What do you like best?
It would be impossible to state one feature or aspect of Unanet A/E that I like best; I like it all. What continues to impress me is the companies lack of complacency. Good is not good enough, although not their slogan, seems to be Unanet's motivation to continue to develop and find ways to enhance their A/E and other products. For example, their invoicing process allows me to see when someone receives and opens an invoice. Users also now have the ability to process ACH and credit card payments via Unanet A/E, which shortens the time between invoicing and getting paid. ACH and credit card payments and invoice tracking were not available in 2016.
I am constantly striving to be more efficient in my processes; I appreciate organizations and software that do the same.
What do you dislike?
I wish Unanet A/E desktop were MAC-friendly. We have a number of staff members (MAC users) who do work after hours from home, even before the pandemic. To access some features of Unanet, they connect through remote desktop to their office workstations.
Recommendations to others considering the product:
If your company is looking for an ERP that will grow as your company grows, will continue to innovate with its customers in mind, Unanet A/E is the ERP system you need.
What problems are you solving with the product? What benefits have you realized?
Unanet A/E has improved project communication regarding collections efforts and reminders. In the past, our collection process was often hindered by invoice tracking, payment tracking, and ineffective communication. Clients would deny receiving invoices or reminder notices; we could not verify their claims. Now, we can see when they are delivered and opened.
Before Unanet, project managers had to call me to check on payments, subconsultant invoices, or other project account inquiries. Project Central allows them to review their project from many perspectives - accounting, profitability, timesheet allocations, and more.
Unanet A/E is customizable. AEC companies do not all function the same way. We have appreciated the ability to customize Unanet to match processes we already had in place. This made transitioning from Deltek to Unanet A/E easy for our staff.
The catalyst for shifting from QuickBooks to Deltek and finally to Unanet was we wanted to connect marketing, project management, and accounting. Unanet A/E worked well with Cosential's Financial Database Connector. Unanet acquiring Cosential has made their A/E system even more robust.
