Deltek's Ajera is an integrated project management and accounting suite for architectural and engineering (A & E) companies that includes light payroll functionality and also can integrate with third-party payroll providers (ADP, Paychex, Quickbooks, etc.). The product was acquired with original developer Axium in June 2014. CRM functionality can also be added via integration with the Deltek Ajera CRM.
N/A
GanttPRO
Score 6.2 out of 10
N/A
GanttPRO is a project planning tool based on a Gantt chart approach. It visualizes all tasks along a timeline, and it supports resource management, collaboration within teams, and importing and exporting projects onto 3rd party programs.
For small to medium engineering and architecture firms, Ajera appears to be the right size. Beyond the engineering software, Deltek Ajera has all the features a small to medium firm will need for smooth operation. AR, AP, Payroll, reporting, project management are all in one package. We chose to self-host because the licensing was more cost effective for us, but cloud hosting is also available.
Projects are a lot easier to set up with GanttPRO than most tools that support a WBS, so although I've used GanttPRO for very simple projects, it's great for projects with complex WBS' and/or dynamic backlogs (using Agile methodologies). I've used it for long-running projects with multiple phases, where I needed to set up high-level plans for downstream phases (for budgeting) that got updated and modified based on outcomes from upstream phases.
Widgets are the best feature of Ajera. Designers can make tiny reports for the entire company, or for one or two individuals. These little reports are the first things that the employee sees when they log in. Viewers of the reports are able to filter, sort, group, print or export the widget without impacting the other users. Deltek has been releasing new features that allow the editing of data in widgets. You can now create new projects or edit timesheets from the widgets.
Credit card importing and credit card reconciliation in Ajera has greatly decreased time spent by administration. You can import credit card transactions from your credit cards. It saves on data entry, and it is easy to see what receipts you are missing when you get the statement.
Mobile timesheets and expense reports help engineers or other users enter their time and expenses as they are on the go. They can take pictures or receipts or submit their timesheet from home.
The Project Command Center is a one stop fountain of information. Everything the project manager wants to know about a project can be found here. You can also add custom fields that allow you to tract addition information.
Intuitive interface, clean, and nice design. As an online app, the data can be viewed on Windows PCs, Macs, and tablets. It saves the data very quickly (depending on the Internet speed) as if it is a locally installed application. Training is minimal, plus there is an extensive range of learning videos and topics in the GanttPRO learning center.
The support for GanttPro is very good. I have no troubles reaching out for their customer support whenever I have questions, they respond almost instantly. I just hope that they will have live chat support for a real-time support experience on the user-end and can answer the questions in real-time.
The previous systems were essentially timesheet systems only with very basic accounting. It's mostly the accounting subsystem that made us select Ajera.
GanttPRO is easy to use and just works. If you need to do something quickly or do a small project then GanttPro is a great tool to use. If you are managing a large project then I would consider using Microsoft Project even though it is a more substantial investment overtime.
