Deltek Ajera vs. Sage X3

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.

Incentivized

I wouldn't suggest this ERP for small organizations, especially if there is no IT staff. While they do offer support packages, they can be costly as certain packages limit the number of times you can call in. Hiring an outside consulting firm to support is another route, however that could become costly as well. Medium to large businesses with savvy tech staff would be a good fit for this ERP.

Incentivized

• 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.

• Easy to understand software for new users.
• Journal entry and review process is easy.
• Sage is efficient in tracking multi subsidiary transactions.

Incentivized

• Would be nice if the reports would have more creativity with the ability to add more charts and graphics.
• The user interface for time sheets could be more user-friendly.
• The user interface for expense sheets could be more user-friendly.

Incentivized

• The reports
• Imports

The interface could be a little bit more friendlier and intuitive. Normally end users complain about the ergonomics of the system, even though my experience tells me that is a situation that dilutes itself pretty fast. Another aspect that I think Sage could improve, is the way reports and queries are managed, it seems that at least at some level, there could be a easy drag and drop way (or just by picking fields) to create simple queries/reports. Having to rely on some data base knowledge is not very user friendly. But overall the system is very powerful and a good tool for companies that want to have control over their operations.

The previous systems were essentially timesheet systems only with very basic accounting. It's mostly the accounting subsystem that made us select Ajera.

Incentivized

Unfortunately, the product was purchased before I began working at the organization. I am unsure what other products they may have reviewed before purchasing Sage ERP X3.

Incentivized

• Made accounting and payroll's jobs harder.
• Improved visibility on project cost management and profit.

Incentivized

• Sage was easy to setup when we got started.
• Exporting data out of sage has been extremely hard.
• Sage is quite fairly priced compared to other alternatives.

Incentivized