All BQE CORE Suite Reviews
1-25 of 734 Reviews
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Cecilia
11 - 50 employees
Used less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
Reviewed June 2021
We like invoicing in Core
Andrew
Verified reviewer
Architecture & Planning, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed June 2023
Yep, there is a feature for that!
Good. Invoicing and time entry in the program fit our needs. There are always more features that we discover when we need more from CORE.
PROSThe program is cloud based which keeps us current. Most of the time when I have specific report, feature, or activity that I want, I can find what I need quickly. As with many programs, CORE does more than my office utilizes it for. Invoicing and time entry are usually smooth processes.
CONSWe migrated from ArchiOffice and feel that the way contacts are managed in CORE is utterly useless. We've abandoned it in favor of a piecemeal assortment of Office 365 and Mac built-in programs.The structure of projects is also something that can be improved. When a project transforms from hourly to percentage or adds phases, CORE has some flexibility but there are troublesome aspect such as migrating time from a single phase project to ensure it can be captured in invoices.
Reason for choosing BQE CORE Suite
Easier to migrate our ArchiOffice data into CORE.
Reasons for switching to BQE CORE Suite
Saved money through the al a carte module cost structure compared to previous program.
Deborah
Maritime, 11-50 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed June 2023
This product delivers...if you want it, it can be done.
the exec. appreciates the overall business analysis that can be obtained, time keeping is given back to the body of the staff and not the admin. staff, and can be seen and impacted live. project management is a complete task, not just partial tasks here and some in another area. Generally positive...difficult at first because change is hard, but once the benefits are realized, embraced ultimately.
PROSonce full integration is close, one can really see how the product can fully encompass all aspects. full analysis can be achieved if all data is inputted, but only then. if pieces are missing, so is the entire impact. time keeping can be accurate for all the employees...same story, expenses can be fully analyzed, project costing can be fully analyzed...but one must enter all of the data. it replaces most existing processes so it's difficult for some to "move on" so as not to duplicate. there are some glitches, but there usually is.
CONSthere might be too many features...not all businesses have them and while some recognize it, some will try to fill in all the blanks and this can be time wasteful. while there is a lot of "help", "dumbing it down" is never a bad thing. why not make it easy to understand? not everyone is an engineer...admins use it as well so keep it easy to understand for all. this gets more important the bigger the company gets...will support more administrative positions, so use the "kiss" principle-keep it simple st***d. admins will get these tasks delegated to them ultimately so make it easier to understand no matter the degree/education
Reasons for switching to BQE CORE Suite
more features, ease of use, growing business, growing employee base
Anonymous
11-50 employees
Used daily for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
2
EASE OF USE
1
VALUE FOR MONEY
3
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
3
Reviewed September 2023
Software has issues, but their customer support is pretty good
In theory, I like all of the features that core has to offer, however, when the features don't work the way they're supposed to it becomes a bit of a nightmare to use. It has a lot of bugs, crashes often and in general is just not very user friendly.
PROSI like the expense management feature for employee reimbursement and client billing purposes. I also liked the accounting feature that allows you to bill expenses straight from the Cloudfeeds. I also really liked their customer support. They have a solid team on standby for customer support. I would often get the same person when I called. They are super friendly and know how to navigate the software.
CONSIt's time consuming to use - it's so slow and there are a lot of features that bug out and simply don't work the way they're supposed to, so I spend a lot of time navigating all of that, which is a bummer.
Reason for choosing BQE CORE Suite
The owner of the firm worked with the BQE team when they first started building the software, he was informing them of features that would be useful for the architecture firm, so he set the company up with BQE to support their mission.
Reasons for switching to BQE CORE Suite
The owner of the firm worked with the BQE team when they first started building the software, he was informing them of features that would be useful for the architecture firm, so he set the company up with BQE to support their mission.
Allan
Civil Engineering, 11-50 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed November 2023
Excellent user interface
Really like the online UI, allows me to enter my time and do project research when I am travelling for work.
PROSThe user interface is very nice, easy to adjust as needed.
CONSI wish the searching for projects was quicker, but that could be due to number of projects.
Reasons for switching to BQE CORE Suite
BQE offers online user interface making it easier to enter time when travelling or at home.
Anonymous
51-200 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
3
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed December 2022
BQE Core key to Business Operations
CORE allows us to operate efficiently as a business. Overall, the CORE product I would recommend to any business who relies on billable hours as their core business. The ability to invoice directly from the platform and customize project fields are nice features.
PROSBQE Core is critical to the overall operation of our business. CORE allows us to charge time and expenses to different projects, in which we utilize CORE's invoicing suite to invoice customers in a timely manner. CORE's suite helps us manage cashflow and WIP better than we ever have before.
CONSCORE has moments where the platform loads very slowly. Invoices can be customized, but that comes at a cost. We would like for CORE to have the ability to allow it's customers to customize their own invoice templates. When a project has many phases, invoicing by master project is not possible.
Reason for choosing BQE CORE Suite
BQE Core met our business needs better. The ability to customize project fields, bill multiple classifications for one individual on the same project, and the ability to invoice directly from the project time and expenses were the main factors in our decision.
Melissa
Verified reviewer
Architecture & Planning, 2-10 employees
Used daily for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed May 2023
Great software for a small firm
We went from no project management system and manual accounting. This has improved our productivity and improved profits.
PROSSetup was very easy, the support was great at each step. It is the most cost effective for a small firm. At any time I can call or email a question and get a quick response. They are constantly updating and improving the system.
CONSUpdates sometimes cause lags the system, but if you sign up for updates they will let you know when they are doing them.
Reason for choosing BQE CORE Suite
Best value for cost, easy setup and support. Most programs weren't for a small firm.
robin
Civil Engineering, 11-50 employees
Used daily for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed July 2023
Great time tracking and project tracking
The best thing about it is ease of use.
CONSI wish it would let you edit your entries from the timecard area without having to go into the entries list, but other than that I have no negatives.
Reasons for switching to BQE CORE Suite
I changed firms and the new firm uses BQE Core. MUCH better than Trello.
Mirna
Civil Engineering, 51-200 employees
Used daily for less than 6 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed November 2023
New product for us - Really like it so far
I would definitely recommend Core to others. You have to learn the product first but once you do, it's very helpful.
PROSThe reports we are able to run are extremely useful to us. You can see how each project is doing super easily.
CONSAt first it was a little hard to use but only because we were used to another program. Now that we use it every day, it's become very helpful.
Reasons for switching to BQE CORE Suite
Our company divested and so when we moved, we had to purchase a new program.
Sebastian
Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing, 51-200 employees
Used weekly for less than 6 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed January 2024
Easy for time tracking
It's a tool that help me and the project managers to control the time of the projects i'm participating in.
CONSSo far, i Haven't experience any bad experience with BQE
Jesus
Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing, 5,001-10,000 employees
Used weekly for less than 6 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed January 2024
Time optimization
It takes less time than other apps to register the tasks and their times. It is easy to use.
CONSI have not any cons to mention. I think that at this way is good.
Amy
Construction, 11-50 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed October 2020
BQE provides strong support for customizations
Overall experience has been nothing short of great. The strong support 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.
PROSOur company transitioned many years ago to BQE from a different software which 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. In the past, we have found it very difficult to track time and transition those hours into a contract based invoice.
CONSWould like to see more streamlined and simplified process of client credits. Right now the only way is to have it has a retainer.
Reasons for switching to BQE CORE Suite
We switched because TS was not able to handle our different contract invoicing.
Irving
Architecture & Planning, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed December 2022
Best in Class Architecture Management
Overall, CORE has exceeded our expectations other than some basic simplicity in the user interface similar to Monograph, but with far more added flexibility meeting the daily needs of an architectural practice.
PROSCORE has by far proven to be the most suitable fit for small architecture practices and firms as compared to many others out there cost hundreds of dollars more for each seat. The application serves our daily needs to keep our projects and staff on account, efficient and profitable.
CONSSometimes there's too much of a good thing, being that there's more than 1 way to get what you need and therefore it can get a bit complicated and confusing to navigate.
Reason for choosing BQE CORE Suite
We came over from ArchiOffice and CORE offers flexible pricing tiers and discounts for long term subscription, as well as a full compliment of modules included.
Anonymous
1 employee
Used less than 6 months
OVERALL RATING:
1
EASE OF USE
1
VALUE FOR MONEY
1
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
2
FUNCTIONALITY
1
Reviewed March 2020
JUST DONT!!!!!! Refused to give refund after acknowledging it doesn't work
It was the most expensive waste of time I've experienced in a long while. It's right up there with Yelp advertising. Once you get pay it's over. I determined that this didn't work for me at a bout 2 weeks in. But, I was patient and tried to work through it with them. Roughly a month later, we came to the understanding that it doesn't do what I need, and they can't make it do what I need. (Quickbooks and Method Crm was doing this stuff before) I asked for a refund or even for the remainder of the year I paid for. I was told they "Don't Do Refunds" So, They're cool with over-promising, Taking $650, understanding that you're not using the program any longer, and are dissatisfied. Pretty Lame If You Ask Me
PROSThe Sales guy was really friendly and try to rush me into a holiday sale. I should have known.
CONSIt was promised to be totally customizable to any business. It absolutely was not. I spoke with customer service well over 10 times, probably 20 calls. They could show me how things were set up, but never really able to make it work with my business flow as I had with Quickbooks. The program was often slow and sluggish between screen changes (I have very fast ethernet connection 250mbps DL speed). Many features were on different screens and made for a lot of loading time between simple tasks. Again....not customizable when I bring it up.
Reason for choosing BQE CORE Suite
Because it looked promising. Seemed like all the features were there and was promised flexibility in the program. Obviously, didn't turn out to be that. Definitely to good to be true.
Reasons for switching to BQE CORE Suite
Quickbooks terminated their merchant services
Vendor Response
Hi there! We are sorry that you weren't able to use the program as intended. We do offer 15-days free trial and live demos of our product and keep everything transparent to give our customers a chance to review the product before they actually purchase. We have hundreds and thousands of users worldwide who rely on our products each day to successfully run their business. We are truly sorry to see you go and hopefully you will give us another chance in the future. Please feel free to reach out to us at customercare@bqe.com.
Replied April 2020
Kerrie
Architecture & Planning, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed July 2020
Invoices have been easier to process compared to previous software
Overall experience is great. As mentioned we experiencing error free time tracking, billing and the presentation of invoices is far better.
PROSWe use the time, billing and accounting functions frequently and it has made my job a lot easier and smoother compared to tracking down expenses and time for the team members. Processing reports are simple as well. Less error of tracking time/expenses as compared to our previous software. Invoices are more accurate. Invoices look professional and clean.
CONSCannot think of anything at this time. We are really enjoying the software
Reasons for switching to BQE CORE Suite
For the reason described above. This software is simple to use.
Paul
Architecture & Planning, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed December 2022
If you can spend the time to implement it, it’s beyond worth it.
We have really enjoyed the experience, it has since become a bit more expensive and potentially out of our price range.
PROSI love all the reports that we can create, track progress of our projects financially, and use it to teach our team about management.
CONSThe price to add users is a bit high. The ability to work through custom KPIs is tough.
Reason for choosing BQE CORE Suite
Easiest to understand at the beginning. Seemed to be right in the middle.
John
Civil Engineering, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed April 2020
I am happy to say that I took a leap of faith in upgrading my office to BQE
Prior to using BQE software I used Wind-2 and SEMA4 which are costly programs. I was not a newbie to using project management software when implementing BQE. My greatest frustration in using those legacy programs was that they did not have any flexibility in them that allowed me to update or “correct” erroneous entries into the system database without having the data reprogrammed in some way by the vendor. Support for BQE can assist making changes on the fly if need be and hopefully will continue to support the services industry in the future. I have witnessed the mission of BQE to continue to improve the software and support for its users. I am happy to say that I took a leap of faith in upgrading my office to BQE and have not been disappointed.
PROSSIMPLICITY – it is an easy transition from paper time sheets in a format that employees can easily understand. Employee time entries can add memos that are invaluable to explain charges to clients or counsel employees on their activities. FLEXIBILITY – Some projects require slightly different reporting/invoicing formats to fit the client’s needs. BQE support assists with accomplishing just that at a reasonable cost. SUPPORT – Over these years, issues in understanding inputs or reporting have been addressed in real-time, on-line, to help maintain operation schedules for billing and reporting. REPORTS – Both summary and detailed reports are available that can include memos to help clarify time and expenses. One can look at a project from different facets based on a manager’s needs.
CONSSome of the labor reporting modules need to be reviewed that use an integer formatted numbers that round off and be updated to use an accounting formatted number with 2 decimal places. My accounting department uses two report for payroll that use incorrect time (rounding up) instead of an exact job time/cost figure. I have to review and have them update to the corrected time values each time.
Reasons for switching to BQE CORE Suite
Cost and they were cumbersome to use
Dale
Architecture & Planning, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed April 2017
Great tool for the Architect's office
Overall, this is a good office management tool for the architect. We have used it for the past 10 years and find it invaluable in all we do in managing projects and running the business.
PROSThe product is great for the management of a project from time and expense reports to document management. It also manages the office contacts and calendar of events for all the employees. It will give you in real time if you are making or losing money on a project. It tracks and creates invoicing for all project clients. If you use QuickBooks, it is integrated directly with that software for complete accounting management. It is a great tool for Architects in that it is formatted for what we do (tasks and phasing of projects). If you have internet connection, you can get access to this program while on the road,
CONSWhen opening up project file, it takes 2 or 3 clicks to open up a file, such as Word, PDF and AutoCAD. Very, Very frustrating. Many of my employees do not use is function and simply use Window file manager to open and move files. We should not have to do this. It uses Java in the background for some of its operations, and I am not a fan of Java... it is always updating. Updating of the software is somewhat difficult for the person not a computer nerd.
Jaydra
Accounting, 2-10 employees
Used daily for less than 6 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed December 2018
Great product! Practical, customizable, and good value for the money.
This product saves me time and keeps all my cases organized so I never miss important deadlines or follow-up tasks. Well worth the money.
PROS1) It has a nice look and it's easy to use because it is organized in an intuitive manner. 2) It is also incredibly customizable. There are so many ways to filter reports and adjust who sees which reports and when, it kind of blows my mind. I have done so many things to customize this software to my firm's needs and I still feel like I've just scratched the surface. This also means it will continue to be useful as my firm grows, which is incredibly valuable. 3) It's a cloud-based software, which means I never have to worry about installing the latest updates. It's also an extra bonus layer of data security because the data is not housed on my local in-office server. 4) Tracking time is easy, and once hours have been billed to the client they are marked in the system (this may seem like a pretty basic feature, but it was surprisingly difficult to find in a case management software). 5) It talks to QuickBooks online, and it's easy to transfer data. It saves a lot of time to transfer invoice and other data from the project management software directly into my accounting system. 6) The customer service and follow-up support is great. I was walked through the initial implementation, which got me up and running almost immediately - very little work time invested in the implementation. After using the software for a few weeks, I scheduled a one-on-one training session with a BQE trainer to get all my firm-specific questions answered which was great.
CONSMy only (minor) complaint is that it does not yet also function as a CRM. I hope they add this feature because I'm looking forward to incorporating that data and function into the same system as my case management.
Scott
Computer Software, 2-10 employees
Used daily for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed July 2019
The logic/use process seems to flow very well
The logic/use process seems to flow very well. The QuickBooks integration is very stable and makes sense once you understand it. The user interface looks nice, is operationally smooth and is very responsive both in design and speed.
PROSOverall, very good. There was a learning curve, as with all software, but it makes sense once you figure it out. There are lots of connectors/features so knowing what you need is a big part of this. Support has been very good. They methodically think through processes and help with issues, configuration settings, or bugs (which I recently filed and it will already be fixed by the weekend). The software appears to do what I need it do (Project/Time/Expense Management) and may also be our replacement for QuickBooks once we get the processes figured out. The cost seems to be fair and it’s Tiered Usage based on user needs was great and something competitors didn’t offer very well. We look forward to continue to use the product
CONSIts big and complicated. I would spend time investing in documentation on what things really do for the back-end. For example: The QuickBooks integration is great, but finding out what actually happens is confusing. I had to set up small tests to figure out that “activities” really mean “services” in QuickBooks and you can have select what records have to sync… documentation (very technical) is very good for people like me!
Vendor Response
Hi Scott thank you so much for your review of Core, we strive to be cost-effective and provide a sleek user experience.
Replied July 2019
Stan
Accounting, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed January 2020
Like the flexibility
I have used BQE product for many years. The product is stable and pretty straight forward to use and today after a long time I needed customer support. The response as always was excellent and the problem I was experiencing was resolved.
PROSI like the flexibility and design of the software once I gone through the learning curve. The reports are straight forward and give me all the insightful data without customizing.
CONSI find the billing process steps a bit awkward but I am used to them now. It is annoying to have to look for the most recent invoice under Invoice Review once the invoice is processed as final.
Joe
Accounting, 51-200 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed June 2022
BQE, so easy to use
so easy to use, very little training required. everything is where you expect it to be
CONSthere are different reports or ways to view your time, this isnt very clear. i would like to use this feature but don't. this is of little importance to me. i am still able to do what i need to do in the software.
Wakif
Civil Engineering, 11-50 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed April 2021
I feel liberated with Core
As alluded earlier my experience with Core exceeds expectation. Most hiccups are sorted instantly with the knowledgeable support team. And with constant feedback, customization and updates, Core has met our firms needs and has delivered on every aspect of CRM and Project Management.
PROSIn my capacity as an Accounts Manager, I feel liberated to access critical client data in real time. Ability to update the Core database remotely from multiple devices has increased efficiency and productivity for the Finance & Accounting Dept. Seamless integration across one interface has been a game changer for project management. Collaboration, time and expense entries and accessing overall health of projects is readily available. Key performance indicators and customizable dashboards offers the foodies who eat with their eyes an appetizing experience using Core.
CONSChange is the only constant. Offering end user of Core inclusivity and engaging in product improvement will enhance significant updates. Select a Core group of users, incentivize and march to the finish line fielding their hands on user experience , constraints and limitations. Polishing and adding new features are the key to user satisfaction.
Lori
Civil Engineering, 51-200 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed February 2020
Slowly getting there
What we like the most about Core is the way everything is integrated in one application instead of using standalone apps that do not talk to each other. The ease of pulling up the needed date is definitely helpful. I have liked how some of my suggestions to Core ideas have been implemented. If more of these could be fixed and added to the software, the use of the software would be more efficient and effective.
CONSAlthough, BQE is working on a payroll module and i have to use a a separate payroll software to process payroll. On projects when you assign a group it doesn't let you assign to all phases and this feature addition would be great.
Autumn
Accounting, 11-50 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed March 2020
Core has been a huge time saving for us..
It is such a user-friendly software program and the customer service is definitely great.
PROSCore 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. 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
CONSThere was a bit of a learning curve in the beginning and training coordination was somewhat challenging but nothing extraordinary.