BQE CORE vs. Microsoft Project

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
BQE CORE
Score 8.7 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
Microsoft Project
Score 7.8 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Project is a project management software. It provides core PM functionality, including agile workflow support and resource management. Project can be deployed in the cloud or on-premise.
$120
per year per user
Pricing
BQE COREMicrosoft Project
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Project Server
$0
Planner Plan 1
$10
per month per user
Planner and Project Plan 3
$30
per month per user
Planner and Project Plan 5
$55
per month per user
Project Standard 2024
$679.99
one-time fee per installation
Project Professional 2024
$1,129.99
one-time fee per installation
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BQE COREMicrosoft Project
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsPlans are billed annually.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BQE COREMicrosoft Project
Features
BQE COREMicrosoft Project
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
BQE CORE
7.8
74 Ratings
1% above category average
Microsoft Project
8.1
111 Ratings
5% above category average
Task Management8.756 Ratings8.2110 Ratings
Resource Management8.755 Ratings7.7107 Ratings
Gantt Charts8.528 Ratings9.0107 Ratings
Scheduling8.636 Ratings8.5109 Ratings
Workflow Automation7.539 Ratings10.083 Ratings
Team Collaboration6.546 Ratings7.398 Ratings
Support for Agile Methodology7.921 Ratings5.083 Ratings
Support for Waterfall Methodology6.018 Ratings7.783 Ratings
Document Management8.339 Ratings9.077 Ratings
Email integration6.133 Ratings5.082 Ratings
Mobile Access7.445 Ratings10.067 Ratings
Timesheet Tracking9.474 Ratings10.073 Ratings
Change request and Case Management7.932 Ratings7.964 Ratings
Budget and Expense Management8.058 Ratings7.786 Ratings
Professional Services Automation
Comparison of Professional Services Automation features of Product A and Product B
BQE CORE
8.3
56 Ratings
7% above category average
Microsoft Project
8.9
79 Ratings
14% above category average
Quotes/estimates8.029 Ratings7.955 Ratings
Invoicing8.949 Ratings10.045 Ratings
Project & financial reporting8.554 Ratings7.676 Ratings
Integration with accounting software8.035 Ratings10.050 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BQE COREMicrosoft Project
Small Businesses
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Score 9.0 out of 10
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Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
InEight
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Score 9.5 out of 10
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Score 9.5 out of 10
Enterprises
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Score 9.5 out of 10
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User Ratings
BQE COREMicrosoft Project
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(167 ratings)
8.0
(111 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.0
(8 ratings)
10.0
(3 ratings)
Usability
8.8
(117 ratings)
8.7
(9 ratings)
Availability
8.2
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
7.3
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.3
(90 ratings)
8.2
(34 ratings)
Online Training
6.4
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
2.3
(6 ratings)
5.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
4.5
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.2
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.2
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.2
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
BQE COREMicrosoft Project
Likelihood to Recommend
BQE Software Inc.
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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Microsoft
Microsoft Project Online is suited to Turnkey Projects where more Collaboration is required in Project Progress monitoring, risk assessment and conveying, issue recording and tracking. It is less appropriate when ERP Suites other than MS Dynamics are used, i.e when Enterprises need to integrate Finance / Accounting with It and having straight project management workflow
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Pros
BQE Software Inc.
  • 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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Microsoft
  • I love the Gantt Chart that Microsoft Project offers me, because it provides me with a view from various aspects, it provides me with exact details about the fulfillment of tasks over a period of time, it also allows me to make comparisons with the necessary data and the fulfilled data. by the employees, in order to know exactly if the project's expectations have been met.
  • I love the Gantt Chart that Microsoft Project offers me, because it provides me with a view from various aspects, it provides me with exact details about the fulfillment of tasks over a period of time, it also allows me to make comparisons with the necessary data and the fulfilled data by the employees, in order to know exactly if the project's expectations have been met.
  • The alert system for the fulfillment and delay of assignments is perfect. Microsoft Project allows me to configure the task system, I can assign the necessary tasks to fulfill the project, and the software alerts me immediately if the managers are fulfilling the assignments.
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Cons
BQE Software Inc.
  • 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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Microsoft
  • Seems overly complicated for users sometimes in using Project and its functionalities
  • Hard to share files for those folks who do not have MS Project, and then have to print out for them
  • Can be confusing since it looks and feels like MS Excel
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Likelihood to Renew
BQE Software Inc.
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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Microsoft
I like using Microsoft Project. It simplifies building a schedule
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Usability
BQE Software Inc.
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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Microsoft
Microsoft
Project is easy to operate because data could be inserted, changed and
deleted like you are in an Excel timesheet. Besides, it provides a great
level of automation beween his fields allowing few data changes. Also, its
funcionalities are well defined and grouped in upper menus, so you can find a
funcionality quickly
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Reliability and Availability
BQE Software Inc.
I can only remember a couple of times in 4 years that Core has been unavailable.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Performance
BQE Software Inc.
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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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
BQE Software Inc.
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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Microsoft
Microsoft in recent years has transformed itself and gives a positive feeling when one interacts with the company. The company is focusing on its customers and willing to go extra mile to make customers happy.The company continues to invest in its products and bringing new features from time to time. Overall it is a positive feeling to be associated with such an iconic company.
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Online Training
BQE Software Inc.
Make sure you have someone training you that fits your style of learning.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
BQE Software Inc.
It does take some time to understand the options and to find the best invoice template.
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Microsoft
I wasn't part of it so I don't know
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Alternatives Considered
BQE Software Inc.
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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Microsoft
While many of the above tools are extremely well-versed, Microsoft Project's largest advantage comes from it being related to the largest business productivity company in the world. Project does have its sharing limitations - but regardless, offers one of the most robust tools in the market today. Microsoft Project is built with large-scale projects in mind but is more than up to the task for smaller projects as well. However, there are options available (especially cloud-based options) that may be more fitting for higher-level projects that do not require going into the weeds.
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Scalability
BQE Software Inc.
This software works on a small and large scale.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
BQE Software Inc.
  • 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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Microsoft
  • Project saved me, as the project manager, countless hours of digging through tickets and schedules to plan everything out. It also saved me time in adjusting the project triangle as needed, since it does so much automatically.
  • It is costly, and since it requires extensive training to master, it's not just the high licensing cost that you need to take into account.
  • The reporting features - even just printing out Gantt charts - makes it far easier to communicate with stakeholders. That means less time for PMs doing all of this manually, and it means less follow-up questions and delays moving forward.
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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