Premier Reviews

Pros

Job Budget control screen and interactive reports on job costs in real time. Implementation team was phenomenal at helping to deal with the challenges of leaving an inferior software.

Cons

The migration from quickbooks was very challenging and time consuming. But that is much more an indictment of quickbooks than it is of Jonas.

Pros

This a robust software that includes both financial management and project management functions. Having both functions under one platform is fantastic for our operations team. The full suite of project management functions means that we do not need additional software to fill gaps in functionality. The best feature is the customer support! The team at Premier actively seeks our feedback, always makes themselves available when we have major issues or simple questions, and the actually use the feedback to develop new features that make the software easier to use. The fact that we can make a suggestion and have it implemented in a relatively short time frame is extremely valuable to us.

Cons

At the start there is a bit of a learning curve, but the software is very intuitive so people learn quickly. There were some modules that were slightly cumbersome but Premier has been pushing significant updates that have solved those issues and expanded functionality significantly.

Pros

I like most about Jonas Premier is that they are always developing new improvements and are always working with their clients to make sure they get the most out of the software with fast response to questions and willingness to set up 30+ minute meetings with a specialist to address any concerns at no cost.

Cons

Adding a feature to notify internal mangers of pending approvals would be a great benefit.

Pros

Although I do not like the program I have been impressed with the support I receive when needed. Tharani has been an amazing help to me.

Cons

The amount of steps to create anything!

Pros

Onboard training was excellent. Support for questions or issues after implementation is excellent. Web-based software so employees and owners can view and add information from where ever they are working. Plus backup is current and ME rollover is smooth and doesn't require lots of processing to accomplish. Lots of reporting options and owners find the information easy to locate and readily available for review as needed. Very intuitive to use once for day to day activities.

Cons

Lien waivers need improvement - difficult to use. Premier is in the process of updating this feature and we are excited for that to be rolled out.

Pros

We are very pleased with the software. The ability to connect project management with accounting has made us much more efficient. Overall, we are excited about our decision. What makes Premier an even better decision for us, is the customer service and support staff. We have had the pleasure of working with Aisha over the past couple of months to iron out some of our implementation process and she has gone over and above any of our expectations.

Cons

There have been some learning curves coming from QB. In my opinion, QB has set a standard for accounting softwares where the rest of the industry has followed suit. Cons are not necessarily from the software, but in breaking habits that had become "our" normal.

Pros

I love the Project manager dashboard. It makes it easy to click on hyperlinks to find all the details I need and to explain my needs to non- accountants.
The price point is amazing, I was unable to find another ERP solution in the market at the price point
I love that I can click on a number in the Income Statement Report and all the details are displayed
Unlimited document storage is great!
The workflows for approvals of AP, PO, and CO is very helpful too- no more paper!

Cons

The foreign exchange functionality could be improved, but at there is foreign exchange of any kind at this price point.
I would like more help after implementation with making custom reports/ webinar on how to customize system. Its too busy during the implementation to work on customization
I don't like forced password resets
The mobile AP could use improvement, very slow when entering labor time hours

Pros

This is a proper accounting system that encourages the disciplines that promotes scalability, completeness and consistency in operations. An outgrowth of that are the tools and processes that support the financial project management aspects including job cost tracking, reporting and billing. The controls around change orders, other modifications to the original contract, subcontractor compliances and a host of other facilities allow for professional and thorough handling of the real aspects of custom home building and large renovation projects.

Cons

Transaction-level automation... with time as a crucial element in a fast-paced environment, I would like to see feeds from our financial institutions so that manual re-keying is a thing of the past. I hear they are working on this, as I realize it is no small task and is very expensive to implement). In a mobile world, the IOS app should be included and be robust enough to get work done in the field ( I've never used it because we don't have a subscription to it).

Pros

We really love the ability to automate several functions of the project management duties. Before, we were keeping a variety of spreadsheets updated manually to track certain functions, sometimes touching the same information multiple times. Now, we input the data into Premier once, and we're able to report on the financial data, for example, multiple ways with just a few clicks.

Cons

We'd like to see them enhance their accounting system specialties, such as partnering with a payroll processing company and an employee expense tracking solution (such as Concur) to streamline both payroll and tracking of credit card expenses. Having these functions automated as part of the Premier package would really help out!

Pros

Quickly generating Change Orders, POs for all projects and the ability for the software to handle RFIs, Submittals and Transmittals for US Government projects kept systems organized well.

During the original set up, the tutorials and training were very well done.

Cons

Having an option for internal payroll through Jonas would be a helpful option.

Pros

It is easy to get around the software. It is great to store all documents in one area. The drill down capabilities make it easy to get to documents without having to do dig for paper in a file.

The financial reports are amazing. There are so many options it is great. You can make your own, but the canned solutions make month end reporting a snap.

There is a job dashboard that will show you everything about a job at a glance. I am in this quite often for varying reason. There is a lot of information in a snapshot.

I like that Jonas listens to the users and implements options that make sense. I also have a main go to person for customer service. He is amazing and listens. While he may not always agree, he will point out the reasons my solution will not work. Most of the time, he takes it to the team to further action.

They have a great online search area. While there isn't a ton of people contributing, there are a good number that are consistent with good best practice advise (users like me).

Cons

Check writing with lien waivers is a bit cumbersome. I can't wait for lien waiver tracking to be automated. There are so many fields we use, but Jonas doesn't use them in any way. For example: email addresses are just there, it would be nice if you could email people directly using these fields (invoices and pay apps?)

Adhoc reporting does need some help. I am used to being able to get to all the fields and I cannot always get to the field I need.

Pros

1. Full service software
Jonas is a full service software that includes original estimates, subcontract creation, change orders, progress billing, T&M billing, RFIs, data management, and much more. Everything is included under one roof so instead of having to bounce back and forth between multiple programs we can access almost everything we need in one place.

2. 6 weeks of amazing training!
The training and implementation aspect of this software was excellent. The team is friendly, professional, helpful, and always willing to answer questions (and I asked a TON of questions) and help us figure out how to make Jonas work for our company. I really appreciated that they helped train us in best practices and showed us ways to improve upon our current processes. We loved having people to hold our hands and guide us through the process.

3. Organization
I really love the flow of the software and how well it organizes our jobs in an easy to use system. It's quite robust and takes time to learn, but once we're up and running I know we will be so grateful to be able to perform so many operations with the click of a button. No more hunting down important info in emails, printed documents, or computer files. We'll be able to access so much information in a short amount of time.

Cons

Learning anything new takes time and effort. There was definitely a lot to learn but Jonas emails us all of the training videos so we can access them at any time and there's a ton of support once we Go Live. We're a small team, so it felt like a lot of work, but that's normal with any new software implementation. If you have a small amount of employees, you'll really need to manage your work hours well so you can continue running your business and handle all of the training and implementation. We did it, and you can too!

Pros

To prioritize the pros of this software as compared to the traditional out of the box type softwares in its category, I have to say the overwhelming advantage of Jonas is the people who handle your transition into the implementation of this software tool to your company or companies.
I mean, who cares how extensive and exhaustive the features are if you don't have a personalized team to help you get up and running.
I personally don't quite understand how they are able to offer this type of personalized customer service for each client. They learn your business and how to best organize it and even tailor the software to meet your needs. I've never experienced this before. They listen to what you need and then come back with modifications or a different approach to continually streamline your day to day operation. You are assigned a team from the beginning, actual human beings that you interact with on a first name basis. They are on top of things, and that's really comforting for someone who is a habitual procrastinator.
They make your daily tasks a breeze with minimal effort.
I like that it is an online application. I can access it from any device. Really handy when looking up stuff on a phone while I'm on site - a suppllier invoice, contract, plan, sketch, etc...
The user interface is very simple, everything is right there on one screen and not buried under a hidden tree of drop-down menus.
You can create your on short list of favorites on the fly.
The document manager is like having your own unlimited DropBox portal but with the advantage that the search capabilities are infinitely more powerful and logical, as the software stores all of your documents that you upload, attach or link for you to find through multiple queries as opposed to DropBox where if you forget the name of the file, good luck finding it.
Very handy in my business as a builder is the tracking of subcontractor compliances that can be set up to block payment or at least warn on payment of a sub if he's late on a particular compliance. This was a real problem before. Who has time to constantly check and harass these guys for compliances. Just don't pay them and see how quick they email you that compliance .

Cons

Only complaint is that the software initially seems to be more set up for sub-contractors rather than general contractors and developers. I also buy land and build independantly so the accounting is quite a bit different as I have to capitalize expenses and revenue at completion of projects and jobs if I want to maintain a positive cash flow.
The consequence of this is that the customer service team has to re-adjust to first understand the very different accounting that I need to have in place and from that point make adjustments and tailor the software so it suits my needs.

Pros

Jonas is incredibly robust, especially for anyone in the construction industry. The multitude of project reports in Jonas Premier allows you to completely understand the profitability of projects (in real time and with the ability to drill down in problem areas) and to quickly make adjustments. When you're dealing with multi million dollar projects, the ability to pivot quickly is critical for ensuring you're meeting your anticipated profitability.

The support team at Jonas is amazing! Whenever I'd encounter a process that I wasn't familiar with or something didn't seem to be working the way I anticipated, they were quick to provide information and support documentation that would help me to better understand.

Cons

Jonas as more of a learning curve than I'd anticipated. While it follows all accounting principles, usability is not quite as easy as Quickbooks - nor should it be, as Jonas has far more features for project management! But once I had worked with the software for a couple of months and understood the processes for dealing with changes in distribution or reversing journal entries, everything made far more sense. I now consider myself fairly fluent in Jonas Premier and prefer working in it over other accounting programs I've used.

Pros

We are currently in the training phase and are about half way through. I love that during training we have live webinars with the trainers and are able to ask questions and follow along in our test environment. Trainers are very knowledgeable and patient and the webinars are designed to be easy to follow along! The provided recordings of the webinars are a big help in going back and working in the test environment on your own afterwards. The webinars are followed up by one on one calls to discuss your company's specific needs and to dig deeper into specific areas; these sessions have been incredibly helpful and I highly recommend taking advantage of them. Coming from an environment that has done all of its project management manually, this is a huge conversion for us and based on everything we are experiencing during training, we made the right decision to go with Jonas!

Cons

So far in training, there isn't anything I don't like about the software, as we are still digging in and learning our way. Some modules are easier to follow along than others, although I think that has a lot to do with personal preference (I enjoy the PM training sessions much more than the accounting). I think for me my biggest frustration with the training is the scheduling of the webinars. As the person leading the conversion, but also having to accomplish my regular work on a daily basis, two back to back hours of webinars twice a week is sometimes difficult to manage and I find myself having to skip or leave early at times. If i could change anything it would be maybe to have a morning and afternoon session instead of back to back.

Pros

We enjoy the scalability and functionality of Jonas. As a small business, it allows us to function at a much larger scale with less woman-power.

Previous to using Jonas, we were doing most business functions manually, such as AP, AR, and Subcontracts. In the last year, we have been able to integrate these processes into Jonas which has improved workflow tremendously! We love the reporting options we have and how we can get real-time​ information without having to search through a bunch of emails and hard files.

The release of the Sub Pay App has been heaven sent for us! It has eliminated all confusion on contract amounts, approved change orders, and our subcontractors submitting various different invoice formats at various different times in the month. Our subs find the process easy to use and our admins get all the information they need with one click. ​

Cons

We have noticed in working in certain areas that even after saving and refreshing the tabs, we will have to completely log out and log back in to see changes.

It is also very difficult to correct/delete certain things after they have been processed. We understand this is to protect the integrity of our data, however,​ there have been times when we would have liked to override/remove items for our own ease of use. ​

Pros

Speed, versatility, customer support, and friendly staff. When work/construction was scarce for our company, you took the time to help us come up with a payment plan. The reporting is amazing! You have made a lot of changes in regards to being “user friendly” AKA the ability to delete. Keep this going! Pending AP Invoice Report is also a great addition. I am grateful for your monthly webinars followed by the taped session to refer back to. Dashboard is fresh…love it!

Cons

On reporting such as the financial statement report we see -#’s different then we are accustom to. When the number is negative it shows in positive and when positive it shows in negative (with bracket). Can that be reversed? Since the new update I have posted some items and they don’t show up on other tabs unless I logout and back in (even after refresh) this has happened 3 times. When a change order is rejected its unable to be modified. I would like more opportunity to drill down into reports.

Pros

1) The software is very user-friendly, the upgrades are very useful and the support is good.
2) Cloud Based - can be accessed from any where.
3) The development team does listen to recommendations for software use and tries
to develop and implement those suggestions.

Cons

1) We had a very difficult startup and implementation period. Our recommendation would be to someone looking into the software - Once you go through the group training, there should be one on one training to custom the software to the individual organization's needs. We were rushed through the training and right into one-on-one. We did not have enough time to convert the information from our old system in order to know what questions to ask.
2 ) We have issues with the software rounding, so reports and invoices are out of balance by pennies.
3 ) Could not use the mobile app - The APP does not work for Daily Reports

Pros

Jonas Premier has surpassed our expectations. Premier has reduced the overall time we spend on accounting procedures every month, allowing us to focus more of our attention on our customers needs, estimating, and selling jobs. There are many reports to make sure we stay on top of our AP and AR. Although we haven't started to use the Subcontract portion of the software yet, we are hopeful that it will streamline our subcontract agreement process. The Accounts Payable section is extremely easy to use, and with the Jonas Premier add-in for Excel, entering new information is a breeze.

Cons

There are still a few small things that need to be worked out, mostly ease of use features. Sometimes it can be a bit difficult to remember to post your work; for example, we pay bi-weekly, timecards must be posted each week, and then again at the end of the pay period. So, for a two week time period, I have entered and posted timecards on two occasions, but then after the second week is posted, you have to post the whole payroll period in a separate location.

Pros

- Ease of Use
- Modern UI (i hated some software that looked like it was an updated DOS. This software has an almost gmail-life feel).
- good integration between accounting and pm tasks and responsibilities
- very good customer support. they are very responsive to our questions, and very open to suggestions.
- Ideas portal: separate software support & feedback where software developers actually listen to users and may incorporate our ideas into the next software update

Cons

- customer support time zone. software is located on North America eastern coast, so for me in california, there's only a 4 hour window or so when you can real-time discuss (via zoom, phone, etc).
- some accounting features not as strong as QB. (this is a good/bad kinda issue). bad in that one doesn't have the flexibility to make changes like one would in QB, but good in that it actually forces you to be more GAAP minded
- could use more out of the box accounting reports; and or report customatization (similar to QB)

Pros

The software is web based which makes set up/maintenance a breeze. It's intuitive and flexible which makes day to day tasks much easier. We reviewed multiple options, but Jonas was the one best suited to our needs.

Cons

Reports. The boxed reports are great, but don't always provide what we need so we build a lot of custom reports with the Excel-Add-In. The issue with that is that not all the fields in the database are available in the data downloads which often results in having to link several sheets in order to get the information we require.

Pros

The fact that it was capable of managing both project and financial data in one platform, but was still robust enough for even a large organization. Premier has the ability to cover about 90% of all project management needs, and they are already working on the other 20%, which would cover the proposal process. The financial management is as robust as any major system on the market.

Cons

The only thing that I did not like was the inability to support the proposal life cycle. However, I believe they are already working on adding this feature.

Pros

1 - The Premier Team is absolutely top notch and amazing! We had some pretty strong requests with getting the software to match our needs, and this team has always come through!
2 - The integrationof the software is great! Coming from an antiquated system along with EXCEL, we were due for a system with all the information in one place. During the training process, seeing how it works was impressive, however, seeing our own information in Premier, and the ease of pulling up needed info has been even more impressive! Solely due to our busy schedule, we are still in the process of uploading all the information, and we are excited to see how Premier will continue to impress our whole team. I do have to say, my team was a bit intimidated when watching the webinars and seeing the system in action, but now, just uploading the information and being active in Premier, hands on, it is much less intimidating than we thought! Having the Premier Team available to answer questions is a plus!

Cons

I haven't found anything at this point.

Pros

The software has very robust workflow routing capabilities and can help companies transition to a paperless workflow approval process. Controls within Jonas are strong and there is a lot of ability to customize what each of the users can and cannot do in the system.
The implementation team is very helpful and responsive to questions/concerns. They work hard to address issues encountered and have helped to ensure that the transition process goes smoothly as possible.

Cons

The software is mainly geared to sub-contractors and not real estate developers. As such, Jonas currently lacks some capabilities which cater to developers (e.g. currently the Change Order report only looks at changes from the revenue perspective as opposed to the cost perspective). However, Jonas is working on addressing these issues.
Navigation within the system can be improved to increase efficiencies (e.g. being able to select multiple invoices within a batch to approve as opposed to doing one by one if you don't want to approve the whole batch, or not being constantly asked whether you want to save changes while you're still scrolling within the same module). Also, sometimes there are bugs in the system (e.g. not reflecting the changes that were made) but most of these can be resolved quickly by logging in and out of the system.

Pros

The integration of the project management and accounting modules.

Cons

The Mobile app needs improvement specially for the site staff.