BQE CORE vs. Calamari

CORE is well suited for time entry and reporting across employee groups and projects. CORE can generate many useful reports, however the customization and filtering of these reports isn't exactly intuitive. It can be difficult to get the reports to show the data you want, and there is no way to remove data fields from a report or create a custom report.

Incentivized

Calamari is constantly striving to account for and provide useful, practical, and simple solutions to its employees that everyone can use without significant inconvenience. Always seeking to be in an active business environment that allows them to manage the various labor policies that exist in each region and company where they work.

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized

• Complex rules to define each team member's PTO allowance.
• Overview of remaining allowance and when it is has been requested for.
• Easy login options.

Incentivized

• Startup training is available (& you need it so that you get off to a great start)
• A report that shows the key setups for a project that can be glanced over quickly to assure it is correct
• A way to set a new start date for the dashboards and data set, or a way to default old bad data to a default so reports run without bad data showing up.

• Lack of a mobile app.
• A little tricky at first to use.
• Need HR-friendly features to add.

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.

Incentivized

It's very easy to use and straightforward. Everything is laid out in an easy to use pattern and can be changed, somewhat, based on user preference. The options are limited but it's a pleasant experience using the product and I can perform the tasks I need to perform quickly and without any issues.

Incentivized

I can only remember a couple of times in 4 years that Core has been unavailable.

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.

Our team has had to contact support on a number of occasions, mostly to address a slow system and/or not being able to log in. The support is very responsive and fixes the issue within the same day. Additionally, any time we need to modify codes, BQE helps with that support and gets it turned around quickly.

Incentivized

Working with my rep is so easy and has been the selling point on this platform. I like that I don't have to think about it much, love the Slack integrations for my team and how easy it was to transition from our old process into Calamari. It's simple, clear, and for a small team, it has everything I need. The customer support team has always responded promptly when I need anything, and we were even able to extend our trial period in the beginning and converted to a paying customer shortly after.

Make sure you have someone training you that fits your style of learning.

It does take some time to understand the options and to find the best invoice template.

Incentivized

I am a user and was not involved in the decision making. Tool was already in place when I joined. But comparing to other tools I have used in the past, BQE is by far the easiest to use. You do not need any training to start using this tool immediately

Incentivized

Our HR department used Excel and paper request forms for our vacation management, and tracking working hours didn't exist. We were only obliged to sign a list when we were entering the office. Calamari is a huge improvement in every aspect of time tracking and vacation management for your company. We're loving it!

Incentivized

This software works on a small and large scale.

• BQE Core has allowed our growing business to manage time tracking in an effective and efficient manner. We could not have effectively kept running our operation without it.
• BQE Core provides all of the reports we need to do our monthly management reporting. This allows us to quickly spot problems such as capacity overloads, receivables problems, budget overruns, or timekeeping issues.
• BQE Core has supported our business objective of generating more profit from projects that we undertake by allowing us to quickly and effectively monitor budget burn rates before it becomes an issue.

Incentivized

• It is quick and simple to provide application training to employees.
• When there are problems with the connection, it is possible to record that the user does not mark their exit or accounts for extra time.

Incentivized