Bonterra Penelope 2026: Benefits, Features & Pricing

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On this page

Overview
Pricing and Plans
Features
Integrations
User Reviews

Overview

Bonterra Penelope

4.2

(75)

Pricing

Starting at $400.00 per year

About Bonterra Penelope

Penelope is a cloud-based case management solution for nonprofits, governments, universities and health and social services providers. Primary features include scheduling, notes, smart forms, automated workflows, email and SMS reminders, staff communication tools, referral and wait list management and reports.

The automation engine allows users to set workflows, tasks, notifications alerts and action triggers. Users can create time or event-based workflows to suit their requirements. It provides multiple pre-built reports on client demographics, service provision stats, client outcomes and others. Users can export these reports to Microsoft Excel, Crystal Reports, or MS-ACCESS. It also offers integration with Tableau that helps in creating data visualizations.

They offer a mobile feature named Engage for Penelope that allows users to fill documents and conduct discussions with providers from their smartphones or mobile devices.

Social Solutions is becoming Bonterra. Learn more at www.bonterratech.com.

Bonterra Penelope Screenshots

Bonterra Penelope Pricing and Plans

Starting price: $400.00 per year

Free Trial

Free Version

Basic

$400.00

per user, per year

No plan information available

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Bonterra Penelope Features

Popular features found in Nonprofit
Accounting
Campaign Management
CRM
Customizable Forms
Donor Management
Electronic Payments
Event Management
Fundraising Management
Grant Management
Membership Management
Registration Management
Volunteer Management
More features of Bonterra Penelope
Access Controls/Permissions
Activity Dashboard
Activity Tracking
Ad hoc Reporting
Administrative Reporting
Alerts/Escalation
Appointment Management
Appointment Scheduling
Assessment Management
Attendance Management
Authorization Tracking
Billing & Invoicing
Calendar Management
Case List Management
Case Management
Case Notes
Charting
Child Welfare Management
Claims Management
Client Chart Audit Tools
Client Management
Client Portal
Collaboration Tools
Communication Management
Compliance Tracking
Confirmations/Reminders
Contact Database
Contact Management
Credit Card Processing
Customizable Fields
Customizable Reports
Customizable Templates
Dashboard Creation
Data Collection
Data Import/Export
Document Management
Document Templates
Electronic Signature
Email Alerts
Employee Management
E-Prescribing
For Mental/Behavioral Health
Forms Management
Goal Setting/Tracking
Graphical Data Presentation
Group Notes
HIPAA Compliant
Initial Assessments
Invoice Management
Medical Billing
Medical History Records
Multi-Location
Patient Management
Patient Records Management
Payment Processing
Program Management
Progress Reports
Progress Tracking
Real-Time Reporting
Records Management
Referral Management
Referral Tracking
Reminders
Reporting/Analytics
Reporting & Statistics
Role-Based Permissions
Scheduling
Self Payment
Self Service Portal
SMS Messaging
SSL Security
Surveys & Feedback
Task Management
Task Scheduling
Team Notes
Template Management
Third-Party Integrations
Time Tracking
Training Management
Treatment Planning
Wait List Management
Workflow Management

Bonterra Penelope Integrations

Tableau

Dr. First

Bonterra Penelope User Reviews

Overall Rating

4.2

Ratings Breakdown

48%

40%

Secondary Ratings

Ease of Use

3.7

Value for money

4.0

Customer support

4.1

Functionality

3.9

MARIE S.

Verified reviewer

Individual & Family Services

501-1000 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed November 2018

I like this program!!

At first it was daunting as there is SO much information but once we figured it out I love it! I'm part of the team that works on our documentation to make things flow easier. It's great to be able to tailor it to our company needs.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Functionality

Pros:

Being able to read my staff input by generating a report whenever I need it. Being able to pull reports to the tableau so I can see my numbers just like that.

Cons:

Only being able to access from work computers with the VPN installed there. Would be great to be able to access from personal computers.

Susan R.

Verified reviewer

Non-Profit Organization Management

2-10 employees

Used monthly for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed March 2021

EXcellent system for client files and caseload management

We love Penelope for report writing and for documenting outputs for different projects including quality assurance reviews - we know that we are not using Penelope to it's full capacity and there is a lot more potential for improved and different methods of reporting.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

The user interface for our frontline counsellors is very intuitive which is efficient in getting new users up and running and is excellent for day-to-day casen documentation and file management

Cons:

Customization of the software was a challenge for us to understand our needs with respect to the many different functions and options available - using the sandbox was helpful in working out a few of the errors we made in planning

Reasons for choosing Bonterra Penelope

flexibility, recommendation from [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] at PHAN (now MOYO), Price options, Canadian based

Christine P.

Verified reviewer

Mental Health Care

2-10 employees

Used weekly for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed November 2023

Want to leave this service but they hold your data hostage

Extremely poor experience. Cannot even describe how obtuse the customer service and technical support is

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Theres not much that I can think of that I like about it. Have seen several much better more user friendly options. There are apps like asana for task management and harvest for time tracking and many invoicing apps that work better for cheaper.

Cons:

very outdated and not user friendly. Cant keyword search so case notes become a wall of unusable info. Cant run excel reports, only clunky pdf ones. takes way too many clicks to do anything. poor customer service even though we've been customers almost 10 years. will only provide you client data to you ONCE for free and only in coding format that only an IT professional could use. Want to charge twice the cost of a years service for them to extract the data in a usable format. They say this will take 35 hours-- shouldnt they have the code and process for that down pat, as something they do all the time? make it impossible to leave the service unless you want to abandon all of your historical data and manually input your clients into a new system or pay an exorbanent amount of money. feel taken advantage of. they are not staying current with competitors.

Miguel M.

Verified reviewer

Hospital & Health Care

501-1000 employees

Used daily for less than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed September 2020

Penelope from the Perspective of Reporting and Program Surveillance

I was hired to obtain, process and analyze the raw Penelope data because the built in reports were not sufficient for our reporting purposes. To be fair to Athena, I've observed this is true with any database system; built in reports for any database are static and the reporting needs of non-for-profit organizations are dynamic and shift at least annually. Initially, I had trouble using my credentials to log into Penelope's ODBC interface. It took a couple of months for Athena to figure out the issue was on their end. Once I was able to download the data, I had to figure out where everything was at and how to link it together. Athena's data dictionaries were invaluable, but you have to become familiar with the databases to correctly merge them and prepare the data. Now I can track anything entered into Penelope.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Penelope is comprehensive in terms of documenting service appointments, client assessments, referrals, notes, agency workshops and meetings, etc. One can access the raw data via ODBC and prepare the data for reporting, projections for grant writing or program surveillance. One can also use the built in reports for these. There is a feature that allows appointments to sync with Microsoft Outlook that is very handy. Athena Software has a lot of documentation for Penelope that I have found extremely helpful. Managers can look at staff caseloads easily.

Cons:

I found that support for accessing the raw data, especially in terms of data preparation is very limited unless you pay for a support meeting. They do provide data dictionaries and data maps which I found very helpful. Using login credentials for downloading the data can be frustrating initially because they are not immediately actualized by the engineers. Once that occurs, ODBC works fine and is reliable. With other issues Athena responds fairly quickly. Also, they do not provide support for using R. Thankfully, there is sufficient documentation from R developers that enabled me to figure it out.

Alyce W.

Verified reviewer

Non-Profit Organization Management

1001-5000 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed September 2020

many used

We are a unique organization in many ways, (arent we all) and the configuration of the software was an undertaking not for the faint of heart. We did have issues where Athena struggled to understand our business model during configuration. Once we overcame this issue, Athena has been very flexible, understanding and creative in helping us maximise the softwares uses to our organizations specific needs. We have found great value for money in this partnership.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

The engage tool (client communication) has made a big difference to our interactions with clients, particularly during COVID lockdowns. The customer service and support is always quick, informed and flexible to our needs. Our particular business pushed the Penelope system slightly out of its intended scope, but the Athena team has been so flexible with us and very creative in solving our issues.

Cons:

The software can be difficult to configure and test. The testing environments are extremely helpful for this, but as with all software, it can be impossible to understand the ramifications of system changes without testing each and every expected output. I have seen systems that do this a little better than Athena's Penelope.

Reasons for choosing Bonterra Penelope

Penelope had the highest security requirements of software that met the needs of our organization. The security protocol is very impressive.

Verified

Reviewer

Religious Institutions

51-200 employees

Used other for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed February 2019

It does a lot

Overall, there are a million types of software for mental health out there. And Penelope is a solid, experienced, reliable, excellent customer-service option that keeps getting better. I trust Penelope, I like that it keeps improving, and I look forward to seeing some of the problems fixed!

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Penelope offers a wide range of options for customizable software. Our counseling center is a practice of about 50 professionals, and in the search for software, we realized that our software needs are a bit unique. Penelope was able to offer customizable options and reports (reports are an additional cost) that fit our needs.

Cons:

It's expansive (which is good), but keep in mind that it takes time to train, set up, install, teach others, and learn how to best use. In addition, the reports are sometimes be transferred to excel and other times not. There is no mobile version yet (they are working on it), but mobile use is important for in-the-field or during-the-commute work. SO when the mobile version is up and running, it will be amazing.

Kathy S.

Verified reviewer

Religious Institutions

201-500 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed August 2017

Penelope has given us great flexibility with our student counselor population!

Our student counselors are learning great skills in using an electronic records system. Reports are much easier to run, supervisors can access the progress notes and other documents at any time, and can be alerted to situations like suicidal ideation or risk.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Students have access everywhere; outcome measures are great, and the ability to see visual score charts across time is especially effective for clients.

Cons:

It is hard to delete some mistakes. Written instructions are still not as clear as I would like. I still find it complex when setting up new outcome measures.

Verified

Reviewer

Non-Profit Organization Management

11-50 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed February 2019

Not user friendly at all

It accomplishes having a medical records. We stay with it due to the headache of changing and being a small non-profit.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

I am not a fan of Penelope at all so there is very little I like.

Cons:

It is terribly difficult to schedule clients, indirect appointments, or interface with other staff members. The fees are too high for what you get. It is impossible to get basic reports. Due to the high fees we are unable to purchase enough licenses for everyone which means we have to take turns entering information into the system.

Verified

Reviewer

Religious Institutions

201-500 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed October 2018

Penelope Provides an Opportunity for Quality Training for our Students

1. Students are trained in an excellent Electronic Health Record system, and it prepares them well for their future career. 2. Overall I have been really pleased with Penelope, and glad we chose it.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

1. Being able to purchase "generic" licenses--this works well for an educational/training context. 2. Being able to design our own forms and documents. 3. Great support.

Cons:

1. It took enormous time to set up our system. 2. There are still some reporting issues that do not meet our needs.

Verified

Reviewer

Non-Profit Organization Management

11-50 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed May 2019

CSC

We have had Penelope for several years and use it for our Clinical Counseling services. Especially like the Profile, Accounting and scheduling segments of Penelope.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Functionality

Pros:

Scheduling and client profile information.

Cons:

It is not easy to pull reports that we need specifically.

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