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Privia - from a long time (really long time) user
Updated July 08, 2015

Privia - from a long time (really long time) user

Rae McFarron | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Privia Enterprise

Modules Used

  • Privia Web Client, Privia Desktop Client, Privia Administrator

Overall Satisfaction with Privia

We use Privia as a collaboration tool for approximately 500 users in developing responses to Request for Proposals for Federal, State, and Local Government systems. It allows us to provide centralized access to documents for users working throughout the world. It allows our version control, specific security as needed, and collaborative input and commenting on the documents.
  • The commenting feature in Privia is a unique feature that allows us to do frequent reviews with extended project teams to do reviews concurrently and quite successfully. It allowed us to be much more efficient and have more users to more fully participate in the review process.
  • The version control feature works quite well for us, allowing us to completely avoid the common issues of over writing documents and loss of content.
  • The delegate feature allows us to provide multiple users with control over the workspace. This allows us to be much more efficient with scheduling and control.
  • There can be occasional lag time when working on the Web Client.
  • If you are copying workspaces off line for archival purposes, Privia will allow non-standard Windows file names. These files will then have to be renamed to copy them off the system.
  • If you copy a folder off line, if you do not have at least view access to the file, it will simply not download without any error indicated.
  • Significant employee and team efficiency
  • Faster review process allowing more team members to participate
  • Much improved customer service for our users, who are mostly non-technical writer and managers
Privia works quite well for developing workflows and processes within the Proposal Development process. It allows you to work offline with your documents without Web access. It allows security to be controlled on a very granular level. It allows you to quickly secure your workspaces and documents without having to work on an individual user basis.
It is VERY important to make sure you think through the map for how your system should be configured. Time spent carefully determining exactly how you want it laid out and how you will use the system will make your implementation and roll out much more successful. You should understand how your process currently works and determine any preferred process changes before your implementation.

Using Privia

Privia licensing can be a bit pricey, but it is very much a situation where you get what you pay for. It is a unique and specialized tool for collaboration that is not fully matched in the community. There are other tools that can do parts and pieces of what Privia does, but you will be hard pressed to find a solution that will cover both the depth and breadth Privia covers.

Privia Implementation

It is critical to plan your implementation carefully and take the time to understand the product. You have to make sure you get the initial set up and design correct so that the tool supports your business practices. If you do this up front, you can have a very successful and easy implementation.
  • Vendor implemented

Privia Support

The support team for Privia is extremely responsive. They take the time to understand how you are using the system so that they can help you to resolve your issues quickly. Working in a deadline driven industry, support availability and knowledge is critical. I have always been able to reach the support team directly and quickly.
ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
Kept well informed
No escalation required
Immediate help available
Support understands my problem
Support cares about my success
Quick Initial Response
None
Yes - Our Privia database is extremely large and with a very diverse user community, we have occasionally found a bug. It has always been very high priority for the support team and has always been resolved quickly and completely. We have never had any trouble getting resolution or getting to the right people to get it fixed.
We were on a very tight deadline to submit a multi-million dollar bid for a large state government organization. One of our project managers inadvertently deleted a workspace from the system. We contacted our Privia support team late on a Friday night and they were able to have the workspace restored within hours. We have since taken delete access away from everyone except the Administrators :)

Using Privia

It is very intuitive and I found it very easy for my decidedly non-technical users to work with. Training was quite easy even for technophobes or complete newbies. I have a team of about 500 users on this system who are primarily writers and project managers, frequently not computer savvy at all.
ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
Familiar
None
  • The commenting feature with it's links to the document is the most elegant functionality of this type I have ever used or even seen. My users think it's a miracle.
  • The version control allows collaboration without those nagging file-over write problems
  • The flexible security options allow Administrators excellent flexibility
  • Archiving entire workspaces from the system can be a bit cumbersome
  • Since view access on files can be limited, even for Administrators, it can result in files within folders not downloading without an error message
  • Privia allows non-Windows compatible characters to be used in file names, which can cause an issue when files are archived offline

Privia Reliability

We rarely, if ever, had unplanned outages when we were using Privia. When we did, our support staff were attentive and quick to resolve the problem no matter the hour.