't like that this program is set up as excel but it doesn't have all the functions of excel. For example you should be able to group a bunch of categories in order and be able to change them. In Job Cost when setting up a job it would be useful if you could change all of the divisions, departments, or tax codes all at once.

Through the years we have grown along with VMS in our needs and usage of our software. Had the need 3 years ago to research new software after having been on the VMS (GUI) product over 20 years. After much talk, many demos and group conversations, we stayed with VMS and went with the VENTUS product and have not regretted the decision. The software is great and the people are even better!

It is a fully integrated product from purchase orders to dispatch to all things financial. We don't have to go outside the VMS product for supporting software such as an accounting product. Ventus can be customizable to fit your needs and have not seen a better dispatch board.

There are places in the software that are inflexible and some processes that could be improved such as the ability to online add items (such as a new vendor or a new inventory part #). Currently have to go the task of adding something new.

We did a lot of research before we purchased this software in 1996. We have been using it since then and have had no real problems with the software. The customer support is awesome and they are quick to respond. They have expanded the capabilities of the software, we have not kept up with all the enhancements. The support has been a 9 out of 10 even though I realize we are a very small company and do not use the software to the extent, they are still supportive and do not make us feel unimportant. I do admit there are a few items that I have sent to them that are still not resolved, but it is not a game changer and the software still works great without the issues being resolved.

integration between all modules is great

in service - on the gui side (vms not ventus) you can't search by the name of a street, you have to have the house number or when you search in a/r, its is by the vendor id and not the name

Ventus is very accommodating to our needs and offers current and updated programming working efficiently and quickly to fix or update customer needs.

The software handles all of our needs in one interactive package. It seamlessly handles detailed workorders, inventory, job cost, payroll, general ledger, equipment control. AR, AP, general ledger and offers management tools and reporting to know exactly where we are doing well or not so well in real time. Mobile data, barcode scanning, and % of profit reporting are my favorite features, but I truly enjoy the whole package. Using this software has increased our profit 10% or more.

Requires employees to be well trained on the software.

It's a great software for any HVAC contractor looking to have every platform under "one roof".

We migrated from VMS to Ventus about 4 years ago, and it was a great decision! We were up and running within a day and needed very little training. The support from VMS is great, they are always very helpful and responsive. The product is easy to use and navigate, and we are very happy!

Currently, the only issue we have with the software is that we are not allowed to have a master password for the Company Maintenance portion, and have to call in every time we need to use that portion of the software. Sometimes we are doing maintenance changes after hours, and we cannot obtain a password then.

We are in the process of making things more automated and less labor intensive through use of mobile data portion of this software. Looking forward to discovering more efficiencies we were unaware of previously.

The thing I like most is that it is all inclusive containing dispatch / service through payroll and accounting. Also the fact that it’s customizable to your business - different companies have different ways of using it.

There is a learning curve - it takes a while to learn everything this comprehensive software is capable of. I still am learning more each day even after 2 plus years.

We have been with VMS since the text-based user interface days. Teams are wonderful. It is great to visit with them every year and to know there is a friend on the other end of the support line when we need it.

Top marks for customer support. Having an integrated solution for all our business is very efficient.

The documentation is only on-line, not integrated into the software. The documentation is task accomplishment specific. It does not lend itself well to "What does that field do?" or "What is the impact of checking this box?" type questions.

THE PROGRAM FOR AIA BILLING IS THE EASY SET UP OF THE JOB TILL COMPLETION OF THE JOB THE WAY THE PROGRAM GIVES THE CUSTOMER ONCE SUBMITTED A COMPLETE BREAK DOWN OF THE BILLING OF THE MONTH - FROM THE INVOICE TO THE SCHEDULE OF VALUES, TO THE APPLICATION OF PAYMENT

IF A MISTAKE IS MADE IN THE AP - IT IS NOT FUN TRYING TO CORRECT AND REMOVE IF A DISCOUNT IS TAKEN AND SOMETHING IN THE SYSTEM DOES NOT TAKE THE DISCOUNT IT CAN SHOW UP IN HISTORICAL NOT A FUN THING TO GET OUT OF THE SYSTEM

Ventus software has helped us to handle all of property, consulting, and training aspects easily in one program.

It helps me to track all of my equipment that I lease and create easy contracts and invoicing as well as all of my rental properties and even consulting services. I like the easy to use password options. I can secure private information or limit use of programs or reports that are only for use by certain users.

Requires trained and informed users …...

Overall the Ventus software is an important part of our business operations. The mobile dispatch for field techs has allowed us generate service invoices at the time of service and improve service cash flow.

Very robust. Integrated modules allow us to efficiently handle all accounting, payroll, inventory, service management and dispatch functions. The ability to have custom programming for additional needs.

In the past, work orders were slow to be resolved. Much improved now.

We have been using Ventus software for 6 yrs. The detail and control we now have in all areas of operation since we started using the software has saved us thousands of dollars. We use all modules except for some of the newest ones, they all bring value and allow us to increase our productivity and track problem areas. I was unable to truly know what was going on in all areas of my (5) companies until we started using this software.

Access to detail and profitability

Need to be trained by someone who knows how to use the software.

Because of the functionality and ease of use, it has great potential. However, the instability of the programming and the poor response of service makes me wish we had not purchased the product.

It has great functionality, and it's user friendly.

1. The programming is very unstable. Most of the time, when a new release it's out, it messes up something that was working correctly before. 2. Service is far to slow in responding, if they respond at all. If they do respond, they are usually helpful....BUT it's rare for them to respond quickly, and sometimes they do not respond at all.

The support from the VMS team is always available! Having such a great customer service team when dealing with software changes and updates, even when trying to navigate areas in the program your company has yet utilized they have never let us down! Honestly fairly easy to use as well.

Nothing I would pin point directly, any cons have always been addressed.

The mobile data and dispatching part of the software is worth every penny. Our techs can now do their paperwork on their phone and it has made dispatching so much more efficient.

Some parts of the software you have to adapt your way of doing things to and you wish the easy adjustment could be made to fix the issue.

The software has a module for most everything a company does. It can do alot of different things and is good for a company starting out in our industry. We have just outgrown it.

The software is outdated in a lot of ways. My biggest issue though is how difficult it can be to get some new set up by programming. Anything custom is expensive and takes forever

Have the ability to schedule our preventative maintenance.

The ease of usability, easy to find what i am looking for and track my work flow. The ability to change the sites that we take care of.

Not enough customization options, need more fields to be able to add in more information about our customers.