Item: Viewpoint Spectrum
Rating: 8
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Spectrum for all our job costing and accounting functions. When we first started with Spectrum, the implementation of our conversion was a rough road due to the person who initially started our conversion retiring at the same time it was being implemented, but Spectrum was great about working with us to get everything cleaned up and working properly and though it was frustrating at times, we eventually figured it all out. Now it's mostly smooth sailing and we utilize the job costing reports and many other items to manage our jobs. I think we could probably utilize the software more but for now it works for us. Their support team has definitely gotten better over the years. I do wish their help feature gave more step-by-step instructions so that I didn't have to utilize the support as often, but the help documents don't really seem to give instructions on how to accomplish what you're looking for, that would be my only current complaint.

Pros and Cons

Reporting
Live Support
Fixes on broken items

Help documentation
Payroll features
Support response time

Return on Investment

Increased efficiency
Better reporting

Usability

Some things in Spectrum are NOT that intuitive, but I think knowledge of the software just comes with time. There are still some things I need assistance with in Spectrum but I'm very comfortable with my day to day items now that I've been using it for years. However, if there is something I don't do often or haven't done before, I don't find the software to be that intuitive, I actually find the logic on some things to be a little weird but it's fine once I know how to do it.

Connected Construction Management

It's hard for me to say since I started with this company at the same time that they switched software so I don't know if it's made us more efficient overall in comparison to the software they used to use.

Alternatives Considered

This is my first construction job and Spectrum is the only software I've used. The company used to use Sage

Key Insights

Do you think Viewpoint Spectrum delivers good value for the price?

Not sure

Are you happy with Viewpoint Spectrum's feature set?

Yes

Did Viewpoint Spectrum live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Viewpoint Spectrum go as expected?

Would you buy Viewpoint Spectrum again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, Procore

Likelihood to Recommend

I think Spectrum is well suited to handle any kind of construction contract and it has many reporting capabilities to help manage the job. As far as being less appropriate, I struggle with the payroll module. Some things that we do need to set up in weird workaround ways that make things a little difficult to reconcile at year-end. For example, we have employees who get vehicle and phone allowances and we need to set these up as add-ons, but then they are not included as gross wages on reports even though they should be considered gross wages, so my reports are never correct and I can never reconcile to my payroll company's reports. This is part of the reason we'll never take our payroll in house because I don't feel comfortable submitting taxes based on the payroll reports in Spectrum.

Spectrum for Construction

Modules Used

Overall Satisfaction with Viewpoint Spectrum