Monograph

Pros

User friendliness. A++ We have many age ranges, and this interface is so well designed that even the older crowd is able to jump onboard easily.

Cons

The insurance companies with the payroll services. Monograph is great, but those other companies that are tied in with the additional services are quite lacking in their turnaround times and communication.

Pros

Interface is very intuitive, time tracking is almost always correct. Integration with QBO is important to us, as QBO has been our rock with regard to bookkeeping/accounting. Monograph is continuing to be developed and enhanced.

Cons

Support at first was great when we first signed up and was very responsive, and issues were generally settled immediately. Quite a bit slower and more elusive now, and there is no community forum or easy way we have found to interact with others users to pick their brains and gain from their experience in resolving questions or issues. Invoicing requires the review of multiple tabs simultaneously, and we have suggested a way to combine much (or all) of this information on the financial tab, but nothing has been done yet. Have found just a couple of errors, one leaving off consultant work and previously invoiced amounts - noted a couple of months ago, and understand they are still working on this.

Pros

The features for building out project fee, and schedule. How that translates into a Gantt chart, and how you can allocate fee / time by % to staff members.

Cons

Need's some further iteration's to refine the staffing chart. We have to keep rebalancing hours for every person, for every phase, for every project. Should be able to do in one click.

Pros

Timesheet analysis and Budget forecasting

Cons

Needs a better iOs app. Project Details & Communication Tracking sheet would be very helpful.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Monograph

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Monograph

Pros

That is gives great visibility on our projects for management and staff. The invoicing function is also a bonus since it allows you to customize the amounts each month.

Cons

I would like to see improvements in the reports features - they need to be more customizable and available as a PDF. I would also like to see the customer service area expanded so that we can call and speak to a representative and share our screen to problem solve.

Pros

I enjoy everything that Monograph has to offer; however, what I enjoy the most is the milestone management. This has been a game-changer for our office. We have a distinctive dashboard display of all milestones that need to be completed that week. I can customize these and change them when needed. Plus, this is a great visualizer for our clients to understand their project timeline better.

Cons

I'm honestly enjoying everything with Monograph.

Pros

It is very user friendly and easy to learn how to use. It does not take much time to onboard new employees. It's staffing/scheduling feature is great too.

Cons

I would like to see more metrics for each project. Namely profit margin, as the numbers I see under the profit margin for each project seem way off. It would be nice to understand how those numbers are calculated. It would also be nice if Monograph could provide a cost rate for each employee. I would also like to be able to enter PTO time available to each employee, which would also help provide a better picture of their cost rate and therefore the profit margin on projects. It would also be nice to be able to see at what pace we are consuming the fee for projects, and how we should alter staff hours accordingly.

Pros

I love the layout and color options. It is visually pleasing to start, and pretty easy to use once you get acquainted with the program. Easy for all staff to use, and helps us manage our time better.

Cons

Project reports and employee performance reports could be better and easier to read. We have some discrepancies when it comes to profit and loss, so we refer to our QuickBooks online for that information.

Pros

puts everything in one place as opposed to having multiple different products to do one feature each.

Cons

still working out some kinks and building new features.

Pros

I love the simple interface of the software and the regular updates and improvements always showing up.

Cons

Looking for ways to integrate with QBO more... looking for a how to on the new setup for best results.

Pros

Love the ability to track project profitability and budget time.

Cons

Since it's a developing software, there are still some reporting, formatting, and 3rd party integrations we'd love to see (such as utilization rates as a percentage, individual hours spent on billable projects by user, customizable invoicing, and QuickBooks enterprise edition).

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Monograph

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Monograph

Pros

So easy right out of the box for our architecture firm. All the phases, schedules and budgets are prepopulated, just a little editing is needed and you're on your way. It's nice to see Monograph taking our comments and pumping up new and improved features on a regular basis.

Cons

Invariably, our accountants need to use Quickbooks. Which is forcing us to still have QBO. The interface and synchronization between Monograph and QBO is lacking. For one, the invoice numbers get lost and have to be manually checked and plugged into QBO after the fact. A real pain if not done right away. Also, the connection to Quickbooks is lost ever day, which I almost always don't notice until I am at the end of an invoice and have to back out, force the connection and then go back into the invoice to send to QBO. Would be nice to have the connection constant or be able to update it straight from an invoice when we would send data to QBO. Also, if QBO doesn't have the client or project, it won't send the invoice data. Which is less than helpful. Lots of manual back data needed to push a new client, invoice to QBO. Way too much.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Monograph

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Monograph

Pros

1. Strongest features are the Gantt type graph with small bar showing progress on value earned. Second, the roles that can be assigned independently.

Cons

2. The first month I used the software, I loved it. However, as the months go on, I have found that it doesn’t easily recap and present information as I hoped. Some of the tools and filters give decent overviews, but not specific enough information for a manager/proprietor.
3. Need to have clients that can assign project below and add filters in reports, widgets, project view, etc. of items by client.
4. Adjust dates by pulling graphical bars w/o having to open project “edit” mode, also gives ability to see other projects’ schedules when adjusting. I do like the new update with it defaulting to the planner instead of the general information. But you should be able to adjust schedules in context - that is the advantage of the project view in your design. Leverage it further.
5. Values shown exceed fixed amounts, should show effective hourly rate instead of “value earned” as hourly add-up of time. Or an option that payroll will exceed budget with the value earned calculation you are using. Problem is, even the “fixed” budgets add up this way in the dashboard which does not accurately portray for flat fee projects. Could have more options in this manner for employee pay as well. Some projects are flat fees for freelancers you hire, etc.
6. When invoicing, adding hours to the invoice does not provide any options for knowing what is previously billed. You must manually look back at each invoice to determine what is new billable hours. Extra steps are more time consu

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Monograph

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Monograph

Pros

Integrating Monograph with our existing business processes was quite easy, and we soon found that the Monograph interface offered every aspect of project organization and management that we could think of. I'm currently collecting my AXP hours with the intention of becoming licensed, and this system has also made it very easy for me to refer to past timesheets and easily determine which AXP categories have been satisfied by various hours and requirements. Also, the team at monograph was always helpful and quick to respond, even on matters that weren't urgent.

Cons

The only thing that is missing from this software is a corresponding phone app, ideally with just as navigable an interface as the website layout. Hopefully over time and with enough support, Monograph will be able to develop this in the upcoming future.

Pros

Unlike other project management and time tracking software, this product provides the capability to track project budget/fees in phases that align with the architecture industry's standards.

Cons

One of the most valuable things about this software is the ability to track hours against the project fee. We wish that the status of each project related to the project fee was more clear (percentage complete, time remaining for each phase, etc). You have to click into several menus to get to this info.

Pros

As someone who constantly juggles multiple responsibilities, finding an efficient task and time management software has been a game-changer for me. After trying several options, I stumbled upon Monograph, and I must say, it's exceeded my expectations in every aspect. Its user-friendly interface, customizable features, collaboration capabilities, and accessibility have revolutionized the way I manage my tasks and time.

Cons

There are limited features. It would be great to have a one-stop shop for project tracking and paying employees or tracking commissionable pay from billable hours.

Pros

Clean layout - all features are easy to find and the GUI is straightforward

Cons

Inadvertently resetting of timer occasionally

Pros

I love how organized and user friendly it is. It is really essential to our business as a successful architecture firm and helps us with the day to day.

Cons

absolutely nothing that I can think of.

Pros

Easy setup and easy understanding. General timeline is very useful.

Cons

1- Lack of option to unlock all the premium features if you have less than 5 users.

Pros

Simple and intuitive user interface with great customer service.

Cons

Could use a better search functionality.

Pros

That it’s a small start up company is desirable.

Cons

Get an app for crying out loud! The web browser on a phone is dreadful. Time tracking should be an easy process. I liked jumping onto an app on my phone while on a bus home at the end of the day and I just can’t do it with Monograph. I have to be at a desk to use the software and even then it’s clunky and not intuitive.

Pros

The ability to see how a project is performing on a daily/weekly/monthly basis in an easily accessible way and course correct as needed before going over the project budget. Everyone on the team has access to all the necessary project information and it all lives in one place. Being able to schedule out people's time weekly and then see how that allocation is used throughout the week.

Cons

Biggest difficulty is navigation between the tabs - i.e. Timesheet, to Resource, to Projects, etc. There is a long lag when loading each one of those. Most of our team members have multiple tab opens to navigate between each just due to the lag. When in a project the only place to get to the tasks is through the Task tab at the top. Our team tends to click on the phase to see what's been allocated for that phase but then has to back out to the Project Dashboard to get back to the Tasks. Could be a way to get to it from multiple places, as there is that feature for other things in Monograph. Task updates don't have notifications within the software to the assigned team members. We use the comments section of tasks to talk/track info with our team members for that specific task.

For accounting purposes, we still have to use another program. I don't think this program is robust enough for our invoicing/billing and accounting needs.

Pros

Graphical representation and clarity of information conveyed.

Cons

Resource management and Quickbooks integration is not functional at the moment.

Pros

Great user interface, unbelievable customer support with a team that is always trying to improve the product. In almost all-in-one platform for architects

Cons

Really need to have your firm's phases and structure organized to begin. We do interior design, interior architecture, and architecture and it's been a bit difficult figuring out how to blend them all in one

Pros

I love how easy it is to fill out my timesheets. Timesheets are well organized in the software and easy to edit. I also like being able to add notes to the hours I put in.

Cons

I think that the time tracker clock could be easier to use. Currently I don't use it at all because it ends up being more of a pain than a benefit. As well as not improving efficiency. I think it would be more useful if it was integrated with the time sheet page. I often jump from project to project in a single day. So being able to start time on a project and pause, then start time on another would be helpful.