JobBOSS² Reviews

Pros

JobBOSS as a standalone is good, with some nice Crystal Reports added on. What makes it great is that there are quite a few add-ons available (for Quality, CRM, etc.) , plus it it stores all of its data in a SQL format that works well with Microsoft products.

Cons

I work mostly in the Finance/Accounting side of the business. There are some basic things that could be added in the next version upgrades.

Pros

Ease of use and good tech support. Very similar to quickbooks

Cons

When allocating stock to jobs, unless it was purchased specifically for that job, it is a bit cumbersome so we had a custom report written to allow the tag number of the inventory to be scanned.

Alternatives Considered

Global Shop Solutions and Shop Boss

Reasons for Choosing JobBOSS²

JobBOss tech support was terrible and they were very expensive to add data collection modules.

Reasons for Switching to JobBOSS²

Tech support's demo of the product

Pros

In general, it's easy to use. Each module has similar buttons and interfaces. I think the AR/AP modules work well since it's not the primary focus of the software.

Cons

Quote entry has extremely limited ability to adjust margins (it can do it, but it's not easy). Adjusting margins are key for job shop environments. After speaking with support about my needs, they told me to quote outside of the system. Which means, I was literally told not to use your product.

Legacy fields get stuck in the system. There's a lot of clutter in our system because we need to change user defined fields but they're not available in the find/replace utility.

Scheduler is very poor. Difficult to use, glitchy. Doesn't (automatically) schedule for available labor resources, which is a huge part of a job shop environment. Reviewing scheduling during quoting doesn't account for current back load (or didn't at the time we last considered it).

The recent "facelift" was atrocious. It's actually a huge deterrent to updating versions. What benefit is this facelift to me?

My perception is that there will be no feature additions to the core product. Any improvements come in the form of custom utilities with additional cost.

Pros

The software can handle all the process in your facilities from sales to delivery to the customer.
form SO to the customer, pass throug jobs (WO) and invoices to delivery product. it handle fine partial delivery so it can be accurate all invoices.

Cons

once you have all modules set up. it can work. but you need to get assistance from an partner to get all the information and help to set up all the process. it can't be set by yourself.

Pros

Good first level entry product. Lots of options for expansion. Priced well. works well for most of what we do

Cons

Could be easier to use. Search in fields could search the whole field instead of just in order. Need ability to reschedule batches of jobs or ops. Looking in the future to need better paperless abilities for the floor. This would be drawings, capacity dashboards. Also as things become more connected we are going to need ability to integrate to nesting

Alternatives Considered

Global Shop Solutions and M1 ERP

Reasons for Switching to JobBOSS²

functionality & price. Bang for the buck. Overall we have been happy with it. But we have had to build a fair amount of custom apps.

Pros

I like the fact the you can route, have job costing, accounting, etc all in one area. For this type of application, this is the best software to choose from. Shoptech continues to make improvements and listens to the customers on where to improve.

Cons

The quality module needs improved as well as the scheduling. The repository in unusable.

Pros

E2 Shop is very user friendly! It is easy to navigate and easy to understand.

E2 Shop has the best customer service we have experienced and has a wonderful online discussion board and help documents to help along the way.

Cons

We have experienced a good amount of "glitches" and software "hang-ups" that require a system repair which we were advised to do every 2 weeks. (All have proven to be software related).

Pros

It was great at linking in-house employee hours jobs.

Cons

It was not easy for employees to change their time during the day/week. Managers had to edit it.

Pros

It did what we needed it to do. Monitor Inventory, Produce Quotes , Acknowledgements, Invoicing. Keep a History.

Cons

Need a basic scheduling of orders interface without buying another package.

Alternatives Considered

DELMIAworks

Reasons for Switching to JobBOSS²

It was able to do what we need it to do and Job Shop did not.

Pros

This software is very consistent throughout all modules which makes it very user friendly. Also, the customer service is excellent. Each time I have encountered any issues, I can get a technician on the phone immediately who can remote in and resolve my issue instantly. They are knowledgeable, communicate clearly, and very efficient.

Cons

There is a bit of a lag time in using the online version, but the data is secure and the updates are frequent. Also, it does not retain historical pricing information for cost of materials, which would be useful when analyzing particular material costs.

Pros

The way that E2 links all the different aspects together with various search functions. I can easily find ANYTHING i'm looking for and run so many reports to find out whatever information I want.

Cons

We still use the Access database version and it's only for PC. Two of us are dedicated Apple users, so that took some figuring out how to continue using Apple products with E2. There are only two reasons I haven't switched to the online hosted version - document type linking, and stable internet service.

Pros

The user interface is easy to understand and navigate. The routing and BOM functions work well. Outgoing paperwork (packing slips, vendor returns, RMAs...etc) are generated easily. The quality module works well for us. Ultimately its a great software for smaller job shops; ie, less than 25 employees.

Cons

The scheduling system doesn't work. The system consistently puts out a schedule that doesn't make sense. We are a quick turn, CNC machining job shop, and need a software that enables us to understand our capacity. Often times, jobs that are due tomorrow are on the second page of the report, and jobs that aren't due for 6 weeks are at the top of the list. We worked with tech support and cannot get a resolution. We implemented E2 in 2003 and only started trying to use the scheduling module in the last year. It was a great software initially, but now that we have grown we need software that does what we need it to do. Beyond that, items frequently go corrupt. Unprocessing and reprocessing anything (work orders, purchase order, NCs, CAPAs...etc) risk corrupting the file. If you double click on certain things the system crashes. If two people are in an item at the same time, quantities and/or lines duplicate. Once supplies are received or product is shipped, the system will not allow certain changes to be made. The personnel efficiency reports generate numbers that don't make sense. We've visited this repeatedly and cannot sort out a solution. Just last week I reviewed the efficiency reports for our production crew, and a job they were given 4 hours to setup showed "ESTIMATED SETUP" time of 2.27 hours. Our settings are correct but for some reason the system comes up with understated estimates, despite what we tell it to do.

Pros

This software has the ability to organize your business workings into manageable reports. Reports that you can tailor to you specific needs. The more you follow the simple rules of E2, the more benefits it can deliver. In my own business no two jobs are alike and no procedures for the jobs are identical yet E2 understands this principle and manages to sort data in such a clear manner as to help you with decisions going forward on all future work. I cannot give a higher recommendation on any other similar system.

Cons

1.) I wish I could control the "Markup Pct." column in the General Tab when entering parts. I feel this item should have strict control - administrator only! Any of my people entering a part has the ability to change this percentage at will. Many an argument has resulted from my becoming aware of someone making an adjustment to this column, I wish I could lock it!

2.) When processing a return, it writes back to the original Order and amends it. Now the "Order Total" changes. It should not change. The order total should still match the customer P.O. total. The simple code should be that the (Qty Ordered) X (Unit Price) goes to make up the (Order Total) UNLESS there is something in the 'Master Job Number' column. In this manner the customers P.O. amount would still match up to the Order Total

Pros

E2 has really helped us streamline all of our processes: from initially purchasing, through receiving, invoicing, check writing on the AP side; to processing POs from customers, generating orders, travelers, packing lists, and invoicing on the AR side. I can't imagine going back to what we did before! In the E2 system, once a part number/PO is entered, all of that information travels through all of the processes and handling of that item. No more repeated entries, with that time consumption and potential for error--one entry and you are done!--the processing of the PO or part number then goes through the whole shop and out the door. And I am not even including the ease of quoting and routing, which is less in my area of work, but is the area where most parts "begin" their life with us. E2 takes these parts all the way through, including the generating of Return Authorizations and credits when those are needed, in a seamless way.

Cons

Honestly, I can't think of any significant cons. We have had the occasional glitch or problem with usage, and there are some areas where I wish we could use the system even more, but for the massive amount of work we do use it for, it is excellent!

Pros

Being its cloud based that's great because it keeps you virtual anywhere anytime. The system randomly glitches and shuts down and when it does if you haven't saved your 3-5 quotes or orders all those hours of work is all lost.

Cons

The system isn't streamline. There aren't many good things to say. It's been a horrible experience.
Sales team over sold us on the product. When we launched with their cloud based system it was still in BETA which we where ok with at the time because they made us a deal to work with them while their in BETA and they wont charge for user maintenance thoughout the duration. Next thing i know problems still arent resolved and its out of BETA. That was 8 months ago when we found out, guess what problems still arent solved and they dont expect them to be for quite a while. Nor could they promised it would be solved.
Here is some ex's: You cannot download any CAD/CAM documents/drawings on their cloud based system. It has to be a image such as: PNG.. NOTE i said PNG and not PDF, DWG, DXF, STEP, etc. That really hinders our flow of operations from the office to the floor.
OVER WORKING YOURSELF: Every step takes 2-5 steps to complete. Such as: Making a simple print, whether printing piece of paper or emailing or viewing a document.
There accounting software is a joke. You cannot take Ccard transactions. We use SYnc option for QB's pro, That doesn't work at all. When it did work it wouldn't close out the invoice on shop side once its been transferred. Believe me when i say this ppl stay away there are MANY more problems than what was listed. I was warned before we bought it and should've listened.

Pros

The level of detail available about any project, material requirements for the project, routing steps, and tracking of progress.
A complete system available to manage every aspect of the shop from scheduling of employees and jobs, payroll, materials, and more.
XML support to allow you to use external programs to exchange data with JobBoss.

Cons

Inability to really drill down from a broad overview of projects in the shop down to specific details of a single job.
Customer support for using XML extremely limited. Poor documentation on using it.
Does not allow you to require completion of a routing step before beginning the next. Ability to track progress is 100% dependent upon employees logging into a job and recording their progress without any enforcement policy within the program.

Pros

E2 user for 13 years, sequel version. Most manufacturing companies hardly utilize more than 50% of an MRP/ERP, and don't put the effort to truly comprehend the system to ever fully utilize. In those cases, this would be a good system to use. It does a lot of muscle work for you if you use it right. If you are truly ok with simply letting their scheduling module spit out a generic schedule that is limited in work-ability, this would be a good system. The most updated version has more bells a whistles which is nice but for us was fundamentally lacking in real change and not worthy of the investment to upgrade - plus the fact it is an entirely new system where you would lose all your history was additionally disappointing.

Cons

The system has way too many issues. The purchasing module is as stagnant and rigid as it gets. No room for flexibility. The estimating module is also disconnected on very basic levels from the purchasing side. The scheduling module has not been updated in any sort of substantial way since the beginning and is entirely too slow to be of use if you actually want to actively manage your variables. It crashes a lot (and yes, we had it set up by them so no reason there). The support is BASIC. Within 1 year, I was more knowledgeable than the staff trying to help me with questions I had. Constant system issues where quantities duplicate on their own, or system crashes when running a report (which some of them take a really long time).

Pros

We're a growing company and as such have turn-over and new personnel growth. E2 is intuitive and our new employees seem to be able to adapt into the system with minimal effort and training. As the IT person here I have witnessed that peer-to-peer training seems to be all that is required to have that new person up and running on E2 within a short time and with little involvement from me, that's a big help! From Shipping and Receiving through final Billing, if our new hire has basic computing skills, their transition into that respective E2 function hasn't been a major training concern.

Cons

We're a service and repair facility and it took considerable effort improvising and rethinking to adapt the system into our way of doing things. Initially the software seemed to be over-kill and confusing for our needs but with time we were able to merge our methods with the system and adapt.

Pros

The thing I like most about E2 is that it is so user friendly. The process of training new employees is very simple due to the ease of E2. E2 is very functional. It works wonderful for all our departments: AR, AP, Quoting & Estimating, Receiving & Shipping, order entry & purchasing, job tracking and all accounting and inventory reporting. The online forum, tutorials and customer service alone are reasons enough to purchase E2. Their customer services is top rated. I have always received help and been completely satisfied with the results each and every time I've contacted E2.

Cons

The thing I dislike about E2 is orphans. Orphans are little glitches that are caused when something goes wrong. E2 doesn't go backwards very well, meaning you have to be very cautious when undoing / unwinding things. Some of my fellow employees fail to unwind things the proper way so we get an orphan occasionally. Although I must say, orphans are an easy fix for E2 customer service reps.

Pros

Once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy to navigate through. We do not utilize everything E2 has to offer. We create orders, packing slips, invoices and vendor PO's with E2. We are in an internet deadzone and have really bad service in the shop so we are unable to use the data collection portion and we use QuickBooks for our billing. for what we use it for it works great. The traveler make sense, creating packing slips and invoices is simple and the customer service is top notch.

Cons

The interface is not really intuitive, there was a big learning curve for my team. For example, when we were first trying to print job travelers we were hitting the "print" button in the top right. This was not the correct button. The correct button is "reprint" on the left side of the screen. Why would we be "reprinting" something that we haven't even printed yet? And why have two print options when one isn't even really an option? Another example with some of our frustrations is with the GL accounts. You have to assign an account to a tool in order for it to be properly assigned in QuickBooks. When invoicing, you are required
to enter what GL account you would like that invoice assigned to, but it does nothing. The GL accounts are attached to tools, not invoices. If you do your bookkeeping in QuickBooks it is pointless. It would be really helpful if you could assign your GL account in the invoicing stage, but you can't.

Pros

The product is a comprehensive job tracking system. When using the individual "modules" in the correct order in creating parts, quotes, jobs, purchases, shipments, etc. you will be able to trace, track, run reports and get great information. Shoptech as a vendor has always been extremely helpful when you contact them. You will not sit on hold for hours like with some other vendors. You will find both basic information and more extensive information on their website either through webinars, help papers, virtual training classes and also User Discussion Boards. Should you not find the information which you are seeking, their staff is very informative and will not leave you in a bind.

Cons

The vendor is very upfront about what their system will and will not accomplish. I miss my accounting bells and whistles with having real time reporting at my finger tips (however, they do provide a "Quick-view" area in which to get real time data for various areas in the system such as job status, parts/customer/vendor inquiries and information, PO status, etc. The worst issue that I can state is that in order to take a look at where items are hitting the G/L, the month in question has to be posted. In order to make any changes, the months have to be unposted. Users should not be in the "Accounting area" when this is being done. AND the worst part in using the audit trail to see which user possibly edited something, no matter where in the system, the audit trail will only tell you who viewed, possibly edited, but will not give you further information to solve your puzzles as to who did what, when and why.

Pros

I have used multiple ERP systems some of them rather expensive with a large learning curve, when I went looking for a ERP system for our machine shop, one of the leading criteria was that the ERP would have, or support the AS9100 standard. E2 was the only one that offered a QA module to help create our AS9100 documentation, then as a bonus E2 had a consultant come out and help set up our AS9100 Quality Management System, to top it off, another consultant came back out a few month later to do an audit of our documentation to make sure we were ready to take on the AS9100 registrar. E2 does have an AP & AR module however we wanted to be able to keep our financial information separate in QuickBooks, this ERP system allows you to flow order and purchase order information seamlessly from E2 to QuickBooks by syncing this information over. I really hope companies that are looking for an ERP system make E2 their choice. I did a lot of painstaking research on this and wish I would have found reviews of ERP systems like this to help me along. E2 does what it takes to run a business effectively and as an added surprise the software is cost effective as well.

Cons

The only Area I have had a challenge with would be the timeclock buzzer, the timeclock portion is provided by one of E2's partners and we recently had the buzzer stop working well, the e2 sofware is pinging the correct signal however the buzzer is not working correctly. So really this doesnt seem to be a E2 issue it is a computerwise issue (computerwise is the timeclock system)

Pros

Easy use for an ERP System. I enjoy all the help and support when I was leaning this software a few years ago. the transition from the old software to the new software was very easy. Your team is very helpful when teaching others how to use the software. The classes are a huge help. Thank you.

Cons

I could see improvement in offering the old live classes in the old E2 software. My old job, I used the old software then transitioned my team to the new we based software. Now, I am back using the old software until I move them to the web based software, and the classes are only in the new web based software, so it is difficult to teach a new team how to use this software when the video's only show the new web based version.

Pros

Experience: We are a small family owned business that needed to get ISO certified as a requirement by our customer. We did our research and E2 was the best company to offer shop control and offer ISO certification. We have been using E2 since 2012, we have been ISO certified since 2012. We were eager and became ISO certified within 6 months (take a lot of work and dedication to get it done quickly).

Overall E2 has been a great resource for us.

Pros: The software is easy to use, the information that you are able to get from reports is helpful (only as good as the information put in).

Easy for all employees to use with all computer skill levels.

ISO documentation was extremely helpful with becoming ISO certified.

Customer service is always helpful, you always get a real person to help you with your needs.

Cons

Software does not allow you to do multiple things at once, it is very simplistic which might be best.

Difficult to customize it to you specific needs, it can be done but there is a cost for that. If you are a start up company this software would be great to get you going with all aspects, if you are an established company you might need to adjust how you do things.

We still do all of our accounting and customer quoting from QuickBooks as that works best for our company.

We do not use E2 for scheduling as we are a fast pace job shop and things change on the fly and difficult to schedule within the software.