Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate vs. Viewpoint Vista

Sage is not at all well suited for small companies who want an agile, nimble setup for quick moving situations and mobile use. These type of companies should look elsewhere such as a SaaS offering from another vendor. In addition Sage is very expensive both in its initial outlay and ongoing support. Medium and larger sized companies benefit from a Sage install much more than the smaller constructor. Having the modules all work in unison is important when a company is of a certain size as is having the long tenured support structure. In addition Sage requires the terminals services setup to use it remotely and the larger companies are more likely to have the infrastructure and support for that type of setup

Incentivized

The company has made a commitment to the use of the Vista products and continue to move forward trying to implement more with the Vista HR Management. From timekeeping to onboarding in the near future we strive to look for better ways to utilize the products for our accounting and payroll purposes.

Incentivized

• There are a lot of ways to drill down into information. The ability to run inquiries that can be easily exported into Excel is incredibly useful.
• The help desk is very helpful. There are multiple ways to get a hold of someone and it is extremely useful.
• The knowledgebase articles are very helpful and provide a lot of great detail.

Incentivized

• New employee on-boarding and personnel management
• Full spectrum accounting management (AP/AR/Payroll)
• Project management from contract award through project close-out
• Data security management, reporting and anlysis
• Equipment full lifespan management for costs, revenue and location tracking
• User Database allows for built-in customization capabilities to fit the most unique business requirements

• Lack of data validation and controls
• Extremely limited report configuration without significant customization
• Too many arbitrary limits like vendor name that forced partial names into the address
• Very outdated UI
• Very siloed forcing users to open different applications for different functions

Incentivized

• Their payroll module is terribly slow and very clunky.
• Job costing parameters are very strict and limited.
• Each module interface has too many forms and screens.
• There is too much flexibility regarding where to put information into the system. There isn't one place to do anything, which creates confusion for staff.

Incentivized

It is extremely customizable and tracks so many complicated costs very well, more-so than other construction software programs out there that we've used in the past. It is also not an easy program to use for those even slightly not comfortable with a computer. The help sections/knowledge base could be better organized and updated more. It is a very powerful software program for our business and we rely on it hugely to see how our projects are running in real-time.

Incentivized

Sage is somewhat easy to use as far as its simplicity, however, when I first started using it I really wished there were more training materials available. As I did research to figure out what resources were there to learn how to use the paid software, all I found were courses you have to pay for. In my personal opinion, I don't think you should have to pay to learn how to use a software you bought.

Incentivized

I think that Vista's is an easy program to use very user friendly with lots of help features to allow the user to fix an issue without having to put a support call into Vista. The reporting and exporting capability's are strong.

Incentivized

Only issue is when there is an upgrade - it takes several times to get back logged in. Otherwise no issues with getting on to the program. We are set up on lap top or on the remote desk top. Works 90% of the time

No issue downloading the reports - I do find sometimes it is easier to export and save than it is to print to a pdf. Options on the different reports not consistent. You can print a couple projects on the JC Contract Status Report - but you have to do each project for the JC Cost by contract item - when neither one is a drill down - not a big deal

They have a very quick, responsive team that assists. They also have great higher-level engineers who assist in more complicated matters and all in all, you need a support team that is quick to respond when you are in the middle of business crises.

Incentivized

When privately owned, it was very good, then dropped when owned by Bane Capital Investments. Now that it has been bought by Trimble and has a home, support is back up again. Response time is better than most software companies, and the information provided is good. They have Chat support for quick answers, and a good Knowledge Base and video libraries.

I was not part of the in person training. I am assuming the training went well - but I did all my training through viewpoint academy.

Excellent training! They keep you on track to insure your implementation is going as planned. There are ample ways to receive additional training and training can be provided by position type. If you put on the effort, the training is there.

The trainer Viewpoint sent did not understand the processes, he only knew where the modules were located. He had no understanding of the actual process itself.

Incentivized

We currently have Sage in place which handles the majority of our business needs on the back end, but compared to some others that are on the market like Builder Trend, it does lack the client facing side of the house. To make it a better product, a client facing portal would be best so they can be up to date.

Incentivized

I personally have not used another ERP system other than Viewpoint Vista. I am sure there are others out there, but from listening to my managers experiences before Great Basin Industrial implemented Viewpoint, the other options were less superior to what Viewpoint offers. I think if you are looking for an ERP system in the construction industry, then Viewpoint is the way to go

Incentivized

I wasn't part of the integration.

Incentivized

For a small business - this program is well used in the accounting and operations. The two different work plans are set up for success. Alot of the programs we do not use - but like the reports that are generated - one disadvantage if you do not know crystal reports you cannot edit your form to meet your needs so there is a lot of printing different several forms to get all the information you need.

I wasn't part of the integration.

Incentivized

• The accounting functions (AP, AR, GL) are mature so it does a great job with core financials. The reports are flexible so it does a good job of providing flexibility in report writing. The application is written for a workgroup so multiple people can use it at the same time. The transaction detail is strong so that a transaction can be rolled back if necessary.

Incentivized

• Not sure I can speak to this as the company moved to Viewpoint before I began here. I think it is helpful for the Project Management and Superintendent staff to easily review how specific job items went, which we do in the PM contract drilldown analysis

Incentivized