Flowlu vs. Planview AdaptiveWork

To manage the workflows of our business, we used a number of tools before we began using Flowlu. It combines CRM, project & task management, team communication, invoicing, and account management into a single tool. We are able to save a lot of time and effort by using this all-in-one solution.

I've been an AdaptiveWork (Clarizen) admin for the past 14 years, so I've seen much improvement since I started working with the product. I'm very happy we can utilize the hybrid mode by using the cards, I think this was long overdue but it works very well.

Incentivized

• The system of adding only the features you need by installing as separated modules makes it easy to learn without being overwhelmed by the lots of features.
• I really like its structure and clear interface. Not wasting much time by searching for the right buttons and settings. Looks like the developers use their own tool for everyday work
• Flowlu offers a custom domain option to fully integrate fully it into our company toolbox. This helps offering a seamless experience for our clients.
• The elaborated invoice module was the final argument for us to switch to Flowlu.

• Many ways to acclimate to the system; documentation, videos, community, and contacts.
• Planview provides scalable customization options tailored to the unique needs of each business unit or department. Easily add or remove fields in the system. As the admin, it was easy to learn how to configure.
• Offers flexibility to adapt to existing systems and align with organizational workflows and processes. There are multiple ways to customize each part of the system to meet our needs.

Incentivized

• Flowlu should allow user to import their own invoice into app
• Fellow should have their own email marketing system
• It should integrate woo-commerce, a big e-commerce platform on WordPress. This will support users will in managing and sending emails to their customers.

• When it comes to reports, it would be great if there was an easy way to roll-up the results instead of having to create configurations to summarize data.
• The consultant experience has not been great when it comes to more advanced needs for configurations. The consultants are in a different timezone which limits hours to work together and it seems hours are spent trying to determine what the requirement is and when the initial thought is that the configuration is possible, it may result in not being able to assist.
• Charts in the reports section are not able to be exported
• When pulling a report together, you need to make sure you pull from the right "item" or level. If you decide you need data that resides in another "item" or level, you need to re-do the report from the beginning.
• Because the system is so configurable and I imagine different clients use the system differently, when you need something automated in your account, where you need to pull a consultant or SME in, the person doesn't necessarily understand your configurations and how things work so they are unable to give recommendations on how to solve problems that don't impact other configurations you already have set up in the system.
• Templates cannot be updated unless they are pulled into a project and then re-saved. In the templates module, you are not able to open a template and edit to re-save. Therefore, making updates to a template can be very time consuming having to find a project to use to pull it in, make updates, re-save and then pull out. It would be great if the templates module allowed you to edit the templates and re-save.

Incentivized

I have found Flowlu while searching [for] a collaborative tool for a friend's non-profit organization. As I read the description and made a trial test, I fell in love with the tool. So we are definitely going to renew. Not only because the delivered solutions are great but also because Flowlu's roadmap seems very [promising].

I give my renewal of this product a 9. It's only because we never know what product may come out next and how other factors in our office political environment may cause impact upon this. If I always had my way, this is what we'd settle on as our de facto project management system.

They have a great onboarding checklist and if you follow it you will be able to use the software. That is easy to use in my book. Flowlu has also the ability to turn on and off apps that you use or not which makes it tailored to the business needs.

It is easy to configure, intuitive. The customization process is in some ways better than Salesforce.com. It has a great UI. It does however depend on how it's implemented.

The design of it is generally fine, however the ability to data upload people from a spreadsheet is an obvious miss.

Sometimes it is slow when everyone is entering their time on Fridays or Mondays but other than that we rarely see downtime and maintenance notifications are well in advance.

Reports: Quick to Reasonable

Most Ancillary Pages: Quick to Reasonable
(By "ancillary" I mean lesser used/master data maintenance pages - e.g. People, Customers, Individual Tasks, Milestones, etc.)

Work Plan (with 100 sub items): Reasonable to Slow

Great Support normally they respond in a few hours, which is very good, the knowledge base is good and the facebook groups are also very responsive. We are finding many videos online which are explaining Flowlu more and more daily.

Incentivized

It's a good experience overall. Clarizen was useful when needed. It's mostly needed for advice on how to do more sophisticated actions or how to change something that was set up administratively. It's seldom used otherwise. The product consistently works, the documentation is acceptable, and the generally intuitive product is easy enough for most staff to pick up without much issue.

Incentivized

• We worked with a Project Manager on their side. He was very good about developing a project plan to hit our goal. I think we had weekly or twice weekly calls – very steady cadence over 3 month period.
• Their PM skills were great – kept us on task. For the last week, they sent 2 people on site and they did training for power users. After that a couple of them revisited here

Our trainer, Alex, is exceptional and knows the product really well. I swear he must have wrote the product himself! His manner with training is very easy going, gives you homework that is applicable to what you need to learn and stages it correctly for you. It was a pleasure to be trained by him.

We have been able to implement AdaptiveWork pretty easily but it requires updating of resource availability and continuous training as roles change and new people join the company. Other documentation is used such as spreadsheets for longer range planning and project approval

Incentivized

Flowlu is easier to use and has more features, with more coming. ClickUp feels like it's more 'open' for any type of business with a lot of customization, whereas Flowlu feels like it was created for niches like my own, yet it can easily and quickly be customized for any type of business

Planview AdaptiveWork was the right size, at the right price point that fit our customization and integration flexibility. It is intuitive to use but allowed us to add complexity as our needs grew

Incentivized

• Time invested in learning the app was huge, there's no go-to resource center and currently their knowledge is scattered (YouTube videos, Knowledge Base, API docs etc)
• We are able to cancel subscriptions of some of the other CRM and project management apps as the needs are covered by Flowlu
• There's a significant productivity boost after learning the app but this is not quite measurable just yet

• By implementing Planview AdaptiveWork on a company-wide level, we have been able to remove the other project management tools we have been using and consolidate our costs for technology down to a single tool
• The ability to incorporate cross-departmental work and communication has streamlined our project management processes to a point where we can work seamlessly together without interruption trying to consider the gaps between tools
• Reporting capabilities from the unified tool has given our leadership insight and the ability to make strategic business decisions more effectively than ever

Incentivized