HCSS Suite
Updated November 08, 2017
HCSS Suite
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Modules Used
- HeavyBid
- HeavyJob
- HCSS Dispatcher
- Equipment360
- FuelerPlus
Overall Satisfaction with HCSS
We use HCSS across our organization for bidding with HeavyBid, collecting field data with HeavyJob manager and mobile (time, equipment, production quantities, change tracking), E360 for equipment maintenance, E360 Fueler for off-road fueling and Dispatcher for our heavy equipment hauls.
- The customer service at HCSS is outstanding. You can always get a person on the phone and the expertise provided with all products is above expectations.
- The HCSS user conferences are great for all skill levels and applications. There's something for everybody and the presenters have the knowledge and willingness to address your needs and concerns.
- Their implementation process is well organized and executed. Going to their office for implementation is highly recommended.
- Their mobile offerings vary too widely between iOS and Android where Android is available. We are a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) company and have many users split between iOS and Android products. This causes issues as HCSS is iOS only for E360, and on HeavyJob they are typically a year behind in parity between iOS and Android with the former the most up to date. Would like to see a cross platform app that mirrors where they are heading with their web app offerings.
- Their mobile applications do not always send data two ways. For example, jobs, cost codes, employees and equipment lists update to the HCSS field app but you can not see other time statistics from other foremen unless you are a manager on the iOS manager app, manager web app or desktop app. Only what is in the local tablet's database is what the foreman can see. This also causes issues when a tablet fails without a backup and restore made to the local database. In this instance, though all data sent in is stored in the main system, the foreman loses any history they may have had on the tablet.
- HeavyJob serves as our timekeeping system for our field crews. As such it would be nice to be able to apply time entry rules and workflow routing to ensure data is keyed in a timely fashion and routed to the correct individuals. All approvals work on a filter basis requiring each manager to seek and find unapproved time. It is nearly impossible to enforce time entry deadlines without custom built alerts and followup reporting for zero time and missing time cards.
- Viewpoint Field, Viewpoint Teams, Microsoft FLow, SSRS, TMW, FiveCubits and MS SharePoint / SQL
In general, HCSS has allowed us to grow to a point with technology as a company where we're now confident in pursuing more advanced technologies to help in other back office areas. We have also been able to grow our IT support team to open new doors for us that didn't exist when we first started with HCSS over 10 years ago. They're great for businesses looking for automation of manual, paper based tasks and are affordably scalable as well. For companies with little IT support or skills, HCSS is hard to beat. HeavyBid is one system we will likely stay with for a long time to come. We are exploring additional options that will improve field collaboration that provide more flexibility and better integrate through workflow with our office systems. We are also searching for two-way mobile field data gathering that will provide project activity feedback overall to a foreman in the field. Viewpoint has some great products but we are also looking at possibly building some apps ourselves. No decisions made just yet. The biggest difference between Viewpoint's Field and Team products is that they work with any tablet operating system and have two-way data sharing in addition to future integration with our Spectrum Accounting system (now a Viewpoint product). We are also looking at using SharePoint through Office 365 for collaboration and document sharing across all platforms. All items we consider "next steps" in our technology road map.