Item: Quickbase
Rating: 9
Author: Sam Shannon, CAPM

Overall Satisfaction with Quick Base

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We have used Quickbase as our primary ERP software for the past several years. We use it to allow our employees to manage top down from the director level to the project manager to the inside field manager to the technician on site. It allows us to capture virtually any type of data (time on site, specific inputs, etc.). It also allows everyone to see the work loads and individual schedules.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Flexible - It allows for virtually any type of input and in many ways is limited only by the skill of your programmer.
Segmentation - Allows for as many parents/child tables as necessary allowing you to store your data however you choose.
Simple - The coding was relatively easy to learn and straightforward.

Cons

Limited user permissions - The permissions in Quickbase are done by role rather than user. It would require creating individual roles for each user to restrict views and also enable views. Dashboards and all tables are limited by roles rather than users.
Limited support - Quickbase does not have the support that other more widely used softwares do. This cannot make learning the code for difficult solutions even more difficult.
Single Table Views - I am not able to create multiple table views for the same user. All of the data must be included in the same table and manipulated by the inputs within the table. This is still very flexible, but can be rather cumbersome to code.
Limited Data Extraction - They have a data cap for .csv extraction. I was required to purchase a third Party ODBC to be able to pull data from Quickbase into Crystal Reports. This solution, however, worked great.

Alternatives Considered

MS SharePoint

Each software offers its own sets of limitations and strengths. The main strength of Quickbase is flexibility. If I was running a small project based business I would select Quickbase for its ease of change and various possible applications. Some softwares like Sampro require some changes (like field additions) to be to the entire data base. Quickbase is completely customizable.

Likelihood to Recommend

I would recommend Quickbase for virtually all small business project management applications. It is flexible and simple to use, but it will require an in-house developer as most ERP softwares do, but due to its simple nature this person could be trained in-house. If you are a larger organization I would recommend looking elsewhere for something more robust.

Using Quick Base

Users and Roles

50 - We use Quickbase in a variety of functions from the beginning of the Project cycle to the end. We have our admin people doing data input and making phone calls. Our technical group managing technicians and on site work. Our accounting group doing billing. And all of that work is able to be managed and supervised by our project management and executive teams.

Support Headcount Required

1 - Quickbase requires a computer savvy person who is at least comfortable with excel, but the quality of your Quickbase applications like Excel workbooks will depend on your Quickbase developers creativity and logic. Simple apps can be put together easily by a novice, but to develop more complex applications you will want someone experienced with basic coding. The coding is simple and easy to pick up and there is plenty of documentation to support Quickbase, but it is not something that should be juggled by many people and you should settle on one person to manage your Quickbase ERP.

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QuickBase - A flexible and easy project management solution