Avaliações do Sage Construction Suite

Sage Helps

Comentários: We started in 1987 with The Master Builder; which was purchased by Intuit; which was purchased by Sage and became Sage 100 Contractor. So we have grown up with the great grampa of Sage 100. It has run our company for decades and we are very happy with it. As we grow, the program can grow. There is still a lot of the program's capability that we do not use, yet, but hope to.

Vantagens:

Integration of job bidding to job costing to accounting to payroll.....all modules talk to each other in real time. We could not have any software that did not do all these things

Desvantagens:

The weak point is the estimating module that comes with it. I don't think it has been upgraded for 20 years.....no...really. They want me to buy the upgraded estimator which I think I will do soon.

A Proven Total Construction and Accounting Package

Comentários: Very good experience with the product and dealing with support and the knowledgebase. I have been using this product now over 15 years. I have worked for 2 General Contractors during this time and this product has served us well.

Vantagens:

I like the fact that Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate software (modules) is a total solution for a few different industries, mainly construction. We have all the modules from Job Costing to Payroll to Project Management, etc. We do everything in house. I also like the fact that it integrates with Aatrix for Government and State e-Filing and reporting. That is very nice that it pulls everything from Sage and makes the reporting process seamless and easy. There are many other products that integrate well including MyAssistant.

Desvantagens:

I wish the software was cloud-based which would make upgrading and future improvements much easier and attractive. A smaller investment of hardware and resources would be needed since the server would pretty much be eliminated. Updates would be automatic. Sage does have other products that are cloud-based but this one will not be going that route.

Sage 300RE

Comentários: I am a moderate user because of my position but I was the person that took on the Service Module back in 2005 as we switched to Sage. I was very disappointed then with the SM module as it was not going to do what I was told it could but it was to late at that point as we had made the switch.

Vantagens:

It had the ability to customize features in the program

Desvantagens:

The service module is way behind the times and will be the ultimate reason we leave Sage at some point. Even though we haver added SSO for some time now it still does not change the fact the back office program is the problem. We need more flexibility with departments and costing to meet the real service world. Also in order to make Sage work to meet todays requirements we have had to add third party programs such as Timberscan, Cabbage, hh2 and any even a program to get better access to your data. Sage is exactly the kind of program third part developers want and keeps them in business. Having Sage 300 Re means you will be forced to use other companies to get what you want out of the program. I did not realize how the programs we pieces bolted on and that there not actually built together. Once I knew how the purchasing module had to use Macros to make it work and communicate to the rest of the program was extremely disappointing. The program does not easily allow you to perform the payroll function easily with Payroll companies. Basically you cant get job costing to pickup until you process a weekly payroll to get it on the jobs. You are left handcuffed to do payroll in house when smaller companies want to move that process out of their company. The program was moved into the cloud last year in my company but it is really not cloud based. So you have to work in a remote desktop way verses a true cloud based program.

2+ years in and we are moving on

Comentários: Overall, our experience has been negative. Nearly 100% of our users dislike it in comparison to other systems we have used in the past. For the amount of money it has cost us in implementation (over $30k + staff time) and the ongoing maintenance fees (which are more expensive than similar products) we have not had a great experience. Other systems can do the same thing, much more simply, for a lot less money.

Vantagens:

There is a lot of detail in what you can get out of this software, if you have the labor time to put into it.

Desvantagens:

Ultimately, the software is too cumbersome, difficult for staff to use, training not able to assist us in getting it working well for our organization. Functionality that used to be supported is no longer available with recent updates.

Good package for the money

Comentários: Overall it's a decent software package for the money and the size of our business. Other systems can do more, but you'll likely pay much more.

Vantagens:

The software provides the needed accounting and payroll modules. The optional Inventory modules offers some basic tools to manage your inventory. Reporting tools are rudimentary, but adequate.

Desvantagens:

Receiving inventory items works strangely. A Sage invoice is created when receiving. At the point of vouching the supplier's invoice, the same receiving generated invoice can be updated. However, issues occur if you have used any of that inventory before getting the supplier's invoice entered. There's a work-around which involves copying and pasting, but the vouching process should not care what your current inventory level is. The weighted average cost is problematic when working with projects. Any given transaction can result in a G/L record that doesn't match the project record, leading to variances. Need the option of last-cost, std cost, etc.

Not the greatest

Comentários: Nothing. We are using this system because we spent too much money on it to just stop using it now and purchase another system. Unfortunately, we listened to the salesman promising that this system would do everything we wanted.

Vantagens:

Not very much...it is definitely not user friendly

Desvantagens:

Almost everything. The billing procedure is absolutely horrible and so isn’t the Accounts Receivable module. Even the Contracts module is not the best. Heaven forbid, someone should accidentally link a contract with the wrong company, the module does not allow any changes to be made. If a change order is marked as approved, you have to create a new change order if a GC decides to void or change it. In payroll, there is no way to assign a fixed wage to a particular group so if a pay raise is approved, you just have to enter it in that group instead of having to do each individual employee.

My Timberline Accessment

Comentários: It saves overall time in lieu of using an excel estimate.

Vantagens:

I've used it in the past when it was simply Timberline (both DOS and Windows versions) with other companies. It is easy to use

Desvantagens:

Don't care much for the yearly cost as it seems excessive. Would like to see in lieu of monthly free webinars that cater more for new or potential buyers, webinars for how to utilize the software to its maximum potential.

The Truth behind estimating

Comentários: Sage allows all the estimators in the department to work similarly without everyone needing to do them exactly the same. One estimator or company may want 1 line item for windows that includes labor material and equipment. Another might want a line item for furnish while and a separate for install.

Vantagens:

This software is easy to use. Its also been around the longest so its easy to find other estimators with familiarity with the software. Its longevity in the market has created several other software integrations. The product is secure no worry about formulas not working when its sorted a different way.

Desvantagens:

The ability and flexibility of the software is so infinite you can spend hours creating templates and short cuts that aren't even needed or actually become to in depth.

Big Bang for Small Bucks

Comentários: My overall experience with Sage 100 Contractor has been very good. We've used it almost 4 years and we're still very happy that we selected it.

Vantagens:

Sage 100 Contractor is easy to use and quite intuitive. No one on my staff has struggled to learn it. For the price, I believe it is by far the best solution for my company. I'm generally happy with the built-in reports.

Desvantagens:

I would like for the built-in reports to be easier to modify. It's something we struggle with internally. We paid a 3rd party to develop some custom reports for us. However, when Sage has updates it sometimes causes the custom reports to crash. This is highly frustrating.

Great tool when working. It has great potential.

Comentários: It was very useful.

Vantagens:

PO/Bill entry and conversions were seamless. Being able to customize your reports to business needs was awesome. Payroll processing was as easy at it comes. I believe that this software has some amazing potential which is why I would love to see the finished product. I think that is definitely user friend as long as you aren't afraid of software. The customer service is great outside of the IT department. They could use some patience for there customers. I will say that for the most part, they do have a lot of self help options so make sure you utilize your resources before you call. They do have software the exports to most accounting systems which I thought was super useful. We used Quickbooks.

Desvantagens:

Because Corecon is still under contruction, you can run into a lot of issues that only one who pays attention to detail will notice. - Reports requiring date spans would pull the day before and the day after the selected dates. -Importing time sheets would not import on the right dates. - After one of the updates in November, you could not copy a PO or Bill to a different project. - If you enter bills dated with future months, it would apply the expense to whatever month the expenses were entered versus what the invoice(bill) date was causing the budget reports to be incorrect. -Error code from Links to QB don't have an index and you have to google them most times.

Wouldn't Recommend for a Specialty Contractor

Comentários: We use Sage 100 for all of our accounting/payroll/purchasing/subcontracting and project management.

Vantagens:

I've been using the software for seventeen years --- drill down works great --- generally intuitive to use. Can teach others to use in a short time.

Desvantagens:

Reports are needing serious work that Sage just won't change, Some work arounds that we implemented when we first started using the product are STILL required seventeen years later. There are also STILL issues within the program that Sage just can't fix. Have had to hire third party consultants to help with some issues and reports.

Powerful Construction software

Comentários: love it.

Vantagens:

Job costing, payroll direct deposit, ACH, Reporting, project work center, customized reports, archive features, integration with Outlook, the ability to input suggestions and vote on others ideas, etc

Desvantagens:

The initial implementation and setup. Our Consultant was not the best in the implementation process. We have since connected with someone who is FABULOUS and knows how to best help the Client to setup "best practices" from the start. I only wish we had connected with her at the onset. Some of the programming still has "glitches" and boots you out of the program - annoying. F2 should be edit, and pulls up a calendar, Enter key and Tab key don't work consistently with other Microsoft programs - slight annoyance.

Good with Property Management, Mediocre with Accounting

Comentários: Whereas Sage 300 CRE does have some good functionality for property management, we are also suffering from poor accounting functionality. Some days I'm happy with the software, some days not so much.

Vantagens:

I like the Property Management side of Sage - our office manages a number of commercial real estate properties, and we are able to track the leases, and the PM side of things does link in with the accounting side of things. And I know there are more features in the PM side that we don't even use.

Desvantagens:

Sage 300 CRE does not mix well with any outside software. We recently took over management of a dozen new properties and we had to manually input all the data to get the new companies in our system. There was no reasonable import feature available. We could have paid someone thousands of dollars to bring basic information into the system for us, but what they could import was not everything we'd need, and there would be no previous year data option. That was frustrating. And the accounting system is also lacking. As much as all of the modules to integrate with each other, the accounting system does not perform to my expectations. And if you want to export a report into Excel, forget it! Sure it will export the data, but not in any kind of usable format! The numbers don't export as numbers, the formatting is all skewed. I just found out that there is a 'third party' software to use as a fix, but I just spent $2500 on that fix and found out that if we want to export the income statement and balance sheet, that is an extra $800. I'm not happy with the accounting system.

Needs More User Friendly Features

Comentários: We would not purchase it again and would prefer to go back to our old system, but we've invested too much to do that at this time.

Vantagens:

Widely universal so integration software more readily available with management systems and customer relation software.

Desvantagens:

We came from ComputerEase, which is very user friendly. Sage appears to be outdated. The installation and upgrade process is very time consuming and for most would require hiring their services to install or your IT personnel. The biggest issue we have is the font size. If you try to change the font size in your screen, the windows will distort and you cannot access certain information within Sage, so it strains your eyes to view the information. My other big concern, is that when processing applications for payment within Billing, it will allow you to go over 100% on a scheduled line. If you don't manually check via print preview, you can very likely overbill. Additionally, when voiding applications, there are some major hassles when it comes to stored materials on jobs that don't carry over stored each month. Lastly, if you do not post in the order and timeframe that you are trained to do, it results in a large hassle and time-consuming elimination process. There are several other items that are not favorable, but these are the top ones on our mind most frequently.

Comentários: Why choose Timberline estimating over Excel or the Big Chief notepad? 1. Integration, Integration, Integration
a. Dynamic link to Onscreen takeoff tools (I can be in the estimate quantity field and jump to the plans, measure the quantity while color coding it using the mouse, and it inserts the quantity in the estimate).
b. Quotation/Procurement - one of the most important add-ons. Allows the user to create quote sheets from takeoff items, email them to vendors, negotiate prices, then choose to use that quote in the estimate budget or push it through to a purchase order or subcontract. Remarkably powerful integration tool, plus you develop a bid history library.
c. CAD - beyond onscreen takeoff (which is only an image of the drawing where you still measure quantities). CAD integration uses CAD item libraries to electronically feed CAD driven quantities from the drawings (but you still have to "estimate" the work to be performed). CAD primarily provides the material components and quantities.
d. Scheduling Integration - the ability to generate a text file recap of the estimate sorted by a schedule activity, or export the recap to a Microsoft Project Schedule native file format, or to create a Primavera native file format. NOTE - it is not a scheduling program; it is a utility to convert the estimate to specific data file format used by specific scheduling software products. 2. Reduction in errors.
a. Database formulas work every time and warn you when something is missing. Excel can break formula links, fields, worksheet links, and references and become too complex to manage and generate a wrong calculation with no warning.
b. Database estimates can be sorted in almost unlimited ways using "WBS codes" (work breakdown structures). This is a fancy name for tagging an item with a sortable field such as material class, building number, floor number, alternate, and then sorting the estimate by those tags in a multiple level sequence - on the fly. Very important with so many cuts and adds taking place in today's estimating processes. It also quickly generates field-oriented docs (bill of materials; by floor, by area, etc.), Budgets - sort by job cost summary instantly, etc.
c. Cuts and Adds are a given in today's fast paced estimate environment, recalling a scope section and revising it repeatedly is a reality. This is the most common cause of estimating errors when bidding. Having an audit trail of changes and to quickly make a revision to all components by answering simple questions is very powerful (see smart assemblies and Modeling as well).
d. Parametric estimates - increase the production of an estimator without increased rework or errors. Answer a set of parametric scope questions and the assembly generates all detail components for the estimator. Eliminates errors, reduces rework, ends the "takeoff for a bid - then takeoff again to build it" issue. 3. Database standards
a. A standard item library for everyone in the company to use creating ease of assimilating new estimators, improving cross training of roles, having common logic that can be reviewed easily to see how the result was generated. How many times has an excel estimate template morphed into multiple complicated versions within a company? Not with a database central price book and takeoff system.
b. Flexibility - allows the estimating "artist" to be flexible with their style of results. The assemblies will allow scope questions to be used differently by each estimator (one wants unit price, another wants man-hours, another wants total Square Footage). They can get all of that with a single common system setup.
c. Pricing - many cost pricing service products integrate and can be combined with a company's own in-house price components. Run into that goofy system you have no idea what it costs - look it up in the pricing service system (and by regional pricing in the market). Have your own factors - apply them to the pricing. There are many other reasons to consider a database driven integrated estimating system. The above are just a few that show why excel or paper are outdated for today's fast paced estimating demands. It is not just the takeoff - it is all the other integration of "clerical / admin" grunt work stuff that an integrated solution improves within an organization. Four stars - there is no PERFECT system... but no others come close to this overall solution.

Sage is complex, amazing and expensive.

Comentários: If I wasn't working such long and demanding hours, I would like to look into Sage University educational opportunities...as I do believe many questions I STILL have, could be answered there. ONE THING that would be useful, IMHO, would be a detailed listing of the online classes/tutorials that are available, and the list of topics/subjects that they deal with.

Vantagens:

Sage is an amazing product, with so MANY complex programs and modules. There are (literally) dozens of reports and functions that I still know little to nothing about (after 3 yrs of working with the product). It's got everything a general contract would ever need, and then some. Customer support (GOLD) is awesome (tho expensive) . 99% of the time, I have had pleasant, knowledgeable, helpful, experienced assistance from Customer Support. The individuals who work in Customer Support helped me make it that first year, and there is no question of that. Their patience and their availability (and their sense of humor) helped me retain my sanity, that first year (04/14 - 04/15)....hands down.

Desvantagens:

The complexity of it....each module is multi-faceted and highly complex (and complicated). If a person comes on the scene (such as myself) with no prior construction experience, it's very difficult to simply "pick it up". Also, In order to have Gold Support (a genuine necessity, unless the office employee has a degree in accounting...OR...10 years of prior construction experience) is very expensive. We are a small construction company, and the thousands of dollars we pay, each year, for Gold Support, is not an easy check to write.

Comentários: I have used Sage 300 since 2010 and have found it the most troubling accounting software I have encountered. It has the capability to do a lot, but the product is so difficult to use that it makes doing a lot impractical, at least for a smaller company. Sage acquired Master Builder in around 2008 and has yet to implement many of the "smart" features I had expected after they bought it from Intuit in that acquisition. In Master Builder/Sage 100, you can drill down on just about any field or report for more data. This drill down does not exist in Sage 300. The built-in calculator in Sage 100 is so handy; it does not exist in 300. The feature to advance the date using the + and - keys in 100 does not exist in 300. The feature to verify successful check runs through a certain check number does not exist in 300. The use of non-accounting terms intermixed with accounting terms is frustrating to me. When looking at the Cash Management Module, it refers to Debits and Credits as Additions and Subtractions. It posts certain entries as a Negative Debit instead of a Credit or vice-verse. GL is driven by the modules and never the opposite. In 100, you can enter accounting entries and have the job costs updated, but not in 300. If you have to enter a GL transaction that will affect job costs, you have to then go into the job cost module and enter a direct job cost and debit and credit the same account for a net zero GL affect. It can only print one thing at a time. Let me clarify; you open one report, an AP aging. You realize you paid a vendor more than you thought. You then run an open invoice list for that vendor. You realize they haven't been paid on a draw that they should have. You then decide to print the Open Invoice list to give to the PM, Controller, etc., but you can't. The first report that is open gets the print priority. Then if you try to close your AP aging to print your Invoice list, you can't. When you opened the second report, apparently the first report tells the second that it is not allowed to print. You then have to close the second report and re-run it. My biggest issue with 300 is that it is extremely prone to being out of balance with itself. That phrase may not make sense to most accounting users. I am referring to the concept of the GL not matching the AP, AR, Cash, etc modules. I have had so many instances of something being off; most recently, certain sales accounts were showing a previous balance after closing the fiscal year. This required manually changing the previous year account balance on the sales account and changing the retained earnings by the same amount. These sort of internal errors are very scary to me because Sage doesn't know why they happen, and if it can happen in one place, it can happen just about anywhere, I would think. Sage support is decent; they are all pretty used to the odd quirks and defects of the program, so they seem to be able to get these problems solved. If you are a daily user of the software, I would recommend not getting Sage 300.

ten plus years

Comentários: Overall it was a good purchase. We do not use it for estimating. Kuesel utilizes the payables, receivables, payroll, equipment, and job cost.

Vantagens:

As a construction company, we needed job cost to be detailed. We were originally with QuickBooks. This software definitely gave us the detail to figure out where our cost was going per project. I also like the feature that it records every transaction, so there is no guessing if someone changed the data.

Desvantagens:

I still struggle with tech support. I do not understand the Sage City, nor the Knowledge base.

Sage 100 Contractor

Comentários: Very good.

Vantagens:

It has more detail than our previous software. I really like the drill-down capability.

Desvantagens:

I would like to be able to work with someone at Sage to improve their Progress Billing fields. It is good for a basic set-up, but many of the Contractors that we bill have custom forms, requiring more fields that require the use of the Custom Fields tables. Good that the fields are there, bad in that they do not appear on the screen while billing. Makes the progress billing seem clunky. Also, would like more flexibility in the report writing (such as Outer Join, Left Join, Right Join).

Sage 300 Only Software You Will Need

Comentários: Our company has been with first Timberline then Sage 300 which we started in 1997 with our original setup.
We have always been happy with the product and have attended seminars and workshops that really make a difference in new ways to use the software.

Vantagens:

Our company uses Sage 300 exclusively for Construction, Job Cost, Property Management , Financial Statements and Payroll. Every aspect integrates with what we need. We do export and use Excel with the Sage 300 when needed.

Desvantagens:

Unless you really familiarize yourself with the report writing, that can be difficult.

The best applications for accurate accounting of supply chains

Comentários: Sage 300 keep all supply chain tracking processes on track from the start until after the work is completed, which gives assurances to all supply chain participants that their entitlements and rights are known and thus facilitates transparent settlements.

Vantagens:

It is a comprehensive accounting program, useful for conducting audits and reviews of all accounts of suppliers (creditor and debtor). It integrates with many software that is used in project management, enabling users to apply comprehensive management concepts to their projects. I like very much the ease of setup, commensurate with the needs of the project, and its integration with many applications relieves you of double entry and enables you to import or export data as needed. With Sage 300, you will be able to accurately prepare the accounting lists for your supply chains, as you will be able to know the balance of any of the suppliers and delivery dates directly and without the need to search in invoices and files.

Desvantagens:

All is well and after hours of training you will be able to use it efficiently, just needs some updates to the display and some colors to get a more modern look. The program's speed must also be increased so that you can exploit more than one window at the same time.

1990s product still held together with duct tape

Vantagens:

I have experience with it and can cope with it.

Desvantagens:

It's insane that recording transactions in AP need to be separately posted in other modules. It's crazy that I can't run a general ledger transaction report with a job number. Why do we have to purchase separate software (Office Connector) in order to extract data with the flexibility we need? If I run are report and print it from the report menu, you shut the menu down and make me reselect all of the filters, is this intentional just to piss me off? Why can't I resize and save the screens such as the AP invoice inquiry screen or the GL inquiry entry screen? Why are so many screens kept as small as possible so that I am forced to function like I'm looking through a key hole(GL Change Entries) Why can't I enlarge that screen so I can see the full line of data and a much larger list of lines? This program needs to be at least brought into the 21st century if you can't get it modernized to today's standards. We are seriously considering modern software such as CMIC.

Affordable with some value loss

Comentários: Able to function but not real happy with our purchase.

Vantagens:

Project management is its best selling point. This is one of the only affordable software solution in a mid-range cost.

Desvantagens:

The input is antiquated and not user friendly at all. Extra key strokes are required to do just about anything. Many of the canned reports are generated by record number instead of date. There are no month to month comparative reports for balance sheet which you would expect to be easily available. Tracking of payments to vendor requires way too much effort to view invoices a check paid. Inability to create cash basis statements requires a lot of work at end of year to convert outside the system. This should be part of the basic package.

Landscaping company (not construction)

Comentários: Fine. Frustrating at times.

Vantagens:

I like that I can track many different things.

Desvantagens:

- It's slow - I shouldn't have to wait seconds for Sage to react to a selection made. It should be immediate. - When exporting work orders from 9-5 to 11-2, I would like to have the option to export 1/9-5 takeoff to several separate work orders - that would save me so much time. - When editing form design, it should be easier to line things up like it is in Word, using tabs, etc. - I wish there was one person at Sage assigned to me as a technical support person. - I feel like the programming from the back end has to be reprogrammed to remove any excess, instead of just adding onto old programming. - The scheduling module could be better. - I have other thoughts, but this website I'm entering this review on is painfully slow.

Good software but would like to make some changes

Comentários: We use Sage for billing out contract for long term electrical work projects and for quick electrical repairs. I personally do not have much to compare it to as the only other system I have used it Sage 50.

Vantagens:

I like how we can use this software for both residential one time work orders and jobs that last consecutive months.

Desvantagens:

I dislike that when you search for a part you cannot search it by a key word in the name of the part. For example if part is named 4' risers yellow, I can only find the item by searching "4", I cannot find it by searching "risers". Alerts sometime seem to not work. I know my co workers mentioned that to me and since I have been shy of using them.