e-Builder vs. Viewpoint Spectrum

e-Builder is well suited to situations where there are stakeholders across a large organization who need updates on a regular basis and great for tracking costs and schedule. It is less well suited to small projects with little complexity. It is also not well suited to projects with multiple primes

Incentivized

Viewpoint Spectrum would be fine for small to medium-sized companies. It would be great for transitioning from an in-house paper-based process, especially since it's designed with small construction companies in mind. They're making it even easier for smaller companies by offering additional features that you'd normally have to find in other products. However, companies can easily outgrow this system. We have about 15 years of data in the system, over 300 active jobs, and nearly 1,500 employees. In the past 3 years we've noticed slower performance and frequent locks in the system that require intervention from a system administrator. We moved to the cloud about 2 years ago and this has made troubleshooting even more difficult as we don't have the same access that we did before to resolve performance issues.

Incentivized

• I appreciate the fully configurable dashboards. They are beneficial for both individual or company-wide use.
• Getting email alerts when documents are recently uploaded is helpful with staying on top of current submittal processes. Highly supportive in the process of getting items paid for in a timely fashion.
• Redundancy is easily reduced because e-Builder is helpful in standardizing different processes. Transparency is also emphasized, which keeps people on the same page.

Incentivized

• Dashboards make navigating to the crucial information quick and easy.
• The layout with what we affectionately call the job info bar helps our project teams to quickly get where they need to go in the system.
• Crystal reports are easily managed and integrated with Spectrum, giving us great flexibility in custom reports.
• With a little training, and I mean a little, Spectrum is user friendly. Easy to create favorites/shortcuts for ease of use.

Incentivized

• It would be great if EB can introduce an asset management module where we can tie assets to a project. This is the biggest issue I am currently having. If you can develop this, it would make Finance, Engineering, and Operations life easier. In addition, synchronize data out in field to EB for creating specific reports. For example, in water utility environment, knowing how much total linear feet of water line pipes were installed per day, per month, or per year. Furthermore, know what size pipe was installed.
• Help improve the Planning Module and make it more user friendly, similar to the updates made to Schedule Module
• Provide better reporting options on Dashboard Module. For example, allowing us to choose different types of charts, colors, etc.
• Improve the speed connection downtime which always happens around 1230am-2pm EST. EB really drags in speed when already logged in or having to log in to access the system.

Incentivized

• Subcontract Kiosk can be glitchy - allows subs to overbill on subcontract billing items
• Document Imaging can be glitchy - often says users do not have adequate security to view/add documents, but they do - if they sign out and back in, it works fine
• At times, support can be lacking - sometimes case responses are delayed or you get an incorrect answer

Incentivized

Because again, one of our biggest clients entrusts E-builder to work with their systems. And its functions work for us as well.

Incentivized

It checks all of our boxes at the moment.

Incentivized

Simple, because have a used it for the past two years, so i'm very familiar with the particular aspects of its program that I need to accomplish my tasks.

Incentivized

Some things in Spectrum are NOT that intuitive, but I think knowledge of the software just comes with time. There are still some things I need assistance with in Spectrum but I'm very comfortable with my day to day items now that I've been using it for years. However, if there is something I don't do often or haven't done before, I don't find the software to be that intuitive, I actually find the logic on some things to be a little weird but it's fine once I know how to do it.

Incentivized

Very little down time. They host our system.

Incentivized

For the most part the product is very reliable. Since we are hosted we sometimes have connectivity issues but I would say that is more our ISP than Spectrum.

Incentivized

Again, because our technical support is great. He doesn't always answer the phone but he definitely responds to emails fairly quickly. In addition, I like that he actually resolves an issue and I have yet to encounter the same issue twice. Actually, I haven't encountered many issues at all in the two years I have used the software.

Incentivized

The support has recently changed. Last year, you could call in and get an immediate response. Now that doesn't seem possible unless you have an urgent situation with access to the software, payroll or payables. I have found that using chat or e-mail works nicely for the most part, but sometimes I feel it would be easier if someone from support would jump on our site and take a first-hand look rather than going back and forth

Incentivized

Our trainer was excellent and navigated the time zone differences expertly. She gave us test assignments to complete and was available for questions at any time.

Incentivized

1. Set up the time to get training on the sytem before you go all in.

2. Listen, ask questions and actually practice using the tools and features while in class. It helps tremendously with becoming comfortable and remembering how things work.

3. Don't be afraid to mess up. They are helpful and will help resolve your issue in a timely manner

Incentivized

It is important to have a strong implementation partner. It made the transition from our old system to the new system easier.

Incentivized

Procore is much more user friendly and better for project management however there are features in e-Builder that I do not have access to that probably make it more attractive for owners as they deal with financial management of projects.

Incentivized

Spectrum, when compared to Simply accounting, is better. It has more options, and it is easy to navigate. Spectrum meets our needs better. Spectrum, when compared to Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate, is better. Spectrum has better connectivity between its project management system compared to Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate. Spectrum, when compared to CMIC, I believe they are equal. CMiC has a better project management system, but Spectrum has an easier accounting system to navigate.

Incentivized

You can grant user specific access which is nice. Project managers do not need all the same modules as Accounting. But Accounting does need access to PM modules as well

• Has added extra steps to processes that were previously easier. And I work for a university that complicates everything
• Has more than cut in half the time it takes to generate reports about project status
• Has made project management more efficient

Incentivized

• Viewpoint Spectrum has allowed us the opportunity to be proactive in analyzing the costs for a project in time to make a difference in the outcome of the project. It has allowed us defense in supporting our communications with the project owners.
• Viewpoint Spectrum has allowed us to become more productive with its accounting software and the cohesion between the modules. It has definitely streamlined the processing necessary to account for the business.

Incentivized