Likelihood to Recommend PSA is great at capturing all the data you would need to accurately track and report on consulting projects. It captures project financials, calculates projected GM%, and (among others) allows for hourly tracking of employees, which breaks it up between billable and non-billable for utilization tracking to accurately understand costs. However, the user interface is tough to learn, and the stability of the data reporting functions is questionable. This tool would be great for smaller consulting shops that fit the standard contracting mold. If your business is fairly straightforward without a lot of shades of gray, you shouldn't have much trouble with the tool. However, if your business practices have a lot of exceptions based on clients, then you'll have a tall administrative task on your hands.
Read full review If you are considering purchasing this (very expensive) software, there is a 100% chance you are doing so because you have been awarded a Government contract that dictates you use 4Clicks Project Estimator. There are plenty of easier to use estimating packages out in the world, but you can't use any of them if you have a contract that requires 4Clicks.
Read full review Pros The biggest strength of FinancialForce PSA is that it's built upon the force.com platform, which means it is very easily customizable to our business needs. Projects are easily created, as well as milestones and assignments. "Actuals" (dollars and hours) are calculated automatically, and are easily reported on. Resources are easily managed by using the Resource Planner FinancialForce PSA support is outstanding! Read full review The estimates it produces are simple and easy to follow. The formatting is good. The tech support provided is very attentive. Read full review Cons The product is still maturing as a full featured PSA tool. The feature roadmap is compelling but is still being built out. Tool is ideal for managing a services business. It is not yet a project manager tool. Limited reporting Maturing change order process Limited integration to back-end financial systems beyond Financial Force Financials. We use Netsuite. The underlying SalesForce UI is constrained and can be keystroke intensive at times Limited archiving of historical data Read full review The software feels 20 years old. It has not kept up with modern times, and practically functions like an old DOS program. Clunky interface, arcane commands. Even their training info focuses on hotkeys like this is 1995. Even though I am of an age to remember computers in 1995, the younger generations of managers/estimators are not. It is time to bring the software into the new century! Read full review Likelihood to Renew There is another PSA software program that we have been looking into (DreamFactory) that could potentially replace FinancialForce PSA in our organization. Like FinancialForce PSA, it is cloud based on the force.com platform. Licensing is slightly less than FinancialForce PSA, and the Resource Management tool is far superior to FinancialForce PSA. With that said, our renewal falls in Q4 2014 and I don't foresee us implementing a new system this fiscal year.
Read full review Usability It is maturing and does what it does well although it is not fully complete. Integration to SF is great. Gives great visibility to incoming services projects and allows the staffing process to start on pipeline deals. There are certain processes that take more click-throughs then needed so there are refinement opportunities around the UI. The resource management screen and project status views have really matured since our original purchase, and while not perfect, allow business leaders to do their jobs. Configurations vs. customizations. We seem to have to bring in an Apex developer to do a customization for changes I would think could be configuration settings
Read full review Reliability and Availability We have maybe had 1-2 outages over 3 years.
Read full review Performance Most of the time it is fine. There are peak periods of usage where performance noticably slows down (i.e., Monday mornings when time is due and many reports are being run)
Read full review Support Rating Every time I submit a new help request, whether it's an actual help request or just a question about FinancialForce PSA, I always feel that I'm receiving world class support. The support we receive from FinancialForce PSA is always very detailed and professional. There are some requests that take longer than other for the initial response, which is why I did not give a full 10.
Read full review In-Person Training It was fine.
Read full review Implementation Rating Appirio did a good job, however, the user team didn’t know enough to make all the right configuration/customization choices. The team focused too much on replicating existing processes vs. reengineering them. In hindsight we should have had deep dive reviews at key milestones and enforced more focus on how the software would operate. We didn’t have access to true best practices expertise. In hindsight, a consultant from the outside would have been helpful to drive this.
Read full review Alternatives Considered FF PSA is a robust Project Management solution that can be configured to fits any size business. We have tried several other applications and PSA so far has met and exceeded our needs. We run our day to day operations on Salesforce so having a solution that is native was a must have. PSA met that requirement and much more.
Read full review WinEst uses much the same database (RS Means/Gordion type) and has a similar interface. It is a bit cheaper.
Read full review Return on Investment FinancialForce PSA has helped us improve our data tracking and allows us to get more granular about our financial information and performance. PSA has given more tools and reports to individual contributors to take greater ownership over their own data, and has increased accountability across the organization. PSA has added a fairly hefty administrative burden to individuals, project managers, and our financial team. Read full review As stated before, if you are buying this software, it is because you have a contract forcing you to. While it does work, it is clunky, awkward, and very expensive. The price of the software and databases has always been high, but with the fairly recent acquisition of 4Clicks by Gordion (who also bought RS Means for their databases), there is literally no competition. Prices will continue to be very high, with no check on how high they can go. Again, can't fault 4Clicks tech support, as I think it is the best in the industry. They know their product and they respond to issues immediately. Considering what we spend a year for this product, however, you would expect nothing less. Read full review ScreenShots