2012 Review of Sage Timberline Office

As reviewed by CPA Practice Advisor in March 2012

Sage Timberline Office

From the March 2012 Review of Construction & Contractor Accounting Systems.

Best Fit:Sage Timberline Office is best-suited for mid-sized to large contractors and real estate management businesses looking for a scalable solution for residential, commercial, industrial, government and specialty construction enterprises, including heavy construction as well as real estate developers.

Strengths:

• Totally customizable user interface
• Broad user-defined data fields for more comprehensive data tracking
• Powerful estimating module
• New Personal Assistant and Excel-based reporting tools
• Integrates with Sage CRM
• Comprehensive reporting and document management
• Remote time entry for field personnel
• Integrated Project Management

Potential Limitations:

• No SaaS/web-based option (will be debuted in Spring 2012)
• Initial installation and training support is recommended

Sage offers several programs designed for businesses in the construction and real estate development fields, most notably Sage Timberline (available in Enterprise and the Office version reviewed here), and Sage Master Builder. Additional programs include Sage Timberline Estimating, which can be integrated into the previously mentioned programs, providing advanced estimating functions.

Basic System Functions - 5 Stars

Sage Timberline Office is geared toward giving mid-sized and large construction and real estate managers and developers a comprehensive solution for managing the financial and production sides of their entities. The system opens into a very attractive and easy-to-use interface that provides extensive user customization options. The system is available with a variety of modules based on the type of construction entity, with the core accounting desktop displaying a vertical menu for accessing the other modules, reporting, inquiries and online resources. Users can tailor the interface to their needs and can also customize screens to include links to functions and external websites. The drag and drop customization options are very user friendly and further aid in user productivity.

A detailed and expandable tasks menu offers a folder-based view that lets users jump to modules and specific functions, while dashboard views of key business data are available for each of the core areas of the business, such as receivables, budgeting, job cost, project management, property management, service management and more than a dozen other areas.

Sage Timberline Office can be used as a stand-alone program or networked across all users within a firm. It is built on the Microsoft .NET platform and offers multi-location support, as well as offering remote access tools and mobile apps.

Core Accounting Capabilities - 5 Stars

The core accounting module in Sage Timberline Office includes full GL, AR, AP, job costing, equipment costing, billing and payroll, as well as offering remote time and data entry, allowing users to enter information from the worksite. The GL offers 25-character fields for account IDs, and enables the management and tracking of multiple, separate or interconnected companies, with divisions, departments and other sub-entities. Other account tracking functions include tracking debit activity, up to 250 user-defined data fields for additional information, tracking of joint venture ownership percentages and restriction of GL accounts to specific modules.