Opiniones de Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate

"Sage 300 Construction for Real State and much more!"

Puntos a favor: Reliable software with an outstanding and solid support team. Sage is one of the top industry leader for the construction software field, intermediate complexity level to integrate with third party apps makes this software an a remarkable solution for those companies that already have their Master set well defined within construction standards,

Contras: Total cost of ownership can be overwhelming without the proper capacity assessment. Sage University to train your Admins and staff can raise up the bar of the investment. Custom features requires special attention from specialized consultants.

"A Proven Total Construction and Accounting Package"

Comentarios: 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.

Puntos a favor: 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.

Contras: 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.

"Pros and Cons of Sage 300"

Puntos a favor: On par with some other offerings, but does not excel in any specific area, hence no one are where it really excels.

Contras: The overall accounting approach to how information is presented is lagging, in my opinion. Various inquiries need to be made in order to retrieve specific vendor, or client information, instead of making the reports and inquiries available through either the A/P, or A/R modules - all of them. The software also needlessly complicates interaction with the GL through the Cash Management and the Register feature(s), all this in my opinion should be centered around and through the GL module. Certain options under Agings are also puzzling, offering various reports that have little to do with actual aging(s), such as presenting the outstanding amounts in aged-buckets. When one is also more used to dealing with Debits and Credits, Sage presents some of these as 'Additions' or 'Subtractions'... which takes away the purely accounting approach to dealing with transfers, and debit and credit activity within various GL accounts, while a non-accountant might find the 'Additions' and 'Subtractions' easier to work with when it comes to dealing with actual bank accounts, the layout becomes more puzzling when dealing with other, non-cash accounts, where straight up Debit and Credit columns would be a lot more appropriate - for any entries. The 'Register' module mitigates this to some extent by a pop-up box, where some of this is automatically pre-filled, but in my opinion it's just an extra step that adds to the confusion and easiness of entries through GL only.

"2+ years in and we are moving on"

Comentarios: 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.

Puntos a favor: 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.

Contras: 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.

"Versatile and Allows for Growth"

Comentarios: I love this software but feel the customer service has tanked over the years. If I have an issue I want to pick up the phone and reach a person, not hours of hold time and voice mail only to be told to go look up the answer myself via the knowledgebase. It is extremely frustrating.

Puntos a favor: There is a lot of versatility in this software that I know we don't even tap into.

Contras: You can post, or rather the software allows for, negative debit and credit postings. For me it is fine but when you have someone on staff who maybe doesn't understand it can make things tricky.

"Has great features once you learn how to use them"

Comentarios: I like Sage. When I started at my company I had never used it before, now I am more advanced than the rest. For construction with a larger company it makes it easy to organize information. And I REALLY like how it connects with ODBC. I have created 100+ reports in the past 5 years and they make things so much easier.

Puntos a favor: I like how it organizes invoices, how you can customize SOME field name and how you can add customized fields. It connect with ODBC to excel or access with Microsoft query. This comes with the software. And you can make so many live reports that you can refresh with a button. Also the option of make crystal reports.

Contras: Everything is additional. Crystal reports you have to purchase a license, paperless, each module, etc. This can become frustrating, especially when you have 1 license for AP and try to open it and it says "Someone else is using this". Most people that haven't used it take a long time to understand it. There is a conference but it isn't ran by Sage.

"Bang up Piece of Software"

Comentarios: I highly recommend this for anyone who wants to take their accounting system to the next level

Puntos a favor: I would highly recommend this software for any large sized (5 million and above) construction business. It tracks your fixed assets, as well has a variety of other strong accounting functions.

Contras: This isn't exactly the most user friendly software, and alot of the times it will be people switching from Quickbooks to this software. It may have a steep learning curve.

"Not the greatest"

Comentarios: 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.

Puntos a favor: Not very much...it is definitely not user friendly

Contras: 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.

"Falling Behind the times"

Comentarios: I have used The full suite of Sage 300CRE products long before Timberline was acquired by Sage. Unfortunately it seems that innovation and product/feature development has been very slow since the acquisition by Sage. My biggest complaint over the past 5-years is the lack of web access, which in this day and age is unacceptable, especially in a collaborative environment such as construction. This is why we have transitioned from the PM module to Procore. Fortunately Procore is fairly compatible with Sage300 CRE accounting. It’s just a shame that Sage couldn’t keep up with the times and get a cloud based PM product to market in a timely manner.

Puntos a favor: Sage 300 cre is robust. It can be all encompassing with “modules”. From Estimating (which is an excellent product) through the accounting modules to project management, the workflow is pretty seamless.

Contras: The annual maintenance cost for a product that is not SAS is pretty high. It is not clouds accessible and project management modules has fallen behind the times, especially compared to a product like procore.

"Good but seeking for more"

Puntos a favor: There is a lot of flexibility with this product, but in many cases it requires a Sage Expert or extensive training. With this product our company managed Industrial Construction Projects of various sizes and cost and utilized different project costing. Overall our experience was good.

Contras: Needs a nicer UI/UX for the consumer, the next generation of user is accustom to ease of use and a clean UI/UX. Give the consumer more control, create a solution that allows us the ability to manage our data, our way. Salesforce has a great solution for this, although not directly related their model for consumer control and product support is one of the best I have ever seen/used.

"Solid Construction Accounting Software"

Comentarios: The tracking of costs and billings is great in this software. You are able to capture just about every detail you could possibly need and it's all integrated together. With the available 3rd party add ons this is a very good product.

Puntos a favor: Sage 300 CRE, formally known as Timberline, is a very robust construction accounting software. The customization is really endless and although the software platform is older, the 3rd party software packages available allow you to use current technologies with it. It is not the most user friendly as new software is but it is a very solid working product that has been around for years. I like being able to customize the software to how we do business. I have not run into too many situations in which the software was not capable of handling something. Certainly you might need a consultant to help you create complex reports and other processes but at least it is available if you need it.

Contras: I would say the biggest con is the fact the software is built on an older database platform and the screens are a bit older and do not scale well with newer systems. Although there is a SQL database replicator now to move your data to SQL for enhanced and faster reporting, the program itself still runs on the Pervasive database. It tends to run slow when you have a large database so you constantly have to keep up on the archiving. I also wish the program had a few more preventative features when it comes to posting transactions to closed GL periods. Certain tasks do not validate if the GL is closed prior to posting which I find to be a pain. Sometimes the fix is easy but other times it is very difficult to figure out.

"Good with Property Management, Mediocre with Accounting"

Comentarios: 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.

Puntos a favor: 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.

Contras: 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.

"Sage is complex, amazing and expensive."

Comentarios: 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.

Puntos a favor: 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.

Contras: 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.

"I am a CPA and have implemented this software in the last year with a large underground utility construction company."

Comentarios: In deciding to purchase this software, you need to determine your real commitment level. You can use an easily implemented software such as Quickbooks, but you'll need to manually enter a great deal of estimates and information. The implementation and training is costly - be sure and get the total price of all the software modules that you will need in addition to the estimated cost of implementation and training.

Puntos a favor: I like that in general you are able to import tables from other software or ones created in Excel rather than either not having history or having to manually enter it. There are many very sophisticated modules to help you manager your business. There are awesome video's with lessons that you can use (over and over) for a period of time to learn each module broken down step by step. The job cost is able to import estimates created in Timberline (SAGE) Estimating, another very sophisticated program. From those estimates you can actually create purchase orders for items estimated, and email them directly to your vendors. Very slick if the program is set up correctly.

Contras: This is a complicated system and not for the average AP person or Controller/Accountant. You will more than likely need to hire an expert to train and walk you through implementation. The reports are rarely exactly what you want, so you either have to pay the expert to change them or to learn to change them yourself. The whole implementation process is lengthy - there is a learning curve.

"Sage 300 CRE is an average database system"

Comentarios: Overall, we have used Sage 300 CRE (Timberline) for 15 years. We stick with it because we have invested so much time and money into customizing it and forcing it to work like we want it to work. It is a good database, if you can figure out ways of extracting the data you want (i.e. Access, ODBC, etc.). In general, the software is old and not as dynamic as others on the market, but switching is too much of a painful process to make us jump ship. We will keep sailing (and bailing) with Sage 300 CRE, at least for now.

Puntos a favor: We integrate other estimating and purchasing software for our home building division and that works fairly well. As a database repository, it works well. It is easy to get information in the system and you have a lot of ability to customize and create fields.

Contras: The reporting tools in Sage 300 CRE are not good. Getting information out of the system has always been our challenge. We end up extracting the data via other tools and creating our own reports in other tools (i.e. excel). The financial statement and other report writing tools are not easy to work with, and frequently have issues that need to be corrected (or acknowledged... still not sure why Sage can not figure out how to round properly to make a balance sheet balance)...

"Sage 300 Only Software You Will Need"

Comentarios: 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.

Puntos a favor: 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.

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

"Robust by antiquated"

Comentarios: Sage 300 CRE is a very detailed system but needs a complete revamping. It is able to store a lot of pieces of information, but getting them out of the system require a lot of work. When I evaluate software, I look at how many steps (clicks) it takes to accomplish my task. Sage is the absolute worst of all the software options available. Unfortunately our accounting has been using it forever and the cost to change would be too expensive right now. It can best be described as a Windows 95 database because that's what I think of every time I have to use it.

Puntos a favor: Able to store a vast amount of information. Everything is broken down into modules and works well with multiple users. Does allow for customization of certain tables and modules.

Contras: Requires too much work to get to what I need. Tables of data cannot be sorted. For example, a list of contacts on a project cannot be sorted. They are listed in order of entry, which means I have to scroll through an entire list to find a contact. Same goes for some drop down lists. If I don't know the person's name, I can't search. I have to scroll through the list one click at a time because the scroll bars on the side don't scroll proportionally. One click on a side scroll bar takes you down 75% of the bar even if the list is really long. Getting information from the system requires customized reports, which you either pay for or get trained in Crystal Reports. I used to use Quickbooks Enterprise and was able to get more relevant information faster and easier than I do from Sage. Some of the screens can be expanded but do not show more information. It just creates more blank space so I spend a lot of time scrolling to get to what I need. The system as a whole is very out-dated. Search options are very basic...can't search for MEDICAL if the contact is entered as GREATER AREA MEDICAL CENTER. You would have to know it starts with GREATER AREA.

"Sage Recommendation"

Puntos a favor: I started to use Sage 300 back when it was called Timberline. I implemented it at the Drywall company I was working at. The software is very user friendly and is very easy for anyone to use. I perfected the software use when I went to a General Contractor that was already using the software. When I first interviewed for my current position, in my interview I couldn't stop talking about Sage. That was the reason I was hired. I have once again implemented Sage from a manual system.

Contras: I don't like the was the Job Cost module changed and would love it to go back to the old set-up screen. I used to use the condition button for looking for set up mistakes and not I literally need to go thru each job looking at the set-up. Also in the Payroll module I wish the reports and generating accruals would be able to use the daily entry grid instead of have to enter the date for each entry. I went for one entry per employee week to forty. That's not cost effective to get the work done.

"1990s product still held together with duct tape"

Puntos a favor: I have experience with it and can cope with it.

Contras: 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.

"User for 25+ years"

Comentarios: Overall, my experience has been very positive. Other peers, and our external auditors, are amazed at how quickly a company our size can complete month-end and year-end procedures and how detailed we can get our reporting.

Puntos a favor: One of the best things about the software is that the core applications were designed together, unlike other software that tries to integrate applications from several sources. So, Job Cost, Payroll, AP, AR GL and CM flow together very well. Also, the software was originally designed specific to the construction industry so it really incorporates most of the financial needs of our industry.

Contras: We are running into issues in payroll due to the size of our current file. We are subject to job audits and we have many large projects so we like to keep several years' data in one file. However, Aatrix is not able to generate quarterly reports without archiving some payroll data. Also, it's really nice to have the ability to post to future GL periods. It would be even nicer to be able to roll FORWARD for financial statement the way we can roll back.

"Sage Customer Service Cannot be Beat"

Comentarios: I highly recommend Sage 300 to any contractor out there. It's ease of use and numerous modules make tracking things like inventory, job costing, cash management etc a breeze. All modules sync up to the General Ledger and at the end of each month, we are able to see how we are progressing. This has helped us catch numerous mistakes on our end. Whenever there is a problem, we will phone the Sage call center. They are able to troubleshoot things in no time. Not only do they help fix the mistake they also teach you how to spot them yourself. The odd time we have had to escalate a problem to the programmers they always end up contacting us back the same day. I started using Sage 2 years ago with very little knowledge of the platform and accounting in general and through the proper training, customer service, excellent help articles and Sage U I can confidently say that I have mastered this program. I could never see myself using another product after Sage 300.

Puntos a favor: Ease of use
Customer Service
Training and Sage U
Reporting
Custom Reports to fit your business needs.

Contras: Other than the odd Software Glitch which Sage is more than happy to fix I have no real complaints. Anytime I seem to bring something up that would make the product better Sage seems to be working on/implementing that change.

"Very Capable Software with Tremendous Support"

Puntos a favor: By far the best thing about Sage 300 is the customer support. It is simply phenomenal. For whatever shortcomings the software has, it is made up in the ability to pick up the phone and directly contact Sage employees who speak our language, understand our concern, and our very knowledgeable of their product. You don't get the "run-around" when you call in. They are very willing to remote into your computer to explain and help with troubleshooting the problem or implementing the solution. They aren't perfect as some experiences have been disappointing, but many times as I conclude a customer support phone call I am reminded just how impressed and pleased I am with their service.

Contras: Many of the user interfaces are somewhat archaic and not the easiest to work with. That said, there seems to be a modernization process underway that will be addressing this in future versions. There are minor quirks/irregularities with the software, but that is to be expected since it has so many capabilities and tries to fill diverse needs.

"Controller"

Comentarios: The owner/ management likes the various reports I am able to produce from the system. Overall, we are pleased with the Sage product.

Puntos a favor: all the accounting applications are integrated making it easy to run reports and pull information from the data.

Contras: Recently have noticed a decline in customer service. It appears it has been outsourced. The telephone connections are poor and it is often difficult to understand their English. Oftentimes they are not able to answer the call and you get put back into the queue which is frustrating. About a year-ago we purchased the Sage Service Operations for workers in the field to submit their hours. We had higher expectations from the software but it has not been as smooth as we were told. Running reports from it is difficult, the workers in the field are not pleased with it and the back office having to spend a lot of time correcting mistakes because the software is not user-friendly.

"Missing some basic functionality"

Comentarios: I don't use the construction-specific components of this software (e.g. Job Costing) and, therefore, what's left is a very basic system which omits standard functionality found in other systems. In addition to the above, we have multiple databases setup which do not talk to each other, requiring key tables like vendor lists to be maintained in multiple places. This may be the result of bad advice from our consultant, but since they're supposed to be Sage experts, I think that reflects poorly on Sage as well.

Puntos a favor: The Sage Desktop makes it easy to maneuver in the software. It's fairly easy to import and export data.

Contras: Need separate software to print checks (not native to Sage). Not able to drill-down in reports. Difficulty with handling multiple users - when one user is viewing a report on screen, other users cannot login. Future period balance sheets which cross a fiscal year are difficult to create because of how retained earnings is posted. Unable to tell the current period when entering report parameters.

"Timberline Customer Support"

Comentarios: We are a $30M A&E/Construction company.

Puntos a favor: Decent functionality once you get it working. Price to function seems good. I have a hard time saying anything else good. If you can live with the cost of frustration, you will probably eventually say its worth it. I've used it for 10 years!

Contras: Sage provides almost "ZERO" support. Don't let them lie to you. I have used this product for over 10 years and my level of frustration remains very high. They will not support you after the software/conversion is done. You get pushed to a very few, custom Crystal Report writers who are incredibly overloaded. So all the promise of great dashboards, custom reports (which you have to have! For your own business!) is for naught. Just add 6 months to your process which is absolutely not an exaggeration. Let's just say it like it is. After the sale, Sage does not care about you.