#1 most frequent
United States of America
82.2%83 installations of 101
What is BQE CORE?
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.
BQE CORE replaces the products Engineeroffice, Archioffice, and BillQuick; the functionality of these applications is now found in BQE CORE.
Categories & Use Cases
Media
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Screenshot of Core powered by BQE Software
Top Performing Features
Timesheet Tracking
Timesheet tracking is the ability to track all billable and non-billable hours for each project.
Category average: 8.4
Task Management
This includes the ability to plan, track, collaborate and report on tasks.
Category average: 9.1
Gantt Charts
Gantt charts are charts that show tasks or events along the y-axis displayed against time along the x-axis.
Category average: 8.3
Areas for Improvement
Quotes/estimates
Ability to create, manage and send project fee proposals to customers
Category average: 8.6
Team Collaboration
Team collaboration capabilities let team members work directly with each other and provide team updates.
Category average: 9
Support for Waterfall Methodology
Waterfall methodology is a tradition development method that is linear and sequential.
Category average: 7.9
Who Buys & Uses BQE CORE
#2 most frequent
Canada
10.9%11 installations of 101
#3 most frequent
Australia
2.0%2 installations of 101
Pros
- Streamlined time and expense tracking with cloud receipt storage
- Robust invoicing and billing capabilities supporting varied methods
- Centralized project management for client and project details
Cons
- Issues with data export clarity and slow download times
- User interface and general experience can be prone to errors
- Limitations in time entry management and integration
BQE Core Suits All Our Needs
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
BQE CORE is used for project management, budgeting, invoicing, expensing and time tracking, amongst many other aspects of our business.
Pros
- Invoicing
- Expensing
- Time Tracking
- Report Configurations
Cons
- Calendaring
- Managing clients within a project
- Speed of performance
Return on Investment
- Accurate financial reporting
- Allows for more accurate budgeting
- Tracking employee and project allocations
Usability
Other Software Used
QuickBooks Online, Teamwork.com
We Highly Recommend This All-In-One Business Solution
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
Now that we use BQE COREwe have a better way to track time and expenses along with accounting. In our industry we are typically a subconsultant on new construction projects and this software is particularly useful in our industry. It is helpful for marketing and project managers to be able to view all of the client information in one place, as well as keep accounting visible for particular users. Time tracking for us has never been more efficient!
Pros
- Time tracking
- Expense tracking
- Project details and accounting details
- Sorting projects by many different fields
- Creating reports
Cons
- Time tracking view saved instead of resetting each time
- Searching projects for details
- Honesty this software works really well, maybe only a couple bugs so far
Return on Investment
- Less time spent on tedious tracking tasks
- More time available for employees to get more project work done instead of admin work
- Our ability to view the time it takes for different tasks has increased
- We have more correct records after implementing BQE CORE
Usability
BQE is Awesome!!!
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
BQE makes it very easy to manage your time performance which is crucial to an architectural office. They give you a very clean and simple interface making it very easy to use and understand. Overall, I've had a great experience with BQE. It has made me a much more organized person in terms of my job and managing the hours of our projects.
Pros
- Easy to use interface
- Easy to edit projects
Cons
- Loading lists and projects
- Making the website more seamless and less buggy
Return on Investment
- We use it every day to manage our time performance.
- Used to coordinate out weekly meeting in office with project list and status.
Usability
Other Software Used
AutoCAD
Awesome Tool for Engineering Company
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We use BQE CORE for practically all administrative and bookkeeping tasks in our engineer firm. Over the past few years the capabilities have expanded greatly. We have junior level drafter and subcontractors log time on specific projects. We invoice and collect payments. We are also able to to create vendor bills and purchase orders which is very useful in keeping up with outstanding items. It also features comprehensive reports that analyze profit etc.
Pros
- Invoicing
- On demand live customer support
- Bookkeeping
- Time entry
Cons
- When time is received on a purchase order, you are unable to simply delete the the vendor bill and the time received. A new purchase order must be created
- Receiving or logging time directly on invoicing screen
- Customizable invoicing templates - have to have customer service create.
Return on Investment
- It is quite expensive but we have been able to keep booking in house which saves about $5000 per year.
Usability
Alternatives Considered
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
Other Software Used
monday.com
BQE Core for Engineering Firms--RECOMMEND!
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We use BQE Core for Project Management, Time & Expense tracking, Accounting and Billing, Human Resources and as a CRM Platform. Being able to input information into one platform for use across many different modules saves time and energy on our administrative staff. All of the data is tracked and displayed in efficient widgets and customizable dashboards. The customized reports are very helpful as well. You can drill down all or only what you want to see. Customer service is responsive and able to sort out issues quickly.
Update 1/3/2025: CORE has put in some great work this last year, with special attention to efficiency and user experience. The follow up on support requests continues to be top notch, a rep will respond to you within a few hours, and they still offer around the clock service by telephone. Very excited for roll out of new modules, including Insights Board and Payroll!
Update 1/3/2025: CORE has put in some great work this last year, with special attention to efficiency and user experience. The follow up on support requests continues to be top notch, a rep will respond to you within a few hours, and they still offer around the clock service by telephone. Very excited for roll out of new modules, including Insights Board and Payroll!
Pros
- Ease of Use: the layout of each page makes sense and flow is easy to follow
- Update: CORE has recently rolled out more column and filter options, making it even easier to manipulate your data to display what you're really looking for.
- online: It's great that it can be accessed from any browser, and does not require a software download. Even with this accessibility it remains secure.
- Education: the webinars, videos and community posts are very helpful when onboarding or troubleshooting.
Cons
- cost: having to pay for each module for each user is expensive. Would be easier to have different license tiers that group modules.
- development can be slow: fix releases are not as often, feature requests are the only way current users can influence what goes into the new builds.
- UPDATE: Service has improved. CORE has dedicated the last year to improving user experience. As a part of the client advisory board, it's great to have an opportunity to speak with the development team directly about functions and special requests.
- additional filters: would be great to have more filters to drill down reports.
- UPDATE: CORE delivered!
Return on Investment
- BQE Core has been time saving in terms of billing/invoicing
- BQE Core has been useful in tracking project profitability, custom reports make it easy to complete quarterly reviews of projects/employees
- Rising cost of the platform in conjunction with the growing number of staff can be daunting at time or renewal
- UDPATE: While pricing continues to be a challenging point for us, we have seen added value this last year with the many improvements.
Usability
Other Software Used
QuickBooks Desktop Pro, Zoom Workplace, Trello
