CMiC Project Management is a construction project collaboration and management solution. It centralizes project-related communications and documents onto one platform, and connects the job site with the back-end office.
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Vista
Score 7.8 out of 10
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Viewpoint’s Vista is a construction accounting software. Vista’s core accounting features include accounts receivable and payable, general ledger, payroll and time management, and cash management. It also provides tools for document management, including document templates and reporting.
It has been many years since we evaluated something else. Feature wise, CMiC [Construction Platform] is robust. Smaller user base, but is a solid platform. As mentioned, their testing on new releases could be greatly improved upon. It doesn't feel as polished as some more …
When we were looking it came down to Viewpoint and CMiC. Viewpoint won because of their ability to customize was more robust. Also 12 years ago we were not eager to go to the cloud and CMiC was cloud-based only.
Penta runs on Oracle, which makes development slower and more costly. New features cannot be incorporated into the software as quickly. CMiC is very good as a primarily web based software. It seems to go too far that way, where Vista has thick client for core office programs …
The system that was used before was antiquated and unforgiving to use. I do not need to learn the quirks of the system to make it work, Vista just works. I was not a part of the selection team but I can tell you that Vista is a huge improvement compared to the old software …
It is was a bargain and is feature-rich. When I compared apples to apples it was no contest which one was the best value - Vista. It has more features than most of its competition
Customizable - easy and multiple ways to customize, to get provide solutions the way we did …
The platform is well suited for tracking project financials. The direct tie between the project budgets and costs on the accounting side makes this platform extremely valuable as we have real time cost data to make decisions from.
The platform is great in that it integrates the majority of our major processes. We can track a pursuit in Opportunity Management and push that information directly to a project. We hire people through the system and they are available to input on a project. We track time and pay people through CMiC and even manage our equipment fleet. This one platform satisfies a lot of our business needs, which makes our technology stack a bit easier to manage.
The platform as it stands today is not well suited for mobile consumption. We have users not use the mobile platform due to issues with losing data when not in wifi and issues with not understanding how to use the system.
The company has made a commitment to the use of the Vista products and continue to move forward trying to implement more with the Vista HR Management. From timekeeping to onboarding in the near future we strive to look for better ways to utilize the products for our accounting and payroll purposes.
The user interface is similar to that of other project management software applications so folks in our company that had previously used other applications have been able to switch over fairly easily.
I really like the software and it was much less expensive than other applications.
I like the mobile application so that our superintendents can view the documentation on their phones.
I really like the punch list capability mobile field, however, we have a hard time getting our superintendents to use it for some reason.
Entering a code of the vendor instead of the company name while recording an invoice takes time and seems counter intuitive
Editing an invoice created through Image Management on the AP side is limited to description and address field. When changing the rest (invoice# or a date or an amount) - the whole trace of who entered/submitted/approved disappears. The way it works now is: deleting an invoice from the batch, locating it through Registry/invoice search, unsubmitting it, making changes, submitting, adding back to batch - time consuming
In Multiple distribution pop up window, when entering a new invoice, I'd make the field "Company" to be autofilled once "Job" is entered. It takes time to memorize what job number belongs to what company.
There is only web version available and it is limited compare to a desktop client. For instance I can only make one change at a time and save it. Multiple changes don't get saved in one click
Its history is that most entries are transaction-based, requiring batch processing. Some of these could be moved to background batch processing so the batching would be more transparent to the user.
More data needs to be available on mobile devices. They are making a move in this direction, which is good.
Some screens allow flexibility of viewing data in grid views, but the export of this data to Excel could be improved. This is mostly seen in Workcenters.
This is a platform that would continue to be in the best interest for our company. I just hope that CMiC support removes the gaps between the enhancements that they create to better the system to what they currently have
It's very customizable and accessible outside of Vista itself (SQL, Excel, home grown programs, etc.), but Viewpoint is very slow at fixing bugs and adding suggestions from their suggestion box. If this last area was better, I would have given this a 9 or 10.
I believe it isn't easy to use and is unintuitive. Undecipherable error messages appear throughout the application without indicating what is wrong or how to correct it, in my experience. The terminology on the screens is specific to Canada, which adds to the confusion.
I think that Vista's is an easy program to use very user friendly with lots of help features to allow the user to fix an issue without having to put a support call into Vista. The reporting and exporting capability's are strong.
Sometimes since this is a cloud based product the system can become slow but we haven’t had any issues of availability without CMiC first letting us know it would be down
Only issue is when there is an upgrade - it takes several times to get back logged in. Otherwise no issues with getting on to the program. We are set up on lap top or on the remote desk top. Works 90% of the time
No issue downloading the reports - I do find sometimes it is easier to export and save than it is to print to a pdf. Options on the different reports not consistent. You can print a couple projects on the JC Contract Status Report - but you have to do each project for the JC Cost by contract item - when neither one is a drill down - not a big deal
The support team [has] been in touch with our deployment team and has given them effective guidance up to completion. It has helped us in [the] best methods of resource allocation and secure record-keeping process. We have tracked all our billing information and made the right payments with documentation and avoided [unnecessary losses]. [The] support team has [to] lead our teams to the right channels and empowering our team with the right skills for maximum production.
Support has deteriorated greatly than what it was years ago when we joined. We always used to get a call back same day and within an hour or so for critical issues. Sometimes now it's no response or very delayed. Knowledge of the support team is also lacking. Many issues we figure out workarounds ourselves instead of calling
The training was on system functions and not really how best to use it for our business. It would have been nice to be provided recommendations for use rather than just a blank slate of functionality.
Excellent training! They keep you on track to insure your implementation is going as planned. There are ample ways to receive additional training and training can be provided by position type. If you put on the effort, the training is there.
Lots of confusion between sales and implementation regarding what was included and not included...the security encountered a "bug" and made it extremely difficult to set up roles and individual responsibilities
The trainer Viewpoint sent did not understand the processes, he only knew where the modules were located. He had no understanding of the actual process itself.
CMiC Construction Platform is the best price point in the market. Others are revenue-based billings, and the annual fees reflect as such. CMiC Construction Platform support staff is generally amazing and offers real-time support on critical issues. The imaging and workflow functions are real-time savers. CMiC Construction Platform is generally a smaller and in touch organization that treats your team like their own and stays with you after the purchase.
I personally have not used another ERP system other than Viewpoint Vista. I am sure there are others out there, but from listening to my managers experiences before Great Basin Industrial implemented Viewpoint, the other options were less superior to what Viewpoint offers. I think if you are looking for an ERP system in the construction industry, then Viewpoint is the way to go
For a small business - this program is well used in the accounting and operations. The two different work plans are set up for success. Alot of the programs we do not use - but like the reports that are generated - one disadvantage if you do not know crystal reports you cannot edit your form to meet your needs so there is a lot of printing different several forms to get all the information you need.
we are still working through connectivity issues which pretty much puts us dead in the water when we lose internet
The standard reports that are a part of Vista need to be finagled for us to us them. They don't have all of the parameters and/or prompts that we need to report on
