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What Job Management Software Should I Start With?

What Job Management Software Should I Start With?

The decision to upgrade your Project Management system can be daunting. You might have spent years investing time and effort into your current system, just to outgrow it. You might have built your business around the flexibility of excel, only to never have a cohesive understanding of how your team is functioning, due to the endless number of spreadsheets and versions strewn across the business. Upgrading your project management system is accepting that your current processes need to change, and acknowledging that you need to put in significant effort to both get things running smoothly, and to take advantage of the benefits of the new software.

Once you’ve made the decision to move, an even more important decision awaits; what software will be right for you?

Just like shopping for any other significant purchase, the first thing you need to do is research. Have a look at the options in the market, do any stand out? Which are designed for your industry, and which aren’t? Which have a simple User Interface (UI) and which seem clunky? Follow your intuition to narrow down your list of options.

Once you have a shortlist, take a deeper dive into each option, and check out what features they present as their best assets. Every software has a feature list on their website which outlines their best bits. However, when checking out these feature lists, take them with a grain of salt and review each point with a critical eye.

They say they have a Xero integration, but how does it work? Can it be configured to suit your Xero needs? They say they have customisable proposal templates, but is it enough to suit your current designs? If not, are you willing to sacrifice your presentations to suit this new system? They say they have flexible invoicing options, but will it let you present invoices in the same way your clients have gotten used to?

So, you’ve reviewed the features, and asked yourself how those features would actually work for your business. Next up – What doesn’t the software tell you? A software’s website can’t show off everything under the hood. They need to pick and choose their feature list; however, a deeper review of the product can reveal some extra bonuses you may otherwise have missed.

Our Favourites:

One of our favourite Project Management software is WorkflowMax. However, we love it for reasons beyond those they put front and centre in their feature list.

For example, WorkflowMax is owned by Xero. We can dig deeper into this simple fact to get a far better understanding as to why it may be the software for you.

  • Being owned by Xero means its Xero integration is best in class.
  • It’s got financial security. You don’t need to worry about WorkflowMax going bust right after you make the move.
  • Your team only needs the one login for Xero & WorkflowMax. With a UI designed to reflect Xero, it can promote familiarity if they already use Xero.

Another example is WorkflowMax’s little-known email feature that lets you forward emails directly to your job as a note. This is a great way to keep the team across a project without worrying about who is and isn’t cc’d in an email.

Finding these extra bonuses when choosing a software isn’t always simple, and that’s where a cloud implementation specialist comes in. We know the software’s in and out, but more importantly, we know how they practically work for a range of businesses. We can tell you about the extra bonuses and workarounds that other businesses have used with success, helping to make the change as smooth as possible for you and your team.

If you’re in the market for a new Project Management software, but don’t know how to find ‘the one’ give Business Continuum a call. We can give you the confidence you need to make the right choice.

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Find Out How To Improve Your Online Customer Service With Podium

Find Out How To Improve Your Online Customer Service With Podium

Have you ever received random sales messages at odd hours of the day? Or maybe you have experienced trying to reach customer service but have been kept on hold for hours instead. The transition from physical stores to online mediums during the global pandemic has taken away the human touch essential to many small businesses. Unfortunately, the endless loops of automated recordings and dialling options are now commonly associated with the stigma of a cheap customer experience.

Typically, when you enter a retail shop, you are greeted by friendly staff and attentive employees that are willing to assist you with all the questions you might have. With the vast number of consumers now turning to online shopping/services, the plight small businesses face is how to create the same level of in-person experience when customers visit a website. You may be wondering – is it even possible to create a tailored online experience for customers? Well, yes, we have come across a cloud-based software that provides businesses with a centralised platform to increase employee productivity and customer satisfaction.  

Introducing Podium

Podium is a platform that helps businesses provide customers with the same quality in-store experience, only virtually. Their goal is to make it simple as possible for businesses to re-engage with customers at various stages along their purchasing journey. Podium offers a range of tools that help boost a company’s reviews, feedback, campaigns, payments, and team communication. By engaging with past and potential customers, businesses can increase conversion rates and customer engagement. If your business is looking to enhance its online reputation and promote website engagement by offering integrated messaging services with clients and prospects during the buy and fulfilment process, Podium is for you!

Understandably, it can be tricky for growing small businesses to juggle managing order fulfilment, financing, customer service, inventory, and marketing simultaneously; thus, the Podium Teamchat feature has a number of collaboration tools that make employee communication and involvement easier than ever before. Moreover, the Podium app also makes it simple to collaborate over long distances or on the go.

Podium for Small Businesses

Ashley Furniture, a merchant specialising in home-store goods, required a central messaging system to manage all inquiries across their social media platforms. The Podium Inbox helped them manage conversations in a streamlined manner whilst still providing tailored responses for each customer query. Hence, their customers have received extra value from their services since using Podium as they are able to receive an immediate response from a company expert who can solve their problem right away. Ashley Furniture also utilised Podium’s review invite tools which led to a 2% growth from 10% to 12% increase in foot traffic. Podium can assist in presenting your business as a more personable company with connected customer service that will not only get your great business reviews but will also enhance your company goodwill in the long term.

Want to know more?

We are experts in finding the right cloud-based software solutions for Australian businesses. If you’re not sure that Podium is the right match for your businesses, don’t hesitate to contact Businesses Continuum for a free consultation.

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Discover Unleashed Inventory Management

Discover Unleashed Inventory Management

Is Unleashed Inventory the right fit for you?  

As an entrepreneur, business owner or manufacturer, you have been focusing on delivering great products and services to your customers. When starting a business, every owner starts by looking for a market gap where they can excel and provide the community with a product or service.

Through hard work, dedication and time, your business becomes successful, and a new set of problems becomes apparent. Cashflow, Overstock, Stock delays and stock run out are some of these new issues that you will be introduced to as your company grows. That is when passion goes out of the window, and you find yourself in a rat race to meet the daily challenges of business ownership. Is this a feeling you are familiar with?  You might not be an inventory expert. Heck when you started your business, you might not have had any idea what inventory management is. Your motivation was to provide a product to fill a gap in the market. You are not alone. There are many entrepreneurs and start-ups who face these same problems.

 

How to fix this?

At this stage, you have a few options. You can hire someone to manage your stock. Or you can use spreadsheets or introduce new systems to counter the growing issues. In fact, you might have tried these options, and all is has brought you is even more problems to tackle. How do you choose the next best thing for your business? New Staff or New System?  Hiring staff to resolve your problems is not going to work if there is no tangible system in place for them to learn your business, understand the problems, and construct an effective resolution.

If it is a system you need, which one will suit you the most? We have worked with many businesses. The most common thing we see is that business owners are trying to find systems which are marketed specifically for their business or industry. Then, they sign on for a trial and become overwhelmed with what they see, inevitably ending up back where they were to begin with.

 

What now?

There are many software solutions on the market. Some new, some old. Unleashed has been on the market for over 10 years and was one of the 1st Xero Integrated software packages available. On top of that, it is now backed by the Access Group. It also has many excellent features that can assist you with your business decision making and stock control.

Some key benefits of using Unleashed as your inventory management system are,

  • Manufacturing, Assemblies, Disassemblies, and Kitting function
  • Easy-to-use interfaces with a self-explanatory menus
  • Great Support & Easy to use help documentation
  • Great onboarding team to self-implement the system
  • Quick video guides to train your inexperienced staff

Unleashed also has inventory management features and reporting and dashboarding capabilities to make your worries disappear. Its best aspect is the structure it adds to your business. Unleashed also has a self-service implementation package, letting you set it up for yourself, at a pace that works for your situation.

However, if you feel you need someone to guide you through the configuration process or need an extra hand training both yourself and your staff with the new system, give Business Continuum a call.

 

Why we Love Unleashed

When we evaluate a solution for a customer, we dig a little deeper into, why a certain solution would suit the customer. We do not just compare the features that are highlighted on a comparison tool.

Things we take for granted sometimes are the support material and the online help articles that Unleashed provides. We love how they have designed their “Get help for this page ” option available for every screen you work on, which takes you to the exact help article that you were looking for when you get stuck.

We love how they have invested in a great Business Intelligence platform that enables customers to dig into Customers, Suppliers, Products and Transactions and provide a visual representation of your data to understand trends and customer behaviours.

We also love how Unleashed sync all the invoice data instantaneously with Xero. So, you can still use your customised invoices, with payment options from Xero. Especially, when you want to pass credit card fees to your customers.

For more information on how Unleashed can benefit your business contact Business Continuum for a free consultation.

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5 Signs Your Business Needs an Inventory Management Makeover

5 Signs Your Business Needs an Inventory Management Makeover

You might already be using Xero as your accounting solution but your business may have outgrown it, hence you find yourself needing a more robust management solution. Below are 5 signs you need to upgrade your inventory management system.

 

1. Spending hours counting stock each week

You’re long overdue for an inventory system. If you’re spending hours physically counting products and regularly checking in your warehouse each week to monitor stock. An inventory system will keep track of your current stock, and automatically update data when you buy and sell products; this will save you from having to tally stock levels in a spreadsheet, and it will also help differentiate between what you have on hand and what you have available to sell.

 

2. You run out of stock before your new stock arrives

If you’re running out of stock then you’re losing sales, it’s as simple as that. Implementing an inventory system allows you to specify a minimum stock level and can also inform you when you’ve achieved that level so you can purchase more stock, avoiding both running out of stock and the costly mistake of overstocking.

 

3. You don’t know which products are your most profitable

Profitability isn’t only the difference between what you sell and what you pay your supplier; there are many other factors to consider, such as transportation, import duties, currency conversion, and how long you will hold the stock. An inventory solution will assist you in determining the right margins, allowing you to simply report on which goods are the most lucrative.

 

4. You need to keep track of different prices for different customers

Maybe as your business has grown you started selling three different channels, rather than just selling online through your Shopify store; now you have wholesale customers, distributors, and they all have different prices perhaps, special deals, negotiated pricing,  or discounts you have arranged. Inventory software can help you manage multiple price tiers, ensuring that everyone in your company is aware of how much they should charge each customer.

 

5. You’re spending too long updating stock figures on your website

Perhaps updating stock levels every day and specifying which products are out of stock wasn’t a major concern in the early days of your online business, but as you develop and receive dozens or hundreds of orders each day, it’s no longer viable. Advanced inventory systems fortunately talk to all major online stores like Shopify and Woo-Commerce and will automatically update stock on a real-time basis, ensuring that your website is always up to date and that clients do not order goods that are no longer in stock.

 

We are here to help

At Business Continuum, we know that moving to an inventory solution can be very overwhelming, with our help we can not only architect the solution, but we help manage the change to a solution so that you can automate your buy cycle, to save time and money.

 

What Next?

We partner with a variety of software providers such as Xero, DEAR Systems, Unleashed and Cin7. Please contact us for a free consultation to see which inventory solution is right for you.

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Which Project Management Platform is Right For You?

Which Project Management Platform is Right For You?

With over 400 online project management tools in the market, professional service providers are spoilt for choice. We speak with businesses every day wanting to switch to a new project management tool. Some come to us with a solution in mind, while others want some help in selecting the best solution for their immediate and future needs.  

We know it is not only a daunting task but also a large time investment to navigate trials and software vendors all wanting your attention.

So, to help shortcut the system evaluation process, we’ve put together our perspective on 8 project management tools that we feel address the spectrum of most businesses’ needs today.

Discover more about each of the solutions at a glance below, then click through to our report for each platform.

 

Xero Projects

FeaturesProsCons
⇒Designed for small teams (ideal for less than 5 people)✓Easily draw database from Xero✗
✗
✗		Minimal customisation
Simplistic reporting
Unable to integrate quotes
⇒Xero integration✓Simple set up & usability
⇒$10 per month (with a Xero subscription)✓Great invoicing flexibility

Want to know more? [Read our blog review on Xero Projects]

Harvest & Forecast

FeaturesProsCons
⇒Suits those with a simple quoting process✓
✓
✓		Flexibility in time capture
Easy to track project progress
View projects at a glance		✗Limited pipeline management functionality
⇒
⇒		$12 per person per month
Great option for those who prioritise time tracking		✗No link between estimate and project
✗Limited project management functionality beyond tracking time and expenses

Want to know more? [Read our blog review on Harvest & Forecast]

Streamtime

FeaturesProsCons
⇒
⇒
⇒		Designed for creatives
Xero integration
$0-40 per month 		✓
✓
✓		Track time via a ‘to-do’ list
Simple timesheet usability
Great invoicing flexibility		✗Very fixed dashboard personas offer limited detail
✗An adjustment for those used to traditional timesheeting
✗No quick way to invoice for repetitive jobs

Want to know more? [Read our blog review on Streamtime]

ActiveCollab

FeaturesProsCons
⇒
⇒
⇒		Simple, user-friendly interface
Client collaboration
Good for businesses with non-complex projects that require little to no customisation in regards to estimating, invoicing and CRM		✓

✓

✓		Flexible permissions to allow client access to project details
Assign custom rates to each client
Detailed task lists		✗
✗

✗		CRM capabilities lack depth
Limited flexibility and no templating
No invoicing templates for duplicate jobs

Want to know more? [Read our blog review on ActiveCollab]

Zoho Projects

 

FeaturesProsCons
⇒Variety of modules allows for a customisable all-in-one solution✓

✓

✓

Nice facility to track support issues for clients and projects
Caters to a variety of working styles
Detailed task lists		✗

✗
✗		Diversity of functionality can feel overwhelming
Lacking in financial visibility
Comprehensive yet more costly than other solutions
⇒
⇒		Client portal for collaboration
Suits big teams requiring more complex communication

Want to know more? [Read our blog review on Zoho Projects]

WorkflowMax

FeaturesProsCons
⇒Aimed at small-medium businesses✓
✓

✓		Good level of customisation
Ability to input data in a number of ways
Flexible and comprehensive report builder		✗Limited staff scheduling functionality
⇒Affordable price (by user bands)✗
✗		Some integration limitations
Some rigidness and lack of flexibility for modern working styles
⇒Lead management add-on additional $15 per month

Want to know more? [Read our blog review on WorkflowMax]

Scoro

 

FeaturesProsCons
⇒
⇒

⇒

 

End-to-end solution
Extensive functionality and modules that cater for a wide range of professional and creative agencies
$34-97 per month 		✓
✓

✓

Excellent dashboard view
Streamlined quote and pipeline module
Excels with resource planning		✗Configuration of templates is quite difficult to master, some HTML experience is necessary
✗Complexity of the solution can result in some confusion when first implementing Scoro
  

Want to know more? [Read our blog review on Scoro]

Accelo

 

FeaturesProsCons
⇒

⇒

⇒

 

Accommodates a range of businesses and industries
Accessible by both Collaborators (access for free) and Professionals
US$39-79 per month		✓Great for tracking the work and progress of a client throughout its lifecycle✗

✗		Sales module somewhat difficult to navigate
Extensive capabilities often hindered by the complexity of the system
✓

✓		Project module is impressive though complex
Great depth of information that can be stored, filtered, viewed

Want to know more? [Read our blog review on Accelo]

If you have any questions, or want to know more about any of the solutions we’ve investigated, get in touch! We’d be happy to walk through your business needs and help you find the perfect project management solution.

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Is WorkflowMax Project Management Software Right For You?

Is WorkflowMax Project Management Software Right For You?

WorkflowMax is an end to end project management software, aimed at small to medium businesses. With an affordable price point, WorkflowMax aims to have a broad range of features that appeals to a variety of businesses. With the addition of its Lead Management add on, WorkflowMax acts as the one stop shop for the entire professional services process, and as a Xero company, its integration to the accounting software helps you manage your business’ finances.

Streamlined workflow + lead manager

As the name suggests, WorkflowMax’s key strength is in the process flow of work from an opportunity, all the way to a fully invoiced job. Lead Manager, for an additional $15 per month to the subscription, works in tandem with the client database to act as a basic sales pipeline manager. Tracking prospect clients, leads, building quotes, and assigning BD related tasks to staff members is available within the software with an ease of use.

A strength of WorkflowMax is its level of customisation, and this is best highlighted through its capacity to create custom fields across multiple modules, including clients and jobs. You can also customize templates for quotes, purchase orders, invoices and job forms using Word.

Jobs themselves are built on the foundations of tasks (for time tracking) and costs (expense tracking). As you build out tasks and costs within a job, so too does the financial budgets and visibility of a job grow. Jobs also facilitate management of to-do items, milestones and key dates, as well as assigning specific tasks to staff members for scheduling.

Limited scheduling

It is worth noting however, that the scheduling of staff members time within WorkflowMax is limited. While there is a scheduling module, it’s flexibility and usability are lacking. Scheduling relies exclusively on managers assigning start and end dates to tasks and if scheduling over multiple days, task times can only be broken up by equal proportions. If this is a necessity for your business, consider an integration with a third-party scheduling tool such as Better Scheduling or Plan Right.

A commonality throughout WorkflowMax is the tendency to be able to enter data in multiple ways, and time sheeting is no exception. Time can be added via the time tracker (either from browser or in app), as a manual entry from within the job, or even added in bulk through the weekly timesheet view. The Premium Plan for WorkflowMax also allows for ad hoc time to be added without a task, adding to the flexibility in how you enter your timesheets.

Flexible invoicing

Similarly, invoicing flexibility is a notable strength of WorkflowMax, made better still by recent enhancements to its Xero integration. Invoices can be billed directly off time and costs (while still maintaining the ability to write up or down individual entries) or you can choose to bill a self-determined total or percentage of the quote.

Despite being a Xero product, WorkflowMax’s integration with Xero is also not without limitations. While offering flexibility on how invoices ultimately appear in Xero, don’t expect client databases to be mirrored between the 2 systems unless you have put in the effort to configure the system in the way that best suits your needs. Ultimately, plan for WorkflowMax to be your single source for client information. Configuration of the system, and preparation of the client database, takes time to be successful.

Comprehensive reporting

The report builder in WorkflowMax is perhaps its best asset, as it provides a flexibility other software’s don’t. Almost every field, across every module can be extracted through the report builder. While you can’t access every field in a single report (there are multiple report types with different offerings), a simple CSV export allows you to conduct a deeper analysis of its data.

WorkflowMax’s greatest limitation is its rigidness and lack of flexibility for modern working styles. Its foundations as a traditional project management tool is well constructed, however there has been little development in areas that don’t fit directly into its intended workflow. While most prevalent in the scheduling limitations, the flexibility to customize dashboards, a complex purchase order process and restrictive tracking of tasks and WIP all hinder its status as an easy to use tool; without adequate training and a detailed setup, you may find it difficult to succeed using WorkflowMax.

When it’s preferred use suits your business, WorkflowMax is an effective project management tool focusing on providing you extensive financial visibility. Be prepared to put in some time setting up WorkflowMax. As a system that works best when you follow its rules, taking the time to learn them is worth the effort.

Have questions?

We’d be happy to answer them or take you through features of WorkflowMax in more detail. Or, if you’re wondering if another solution might be better for you, we’ve also done the hard yards for you and taken a look at other project management platforms, including: Xero Projects, Harvest & Forecast, Streamtime, ActiveCollab, Zoho Projects, Scoro and Accelo.

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Is Scoro Project Management Software Right For You?

Is Scoro Project Management Software Right For You?

Scoro is a comprehensive tool that boasts an impressive end-to-end experience for its users. Founded in 2013, Scoro is one of the faster growing project management solutions in the market. It is winning its customer base through regular improvements to its sites. Scoro aims to ‘bring structure to your work’ and tie in all your business functions into one single solution – an aim that they have been quite successful in achieving.

A one-stop-shop

Scoro allows for businesses to manage their entire workflow in one place. Built upon the framework of ‘sell it, work it, bill it’, Scoro’s strength lies in its extensive functionality and modules that cater for a wide range of professional and creative agencies. Scoro houses businesses development, project management and financial functions – all with their own set of customizable fields and purposes – ensuring all areas of your business is accounted for and optimized. The process of optimization only continues after implementation, with software enhancements being continually added and an active support line that averages an hour and a half response time.

A single page view is mastered by Scoro. The PM tool offers a new meaning to accessibility – whether you are looking at clients, projects, quotes to invoices, Scoro shows all relevant information in a single page where you can easily filter or view information as you please. Insightful and comprehensive filtering is achievable through the in-depth details that Scoro allows you to store.

Quote and pipeline management

Business development is made easy through the quote and pipeline module in Scoro. If your business works on similar quotes and project scopes, standard quote templates can be created and easily applied. Products and services can even be predefined with specific user rates, quantities and descriptions making the process even easier. Client facing pdf templates can also be customised to show information as required by your business, however it is important to note the configuration of templates is quite difficult to master as it requires HTML experience – it is a fiddly process. After you have created the quote, you can simply click and drag quotes into different status columns in the pipeline. This provides an accurate and visual representation of potential and upcoming work.

Once the work has been won, simply turn the quote into a project with two clicks of your mouse. The quoted line items can even be converted into phases and tasks of the project, reducing the time taken to set up the project and the work that needs to be completed.

Resource planning

Resource planning, an area where many project management tools lack, Scoro excels. Project managers are able to assign tasks to team members by a drag and drop system. The planner view allows the manager to view their team members existing tasks, available time and upcoming calendar events – their teams capacity.

Scoro’s time capture functionality is one of the best in the market. Time is tracked against tasks assigned to projects or clients and is differentiated between billable and non-billable. Users have the option to add time via the task, a time tracker or even a timesheet module where all the user’s active tasks are displayed in one matrix. Both managers and users can visualize the time entered through easy to read graphs. At a glance, managers will be able to identify areas of the business where significant amounts of time is being put towards and if team members are working to capacity.

Billing made easy

After you ‘sell it’ and ‘work it’, the part of the business that keeps you afloat is to ‘bill it’ – and Scoro makes this easy for you. If you are billing at a fixed rate, you can simply use the data on the quote to invoice a client within a few clicks. Or, if your business bills on time and materials, work reports can be created and converted into invoices with all the relevant information. These easy yet comprehensive methods, if set up correctly, can save you significant amounts of time.

Dashboard at-a-glance

Scoro’s dashboard view is one of the best in the market. Not only has Scoro built the dashboards to be visually appealing, the widgets and graphs provide all users the ability to view critical information as soon as the enter their site. Gone are the endless clicks and exports of important data, Scoro gives you the ability to configure and display key metrics that are important to you.

Scoro provides a complete experience for its users. The customizability and functionality of Scoro, combined with the countless possible integrations, allows for businesses of all trades to manage their projects from start to end. Scoro provides the opportunity for businesses consolidate their operations into a single software, however the complexity of the solution can result in some confusion when first implementing Scoro.

Have questions?

We’d be happy to answer them or take you through features of Scoro in more detail. Or, if you’re wondering if another solution might be better for you, we’ve also done the hard yards for you and taken a look at other project management platforms, including: Xero Projects, Harvest & Forecast, Streamtime, ActiveCollab, Zoho Projects, WorkflowMax and Accelo.

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Accelo Project Management Software: Discover More

Accelo Project Management Software: Discover More

Accelo is built upon four key components: sales, projects, retainers and service. ServOps is Accelo’s premium system that combines all four modules into one system “to manage all of your client service operations – quote to cash”.  The solution aims to accommodate for all types of businesses and industries through the systems complexity and extensivity – a task it has achieved. For the purpose of this post, I will be focusing on the complete solution: ServOps.

Offer client access

In Accelo, two types of users exist – Collaborators and Professionals. Collaborators can use the system for free and add information to the platform. Professionals have the added crucial ability to record time, manage client accounts and opportunities and have their workloads scheduled and forecasted. This is an impressive feature that allows organisations to give all employees access to the platform for minimal cost.

Accelo excels in tracking the work and progress of a client throughout its lifecycle. ‘Progressions’ tracks client development through customisable stages. Accelo enhances this process by introducing a feature called ‘Triggers’. Triggers can automate the manual steps of updating information or adding tasks by setting rules and actions.

Comprehensive yet complex

The sales module within Accelo, although comprehensive, is quite difficult to navigate through. Users are met with a confusing layout because there are many different options and tabs for the user to click into to update and view information. The extensive capabilities that Accelo has on offer are only hindered by the complexity of the system.

Quoting in Accelo gets the job done. Estimates are created in an easy to read table format, and if with enough detail, can be converted into project tasks with a single click of your mouse. Quotes are split into service items and materials, allowing for clients to easily differentiate between T&M. Creating quote templates is straightforward and easy to follow with all available merge fields viewable on a sidebar. However, customisation of the design of published quotes is limited to a few basic options. Invoicing is very similar in its capabilities.

Impressive project management

One of the most impressive modules within Accelo is Projects. Although complex to set up, when used correctly, project managers are rewarded with colourful gantt charts, critical insights and a project view that provides all the information you need. Tasks can be created, with subtasks, budgets and dependencies to follow – all to allow for effective planning and scheduling. After the tasks have been created, managers can then go to the scheduling module where they can drag and drop tasks according to their team’s capacity.

The task board within Accelo is similar to Trello, except with additional capabilities. Users have the option to see tasks according to deadlines, status or unassigned and filter as required.  

Integrated service support systems

Using Accelo, businesses can integrate their servicing or support systems through the ticketing module. Tickets can be automatically sent to Accelo, allowing for managers to assign them as tasks to team members. Time and activities can then be added to this ticket. This is a feature that many project management systems in the market do not have on offer and should be strongly considered if your business requires this.

The retainer module in Accelo makes managing contracts easier for your business as it adds an extra layer to projects and tasks. Timesheets, tasks and notifications can all be automated to reduce time each period updating the same details.

Rudimentary reporting

Accelo’s dashboard and reports modules lack customisability. End users are provided with a set list of dashboards which they can then change the information they view through filtering. The reporting module also lacks depth; however, it is important to note that most information required can be easily viewed in the relevant sections of the site.

Overall, Accelo delivers on its promise to provide an end-to-end solution for businesses from many different industries. The level of detail and depth of information that can be stored, filtered, viewed and then analysed is nothing short of impressive. However, where Accelo excels in functionality, users are left with a platform that can often be confusing and hard to navigate through. Accelo requires significant configuration and time for training, and even then users may struggle to use the software to its full potential.

Have questions?

We’d be happy to answer them or take you through features of Accelo in more detail. Or, if you’re wondering if another solution might be better for you, we’ve also done the hard yards for you and taken a look at other project management platforms, including: Xero Projects, Harvest & Forecast, Streamtime, ActiveCollab, Zoho Projects, WorkflowMax and Scoro.

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Zoho Projects Project Management Software: Discover More

Zoho Projects: Discover More

Zoho Projects offers users a variety of modules to manage workflow and to-dos within a project. The module variety is their primary selling point as it tries to be an all-in-one solution. While some unique modules can be beneficial to the business they are designed for, a lack of focus can leave a new user feeling overwhelmed.

Client access portal

Zoho projects offers a client portal, in which clients can access a project to review its progress, and communicate with your team within the software. While not applicable for all businesses, the ability to customize the access clients have within a project (specific tasks and milestones can be hidden from invited clients) makes this prospect of client integration attractive to a wider range of businesses.

Customization such as this is an essential part of Zoho projects, due to the range of features they offer. You have the option to turn off modules for the entire software, as well as pick and choose which modules are available within a specific project. This is essential as some modules serve a specific purpose that is applicable to only a few business models.

Log project issues

One such module is the issues function. Issues are separate to tasks; however, a logged issue can be linked to a task. Issues allow you to keep track of what has gone wrong with a project and can be logged by an integrated client. While particularly useful for project success reporting, particularly if your work involves a user testing period, it is a module that many businesses won’t require at all. Zoho Projects offers forums, chats, custom pages & activity log modules. All these modules facilitate communication between team members. However, trying to utilize all of these for your business could be overwhelming.

Zoho projects most effective feature is its task management. You can build a task for a project from almost any screen, apply them to milestones and create sub-tasks and date ranges. Staff can create customized task views (however cannot save them for future use), and project dashboards can provide visibility on how tasks are progressing according to their time estimations.

Interdependency within tasks

A highly requested feature from our clients is the ability to create interdependencies within tasks. If you require the completion of tasks in an order, you can specify this with a task-based Gantt chart. As with many Zoho Projects features this can be highly beneficial, but only if it suits your business’s workflow.

It can cater a variety of working styles, there are notable limitations within modules. This is most prevalent within the calendar module. The calendar module shows tasks & calendar events. Tasks are present based on their start and end dates. There is poor flexibility if wanting to break up a task’s allotted time into specific days within the task date range. If a task is due in 7 days, it will appear as a calendar item for all seven days.

Calendar events can be created with invites sent to other staff and clients who have access to the portal. However, they cannot be linked to existing project tasks. Therefore, if you want to track time for a calendar event, it must be added as a timesheet to a separate task.

Reporting & invoicing

Finally, Zoho’s projects financial visibility is lacking in comparison to other project management solutions. The dashboard doesn’t show accrued WIP, expenses are manually inputted to a project, and you need access to Zoho CRM & Zoho Invoicing for budgeting and billing respectively. Invoicing is flexible, with bills being built based on rate or a fixed value, but it is not a seamless process as they can’t be created directly from the quote. You don’t get the visibility of forecasted income that is available in other solutions.

If flexibility and variety of workflow management options is important to you, then Zoho projects should be considered due to its range of modules, client integration functionality, and various methods of team communication. However, a successful implementation of Zoho projects requires careful consideration of what features are useful to you, and integration with additional financial functions such as Zoho CRM & invoicing.

Have questions?

We’d be happy to answer them or take you through features of Zoho Projects in more detail. Or, if you’re wondering if another solution might be better for you, we’ve also done the hard yards for you and taken a look at other project management platforms, including: Xero Projects, Harvest & Forecast, Streamtime, ActiveCollab, WorkflowMax, Scoro and Accelo.

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Discover More About ActiveCollab Project Management Software

Discover More About ActiveCollab Project Management Software

ActiveCollab, as the name suggests, is a tool that spotlights on active collaboration. Serving over 50,000 teams since its founding in 2007, ActiveCollab offers an easy-to-use and simple interface that facilitates team transparency and impressively, client collaboration.

Collaborate with clients

ActiveCollab has the ability to build on client involvement and visibility without sacrificing security or confidentiality. By simply setting up correct permissions and inviting a client into a project, the client will be able to view the project details and leave comments, create discussions and notes, and easily add files for team members to access. The Client+ add on, essentially an additional setting, further builds client collaboration by allowing the client to even create, assign and be assigned tasks within the project. This kind of interactive and transparent feature is uncommon amongst many of the project management tools in the market, and as such is a major selling point if this is something your business is striving for.

Basic CRM functionality

Whilst ActiveCollab promotes significant client interaction, its CRM capabilities lack depth and detail. The CRM is very limited as only basic information can be stored for each company. ActiveCollab highlights its ability to assign custom rates for each client, however this is a feature many other tools have on offer.

Similarly, estimating/quoting is easy and simple in ActiveCollab. The interface is logically laid out, and you can send out an estimate within a few clicks of your mouse. However, the absence of any significant flexibility or structure and formatting is a major shortfall. Templates with crucial information and aesthetics cannot be created and all line items are free form text – you are unable to choose from a consistent and specified list of products and services.

Streamlined workflow

Once an estimate has been accepted, it can be quickly converted into a project. Projects can only be assigned one category and a few labels, hence limiting project filtering and reporting. However, where ActiveCollab lacks in project categorization, it makes up for this with effective detailed task lists, tasks and subtasks. ActiveCollab excels in keeping everyone in the loop, hosting a dedicated Activity tab for each project where all members can see the happenings for the project – when tasks are created, completed and more. Comments and files can easily be added to provide feedback and ask questions.

Tasks can be assigned to people, and subscribers can even be added on to either supervise or be kept up to date with the task progress. The focus on collaboration is aided by task dependencies that help create a gant chart that illustrates the project schedule. Although providing a representation of upcoming tasks, ActiveCollab does not provide an avenue for project managers to use this information and easily and effectively resource plan.

For the end users, your team members, time sheeting is an easy task. Time can be logged via the user specific task page, the project or within the task itself. The process is easy to follow, with a simple click and select of the project, task, time and description. ActiveCollab offers a clean interface that is not confusing for your team members.

Basic invoicing & reporting

ActiveCollab’s invoicing module gets the job done, however if you are looking for well designed, formatted and customized templates, you should look somewhere else. The invoice functionality is limited with only basic grouping and detailing available within the invoice. Also, in-depth reporting and customizable dashboards are another aspect where ActiveCollab needs major improvement.

Overall, ActiveCollab is a great PM tool for businesses with non-complex projects that require little to no customisation in regards to estimating, invoicing and CRM. The interface is simple and intuitive and offers a great experience for the end users. Team members and clients are kept up to date with all the latest information reducing the number of ‘catch-up’ meetings required. Where customisation, increased functionality and powerful reporting is required, look to other tools to use for your business. At its very competitive price point of $8 a user per month, ActiveCollab maintains basic processes and functions, and this flows through to basic CRM capabilities, estimating and invoicing.

Have questions?

We’d be happy to answer them or take you through features of ActiveCollab in more detail. Or, if you’re wondering if another solution might be better for you, we’ve also done the hard yards for you and taken a look at other project management platforms, including: Xero Projects, Harvest & Forecast, Streamtime, Zoho Projects, WorkflowMax, Scoro and Accelo.

Contact us now

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