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.
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PeopleSoft
Score 8.2 out of 10
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PeopleSoft Financials is a client/server financial management designed for larger organizations. Features enable organisations to control, monitor, administer, and report on financial information, accounting, and project tracking.
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.
You really need a big enterprise to take advantage of PeopleSoft. It is not entirely user-friendly, and it often requires massive amounts of customization to make it work for layers if you will. Business experts can figure it out, but if you are expecting someone to easily learn how to use the timekeeping modules without heavy customization, it's really not for you. You need to know going in, that this is not for a small business at all, and not even a medium-sized enterprise. It's geared to massive organizations that need to integrate business processes over geographic areas and multiple departments.
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.
One of the best thing it does is it is customizable. You can implement any business logic you need. This is one of the very key assets of PeopleSoft Financials.
PeopleSoft Financials's accounting methods are in line with industry standards. You can use the process as is and ledger will be taken care of.
It supports multiple ways to integrate with other systems.
PeopleSoft Financials does not address the needs of small organizations that do not have a large enough staff to maintain the software or utilize the features it provides as it requires a moderate staff to keep track of all of the transactions and processing
PeopleSoft licensing costs are significant, which are relative to the features provided but in many cases those features may not be necessary
PeopleSoft licensing structures can be frustrating at times when certain modules would allow you to perform the complex task needed but it would require the entire module to be licensed for just that one feature (e.g. Cash Management for loading bank statements in certain formats)
PRISM is a great tool to track and watch numerous financial documents. I would like to see more of an integration platform that would control tracking for specific project details. There is currently only a little section for job notes which I would like to see improve. I think navigation could be improved, but isn't the worst compared to some platforms I have worked with as it provides a tree like structure on the backend which helps synchronize information together for fiscal financials.
PeopleSoft is HARD to use, period. Everything except for the most rudimentary functionality requires a massive amount of training and ongoing support. There is nothing intuitive about it, and that is where it leaves a lot to be desired. However, due to the way it integrates so many things, there is little in the marketplace to challenge it when it comes to large enterprises.
I can't give them a perfect rating because it does often take a long time and usually more [expensive] to resolve trying issues that cannot be solved by our in-house team. PeopleSoft is complicated, and the mix and match of user-created and stock modules cause problems very often. These usually require more customization to completely fix, requiring more money spent with
I recommend that everyone pay special attention to developing a solid testing and training plan if you are even thinking of implementing PeopleSoft. Be ready to obtain good trainers and developers, otherwise, your journey can be unnecessarily painful and much more expensive. Try to stay with an implementation partner who really has your needs at heart, and actually takes the time to understand your organization!
The previous systems were essentially timesheet systems only with very basic accounting. It's mostly the accounting subsystem that made us select Ajera.
PeopleSoft is much more appropriate for large organizations than the software programs listed here. I'm involved in a project to bring billing and accounts receivable functions out of "shadow systems" like those listed here and into PeopleSoft, and PeopleSoft is more robust, flexible, and standardizable. We've found it to be an excellent solution.
Provides better controls to ensure that spend does not increase beyond the PO amount.
sPro reverse invoicing provides a mechanism to only pay our staff aug firms for only the hours that entered into PeopleSoft. There is no more reconciliation between the vendor invoices and the hours that were charged within the internal time tracking system.
PeopleSoft Financials increases employee efficiency through the use of dashboards and work centers.
