John A. Martin & Associates, Inc. (JAMA), founded in 1953,
is internationally acknowledged to be on the cutting edge of
structural and seismic engineering design and consulting.
Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, JAMA employs over
400 people nationwide, with 15 offices throughout the
western United States. Using the latest design
techniques, computer applications and engineering concepts,
JAMA completes structural and civil designs for an annual
average of 80 million square feet of new construction
worldwide, including significant landmarks in both
California and Nevada.
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THE PROBLEM
JAMA needed a
comprehensive project management solution – software
that would not only track time effectively and keep
precise cost/billing records, but also a system
that would let the computer
become a reliable assistant –monitoring
time cards, client statements, invoices and other
reports. Their old accounting software, based on
DOS, was lacking in a number of ways. Most
importantly, it did not have the capability to perform
the detailed billing analysis that JAMA’s project
managers needed access to. It also became quite an
expense to maintain. JAMA’s financial software
users were more than ready for change – and were hungry
for something new. The major challenge was finding
a system that would adapt to JAMA’s individual
requirements and needs.
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"Our number one priority was that
the software had to adapt to our needs - and one
of BillQuick's advantages is that we get custom
made reports and timesheets - rather than us
having to conform to what other 'packaged
solutions' include."
"You don't know where your money is unless you
have BillQuick around."
- Farzad Naeim Vice President John A. Martin &
Associates
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When JAMA began looking for
new software to replace their aging system, the company
did its homework.
Management decided to
research a number of packages for billing and time
keeping functions and found that BQE Software’s product,
BillQuick, best supported their requirements:
"Our number one priority was that the software had to
adapt to our needs - and one of BillQuick's advantages
is that we get custom made reports and timesheets -
rather than us having to conform to what other 'packaged
solutions' include," states Farzad Naeim, Vice President
of JAMA.
THE SOLUTION
JAMA worked
closely with BQE Software to develop a customized
solution and an effective employee-training program.
Due to the diligent work and steady training provided by
the BQE consulting staff, JAMA’s BillQuick system was up
and running in approximately two weeks. “BQE’s
training staff came to our office and they were
extremely helpful, especially with regards to the
different reports we requested. Since then, we’ve
used BillQuick everyday to help us track all of our
expenses and invoices,” said Jessica Schindler, Senior
Project Accountant of JAMA.
| "BillQuick is very user-friendly - it doesn't take
a rocket scientist to figure out the ins-and-outs of
the program." "The costs for buying and maintaining
BillQuick are absolutely minimal compared to other
project management software programs today." -
Jessica Schindler Senior Project Accountant John A.
Martin & Associates |
JAMA has
been using BillQuick for nearly five years now.
During this time, Farzad Naeim has had the opportunity
to discover all of BillQuick’s capabilities: “It
does so many things – it reminds you when you are behind
in billing, it tracks your time proficiently, it stores
years of billing information for your convenience – the
price tag is reasonable and it is easy to train our
employees to use it. Our accounting users, who are
not computer professionals, are very happy with it.
We have also given it to project managers to track costs
and help us understand where we are as far as our
progress and billing is concerned. I had never
realized what percentage of my own time I had spent on
billing before BillQuick. I have and will continue
to recommend BillQuick to others.”
About BQE Software/BillQuick 2000
BQE Software, Inc., founded in 1995, is a leading
developer of time billing and project management
software. Its flagship product, BillQuick, offers
tools to maintain time records, client information and
project development. BillQuick meets the needs of
users who require billing based upon criteria such as
time and expense, fixed fee, hourly billing, hourly
billing with a “not to exceed” amount and contractual
billing. All invoices, statements and reports are
completely customizable with Seagate Software’s
Crystal Reports software. BillQuick is network
compatible with multiple users, and allows for off-site
time entry and data merging. It features Microsoft
Access compatible data files as well as SQL server data
files. In addition, billings and reports can be
exported to any software package, including
QuickBooks
and Peachtree Accounting. Architects,
engineers, accountants, attorneys, consultants and
programmers have all discovered the unequaled features
and flexibility of BillQuick products. For more
information on BQE Software or BillQuick products, call
(888) 245-5669 or visit
www.BillQuick.com.
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