BQE CORE serves as a comprehensive administrative and financial management platform primarily adopted by architectural and engineering firms. Reviewers consistently leverage the product to streamline critical operations, with 75% citing its effectiveness in time and expense management and 63% highlighting its capabilities in billing and invoicing processes. The platform also supports project management, centralizing client information and project hours for 50% of users, and offers robust reporting features for financial oversight and planning, as noted by half of the reviewers. The system excels in its core operational functionalities, particularly invoicing, time tracking, and reporting, each mentioned by 50% of reviewers for their contribution to efficient financial oversight. Its expense tracking features, including cloud receipt saving, are also valued by 38% of users, alongside its general ease of use, which 38% of reviewers appreciate. This strong performance in core areas contributes to significant business benefits. Despite these strengths, BQE CORE presents notable areas for improvement. Performance and speed issues, such as slow loading times and extended task durations, are a concern for 50% of reviewers. Concurrently, 50% of users describe challenges with the user interface and experience, citing inconsistencies and non-intuitive filtering. Data management, including error correction and duplicate entry handling, also surfaces as an area for enhancement for 38% of reviewers, with 25% desiring greater customization. Ultimately, BQE CORE delivers a positive return on investment by enhancing operational efficiency and financial management. Half of the reviewers specifically credit the system with boosting time tracking accuracy, leading to more efficient resource utilization. Furthermore, 25% report tangible cost savings from internalizing processes, and an equal percentage benefit from more reliable financial reporting for strategic decision-making.

Pros

Efficient Invoicing and Billing
Accurate Time Tracking
Robust Reporting Capabilities
Convenient Expense Tracking with Cloud Receipts
User-Friendly Interface for Data Entry

Cons

Performance and Speed Issues
Inconsistent User Interface and Experience
Challenges with Data Management
Limited Customization and Flexibility
Non-Intuitive Filtering Functions

What positive or negative impact (i.e. Return on Investment or ROI) has BQE CORE had on your overall business objectives?

From 8 reviews

Summary

Reviewers indicate that BQE CORE positively impacts overall business objectives primarily through enhanced operational efficiency and improved financial management capabilities. A significant portion of the feedback, from half of the reviewers, highlights the system's ability to boost time tracking accuracy, leading to more efficient resource utilization and reduced administrative overhead. This improved accuracy directly contributes to the platform's value proposition. Furthermore, a quarter of the reviewers specifically noted tangible cost savings achieved by leveraging BQE CORE, often through internalizing processes that were previously outsourced. The platform also supports better strategic decision-making by providing more reliable financial reporting, a benefit cited by a quarter of the reviewers, which aids in more precise budgeting.

Top Quotes

Time Tracking Accuracy

“Less time spent on tedious tracking tasks”

Cost Savings

“It is quite expensive but we have been able to keep booking in house which saves about $5000 per year.”

Financial Reporting

“Accurate financial reporting”

Describe how you use BQE CORE in your organization. What are the business problems the product addresses and what is the scope of your use case?

From 8 reviews

Summary

BQE CORE is widely adopted by organizations, particularly architectural and engineering firms, for streamlining a range of administrative and financial operations. Reviewers frequently leverage the product to address business problems related to efficient time and expense management, a use case cited by 6 of 8 reviewers. The platform also serves as a critical tool for billing and invoicing processes, with 5 of 8 reviewers highlighting its capabilities in handling various billing methods and automating invoicing. Furthermore, BQE CORE is utilized for project management, helping organizations centralize client information and manage project hours, a benefit noted by half of the reviewers. Its reporting and analysis features enable users to generate customizable reports for financial oversight and future project planning, as mentioned by 4 of 8 reviewers. Overall, the product is perceived as a comprehensive solution that enhances efficiency, organization, and financial control across multiple business functions.

Top Quotes

Time and Expense Tracking

“Now that we use BQE COREwe have a better way to track time and expenses along with accounting.”

Billing and Invoicing

“We invoice and collect payments.”

Project Management

“It is helpful for marketing and project managers to be able to view all of the client information in one place, as well as keep accounting visible for particular users.”

Please provide some detailed examples of areas where BQE CORE has room for improvement.

From 8 reviews

Summary

Reviewers identified several areas where BQE CORE could be enhanced, primarily concerning its operational performance, user interface, and data management capabilities. Performance and speed issues were a notable concern, with half of the reviewers reporting slow loading times for lists and projects, as well as extended durations for tasks like updating entries and downloading large CSV files. Concurrently, the user interface and overall user experience presented challenges for 4 of 8 reviewers, who described inconsistencies in data input, non-intuitive filtering functions, and a desire for more persistent settings. Data management and reporting processes also surfaced as areas for improvement, with three reviewers noting difficulties in correcting errors, managing duplicate entries, and navigating search results. Furthermore, a quarter of reviewers expressed a need for greater customization and flexibility within the system. Despite these identified areas for improvement, two reviewers did acknowledge that the core functionality of the software generally operates effectively with minimal bugs.

Top Quotes

Performance and Speed

“Loading lists and projects”

User Interface and Experience

“Time tracking view saved instead of resetting each time”

Data Management and Reporting

“When time is received on a purchase order, you are unable to simply delete the the vendor bill and the time received. A new purchase order must be created”

Please provide some detailed examples of things that BQE CORE does particularly well.

From 8 reviews

Summary

BQE CORE is frequently cited by reviewers for its strong performance in core operational and financial management functionalities. A significant portion of the feedback, with half of the 8 reviewers mentioning each, highlights the platform's effectiveness in invoicing and billing, time tracking, and reporting capabilities. These features are often noted for their direct contribution to efficient financial oversight and project management. Additionally, the system receives positive remarks for its expense tracking features, which 3 of 8 reviewers noted includes the convenience of saving receipts in the cloud for easy access. Reviewers also appreciate the platform's overall ease of use, a point raised by 3 of 8 reviewers, suggesting a user-friendly interface that simplifies data entry and accessibility. These combined strengths position BQE CORE as a robust tool for managing critical business processes efficiently.

Top Quotes

Invoicing and Billing

“Invoicing”

Time Tracking

“Time tracking”

Reporting

“Creating reports”

Reviews

167 Reviews

We Highly Recommend This All-In-One Business Solution

Rating: 10 out of 10

June 23, 2025

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Now that we use BQE COREwe have a better way to track time and expenses along with accounting. In our industry we are typically a subconsultant on new construction projects and this software is particularly useful in our industry. It is helpful for marketing and project managers to be able to view all of the client information in one place, as well as keep accounting visible for particular users. Time tracking for us has never been more efficient!

Pros

Time tracking
Expense tracking
Project details and accounting details
Sorting projects by many different fields
Creating reports

Cons

Time tracking view saved instead of resetting each time
Searching projects for details
Honesty this software works really well, maybe only a couple bugs so far

Likelihood to Recommend

I would recommend this for our industry: architecture, engineering, or construction. I would recommend this for any larger firm with many employees or high number of projects. I would particularly recommend this for a company with projects that have budget constraints and where time tracking and expense tracking is very important. I would not recommend this complicated software for a small firm with a small amount of income or number of projects.

Sydney Hayes

Office Manager in Marketing at Ackerman Engineering, Inc. (11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

Effective Accessible Tool

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

March 26, 2025

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use BQE CORE for billing, invoicing, and expense tracking for a team of consultants and recruiters working on a variety of products and services.

Pros

Accessible
Easy to make entries

Cons

Updating entries can take time at month-end

Likelihood to Recommend

I like that BQE CORE is available wherever I need it, at the office or from my home if there's something I need to add or adjust. This allows me to save business hours for work and billing when those demands are lessened. I like that I can edit entries quickly all from a keyboard.

Dan Larsen, PHR

Consultant in Human Resources at Sierra HR Partners (1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

View profile

Look no further this is the Software you Need.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

February 18, 2025

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

BQE CORE was our Companies answer for support in multiple billing methods, including fixed fee, hourly or combinations of both. The reports are very customizable and will meet most everyone's needs. The interface is user friendly and makes navigation easy. The customer support is remarkable and very responsive. There are plenty of webinars to to encourage in debt learning. There are many modules that you can build upon or use as stand alone. BQE CORE is an outstanding solution for firms that need a powerful and automated invoicing system. I highly recommend this software.

Pros

Invoicing
Reporting
Timesheets

Cons

When inputting sub consultant bills there is a spot between cost rate and bill rate which uses a tab over. It is not consistent to how it tabs over and when you inputs the $ amount you may often have to redo twice.

Likelihood to Recommend

Well, I absolutely love the "As of" time filter. I don't loose billable time as I did in the past. This also allows you to start invoicing before everyone's timesheets are in. BQE CORE has got your back and finds this time for you with the As of feature. It has been very beneficial to us.

Tracy Forai

Office Administrator in Professional Services at MQN Architects (11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

BQE is Awesome!!!

Rating: 10 out of 10

January 31, 2025

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

BQE makes it very easy to manage your time performance which is crucial to an architectural office. They give you a very clean and simple interface making it very easy to use and understand. Overall, I've had a great experience with BQE. It has made me a much more organized person in terms of my job and managing the hours of our projects.

Pros

Easy to use interface
Easy to edit projects

Cons

Loading lists and projects
Making the website more seamless and less buggy

Likelihood to Recommend

BQE CORE is great for organization purposes and allows for people to easily manage time performance at a personal level in professional practice and get a bigger picture of overall office performance. We have used it in office to manage if we are under or over budget for project time performance.

Michael Vargas

Architectural Designer at ARKO Architecture (1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

User of BQE Core

Rating: 7 out of 10

Incentivized

January 25, 2025

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use BQE CORE for time and expense entry, reviewing vendor T&E, creating invoices, payment tracking, and reporting. BQE CORE makes it easy to track time and expenses without the need for manual Excel spreadsheets. It also saves a lot of time by streamlining the invoice creation process—just a click of a button, and I can bill my clients efficiently

Pros

User-friendly for tracking time and expenses, with the ability to save expense receipts in the cloud for easy access by authorized users.
User-friendly for managing and controlling project budgets
User-friendly for generating EFT reports for payroll purposes

Cons

Please add a pop-up message saying 'End of the filter search' on the Time Sheet, Expense Entries, and 'Time and Expense Reviewer' pages. It's often confusing to keep scrolling through rows without knowing whether you've reached the end of the search results
It takes over an hour to download CSV files when dealing with large amounts of data. However, it's often unclear how long the process will take. Could the system display a progress bar showing the percentage of CSV files generated? This would help users understand how much time remains for the download to complete
In the 'Create Invoice Batch' T&E details section, the filter function is not user-friendly. After filtering by an employee's name, the work dates do not appear in chronological order, making it time-consuming for users to review the T&E details.

Likelihood to Recommend

The time verification report is user friendly for submitting the work hours for client's approval. It shows the hours per employee and the memo to describe the work. At the bottom of the page, it has the approval signature line that will help the user to keep the approval record.

Verified User

Administrative Assistant (11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

Awesome Tool for Engineering Company

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

January 23, 2025

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use BQE CORE for practically all administrative and bookkeeping tasks in our engineer firm. Over the past few years the capabilities have expanded greatly. We have junior level drafter and subcontractors log time on specific projects. We invoice and collect payments. We are also able to to create vendor bills and purchase orders which is very useful in keeping up with outstanding items. It also features comprehensive reports that analyze profit etc.

Pros

Invoicing
On demand live customer support
Bookkeeping
Time entry

Cons

When time is received on a purchase order, you are unable to simply delete the the vendor bill and the time received. A new purchase order must be created
Receiving or logging time directly on invoicing screen
Customizable invoicing templates - have to have customer service create.

Likelihood to Recommend

While the bookkkeping is an awesome feature, it is not intuitive and requires some training. I would recommend firms hire a bookkeeper familiar with quickbooks.

Kree Champion

Office Manager in Engineering at ME Cubed Engineering (1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

BQE Core Suits All Our Needs

Rating: 9 out of 10

January 22, 2025

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

BQE CORE is used for project management, budgeting, invoicing, expensing and time tracking, amongst many other aspects of our business.

Pros

Invoicing
Expensing
Time Tracking
Report Configurations

Cons

Calendaring
Managing clients within a project
Speed of performance

Likelihood to Recommend

Invoicing is made incredibly easy and convenient. Batching, drafting, and finalizing them is made simple and if any adjustments are needed, editing is just and quick and easy.

Employee expense and time tracking is efficient and information is easily imported through Quickbooks to ensure it is done quickly and accurately.

Mary Kinsley

Finance Analyst in Finance and Accounting at Steadfast City Economic Partners (11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

Verified on LinkedIn

BQE CORE is Stellar

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

January 21, 2025

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We replaced QuickBooks Online with BQE CORE. We ran into issues with QuickBooks Online due to its inability to meet our specific needs. BQE CORE has stepped in and filled that void. The solution allows for greater flexibility in billing and project management saving time and money. It also has given us greater insights into profitability of specific projects.

Pros

Billing and Invoicing
Budgeting
Time Keeping

Cons

Implementation
One Time Fees
Communication

Likelihood to Recommend

The product will perform well for any professional service organization. If you are on QuickBooks, I can't recommend this enough.

Nick Deccio

Director of Operations in Finance and Accounting at Morones Analytics (11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

View profile

Easy Time Tracking

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

November 1, 2024

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use BQE CORE to accurately log time in office and bill clients. This allows reports to be run for billing; reports also allow review of past projects from a management perspective to plan for future projects.

Pros

Log time accurately
Organize client billing
Run a variety of reports for review

Cons

Time card often has duplicates - Erasing duplicates or similar actions
Automatic monthly reports run for each employee for utilization rates
Memo suggestions. We often type the same things in time cards

Likelihood to Recommend

Less appropriate for tracking PTOs
More appropriate for tracking billing and receiving invoices

Verified User

Project Manager (1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

Incredible Tool for Business Management

Rating: 10 out of 10

October 29, 2024

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

As Business and Finance Manager, I use BQE CORE as a 'superuser' to keep abreast of all projects, time and expense reviewing for said projects and overhead company time, process all invoices, set up projects and phases, set up vendors, clients, and employee profiles, pull reports for payroll, use the accounting module for consultant and vendor bills and credit card expenses, and do all of our accounting and financial reporting as well as workflow management for our projects. This means that I've had a lot of opportunities to see the way that BQE CORE allows all of those aspects of running our firm integrate with each other as seamlessly as possible. Instead of having a timekeeping system and a separate project time tracking, they're one platform. Instead of having to use a separate accounting software and a project management software, they're in the same platform. This innate integration makes BQE CORE an incredibly powerful tool that reduces inefficiencies and automates a lot of the most difficult processes in business management.

Pros

Time & Expense Processing
Project Management
Invoicing
Financial Reporting
Client Service
Responsiveness

Cons

Document Management

Likelihood to Recommend

I have experience using multiple Project Management and Accounting softwares, and BQE CORE is genuinely one of the best and most powerful tools I've used that has both modalities. Additionally, one of the best things about BQE CORE is their responsiveness and client service focus. The second I encounter a problem, I have access to 24/7 tech support. If I see a missing feature or something doesn't quite work the way I want it, I can submit a request for a feature and they will not just listen, but often take suggestions from clients and use them to implement new updates and new features.

Verified User

Director in Finance and Accounting (11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

4 years of experience