Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate

Very basic

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Very outdated UI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

Excellent U.S. based support.

Easy upgrades.

Intuitive interface.

I'm not sure how this would scale to large organizations.

Sage 300 CRE, formerly Timberline, has been on the market for dozens of years and is a very mature application. You cannot go wrong with using it for day-to-day construction company business.

Their support department, though sometimes a little weak on the front line, is built to handle the needs of very large companies thus even though it may sometimes take some extra calls you can always be assured of getting a needed answer.

Since this is an almost all-in-one ERP the applications/modules are linked such that doing work in one will lead to information and data being entered throughout all the modules related to that data.

Since this is a construction/real estate specific package, contractors need little customization to be able to use the application fully within the limits of construction terms and typical construction needs such as RFIs, Dailies, and Transmittals.

As mentioned in the pros, Sage has been around for a long time and the user interface really shows it. It has a Windows 3.1 look to it and it can be irritating to users who want a more refreshed look.

Using an old fashioned Pervasive database, Sage is not fast. The speed of the application really relies on the infrastructure of the servers, workstations and network involved but even in best-case scenarios some screens and reports are slow to load without the help of third party items such as their SQL Replicator piece.

The out-of-the-box Sage 300 CRE experience is NOT at all mobile friendly. The only way to use it in a mobile sense is through Terminal Services type connection but that does not scale well to mobile devices thus it is basically not usable on anything except a decent laptop. They have come out with add-ons to make it more mobile friendly but that adds to the complexity of the install.

The old interface has a lot of trouble with unique monitor arrangements whether extra monitors or non-standard resolutions.

Very easy to use

Lots of reports for each module

Reports Manager could be a little easier to modify reports

Sage allows you to do complex tasks in a simplified manner.

The software has a plethora of customizable features.

The reporting options are endless!

The user interface could be updated and be a bit more modern.

It would be nice to have more free trainings available.

Reporting for Clients and Accounts, really detailed information on a per-client basis!

Sage 300, with its most recent upgrade, has nice, clean navigation to work through.

Inventory Management could never be easier, with detailed info and input.

Although Sage is much easier to use with the new upgrade, it still could use improvement with load times with invoice searches.

Sage 300 could also include drone uploads to view inventory snapshots.

Upgrades can also be less complicated and not require higher-level support to implement.

Change orders

Office and Field communication tool

Keeping the client involved in day-to-day schedules and progress

Learning curve is steep

Field personnel sometimes lack the technical skills required to use the product

Customizing toward individual companies can be difficult.

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.

There are so many patchwork pieces that oftentimes modules do not talk to each other correctly.

A common fix with issues is to go into the backdoor to fix issues. It seems like a big lack in security and IT controls. I wish there were better fixes for when the system miscalculates or times out.

The fact that it is not cloud based has made it more expensive and difficult to update regularly. We have to keep a server specifically for this system, while everything else we use is cloud-based so everyone in the field can easily access them.

Sage does a comprehensive job of tracking all accounting features and functions.

It is easy to deploy and is used by all members of staff to track the accounting of our real estate business.

The systems are easy to use and training is minimal.

It is a mature product so most of the cons have been resolved.

Ease of use

Flexibility to add jobs and users

Ability to write custom reports for end users and clients

Creation/improvement of a mobile app

Price for support is quite high

Support is not available 24/7

Accounts Payable invoicing.

Accounts Receivable tracking.

General ledger.

Payroll.

All aspects of reporting, including the ability to export in various formats.

User interface.

Once you get it set up with all the vendors and cost codes, it works okay to manage all the transactions.

It is made for construction, tailored for the way we use it.

Flexible, you can modify every input and make it the way you want it.

They have never dramatically changed the software in the last 20 years. The format could be improved.

Very expensive. Pay every year for upgrades that don't really change anything. Need to pay for each user.

Really hard to set up correctly. New users need to spend a month of labor getting all the cost codes in there and all the vendors in the system.

The system crashes a lot, you'll be working along and then you get a critical error and need to restart it.

Sage 300 does a wonderful job in change management. Trying to manage a $90M job is difficult enough, but having over 60 change requests makes it essentially impossible if it wasn't for this module.

Summary Reports. This module is the only way to get a true litmus test of the job. We use this during every monthly meeting and would probably be lost as to the status for the job without it.

Transmittals are a masterpiece on Sage. I don't say this too lightly, but by all means it is an absolute masterpiece. When we have all different PMs doing all different transmittal, it's wonderful to see them all in one place following one template. No more trying to collaborate people's emails into a folder hoping they all are formatted the same way. This is a completely underappreciated facet of Sage 300.

The user interface is not good, flat out. The style in which you access the information looks like a primitive version of Microsoft. In addition, there is a lack of congruence between certain screens. With some modules, you press the 'X' in the top right exit, with some you have to press a 'cancel' button, and then another cancel located elsewhere.

To be honest a majority of the issues I experience can be correlated to the user interface. It is by far the worst aspect of Sage 300. With all due respect, Sage has a wonderful product that needs a new coat of paint. I'm hoping with the future updates they will take examples from other organizations in order to bring the UI into the 21st century, because their format is simply archaic.

All the backup is saved in the system.

Job costing module is helpful for the business.

Bank reconciliations done on the system.

The AP Module is great to track invoices.

Reporting can be improved.

A running total on the GL can be beneficial.

Integration with Microsoft products for reporting will be beneficial.