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The Practice Management Knowledge Community (PMKC) identifies and develops information on the business of architecture for use by the profession to maintain and improve the quality of the professional and business environment.  The PMKC initiates programs, provides content and serves as a resource to other knowledge communities, and acts as experts on AIA Institute programs and policies that pertain to a wide variety of business practices and trends.

    

  • 1.  Ajera Software Users - Request for Assistance

    Posted 01-16-2018 05:21 PM
    Our 12 person firm has been using Ajera with good success for some time.  One week ago today our bookkeeper of 12 years died suddenly leaving us with a personal and business crises.  A new person is on board.  Training has been scheduled however we are looking for some guidance in a few areas, most notably how to print out the paychecks for the payroll due this coming Friday.  If your firm is using the Ajera software and would be willing to be a resource for a few topic area it would be most appreciated.  Thank you.  407-896-7875 , 8:00am-5:00pm M-F EST.

    ------------------------------
    Joe Williams, AIA
    Principal
    A/R/C Associates, Incorporated
    Orlando, Florida
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Ajera Software Users - Request for Assistance

    Posted 01-19-2018 02:43 PM
    To all of you who responded to my previous message, Thank you for the suggestions, calls and emails.  Deltek was very helpful in getting us through the emergency items.  We have a way to yet but doing okay.

    ------------------------------
    Joe Williams, AIA
    Principal
    A/R/C Associates, Incorporated
    Orlando, Florida
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Ajera Software Users - Request for Assistance

    Posted 01-22-2018 05:27 PM
    I presently use Quickbooks, but I am considering moving to Ajera.
    Would be interested in hearing what you and others think of that system verses Quickbooks.

    Thanks for your input and glad you got through your crisis.

    ------------------------------
    Amy Souder AIA
    Red Iron Architects
    Charleston SC
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Ajera Software Users - Request for Assistance

    Posted 01-23-2018 05:27 PM

    Depending on the size of your firm and how your project management is set up, Ajera is a much more complete package.  We have never used Quickbooks because I don't believe it tracks your project time and project management, which is the biggest difference.  We also use Ajera for payroll.  The chart of accounts that seems standard with Ajera is very complete.  Personally Ajera is a great product with good support.  I feel the support is critical.

     

    Cynthia Muller, AIA

     

    700 N Sangamon St

    Chicago, IL 60642

    312.313.7700 direct

    cmuller@muller2.com

    www.muller2.com

     

    Muller+Muller - Logo 2017

     




    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Ajera Software Users - Request for Assistance

    Posted 01-24-2018 05:35 PM

    We have run Ajera and Quickbooks side by side for over 12 years.  We were almost a Beta tester, it seemed.  Ajera does not have the accounting rigor, and their help staff can't answer accounting questions, that would allow me to trust it in real financial record keeping.  The lack of drill-down really hurts the credibility.  Quickbooks, on the other hand, doesn't do a good job at all of payroll time or project cost tracking.  Ajera's invoices are also much more A/E friendly.  We use Ajera for time-tracking, invoicing, and project cost tracking while Quickbooks generates payables, company financials, and tax information.  We use Paychex for payroll.  Our bookkeeper comes in once a week to do cross entry.  We have a 15 person firm with lots of publicly funded projects.

    Best,

    Barbara J. Thornton, AIA, LEED AP

    Partner

     

    Description: NEWemail logox-031411

     

    Brewster Thornton Group Architects

    150 Chestnut Street Providence, RI 02903 | www.brewsterthornton.com | P: 401.861.1600

     




    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Ajera Software Users - Request for Assistance

    Posted 01-24-2018 09:03 PM

    Ajera is a great product. For those who don't know, Deltek acquired Axium and the Ajera software product in 2014, but it seems they kept much of Axium's original development, support and sales teams intact in Portland, OR. 

     

    In addition, if you haven't looked at Clearview Software's InFocus product, it is also quite good.  Not as well-known as Ajera, but it has really improved over the last 2-3 years.  Based on recent experience, it was about half the price of Ajera for a firm with 25 users, which may be important for smaller firms. 

     

    I led a recent client through a formal software selection process to replace QuickBooks and Tenrox, and they selected InFocus over Ajera.  But about 1.5 or 2 years ago, I supported a different firm's software selection process and they selected Ajera over InFocus – this firm was also moving off of QuickBooks.  So both are good systems to consider, and both products scale well for firms with more than 100, and even 200, users. 

     

    Both InFocus and Ajera are touted as being easier to use than Deltek's Vision product, which appears to be better suited only for larger firms (e.g., more than 250 or 300 users).  I've heard, but haven't substantiated, that Vision is harder for project managers to use, but provides more controls and complex configuration options than what smaller firms typically need. 

     

    Check out InFocus at https://clearviewsoftware.net/. 

     

    Good luck!

     

     

    Kerrick Britz

    kbritz@pointb.com

    206.517.2763

    pointb.com

     




    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Ajera Software Users - Request for Assistance

    Posted 01-23-2018 06:22 PM
    For us, Ajera was a great solution. We are a small company, but bill a large number of smaller project each month (100-150 invoices). Ajera does an EXCELLENT job at billing. At this point, our billing is entirely paperless and largely automated. 

    It is also very user friendly for Project Manager's, providing real time information on projects, critical when you are working on smaller projects. Timesheets and expense reports are super easy, as are vendor invoices and payments.

    The only thing I will fault it for is ease in reporting. It does not permit customizing reports like a more robust application like Deltke's Vision. I am accustomed to producing virtually any kind of report, with customized fields and calculations and Ajera does not have that capacity. That being said, it includes a full complement of reports - most everything the average user would need. I'm a data geek, so I like to be able to customize.

    I highly recommend it. It's a great value compared to Vision and there are not a lot of other industry specific options.

    ------------------------------
    Carol Gillen Assoc. AIA
    Sierra Architects
    Waltham MA
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Ajera Software Users - Request for Assistance

    Posted 01-23-2018 08:30 PM
    Amy:

    My 12 person firm used QuickBooks Enterprise and switched to Ajera about 10 years ago. We spent a lot of money on the software, training and legacy data implementation. We paid our accountant to help with recreating a chart of accounts and making journal entries to balance. 

    My accounting person never was on board with the switch. We we're most interested in the time and utilization forecasting capabilities of Ajera. After 1-year and a lot of begging from our accounting person, we switched back to QBE. 

    In in hindsight it changed the way I look at technology investments. Especially In a small firm environment, resources are precious. We did take a good hit in utilization by having our PMs provide an additional layer of forecasting and monitoring in Ajera. 

    We we ended up using existing tools to do a similar job without any overhead hit, and for our firm that worked fine and our service quality was not impacted.

    We decided to focus resources on client facing technology and that worked well for us.

    Hope that helps.

    ------------------------------
    Gordon Rogers AIA
    Project Manager
    Owen Group, Inc.
    Rocklin CA
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    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Ajera Software Users - Request for Assistance

    Posted 01-25-2018 10:54 AM
    We started using Ajera in 2011.  We did not bring in an accountant to adjust or advise on anything.  The Ajera set-up and training staff was excellent and they assisted with everything required to be up and running.  We were doing everything in ledger books prior to Ajera.

    It is good for entering project time, setting up the fees, client invoicing, and paying vendors and engineers.  Our real goal was to be able to better analyze project data during projects and once they are completed.  It has built in reports that tell me how many hours we put in, and based on our labor rates it tells whether we earned money or lost money.

    My complaint would be that it is heavy on accounting information.  We are a 5 person firm and our accounting isn't that complex.  There are some aspects of the software that are a little disjointed from how a real architectural office works, but I figure I would have that problem with any software.  For example, the relationship from engineer invoices to the related project and client invoices isn't as clear or direct as I would like.  Overall, I think that the program could be a little simpler.  Or maybe it would be better if they would create a version that is "Ajera Lite" that is specifically designed for firms with 10 people or less.  (I have been recommending this to them for years, but so far they aren't interested.)

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    Bob Smith
    Talley & Smith Architecture, Inc.
    Shelby NC
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    Original Message