BigTime Reviews

Pros

The customization and the ability to track just about anything you want for project management, profitability and invoicing. And the integration with Quickbooks.

Cons

I wish more fields were customizable. The handful that they allow you to rename are great, but more would be better! I wish there was a 45 day training session to ask questions that arise after using for a bit.

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Teams, Adobe Creative Cloud Express and monday.com

Reasons for Choosing BigTime

Productive was very limited, and the budgeting side was terribly difficult to navigate especially with our high volume of monthly retainers

Switched From

Productive

Reasons for Switching to BigTime

I was not part of the research that was done. I was given the final choice to test and work with the sale rep to ensure that it performed the way we needed it to. If I was not happy we would have gone back to the drawing board. But, I know one of our main objectives is to track project profitability and this is so far doing what we needed it to do.

Pros

BigTime is the program we use for tracking time, managing expenses, and sending out invoices. Using QuickBooks as our primary accounting software has its advantages, and one of those is that BigTime can sync up with QuickBooks during the day to make sure that the two are always up to date.

Cons

The approval screen does not currently allow for invoices to be filtered by Team Lead, so all Team Leads have access to all invoices rather than just their own. It's not easy to modify your own report, therefore we typically have to contact support for assistance.

Pros

BigTime has the potential to be very user friendly, however, there is a learning process. Not everything is the same. For example, when I run one budget report, submitted time is not included, while in another report it is.

Cons

The data does not always auto populate and the software should be able to generate numbers and percents on its own... I should not have to go in and manually input % complete, it should be done on it's on as the team moves forward within the project.

Pros

The ability to sync with Quickbooks is a significant selling factor for our firm; it has proved quite useful in checking data. We can also use the sync capability to create projects in Bigtime that are not yet in the billing stage and maintain them there until the project is awarded to us. The program that we now use for all-time tracking and billing is highly straightforward for both workers and contractors to use, as well as incredibly adaptable and versatile. Your support crew is wonderful; they are incredibly attentive and comprehensive, and they respond quickly to my inquiries; they have been a huge help to me in my varied support requirements.

Cons

The one big issue we've had is that our Quickbooks sync doesn't always function properly, but it's difficult to identify whether this is a BigTime or a Quickbooks issue.

Pros

The orientation procedure went really smoothly. We were given excellent assistance; even when we had queries in the period between sessions, the personnel responded quickly. The program is straightforward, and the mobile application is fantastic for our field staff.

Cons

Even though making adjustments to our invoicing system can be challenging at times, we've always received helpful responses from the staff that have allowed us to go forward with our plans.

Pros

ease of use and integration with QBO, invoicing and WIP tracking, easy to train for staff input of TS

Cons

slow to add some features that would be helpful for payments. Adding feature to charge client service fees for ACH and credit card payments, allowing us to edit payment post if entered incorrect or if Client over pays to track credits.

Pros

That it is so customizable from just about every feature it offers.
Easy to use.
Intregrates with QuickBooks.
The white glove service from our customer success manager, [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN].
All of the report options and customizations
Project Management and tracking on all aspects of a project.
The Knowledge based section for finding information on how to use features.

Cons

That you cannot change the Project Fee to say Project Budget. This is just a preferred naming system for our company though, so not the end of the world that we could not change this.

Pros

Easy to use, easy to configure, brandable and great support

Cons

Wish the documentation for the custom invoices was stronger.

Alternatives Considered

SAP Concur and Microsoft Excel

Reasons for Switching to BigTime

Better, faster, more affordable and easier to use and setup.

Pros

Prior to BigTime, my organization used a hodgepodge of systems to track time, track expenses, and invoice. Having all three of those in one spot has saved us 40+ man-hours a month. The customer service is also fantastic. Our implementation specialist, [SENSITIVE CONTENT ] is very easy to work with and really knows his stuff.

Cons

Coming from a mess of different tools and consolidating into one simple, easy to use tool, it is really hard for me to say what can be improved at this point.

Alternatives Considered

NetSuite

Reasons for Switching to BigTime

The cost was a large driving factor, but simplicity was really the reason.

Pros

Tracking time and being able to in real time look at where we stand on each project from a billing standpoint.

Cons

We are in the early implementation stages of BigTime, everything currently is an improvement over how we previously operated. No known "cons" at this time.

Alternatives Considered

BQE CORE Suite, Deltek Ajera, monday.com and Monograph

Reasons for Switching to BigTime

QuickBooks Desktop Integration, cost, features, etc.

Pros

Product is very user friendly. Many options to customize fields, invoices, and reports. Communication with support and representatives is great. So far it is very easy to use.

Cons

There are a couple of features that are missing pertaining specifically to my company. There is not a direct vendor bill field or a way to create a contract for clients that have billable rates/fees that could vary month to month. But there is a work round to achieve this.

Pros

The ability to communicate in detail with QBD and QBO. FYI to all who job cost... You CANNOT job cost in QBO. It is not a limitation of BigTime, it is a limitation of QBO. Which is what i mean by my partial experience answer above... (allow more text there).. if onboarding is completed with a premeeting checklist about the firms existing workflow and time management and by someone intimately familiar with the industry that is using BigTime the cons below could be addressed upfront. The team at BigTime were difficult to get a hold of but once they were aware they worked like crazy to get us setup and working in the time frame we had. We moved our QBO file back to QBD (we had to do the testing on our own because the team at BT didn't know why job costing wasn't working in QBO) Once we moved back to QBD the job costing, invoicing, payroll work like a charm inside QBD. Hands down, it is the best integration with QBD of any practice management software out there... We had 2 people who spent 8 months testing many software solutions... most were lacking at least 1 "critical" requirement... Big Time was not. As we become aware and work through things like "terminology" we are becoming more and more confident in the workflow and keeping track of what is due when and who has what and what state the work is in. This is key as we go into tax season but also something we cannot live without on a day to day basis as 95% of our work is recurring on various time schedules. Thank yo

Cons

The wide range of terminology used in the software is confusing and causes errors to be made during implementation. Examples: Start Date and End Date... without these terms being defined you would think that start date is the day the work should begin and that End Date is the DUE DATE. Not so within Big Time. For recurring tasks, Start Date means Due Date in Big Time language. Another example: Completed vs Archived. Completed in most software solutions means that the job is finished or done; and archived means done and sent to storage with no recurrence nor future work is expected. In Big Time the term Archive means Completed or Finished or Done and removes the task from the workflow list and generates the next task in the reccurence. In BigTime the term Completed means something different... still unsure what it means because even when you update a task/project status to "completed" the task remains on the workflow list.

Pros

BigTime allows users from a variety of backgrounds to connect to the software from various platforms (desktop, laptop, smart phone) to track time per project, to track expenses on a daily basis with electronic submission of receipts, to run reports on time spent, to connect with external accounting software seamlessly.

Cons

the software has some limits on "naming" items that do not always correspond directly to our external software and do not fit within our company culture. (For example: In BigTime, billable means charged to the project, may invoiced or may not invoice. In our company culture, billable means an invoice will be sent for payment to the client.

Pros

I chose this software since cloud based access and integration with Lacerte and Quickbooks, my staff has found it easy to use.

Cons

Reports are very, very generic and lacking compared to other programs I have used

Pros

I like the functionality and how we were able to have some custom features made that are helpful for my job/company and how we use Bigtime.

Cons

I don't like that there are some advanced features offered but they are not completely working when I try to set them up.

Pros

I like the intuitive interface that generally does not confuse me. I also like that if I have a specific question, I can typically get it answered quickly through the support team.

Cons

1. I would love to have access to timesheet and expense review through the app on my phone
2. I would love a more hands on 'onboarding' process where someone really walked through the interface with Quickbooks for us as business owners

Pros

BigTime offers a comprehensive set of features for our business, including time tracking, project management, expense tracking, billing and invoicing, and reporting and analytics. They provide excellent customer support, with a dedicated team of experts.

Cons

The mobile app version of BigTime has fewer features than the desktop version. They have a lot of integration but customization options for reports are limited.

Pros

The integration with Quickbooks makes our lives much easier. The support staff is really good too - they always get back in a timely manner. The integrated task timer is a nice feature as well.

Cons

There isn't anything I really dislike about BigTime, but there are some features I wish it had (like automatically creating tasks in new projects)

Pros

Simple interface, fairly user friendly, and customer support!

Cons

The behind the scene formulas are not always intuitive - negatives mean positives and vice versa. There isn't a ton of flexibility with customizing the workflow as it relates to the process in our studio. For instance, we had to set up our tasks as labor codes and each timesheet entry that has a different labor code needs a new line. There is often a lot of back and forth to understand workarounds. Also trying to understand how to display something the way we want to see it is challenging and without the support we would have been lost.

Pros

One of our projects is in support stage.
Team of 15 people is still there on all lines of support.
The deal is that requests from our clients are coming at random moment of time and require from 1 hour to several days to handle.
I feel with BigTime it came to more order. Now we can form kind of backlog of client requests and also track time people spend for their processing. For clients that have series of similar requests, we are able to find past communication history and get all required stakeholders together to sort out things once and forever. From other side, some of clients have paid support contract with us. As they see how each of their requests is priced at the realtime they also prioritize their requests in more smart way.

Cons

I am unable to view most of reports on my mobile phone.
Also there's no way to create shortcuts for the most useful functions that sometimes are hidden deep inside the app.

Pros

As a startup architectural business, keeping track of billable time on jobs is of utmost importance. I just finished the implementation phase and I am extremely pleased with BigTime and the implementation staff. When making my decision to go with BigTime, I researched various companies. I found BigTime’s fee structure to be welcoming of startup businesses. Once we began the process of implementation, I realized that BigTIme is very robust and that I currently only need a small portion of what the software can do. My contact at BigTime was easy to work with and he let me lead the process and drill down to only what I need and exactly what I need. During one video call my contact invited a BigTime programmer to listen to what I was trying to accomplish. That step made all the difference and I am extremely grateful for the custom reports that were set up for me. It’s a good feeling to know that the fee structure and software capabilities of BigTime are all in place for me to grow my business. Thank you [SENSITIVE CONTENT] and BigTime!

Cons

Nothing to note yet. There might be something once I get farther in.

Pros

This software has really made it possible to track everything in one place and it can easily be customized to fit your type of business and how you operate. The customer service is second to none. The initial training is top notch and they can walk you through everything to help you get set up. They are quick to respond and get you through every problem you encounter along the way. Worth every penny

Cons

4 stars for "ease of use" is because of the flexibility to handle numerous types of companies the amount of options can be overwhelming but once it's set up correctly and can comprehend the work flow for your company it gets easier to manage changes and additions to your system. Some of the important functions in the system are often small text links hidden at the bottom of the screen and are hard to find especially if you're not used to navigating the system. It would be great if they update these to buttons on the screen in a place that is easier to find.

Pros

User friendly Dashboards however set up is much more than originally thought

Cons

More difficult to integrate with Quickbooks that originally told.

Alternatives Considered

Deltek Ajera

Reasons for Choosing BigTime

Improve Project management

Switched From

QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise

Pros

The ease of the timesheets is huge! Staff don't find it cumbersome. Then we use the timesheet detail report to show work done for the week on projects. This helps the President see where time is spent and then he advises what projects are ready for billing. The invoicing process is smooth as BT already has time spent allocated for the job and we in put and subcontractors and expenses. So all the information is in one place. The invoice can be approved right in BT and then sent to the client. Payments are logged right into BT and the BEST thing is that client/project information, invoices AND payments are ALL synced into Quickbooks. That was the selling feature for us.

Cons

We have just added BigTime Wallet - a feature allowing clients to pay invoices with a credit card or ACH just by using a link. We are just beginning to use it. Today we had some help from [SENSITIVE CONTENT] in figuring it out. I do wish the sales department had gotten us set up with technical support from the get-go. But we are making quick progress, again thanks to [SENSITIVE CONTENT].

Pros

The chat feature. Customer support are awesome and always help you work through the issues

Cons

Some of the screens are not conducive to all the changes we would like. But BigTime took our thoughts down and hopefully in newer versions they will be available.