simPRO

Pros

simPRO allowed us to bring all of our employees together into one software package from lead to quote to job management to invoicing and receiving payments. It even tracks field personnel time. This allowed us to cancel several other software programs that we were using and got everybody on the same page saving time which saves money.

Cons

It takes some time to learn all the nuances of the program to become fluent in "simPROese".

Pros

When it comes to field service management this is custom software which is hard to beat. simPRO is bringing a new level and caliber of organization and efficiency to our business and we are still implementing all that it offers. Our field techs now have vastly more relevant information at their fingertips than ever before which is empowering them to be more productive, efficient, and professional.

Cons

There are a few confusing aspects of the contacts database and how it relates and connects to jobs, quotes, customers, etc. There are a number of static fields which do not populate from the existing customer database when it seems they should. For instance, if we have an existing contact, we can not simply lookup and connect it to a site contact or invoice contact without some hoops and hurdles.

Pros

The software is relatively easy to use once you understand the workflow. Setting up the system for the first time was very easy. Customer support has been good. The quotes portion of this software is a breeze.

Cons

Over all this software to me has more pros than cons although some of the cons are very big in my line of work as a commercial HVAC Mechanical Contractor. The office, administration, scheduling , quoting and reports are very good though the tech work orders (ie job cards as SimPRO calls them) are probably the one of the largest pains we suffer with as a commercial HVAC Mechanical Service Company. The main problem is that Simpro will not allow you to create one Service Ticket to send to the customer that shows the techs write up of the worked performed, the techs on the job and the total hours. If two techs worked on a centrifugal chiller tear down for two weeks Simpro would generate a service write up with the same job number for each tech for each day. That’s two Simpro Service tickets a day for two weeks which totals 20 Service tickets that we have to send the customer just to show the total hours worked each day versus having one service ticket that the customer signs showing tech names and the total hours worked each day. We have talked to Simpro Support about this and there is nothing they can do or will do about this.
On the accounting and estimating side of this software Simpro uses Margin percentage (Simpro calls it Gross Margin) and not Gross Margin dollars. From what I understand Simpro originated in Australia and they use mark up percentage where as in America we use Gross Margin so beware.

Pros

Job costing is an important concern for us and SimPRO does an excellent job of tracking job costs. We are hoping for continual development in the ease of use for tracking labor and time on the job, but overall, SimPRO does a great job of job cost management.

Cons

Seems clunky and non-intuitive at first and training from SimPRO after the initial roll out is not complimentary and quite costly. Also, there are some features that I wish could be improved, such as contract / agreement integration and a more intuitive way to find / locate jobs on the fly using the mobile app. I am looking forward to the rollout of the new SimPRO Mobile app, which may address the later concern.

Pros

I like that we can track a job/project through the entire process starting with Lead Generation to creating an Estimate and then converting the estimate into a Job/Project all the way through to the final invoice. All stages of the project life cycle can be tracked and job-costing is a breeze because all job Purchase Orders, technician time sheets, etc. are visible.
The inventory management capabilities are a significant improvement over our previous methods. Having all of our vendor's products entered into the Catalog with visibility into our current on-hand inventory makes things more efficient during the estimating process and provides means of controlling how and when materials are assigned to jobs.

Cons

The user interface can be improved a little to make accessing information a bit more intuitive. It is not difficult by any measure, but I would like to see more flexibility and drag-and-drop capabilities - especially with the estimating portion.