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About BQE CORE Suite

Time & expense tracking made simple & easy. Capture more revenue, speed up cash flow, and work more efficiently with BQE CORE.

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Pros:

Overall the experience is good, however the accounting module should be improved in order to be more user friendly.

Cons:

Early on we had a difficult time understanding the vendor bill workflow.

BQE CORE Suite ratings

Average score

Ease of Use
4.4
Customer Service
4.6
Features
4.4
Value for Money
4.5

Likelihood to recommend

8.7/10

BQE CORE Suite has an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars based on 773 user reviews on Capterra.

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Melissa
Melissa
Manager in US
Verified LinkedIn User
Architecture & Planning, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Alternatives Considered:

Great software for a small firm

5.0 2 years ago

Comments: We went from no project management system and manual accounting. This has improved our productivity and improved profits.

Pros:

Setup was very easy, the support was great at each step. It is the most cost effective for a small firm. At any time I can call or email a question and get a quick response. They are constantly updating and improving the system.

Cons:

Updates sometimes cause lags the system, but if you sign up for updates they will let you know when they are doing them.

Deborah
Human Resources Administrator in Canada
Maritime, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

This product delivers...if you want it, it can be done.

4.0 last year

Comments: the exec. appreciates the overall business analysis that can be obtained, time keeping is given back to the body of the staff and not the admin. staff, and can be seen and impacted live. project management is a complete task, not just partial tasks here and some in another area. Generally positive...difficult at first because change is hard, but once the benefits are realized, embraced ultimately.

Pros:

once full integration is close, one can really see how the product can fully encompass all aspects. full analysis can be achieved if all data is inputted, but only then. if pieces are missing, so is the entire impact. time keeping can be accurate for all the employees...same story, expenses can be fully analyzed, project costing can be fully analyzed...but one must enter all of the data. it replaces most existing processes so it's difficult for some to "move on" so as not to duplicate. there are some glitches, but there usually is.

Cons:

there might be too many features...not all businesses have them and while some recognize it, some will try to fill in all the blanks and this can be time wasteful. while there is a lot of "help", "dumbing it down" is never a bad thing. why not make it easy to understand? not everyone is an engineer...admins use it as well so keep it easy to understand for all. this gets more important the bigger the company gets...will support more administrative positions, so use the "kiss" principle-keep it simple st***d. admins will get these tasks delegated to them ultimately so make it easier to understand no matter the degree/education

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Architecture & Planning, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Alternatives Considered:

Software has issues, but their customer support is pretty good

2.0 last year

Comments: In theory, I like all of the features that core has to offer, however, when the features don't work the way they're supposed to it becomes a bit of a nightmare to use. It has a lot of bugs, crashes often and in general is just not very user friendly.

Pros:

I like the expense management feature for employee reimbursement and client billing purposes. I also liked the accounting feature that allows you to bill expenses straight from the Cloudfeeds. I also really liked their customer support. They have a solid team on standby for customer support. I would often get the same person when I called. They are super friendly and know how to navigate the software.

Cons:

It's time consuming to use - it's so slow and there are a lot of features that bug out and simply don't work the way they're supposed to, so I spend a lot of time navigating all of that, which is a bummer.

Perry
Mechanical Engineer and Project Manager in US
Design, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

Perry's BQE Review

4.0 3 months ago

Comments: I use this as a resource allocation tool to manage my specific project within the company I work for. I allocate resource by hour and within a specific budget per resource hourly rate.

Pros:

So far I have enjoyed the modifiable nature.

Cons:

I am struggling to view or change forecast dollars and hours in the same window without having to refresh the page to switch from one to the other. It would be nice to have them together on the same page and update live.

Mirna
Project Administrator in US
Civil Engineering, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

New product for us - Really like it so far

5.0 last year

Comments: I would definitely recommend Core to others. You have to learn the product first but once you do, it's very helpful.

Pros:

The reports we are able to run are extremely useful to us. You can see how each project is doing super easily.

Cons:

At first it was a little hard to use but only because we were used to another program. Now that we use it every day, it's become very helpful.

robin
SURVEY TECH in US
Civil Engineering, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Great time tracking and project tracking

5.0 last year

Pros:

The best thing about it is ease of use.

Cons:

I wish it would let you edit your entries from the timecard area without having to go into the entries list, but other than that I have no negatives.

Jess
Project Designer in US
Architecture & Planning, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Great Tool for Time Tracking!

5.0 3 months ago

Comments: Overall has been a very positive experience using BQE CORE Suite. It allows for clear communication between myself and my team leadership, so there is no question about where my time is going and how long a task took to complete.

Pros:

It breaks down each of my projects clearly and I can directly see where all of my time is going! It offers a lot of control.

Cons:

It did not feel very user-friendly initially, but I caught on after some questions asked to my coworkers!

Thomas
Project Manager in US
Utilities, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

BQE makes time keeping and tracking simple

5.0 3 months ago

Comments: BQE makes time keeping and tracking relatively easy. Good layout for site navigation. You can add widgets to your "dashboard" for what is important to you.

Pros:

Good for time-sheet tracking. Both for yourself and tracking time billed to projects. Easy input with a well-working search feature and "Load Recent Activities" button. Also breaks up billable and non-billable time for you.

Cons:

Our company does not use the Project Planning/Tracking App, so not comment on the usability of that.

Mary Claire
Interior Designer in US
Architecture & Planning, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Easy & Efficient

5.0 4 months ago

Comments: Efficient and easy to use for logging and submitting time as well as keeping track of PTO.

Pros:

It's intuitive, easy to navigate, and easy to use.

Cons:

In my organization, the program is set up with autosave as time is entered so it if a mistake is made you only have a few seconds to correct it yourself without needing an admin to go in and adjust it for you.

Karl
GIS Analyst in Canada
Environmental Services, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Easy to Use

5.0 4 months ago

Comments: easy to use, strong visuals and project management tools

Pros:

the personal dashboards and the ease of expense tracking and project management

Cons:

it is difficult to convert foreign currency

Sacheen
Project Coordinator in US
Architecture & Planning, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Project Coordinator

5.0 5 months ago

Comments: Overall my experience with CORE is great and has offered many great benefits to my job as a project coordinator.

Pros:

Core is user friendly and multifunctional for our company.

Cons:

The load time can sometimes hinder the work flow process.

Kristy
Tax Service Associate in US
Accounting, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Easy to use

4.0 6 months ago

Comments: Overall it is people friendly to use and I enjoy it being so easy to use.

Pros:

Easy to navigate in the CORE to find what you need to do.

Cons:

At times it was really is slow to use and kicks me out of programs.

Jill
Designer I in US
Architecture & Planning, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Good and bad about BQE

5.0 4 months ago

Comments: Efficient, feature-rich, but a bit complex

Pros:

All-in-one functionality, easy to use and understand

Cons:

The steep learning curve for new users to utilize

Nicholas
Senior Accountant in US
Accounting, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

BQE CORE - Must have

5.0 last year

Pros:

Tracking time & expenses has never been easier. The interface is very easy to use and provides great historical data of your time tracking that differentiates between billable and non billable hours. Having never used the software before, it has been very easy to familiarize myself with it and use on a daily basis.

Cons:

Whenever I go to save a line entry for hours, it defaults as non-billable even if I click the billable box. This causes me to have to click billable after i save each entry.

Allan
Project Engineer in US
Civil Engineering, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Excellent user interface

5.0 last year

Comments: Really like the online UI, allows me to enter my time and do project research when I am travelling for work.

Pros:

The user interface is very nice, easy to adjust as needed.

Cons:

I wish the searching for projects was quicker, but that could be due to number of projects.

Greg
Studio Tech in US
Architecture & Planning, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Great Tool

5.0 last year

Pros:

Makes time and project management a breeze.

Cons:

Core is updated relatively often, which is a good thing, but it often takes away features I enjoy.

Andrew
Principal/Senior Scientist in US
Environmental Services, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

CORE usage = happy owners = happy employees = good business

5.0 last year

Comments: It's been a huge change from Deltek, but for the better. It's been fairly easy for two non-super-tech savy guys to run and implement, import 50+ existing projects with partial budgets, and the help line is GREAT!

Pros:

The dashboard integration is great, could use a few tweaks but exactly what we wanted out of this type of software - project based management system.

Cons:

CORE is set up to be based off individual projects which is great for our business, however Vendor Bills don't have an "easy sort" button to be associated with projects, instead it categorizes it by Vendor. When the PROJECT dictates the Vendor and their bill, everything should still be linked back to the project.

Renata
AR in US
Consumer Services, 10,000+ Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Core Review

5.0 last year

Pros:

Ease of use, system works pretty well. I use it daily for tracking, billing & invoicing 7 time management purposes.

Cons:

It glitches sometimes & it times out pretty quickly

Daniel
Principal Architect in US
Architecture & Planning, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Great Functionality for A/E firms

4.0 7 months ago

Pros:

Ease of use for time tracking and for monitoring budget

Cons:

Learning curve for other more more complex functions

Venkat
Sr.Manager in Canada
Research, 1,001–5,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

BQE Features and advantages

4.0 last year

Pros:

Customer service team is very responsive and quick to assist on any requests.

Cons:

Some times the interface gets confusing with so many options to explore

Olivia
Job Captain in US
Architecture & Planning, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

Thoughts from a New User

5.0 4 months ago

Pros:

I use it mostly for tracking my hours! I've had coworkers say they use it to help track their NCARB hours also since you can use categories to keep track.

Cons:

I'm not sure how to fix this but my boss isn't getting my PTO requests; I'm sure it's a very solvable issue but we just haven't gotten around to fixing it yet!

Hannah
Project Admin in US
Design, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

User friendly and informative

5.0 last year

Comments: Easy to use. Informative. And customer service has been helpful when I have had to call.

Pros:

I like that it is easy to use and that it clearly portrays time and work summaries in various ways. The graphs and visuals are helpful to visualize how I have spent my time on different projects. I also enjoy the timer feature so that I can easily start and stop to track my time throughout the day.

Cons:

I haven't encountered anything about CORE yet that has been frustrating or unhelpful.

Grant
Engineer Tech in US
Civil Engineering, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

Review BQE

5.0 4 months ago

Pros:

Ease of use and decent site organization

Cons:

Honestly, I can't think of anything I dislike

Jack
Staff in US
Accounting, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

BQE review

5.0 4 months ago

Pros:

Easy user interface. As someone who is using this for the first time, I did not need instructions for my needs.

Cons:

So far I do not have a con that I can identify.

Seunghun
Project Designer in US
Architecture & Planning, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

Prefect website for employee.

5.0 last year

Pros:

Easy to use. I used other options at other firms but this is useful for beginners.

Cons:

I could not find any cons. I am really satisfied of this website.