BQE CORE vs. Paylocity

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
BQE CORE
Score 9.4 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
BQE CORE is a business management solution built specifically for professional service firms. BQE CORE is a combination of a billing assistant, project management, and accounting solution. CORE is designed to do the hard work of delivering actionable insights directly to the user's dashboards or inbox. BQE CORE replaces the products Engineeroffice, Archioffice, and BillQuick; the functionality of these applications is now found in BQE CORE.N/A
Paylocity
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Paylocity provides 24/7 access to your online payroll and human resource data management. Paylocity offers highly customizable payroll functionality, as well as HR, benefits administration, and time and talent management programs.N/A
Pricing
BQE COREPaylocity
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BQE COREPaylocity
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BQE COREPaylocity
Features
BQE COREPaylocity
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
BQE CORE
7.6
Ratings
1% below category average
Paylocity
-
Ratings
Task Management9.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Resource Management8.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Gantt Charts8.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Scheduling8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow Automation7.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Team Collaboration5.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Support for Agile Methodology7.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Support for Waterfall Methodology4.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Document Management7.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Email integration6.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile Access7.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Timesheet Tracking9.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Change request and Case Management7.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Budget and Expense Management8.70 Ratings00 Ratings
Professional Services Automation
Comparison of Professional Services Automation features of Product A and Product B
BQE CORE
7.5
Ratings
1% below category average
Paylocity
-
Ratings
Quotes/estimates6.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Invoicing8.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Project & financial reporting8.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with accounting software7.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.9
Ratings
1% above category average
Employee demographic data00 Ratings8.50 Ratings
Employment history00 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Job profiles and administration00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.00 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Organizational charting00 Ratings7.20 Ratings
Organization and location management00 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)00 Ratings7.70 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Paylocity
8.1
Ratings
2% above category average
Pay calculation00 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors00 Ratings7.30 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment00 Ratings8.50 Ratings
Benefit plan administration00 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Direct deposit files00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Reimbursement management00 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.5
Ratings
6% below category average
Approval workflow00 Ratings7.30 Ratings
Balance details00 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment00 Ratings7.70 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Paylocity
8.4
Ratings
4% above category average
View and generate pay and benefit information00 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Update personal information00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
View company policy documentation00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Employee recognition00 Ratings8.20 Ratings
View job history00 Ratings8.50 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.0
Ratings
14% below category average
Tracking of all physical assets00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.4
Ratings
1% below category average
Report builder00 Ratings7.50 Ratings
Pre-built reports00 Ratings7.50 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data00 Ratings7.30 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Paylocity
8.3
Ratings
5% above category average
New hire portal00 Ratings8.50 Ratings
Manager tracking tools00 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.7
Ratings
3% below category average
Corporate goal setting00 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Individual goal setting00 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility00 Ratings7.70 Ratings
Performance tracking00 Ratings7.70 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.5
Ratings
4% below category average
Performance plans00 Ratings7.30 Ratings
Performance improvement plans00 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Review status tracking00 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Review reminders00 Ratings7.70 Ratings
Multiple review frequency00 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.2
Ratings
8% below category average
Create succession plans/pools00 Ratings6.50 Ratings
Candidate ranking00 Ratings6.90 Ratings
Candidate search00 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Candidate development00 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
BQE CORE
-
Ratings
Paylocity
7.9
Ratings
2% above category average
Job Requisition Management00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Company Website Posting00 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Publish to Social Media00 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting00 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention00 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Applicant Tracking00 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts00 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BQE COREPaylocity
Small Businesses
Stackby
Stackby
Score 9.0 out of 10
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
InEight
InEight
Score 8.3 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises
InEight
InEight
Score 8.3 out of 10
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 9.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BQE COREPaylocity
Likelihood to Recommend
9.4
(0 ratings)
8.5
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.0
(0 ratings)
9.2
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.2
(0 ratings)
9.2
(0 ratings)
Availability
8.2
(0 ratings)
9.8
(0 ratings)
Performance
7.3
(0 ratings)
9.6
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.4
(0 ratings)
7.8
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.3
(0 ratings)
Online Training
6.4
(0 ratings)
7.8
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
2.3
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
7.8
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
4.5
(0 ratings)
8.1
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.2
(0 ratings)
9.5
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.2
(0 ratings)
8.6
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.2
(0 ratings)
8.9
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
BQE COREPaylocity
Likelihood to Recommend
I would recommend this for our industry: architecture, engineering, or construction. I would recommend this for any larger firm with many employees or high number of projects. I would particularly recommend this for a company with projects that have budget constraints and where time tracking and expense tracking is very important. I would not recommend this complicated software for a small firm with a small amount of income or number of projects.
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Paylocity appears to be well-suited for startups to large businesses. As with any product, finding the right price point for the services provided is the challenge. Always remember that one small company that would really appreciate the "benefits essentials" or some other part of the platform but can't afford them right now, may be the ones to get you that large company through word of mouth...IF they had been able to experience that part of the product and refer it to others.
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Pros
  • Invoice Collections within Billing is a great tool because of the ability to take notes and track contact.
  • Invoices are professional looking and easy for our clients to understand the overall progress within each phase of their project.
  • Dashboards are the best tool EVER!
  • The Contact List feature within Clients setup is the perfect way to track multiple project managers within a large company that also has multiple contracts with us.
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  • Obviously, time and labor and payroll. It's time and labor time sheets are so easy, so easy for employees. We have been for many years a company that's allowed our employees to self-report that was easy to set up. California is a tough company or tough state to work in, so there's been a lot of restrictions and Paylocity has really helped us establish the rules and regulations and make sure we're compliant. We've recently moved to time clocks, so something that we had to do and that was a really easy transition to do and it's going very well. And also payroll. Payroll is so easy to run, so it's two good systems that I think have been really great.
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Cons
  • Customizable Reporting
  • Linking Project to Payment all together
  • Assigning contacts to particular roles - such as Invoicing, Contracts, etc.
  • Accounting Functionality - they are basically a project management accounting software, so in my opinion, they could learn some things from other accounting software such as QuickBooks etc.
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  • We have had lots of year end issues specifically with Partners W2's.
  • We had an accrual issue that was causing 2 additional vacation/sick accruals per year.
  • When updating accruals- the paperwork to do so is confusing at times. I feel there is little support to assist you in filling the paperwork correctly to reflect what you need the accrual to actually do.
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Likelihood to Renew
We have been using Core for a few years now, and honestly started to look at other software systems to see what was out there. What we chose was a nightmare for migration so we never left Core. Now we have added invoicing and payments from Core instead of double entry with QBO. Still only a few cycles in but looks like it will be up to speed soon and working smoothly.
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We most likely will because we are learning how to use it better all the time. It does integrate with our Advanced Benefits. But the customer service is not responsive when needing help. It almost always requires several contacts to get anywhere, and the contacts can be several days apart. Once you actually get to TALK to someone, things are usually resolved fairly quickly, but their email system is not efficient. I get half answers and they close the ticket! But once I can get to someone, it is almost always great service. Very hard to get someone though.
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Usability
The foundation is awesome, like I have said before, however the house being built on it, the educational resources being provided to us (more of sales pitches that don't work), and flexible workflow opportunities, is making us look elsewhere for how much we will be spending on per user. It's crazy to think how flexible they are not when it comes to user settings. Lack of integration with other sources is awful.
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Staff hasn't had that many glitches and they don't come with as many problems as we had with, we had a DP before. And there will always be issues sometimes with time clocks, time, time we clocking in and stuff. We've really seen downsides with that. That staff is not complaining as much.
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Reliability and Availability
I can only remember a couple of times in 4 years that Core has been unavailable.
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Over the last 3 years, we've only had one major service issue that rendered Airbase unusable for us for about 24 hours. That said, they navigated the SVB bank crisis very well and made sure funds were available during that time.
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Performance
This is one area that does need some improvement. It can be slow at time, so we had our IT look at it from our side and we had no issues, so it has to be some slowness on their side.
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We had some minor hiccups throughout the year but they have all been fixable. Paylocity integrates well with our 401k provider, Principal, and our benefits, OneDigital. It makes it simple to house everything and have it all connected. It doesn't slow anything down to have Principal integrated. It makes it more efficient
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Support Rating
As a new employee and CORE user, I talk to support on a weekly basis. I have never had to wait for more than 3 min to get connect with a support rep, and all my questions have been answered. The support representatives are polite and eager to help no matter how simple your question is.
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I really appreciate that we are assigned a support manager. That person is very familiar with our set up, our needs and our history. However, I've spoken to others on the support team and have had very positive interactions and get the help needed.
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In-Person Training
No answers on this topic
I didn't have in-person training, but I'm sure it was just as great as any other training/assistance Paylocity provides. Paylocity customer service is always available. You never have to be on hold and their answers are always accurate and timely. Documents in the help section are helpful as well. My in-person training was conducted y one of our employees who was involved in the initial set-up and training of all employees. She was excellent.
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Online Training
Make sure you have someone training you that fits your style of learning.
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The training was live online, but was with a group of other companies. We did not receive any personalized training with our team. Whenever we would ask for training, we would be sent a peak article link or a video. It felt like the reps we dealt with didn't know the answer to the questions.
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Implementation Rating
wont let me skip
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We were handed off to multiple implementation people, some quit, one went on leave, one left suddenly, one was transfered to a diff dept...all causing a significant amount of disruption for our team. Many had conflicting info on how to properly set things up...hence a complete mess was left for us to figure out
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Alternatives Considered
Deltek Vision is far more advanced, more encompassing and offers more flexibility with what you want to do. However, it's also quite difficult to use, whereas BQE CORE is intuitive and user friendly. The trade off is worth it in some arenas but overall it's not suited for a larger fast paced company. Great for smaller companies.
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I would say that Paylocity is a significant upgrade from my experience with Paycor. I would say that it's a similar product to Paycom. The one thing I liked, Paycom did pay the PTOA little bit differently. It was in real time, but Paycom did not value us as a customer and they lost us due the pricing. And then they've tried to come back and they've tried to match. They have tried to match Paylocity pricing, but we chose not to go back because we're happy with Paylocity and I'm not going to make a huge move like that if I'm happy where I am.
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Scalability
This software works on a small and large scale.
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We have gone from a medium sized company to a larger company with no issues whatsoever with Paylocity being able to keep up or do what we need it to do for the size of our needs. In fact, it does more than we even use at this juncture
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Return on Investment
  • Quick setup of new tasks under a parent project, with immediate hourly billing to it.
  • Monitoring of details of non-chargeable efforts in appropriate detail
  • Validation of hourly cost, billing cost, benefit cost, profitability by person and role
  • Company tracking of write-off's included in corporate and project reporting, no data is "lost"
  • Can track excessive work time as +PTO in lieu of pay for use as future vacation
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  • All of the above, the data is readily available so that we can actually see what our turnover ratio is or the data that we need to make decisions. So I think overall it made our process a bit more seamless. There are training that's readily available that we can deploy to our employees as opposed to creating it and it's customizable so we can add things to it that is specific to our organization and just build on to what's already there.
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ScreenShots

BQE CORE Screenshots

Screenshot of Core powered by BQE SoftwareScreenshot of BQE CORE Project Dashboard ViewScreenshot of BQE CORE 360* Firm Performance ViewScreenshot of BQE CORE Reporting & AnalyticsScreenshot of BQE CORE Project Time EntryScreenshot of BQE CORE Project Expense Tracking

Paylocity Screenshots

Screenshot of a view of real-time employee data and performance metrics used to uncover and analyze trends. This creates an impactful understanding of the business, increase retention, understand labor costs, and plan for changes.Screenshot of where to automate manual processes with Paylocity's self-serve automation engine, Workflows. Users can implement routines for time-consuming manual tasks.Screenshot of where to manage and comply with employment law. Paylocity's HR Compliance solution helps users to stay on track and view important employee compliance items, from Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), healthcare, and compensation.Screenshot of how Paylocity Recruiting can automate hiring processes. amplify outreach, showcase a company's culture, and build stronger candidate connections to swiftly fill positions.Screenshot of recognition and rewards in Paylocity.