Deltek Ajera Pros and Cons

Can do pretty much anything

Customizable widgets/dashboards/reports

The support people are incredibly nice and helpful. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

-In order to do pretty much anything you have to already be an expert in the software. And/or pay extra.

-Each widget requires a specific base, but which base you need to use is usually figured out by trial and error (sometimes the base will allow you to pull in the information you need, sometimes it doesn't - so you have to keep trying until you find the features you need. I asked if they had a list or tutorials where I could learn more. They offered to sell me training time or I could pay extra for them to create them)

-The report customization options are limited in their default reports (add or remove certain features, but that's the extent). To create your own reports... It's like travelling back in time. It kind of looks like you're editing excel from a decades ago, but there's no way to see what the fomulas are/do or where they're pulling the data from.

-Support is an added expense (we received one free year; had we not had that year I doubt we'd have kept Ajera as I do not believe the software is user-friendly enough to learn on your own). And I dread how we're going to continue to use Ajera once we can only contact them a few times a year.

-Search bar functions differently in different parts of ajera (eg - in some places you can search any word in a project title; some places require you search the first word; in some places you can only sort by the ID code - but you don't know which is which until you try)

-Everything is an add-on feature - this is not an one-stop-solution to your needs.

-Their Deltek University and Deltek Learning Zones are challenging to navigate and typically not useful. (Even on support calls I've had technicians tell me, "ah, your question is about x, so you need to search for y and then scroll down to the 8th result and click into that one"). Most of my staff gave up on using this. To be fair, most of the staff are Gen Z to old Millenial and they're not used to having to work so hard to make software work.

-My bookkeeper described Ajera's accounting features as, ""This looks like it would have been a really innovative, great beta release for accounting software - 10 years ago."

-When you export reports to excel, they're exported as Excel '97 files (just as an example of how the software is aging).

-I believe they're working on this, but as of now you can only use Microsoft Edge and you also need to download/enable ClickOnce to function.

-Assuming you can figure it out, there are many different steps required to figure out what your financial statements are saying. (In other programs you could just click on the number and see everything about it. Doesn't work that way here)

-Many simple tasks in competitor programs have been made complicated by Ajera. These are the steps you have to take to recieve money on an invoice:

Open client receipts>

Enter Client (or choose project/enter project)>

change date>select payment method>

enter in notes>

click the invoice/double check or adjust the amount>

save.

Then go to a different tab - deposits>

click on new deposits>

find your deposit and reenter in your notes>

update the date>

realize the default bank account is the wrong one and update it - then reenter the notes (it deletes your notes if you change the bank) and re-update the date (it deletes it if you change the bank)>

press save.

Why isn't the bank name just a field on the Client receipts? It'd be one or two extra (optional if necessary for coding) fields and then you could skip having to switch tabs and renter a bunch of other information.

This is pretty indicitive of a lot of Ajera - seemingly pointless additional steps that other software programs just automate for you. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

We can track Work in Progress, Project Budget, easy to use Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

manually doing the Credit card reconciliation Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The database and complete data input availability Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The cost to get reports customized. Not a robust pm tool for staffing. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

This allows for project costing and helps provide intricate reports with custom and detailed information Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It is a little hard to navigate at first and not super intuitive. Still exports in .xls format instead of .xlsx which is very outdated. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Ajera is robust and the tech support is awesome! yes! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It is sometimes difficult to figure out how to do things on my own. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It is a great project management system with tools to view data different ways. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It is not very intuitive or user friendly. Sometimes you have to go to multiple windows or screens to find the data your need. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I love all the tools to navigate Ajera. Between the webinars and self guided tools it's easy to understand the software. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I'd like more webinars available throughout the month. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The ability to management projects and project accounting in one place. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The use of the software is not as intuitive as I would like. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Project command center, ease of use, self explanatory Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Widgets not being correct, do not match GL Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I appreciate the ability to customize so many different things within Ajera. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There are some functions that don't seem to be very intrinsic or user friendly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.