Jonas Construction Software Erfahrungen

Long Time User

Kommentare: I have been very satisfied and happy with Jonas. Their improvements and new ideas every year are very beneficial to my company. In the beginning of our purchase of Jonas, project management was new, and since then ( almost 10 years ago), it has come such a long way, and has continuous improvements. The changes and the growth that has been made over the last 10 years has made my company more productive, has allowed us to analyze, keep track of certain important items ( job related, and human resource related) and help us grow our company, since we know we can handle any situation internally.

Vorteile:

There are many things I love about Jonas. Here's just a few 1. The structure of the entire software, for example, how the trial balance ties into the general ledger, which then can tie into your job costing and your work orders. In addition to consolidating financial statements. 2. When a mistake is made, you can not delete it. It's there for good. You can fix it, but not delete it. This actually helps when needing to figure something out months later. 3. Job costing module, especially for gross profit analysis. This is very robust module, and works amazing to analyze on a company basis or at a job level basis. 4. Restrictions or an individual user, or a group of users. There are not only restrictions by module, but by button, by job etc. Security and restrictions for administrators all the way to super intendents is great. There have been many times where we have allowed a project manager to do something, and then we realized they shouldn't have access, and we made the change instantaneously.

Nachteile:

There isn't much that I dislike about Jonas, but there are a couple of items I believe need improvement: 1. Procedures on how to do a specific task, including tricks and short cuts. There is an online module for all procedures, but doesn't give you everything. 2. Jonas Contacts, not very easy to use. Understanding where to create a contact ( job related or non job related), where the contacts are kept, as well as needing more people in my company to understand how to use it.

I am Happy Long-term Client that has been using Jonas since 2001

Kommentare: Great trainers who are very knowledgeable and professional. They work with us to troubleshoot any issues we are having with prompt response time!

Vorteile:

We found Jonas easy to learn because they have THE BEST trainers and customer support. We have gotten to know that staff over the years and they are awesome! Doesn’t matter if we have big or small questions - they are always willing to help us. We use the system for A/R, A/P, G/L, Payroll, Project Management, Service Management, Inventory, and Equipment. The reporting is the best part because we are able to fully drill down and see how all projects are doing at any point in time. We’ve also been able to grow our service management side because of their Dispatch Board and the mobile solution. We love it!!! And last but not least, the payroll makes my life so much easier, having both union and non-union – this makes it a breeze. As a Union Electrical Contractor working in over ten different locals in California, this is imperative to have this functionality. Jonas Software has changed the way the company operates, saving time, making things more organized, and more proficient. Jonas is always listening to clients and they truly care and live up to their promise of being a partner rather than just a provider. We are able to have full insight into our business and we’ve been able to grow because of the software!

Nachteile:

At this time I can not think of any cons.

An accounting-focused software that focuses on the minutia instead of general ease of use.

Vorteile:

Jonas creates an almost sterile accounting environment where every move is tracked and audited, increasing visibility of individual tasks. Processes are broken down into very small steps which can be helpful if you're looking for an audit trail. The mobile portion (emobile) of Jonas Enterprise is a valuable addition for field workers and dispatchers alike.

Nachteile:

Visually the interface leaves much to be desired. Scale and size are unchangeable and there are many screens and modules that are so miniscule as to render them unreadable. Mobile-wise the visuals get better but are not quite user friendly for service individuals in the middle of a job. Jonas creates such a lengthy process for every single task that it can seem like you are taking 7 steps that could have been accomplished in one. While the audit function of Jonas is a highlight for the developers, as an ordinary user I can say it is something I never use but is incorporated into everything I do whether I like it or not. Boasted as a "true accounting software" I can't help but imagine it was an accountant's evil fantasy to produce such a laborious process to accomplish small daily tasks. When Jonas is forced to go big, it fails spectacularly. Financial reporting is and general overview is so fuzzy and diluted it's almost useless. Because Jonas creates so much data on the micro scale, large reports and financial analysis provides very little useful information. Drill down does not exist in the true sense of the word.

Excellent Company and Great Software

Kommentare: I think the largest benefit of Jonas is not the software itself, but the people you'll work with. They are a well run organization, and just by their example have helped us improve. The annual User Conference is a great way to interact with Jonas employees, give your input on future development, and meet other Jonas customers with similar concerns to your own.

Vorteile:

We are an MEP contractor with a little over 100 employees in four operating locations. Jonas fits our needs very well. Our previous software did not provide the data we needed to be able to best run our business, especially when it came to multiple operating divisions in multiple locations. We can now easily see profitability on our construction jobs at any point in the project, we are more organized in our service department, and our A/R has improved.

Nachteile:

As with any of these software products, it took us a while to get acclimated to Jonas. The test company they set up before we went live was helpful, but it still takes time to get used to how it all works. Now that we've had time, we are all comfortable with how to navigate the software and get the information we need.

Our Jonas experience has been an excellent move for our business.

Kommentare: We have experienced increased productivity on the administrative side of our business and higher accuracy in all areas.

Vorteile:

eMobile and Dispatch Scheduler have helped us to respond to customer service requests in a more organized and timely manner. The integration part of this software has increased our productivity enormously. No more paper work orders! And has made the accounting side of our business seamless from service tech to customer invoice. Payroll accuracy has increased and timeliness of getting invoices out to customers has increased because of the techs ability to use devices to complete work orders and we are not waiting for them to be turned into the office.

Nachteile:

I find the Job Costing module very cumbersome. The job invoicing is a little arduous. When doing multiple customers for monthly draws, it is very time consuming to have to go in and out of each job to invoice. Also, if you do not have a bill to set up in accounts receivable you have to exit the job master, then go to AR to set up the bill to and back into the job master to finish your set up.

Kommentare: We have used Jonas for over 1 1/2 years. However, we have recently changed to another software company. The reason we went to Jonas was because our previous system was DOS based and did not have a strong service package. We have a fast growing service department which has increased from approximately 15 techs to over 30 techs in the last 5 years. After reviewing multiple companies we felt Jonas was the best selection for service. However, there was a problem with Jonas on the contracting side. We could not "trust" our numbers. The program would give us different amounts for the same project. It really had problems in retention amounts that differed from 10% retention. I think that some of the problem was our input. It was not easy and for whatever reason we decided (for Jonas) that we should have decentralized inputting of information. Therefore we had project managers inputting information. In the past that was always a function of support staff. Another negative is that they are a Canadian company and the way they perform some of their business practices are different than what we perform. The function and terminology is different. The people are extremely helpful, however. The positives about Jonas is that our service liked the service options available. If you have a service company that does not have a large contracting base I think they would be OK. There is a lot of information in Jonas that can be used to analyze your company. There are also some very good items like the hand held devices and customer information feed back loops, customer scheduling and a very good dispatch board.

Jonas & Emobile

Kommentare: Being able to use Jonas and Jonas Emobile has made things much easier and eliminated the duplication of running two seperate systems.

Vorteile:

I like that we can all use one system, from the administration, to accounting and the technicians using the Emobile application. You can easily extract service information, maintenance information or accounting related information.

Nachteile:

Creating reports and making your own documents is not easy. And though we love the addition of Emobile, we do run into problems that require help from the Jonas Support Team.

Flooring contractor / reseller - after 6 years of Jonas experience

Vorteile:

The software handles WIP reporting very well. The subcontractor module provides good controls. The design of sales tax location codes provides good flexibility in sales tax reporting. The product has well-integrated applications. The F2 lookup ability in modules is consistently designed and very helpful.

Nachteile:

1) I would like more standard reporting capabilities. Some reports need Report Generator reports to create. Others require DataMart. DataMart can obtain good results, but it is too complex for anyone but a programmer to design. Almost all contractors have to deal with reporting workers comp and sales taxes, so these reports should be part of a standard product and not need custom programming. 2) During conversion in 2008, it was difficult to fully convert existing data into Jonas and also tie everything to jobs. 3) Portions of the programming have fields with too few characters available. Examples are the Customer PO field in Job Cost and A/R, along with the part number field in inventory.

Small construction/service company.

Vorteile:

Lots of features and fairly easy to use. Customer support, when we've needed it, has be good and typically provided in a timely manner.

Nachteile:

Old interface. 15 character limit on inventory items (and having to use alternate part numbers) needs to be fixed. Even the alternate part numbers are too small for many of our parts. Purchase order numbers, and cheque numbers are too short. New modules seem like add-ons to the base program, rather than a complete integrated solution. Inability to access some fields for custom reports. Some built in reports are poorly implemented.

Dated but Functional

Kommentare: At the end of the day this software does what it needs to do. From an administration perspective it can be difficult to manage.

Vorteile:

Jonas software is reliable and gets the job done. The functions of the software meets the business need.

Nachteile:

This software tends to be rather finnicky to get running in any environment. Frequent issues are often frustrating to resolve with support. Their reps tend to be hit and miss I've dealt with very helpful and completely useless support agents when reaching out for help.

Do not purchase

Kommentare: Terrible. The customer service is not friendly and they blame you for everything that doesnt work or they give you a work around a work around a work around and they NEVER give you a valid reason why the modules never work correctly!

Vorteile:

The sales team promotes things that do not exist in this software. They told us the software does everything we need it to do and it definetly does not.

Nachteile:

Nothing works correctly EVER. I process payroll weekly and constantly have to double check sometimes triple check what the software does and does not do. PO system does not work like they told us it does. We can't put in a full invoice number from our vendors because of the character limit. Fixing things in Jonas is near impossible.

11 Years of Loyality!!

Kommentare: When we first came on board with Jonas in 2007 we had some issues being an excavation contractor in Pennsylvania with the state Prevailing wages, taxes, etc. but Jonas worked through those issues with us and now I highly recommend them!! I have been on many different software packages and Jonas is my favorite!!

Vorteile:

Have always loved the support and ease of logging a support call. Staff is very knowledgeable!! Updates are easy to load. Jonas listens to clients needs for any changes that benefit the client.

Nachteile:

I have nothing bad to say about Jonas. I have never had any thing to complain about with them. Everything is great!

We are in the business of construction not IT or software

Vorteile:

It was much less expensive than many of the others we looked at. The service module is robust and we like the idea of the dispatch board. The payroll module is better than what we were using before

Nachteile:

Absolutely terrible customer service. The software is not intuitive so unless you are an IT guru it is not easy to use or write reports. The report writing function doesn't work the same in each module. No dashboards. I am looking elsewhere after only 3 years

Unhappy with training.

Vorteile:

The software has a lot to offer and many great features. It is very flexible and you can reall drill down cost and overhead with all of the reporting.

Nachteile:

The trainer that we were assigned did not understand accounting for construction and new even less about the software. When we finally complained about the trainer they switch trainers and did not credit us for any training and left us with a company file that was set up incorrectly. They said they could help fix it but it would be another charge for the extra support. Now three months later they do not return our emails. The software is very complicated without training you will really struggle.

Excellent software with good support at a reasonable price.

Kommentare: Overall we are quite satisfied with the product, the people we have dealt with and Jonas' support.

Vorteile:

Fully featured, integrated accounting package. The Job Costing is detailed and the range of reports is extensive.

Nachteile:

Setup was time consuming and the inability to enter field hours and usage without an internet connection is not good.

Jonas Accounting Software

Kommentare: Awesome

Vorteile:

Multi User, able to handle large Corporation, expandable, great support, strong company with resources available to assist product users.

Nachteile:

Learning curve but well worth an accountants time, excellent support not a lot of negative to say except this sentence is way to long.

Integrated system for service & construction

Vorteile:

All in one system; all employees use the same system. Both service and install departments have specific functionalities

Nachteile:

After 6 years using Jonas, I can tell that if you have a recommendation on how to make Jonas better, the management team will listen to you.

Jonas Review

Kommentare: I use Jonas, Field Time and EBI, overall it has been a good experience.

Vorteile:

Jonas is very user friendly and sleek looking.

Nachteile:

Cons are the reporting. I do not like that layout of the reporting and the functionality of working in the reports.

Complete ERP Solution

Kommentare: I am a consultant that works with utility contractors and construction companies. I have worked with many different type of companies with a range of different ERPs. This variety has put me in a unique position to comment on Jonas compared to others. Jonas fits the construction business very nicely. With solid fundamentals of an Enterprise ERP (accounting modules) it rounds out the system with powerful modules for construction companies (project management, job costing, job views/reporting, document management, job tracking/profit/expenses, etc.) The beauty of this system is that all the modules are fully integrated just as you would expect. I have been directly involved in implementing the document management system, Digio, and it saved my client thousands of dollars per month. Also, paying bills electronically (EFT) has reduced fraud along with all the postage and labor of sending out cheques. Because Jonas has been around for many years is has best practices built into every process. The downside of its maturity is that some of the old reports are not as pretty as the new ones. Another negative, is the complexity of the report generator. It is very powerful which makes it harder to learn. Probably the most important highlight of the Jonas organization is their support. After the sale you get more attention than before. Technical phone support is outstanding.

Worst job cost software that I have ever used

Vorteile:

There is nothing about this software that I like.

Nachteile:

Every module has issues and it is obvious that it was not written by an accountant

Kommentare: Our company services the commercial and industrial fuel service industry. Our major customer is Shell, and we target other customers such as the local municipal governments and transit authorities. We are also involved in the construction of fuel dispensing systems, vehicle wash systems and hoists. We implemented Jonas about two and a half years ago, and have been very satisfied with its performance. We were using another system at the time, but the functionality of our previous system did not suit our needs for the construction or service side of our business. Jonas offered better functionality through the work order module to better handle our large volume of service calls. It also allowed us to better manage our costs in our construction department with better reporting tools. The implementation went well with some minor hiccups that were resolved quickly by the implementation team. I needed about 4-5 months to get up to speed with the software, from start to the day we began using Jonas exclusively. The training experience was very good, with the trainers arriving in our office for face-to-face training time. The #1 reason that I would recommend Jonas to other users is for its support staff. Jonas's technical support has been exceptional. They are quick to respond - when I was a new user and had to call them almost every day, I felt I was still a valued customer and not someone annoying them all the time.

Customer support is terrible

Vorteile:

Accounts payable module works, but any accounting software can do that.

Nachteile:

I have been using this software for the past 7 years and find the support staff doesn't really know what they are doing. When you finally get to a programmer (which typically takes days), they fix the problem. Not always. Then if you do have a procedural question, the help manuals are impossible to navigate to the specific spot you need help with. So again you call support and your question get put onto log. Lately it takes over a day to get a phone call back. It's not helpful at all, and it's frustrating really.

Extremely happy with Jonas Software.

Vorteile:

I like the Accounting part of this product, being able to drill down and see exactly where the information is coming from as well as being able to see who did what and on what terminal. I also like the reporting capabilities that Jonas offers. I also think that the customer support is outstanding! Thank you Jonas! You have a great team!

Nachteile:

I think that the contracts have been probably the weakest link for me. I would like to see more discussions on the service contracts. It would be nice to have more than one session offered at the conference on Service Contracts. We are still relatively new with this software (April 2013) so I am still learning.

Horrible

Vorteile:

The one thing I do like is that you can customize reports. This is probably the only good thing about this software.

Nachteile:

Everything else about this software is bad. The customer service us horrible, the accounting system has glitches all the time, Information is hard to find in all of the menus they list. These menus are ones that were customized for other companies but show up on your menus. There are some items within the menus that cannot be accessed because they are old yet they do not remove them. Trying to pay out retention is a nightmare. Do not make any mistakes or have to change anything in parables because anything you do will print on the suppliers remittance slip. Lets not even go into customer service what a joke this company is horrific.

Kommentare: We are a formwork subcontractor, and were looking for an integrative system to gather data from all aspects of our construction process. At the time we were shopping around, I had no idea how integrative software systems work. It was a bit of a shock to realize how dynamic they can be, and they definitely require a lot of study and application to get up and running. If your organization has someone who is familiar with integrative systems, they can be an excellent resource to utilize when picking a system. There really are a lot of factors to consider, and someone with integrative software system experience will have a better idea of what to look for. We currently are two years into the process, and only now are we getting to use the system in a practical manner. We bought Jonas two years ago and really liked some of the features they have. The eTimesheets feature is very cool, and the document management system is very effective. With all of these features available to us, it is up to us to work with the system to get optimum performance, not the other way around. I am happy with how Jonas has worked for us, and for the price range, we feel it is a very good product.