Best Engineering Software 2023: From Back-Office to Front Office
Review the best engineering software for 2023 and compare pros and cons of each tool to get the right tech you need for your firm.
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Evaluate the top project management software and design software for architects, including notable features and pros and cons of each.
The right software can help you scale your architecture firm and achieve improved results for your clients. Generally, firms need two types of software: design software for drafting and modeling and business software for back-office, operational tasks.
With so many options available, we’ve rounded up the ten most popular architecture programs to help you evaluate, choose what to invest in, and, ultimately, better manage your projects. Keep reading to learn more about the best architecture software for your firm and the popular features of each.
Best Architecture Software for Back-Office Operations
Project management software for architects is designed to help you manage your projects using reporting and analytics, time and expense tracking, billing and invoicing, payment processing, and more.
Project management software for architects doesn’t include drafting and modeling capabilities. Instead, it allows you to run your firm more successfully by ensuring you stay organized, meet deadlines, and track project progress. This provides you the peace of mind to focus on what you love most.
Let’s review some of the best project management software for architects.
BQE CORE
BQE CORE is an all-in-one project management software created by an architect and engineer for the professional services industry. After struggling to find the right platform for their projects, they founded BQE Software — the perfect fit for architects and engineers, consulting firms, and other professional services.
The platform excels at helping companies streamline manual processes and track essential metrics and real-time project progress. This allows your firm to maximize productivity and profitability by overcoming project issues like cost overrun, missed deadlines, and poor team performance.
BQE CORE receives high marks from architecture firms for giving them greater visibility into projects, for its ease of use, customizable dashboards, and 24/7 customer service department.
Features:
Dashboard-based project management
Custom reports and analytics
Time and expense tracking
Project accounting
Resource allocation tools
Phased billing
Payroll management
Smart timecards and pre-populated timesheets
Payments and invoicing
CRM
To-do lists
Gantt charts
Mobile app
Pros:
Highly customizable
Saves time by automating repetitive tasks, including mapping expenses to invoices
Enhances cash flow by speeding up billing
Prevents communication issues, duplicate work, and cost overrun
Helps reduce costly, time-consuming errors
Makes it easy to understand past performance and improve future projects
Integrates with 100+ popular tools, including QuickBooks and Stripe
Cons:
Includes so many features, reports, and customizations that some firms may be overwhelmed trying to take advantage of everything. Luckily, BQE offers award-winning customer support and training to make onboarding and getting to know BQE CORE easy.
Try a free demo of BQE CORE today.
Monograph
Monograph is a practice operations platform for architects and engineers. The centralized platform helps firms use fewer separate tools for project tracking, invoice management, and revenue forecasting. Popular use cases for Monograph include tracking time, turning timesheets into invoices, setting up project phases and milestones, and building budgets.
Features:
Time tracking
Project schedules
Fee tracking
Invoicing
Task allocation
Milestone tracking
Reporting functions
Resource management
Pros:
Real-time insights improve your ability to make quick, informed decisions
Pre-populated schedules and budgets help you save time
Well-designed interface
Relatively simple to set up
Cons:
Limited feature set
Lacks third-party integrations
Limited customization options for invoicing
Unreliable synchronization between Monograph and QuickBooks
No mobile app
BigTime
BigTime is a Professional Services Automation software geared toward professional service companies in the accounting, consulting, IT services, and architecture sectors. It was founded by the owner of an IT consulting firm in 2002 to help other service firm owners solve issues with project billing, resource allocation, employee utilization, and performance reporting. BigTime provides real-time, metrics-driven project management, billing, and time-tracking capabilities.
Features:
Time and expense tracking
WIP management
Task and workflow management
Project tracking for multiple projects
Project budgets vs. actual hours comparison
Timeline visualization with dependencies, critical paths, and milestones
Mobile timesheet app for iPhone and Android
Pros:
Integrates with popular productivity tools like G Suite, Slack, and Zapier
Bulk invoice processing boosts efficiency
Includes several customizable templates
Helpful onboarding process
Cons:
Confusing report customization process
Clunky project management features
Lacks visual representation of budgets
Unclear terminology within software can cause implementation errors
Cumbersome data import from systems like QuickBooks
Deltek Ajera
Deltek Ajera is a combination of project management and accounting software built specifically for small architecture and engineering firms. It makes it simple for your company to ensure contract compliance and offer project visibility to your team. With Deltek Ajera, you gain the actionable insight needed to manage projects proactively and profitably, while improving client satisfaction.
Features:
Real-time updates on projects, costs, and budgets
Accounting functionality, including general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and project costing
Paperless billing
Payroll services
Time and expense tracking
Staff data for utilization and workload forecasting
Mobile app
Pros:
Provides real-time data to help drive decisions
Reduces data entry errors
Aligns all of your departments
Cons:
Outdated interface and functionality
Extra payment required for custom invoices and complex report formatting
Lacks flexibility
Steep learning curve for new users
Slow cloud version
NetSuite
NetSuite is a business software suite that includes accounting, ERP, HR, and CRM. Founded in 1998, NetSuite was the first cloud company and has since helped thousands of businesses add agility and control to their project management. With many features related to ecommerce and inventory management, there may be better options for architecture and engineering firms.
Features:
Financial management
Project accounting
Reporting and dashboards
Process automation
Order management
CRM
B2C and B2B ecommerce
Point of sale
Payroll
Timesheet management
Pros:
Provides a single source of truth for business activity
High level of customization for reporting
Easy to automatically and precisely track inventory
Cons:
Outdated UI
Expensive compared to other systems
Poor product support, especially for the price
Challenging integrations with third-party ecommerce platforms
Not built for architecture firms
Best Architecture Software for Front-Office Design
Architecture software for design is crucial for architects to plan, draw, render, and redesign buildings and infrastructure. It includes powerful drafting and modeling tools to help you accurately bring your vision to life, produce quality buildings and interiors, and satisfy clients.
Building information modeling (BIM) software is worth your investment — 68% of architects say it helps them save time on project delivery, and for 57%, it helps eliminate errors. Let’s dive into five of the most popular front-office design software for architects to ensure you find the right one.
ArchiCAD
ArchiCAD is BIM software specifically designed for architects. Initially released in 1987, it was the first BIM and CAD software for creating 2D and 3D models on a PC. While AutoCAD is limited to 2D lines, ArchiCAD offers 3D modeling, making it more versatile and popular among architects and urban planners.
Features:
Façade design
2D drawing and modeling
3D modeling and rendering
Expression-based properties
Parametric custom profiles
Design editing
Document management
Collaboration tools
Pros:
Handles entire project lifecycle, from planning through design and implementation
Enables you to render photorealistic designs
User-friendly interface
Good for beginners
Available on Windows, Mac, and mobile devices
Cons:
Not as widely used as some programs, making it harder to coordinate with engineers
Less flexibility in customization compared to other design programs
Time-consuming setup
Limited support between versions
SketchUp
SketchUp is a commonly used modeling software for CAD beginners. Because it has significant limitations for more in-depth projects, it’s best suited to small projects that don’t require much detail. You should plan to primarily use SketchUp for prototyping concepts, not designing a structure from start to end.
Features:
3D modeling
2D drawing
Animations
Textures
Lighting effects
Layer manager
V-Ray for photorealistic and real-time visualizations
File import and export capabilities
Pros:
Free 3D architecture software version
Good for beginners
Intuitive interface
Easy-to-use for iterations and concept explorations
Cons:
Too unrefined to develop designs in detail
No built-in rendering
Not collaboration-friendly
No included templates
Lumion
Lumion is rendering software commonly used by architectural firms. It helps you quickly visualize exterior, interior, landscape, or urban designs at scale. An impressive level of detail, including advanced sky and cloud rendering and custom terrain texture, makes it easy to realistically visualize your finalized project and share it with clients.
Features:
Live rendering
BIM modeling
Component library
Landscape design
Animation
Effects for images and videos
Pros:
Fast rendering time
Extensive archive of elements
Compatible with many third-party drafting and modeling solutions, like ArchiCAD and SketchUp
24/7 customer support
Cons:
More expensive than similar programs
Limited "undo" functionality
Heavy processing power required for rendering
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud software suite. It's mainly used to create, convert, edit, and share PDFs. You can send technical drawings and other documents to clients and colleagues to get edits and feedback while maintaining control over your original files.
Features:
PDF text and image editing
Commenting
Split PDF
Convert to PDF
Export to Word, PowerPoint, Excel, or JPG
eSignatures
Extract PDF pages
Smart file protection
Mobile app
Pros:
Widely used among architects and engineers
Simplifies collaboration
Speeds up editing
Integrates with daily-use apps like Microsoft 365 and Outlook
Free version
Seamless integration with other Adobe apps
Secure
Cons:
Formatting issues
Outdated user interface
Large file sizes
Loads slowly
Pricey
Revit
Revit is a commonly used architect software program for BIM modeling. It streamlines the process of planning, designing, and constructing buildings. Revit helps you save time by automatically updating a model’s changes in all views. It’s also great for collaboration, allowing any team member to access and work on shared models.
Features:
Parametric modeling
3D massing
Conceptual design tools
Annotating
Atmospheric rendering
Cloud rendering
Dynamic updating
Sequence steps
Energy analysis to measure environmental impact
Pros:
Highly efficient
Reduces repetition in modeling
Features are specially made for architects
Popular in engineering and construction
Compatible with AutoCAD
Encourages energy-efficient design
Cons:
Files take up a lot of storage
Slow to open and save
Does not have a native Mac version
Steep learning curve for new users
BQE CORE Project Management Software for Architects
The powerful combination of a project management platform and design software allows architecture firms to efficiently manage clients, run a profitable business, and design incredible structures.
Choosing an effective PM solution like BQE CORE helps you save time and focus on delivering your best work. Stay on track, on budget, and keep your team engaged using real-time reporting, automatic billing, and task management. BQE CORE was created by an architect, for architects and professional service industries, giving you all of the tools you need to be successful.
With BQE CORE, you spend less time on manual processes and more time on project delivery. Real-time visibility into your performance helps you improve productivity and profitability. Try a free demo of BQE CORE today to start achieving better results for your firm.
Review the best engineering software for 2023 and compare pros and cons of each tool to get the right tech you need for your firm.
Compare pros and cons of the best billing software options for professional services, including features like invoice templates and online payments.
Office Manager in a Professional Services Firm - BQE Software
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