Fergus Erfahrungen

Vorteile

CSV uploads for invoices saves so much time from having to manually enter every. single. piece of gear! Having everything on a job number to easily find. Times, materials and anything to do with a particular job is in one place. Being able to Pin notes on jobs for any updates or special information. As long as everything is put on the job number nothing is forgotten. Ability to have a different client and site contact and address. Ease of finding client details.

Nachteile

We find the health and safety a bit clunky to use - but haven't looked into it really well as our main health and safety is done through someone else... Would be great if PS3s and As Builts could be done using Fergus. We need these for almost every job and we have to do them and upload as files on the job. The gas certs are awesome though. Also, we pay time and a half after certain amount of hours are worked, so would be great to have the possibility for fergus to pick up this cost after certain hours are worked or any work logged for a Saturday as this is a manual cost I need to take into account when back costing.

Vorteile

- User interface is very easy for the staff to use, mobile app is very usable to for the field staff. It's really basic but does exactly what we need.

Nachteile

We are a facilities maintenance plumbing - so an asset management portion of the software would be good as well as the Re occuring function would be very practical for us.

Vorteile

intuitive nature of this system ease of use

Nachteile

nothing seems to fit our model and work in well

Vorteile

Desktop and mobile sites are easy to use. Integration with suppliers and accounting software is key. Scheduling is simple and easy. Just starting out with forms but that seems like a really good option. Invoicing is easy. Customer support are always knowledgeable and get the answers needed

Nachteile

Sorry guys 2 things

I know you have integrated with google calanders but I think just a calander similar to google calanders would have been suffice. I would really like to be able to look at a month display (like a widget on android) and see the upcoming work. When customers ask me when we can come back or when are we available, often I am in the field when I get asked this and being able to draw up a quick calander display would really help me.

2nd thing No inventory list of stock. Ideally I would like to have an accurate list of what is in staff members vehicles and what our holding stock is, just makes it easier when ordering or servicing breakdowns.

Vorteile

I love the Dashboard view. Once you've done some training, it's really simple to use and you can't really make an unfix-able error in Fergus.

Nachteile

The response time from the support team is much slower than a few years ago. I guess that's progress as they're a much bigger company now. However, the personal support and reaction time was fantastic a few years ago.

Vorteile

It is a one stop shop "power house" that runs our electrical and heat pump contracting business. It integrates seamlessly to Xero which has made it very simple to implement. We like the ability to track staff when required and the fact that it has a full health and safety component also. The customers enjoy the interface through email and we regard the ability of the system to track and record site related information to be very valuable for all users. By adopting this system we are now seen as professional and progressive with in our town. We are now capturing better information about job costs before we send invoices which has helped us to raise our overall profit margin. We no longer have jobs falling through the cracks at invoicing time either. The scheduling features are fantastic, all staff can see what is on for the week, not just those in the office that can see the whiteboard! The workers on the ground have access to client details which allows them to make contact without input from the office, they also have full job history and quote/estimate information which makes their job easier also. The App runs on any mobile platform which solves the android vs IOS debate, we just use the platform that we like. No software to manage is also a bonus, if we have internet access... were in business! This has been the biggest leap towards a paperless office that we've made so far. We enjoy the friendly knowledgeable helpdesk staff who always answer the phone promptly. Awesome!

Nachteile

Once you have published a quote, you can no longer edit it... if you find a mistake or want to add something extra to the quote. The search engine on electrical items can be abit poor, maybe it could show frequently selected or used items at the top of the search results list. The financial summary has too much information in it, it is so busy. There could be more price options, we would like to bring on another administrator on a 3 hrs per day basis and another electrical worker on a 2-3 days basis, it is quite expensive for part timers. There is no drawing software in the system for quoting, some others such as Simpro, System fox and Katipult have this on-board. (I think these are usually based on Visio). J A Russell don't API to the system like Corys and Plumbing World do, could be easier for us if they did the same.

Vorteile

Amazing Scheduling, Map functions and Job tracking for field staff and Finance Division

Nachteile

The reporting functins for quoteing especially is lacking. We want to know how succesful our sales team is and this software needs to elevate to make it function in the CRM department.

Vorteile

Upto a few years ago a big part of my business was running blind so I went hunting for a software management program to get us sorted. I tried nearly every program on the market from Tradify, Workflo Max, Service m8, GeOp and many more, I even doubled back and trialed some of them again. I ran through several jobs in each software program but just couldn't find a program that would do what I needed. They all had helpful features but none of them were as fitting as Fergus. Fergus just works well, and is getting better all the time. Quotes are a breeze and invoicing takes me about 30 mins a day. I love using fergus and recommend to any business as a must have.

Nachteile

The software does everything I need to run my business so cant see any cons. Would be nice if the software had a faster GPS tracking system but I am sure this will come in time.

Vorteile

A complete all round package you only need this and your accounting package. I use Fergus and Xero which integrate seamlessly together and the system can be accessed any time anywhere. Now that everything has moved from paper to cloud - nothing gets missed! Everything is loaded directly against the job and you can track your profitability throughout the project. NO more backcosting! Plus, all the timesheets are loaded for payroll - everything in the one place. But best thing is being able to call and talk to someone on the other end of the phone. Its great to be able to talk through a process and solve a problem quickly so I can return to business and get the job done.

Nachteile

That you are unable to change the colour of the text to make a point. For example it would be great if we could use red printing for the customers that are bad debtors and therefore when they phone a job in - it would be noticeable and easy to see.

Vorteile

Seamless connection from the suppliers to Fergus and then to Xero.
Labour hours can be allocated, inputted they the boys and then invoiced and pays.

Nachteile

There are some little thing in the calender that are a bit clumsy, very limited app use for an apprentice and inputting material onto a job card though the app.

Vorteile

I love that I have every detail of each job file in one place, from the first call of a potential client, to the last invoiced, all the job history, ie correspondence between Us and the client or Us and a supplier or any account detail relating to the job. I really like that it is locally owned.

Nachteile

Our accountant struggles with certain aspects when needing to retrieve financial information and do reports. I personally wish that in order to show to and fro correspondence in any specific job, that I wouldn't have to copy and paste replies from Outlook back to Fergus. Keeping a paper trail is vital in our business.

Vorteile

I can now manage my time much better with the jobs costings completed in a timely manner for invoicing and can track jobs so much easier.
The reduction in data entry for invoicing is huge for me, as is the reduction of paper I had to juggle!!!. There is less chasing up of staff as to what parts they used, makes the staff much more accountable and so great to be able to see how much of their time is chargeable/nonchargeable
Also what made this system easy for me to pick up was the excellent training provided by their customer support has been awesome.
I'd fully recommend training sessions soon after you sign up, the tutorials are good too, as is the chat button when I had a query.
I wish we had gotten onto this software ages ago.....
I do so love it, thanks, Fergus!!!

Nachteile

Some parts weren't that user-friendly for starters until you knew what was what from Training sessions.
eg where it looks like the box is already ticked, but it means you have to click on it, I'd rather the box was empty and then you tick it for completion.
Also some of the font colours - grey - do make things a bit tricky, don't know why it couldn't all be black and the more important bits in bold??

Vorteile

Margins, ease of use, invoicing, linking to xero, plumbing world sending through the invoices nightly

Nachteile

little things like i can't seem to search for the job on my app if the quote has not been accepted - sometimes the customer says go ahead and the button doesn't get clicked

Vorteile

I’ll keep it simple and straight to the point.
If you don’t use Fergus then you are missing out big time.
I’m nearly at the end of my fourth year in business with a busy little maintenance Plumbing business. Being a newbie I’ve made lots of mistakes that have cost me a small fortune. Not having Fergus to date is the biggest one.
It makes your operation , what ever it may be , run smoothly and have structure. It’s easy to pick up , with a brief training session the crew and office are off and away . I’m on the tools so I see it from both sides . Admin had a fair amount it of set up but once all the computers and programmes got talking to each other and Fegus was live we haven’t looked back because to do so is mind blowingly surprising. How the hell did the office girl stay sane.
If you are in two minds, just do it. You won’t regret it, you will cringe when you look back but in saying ,you’ll never look back

Nachteile

It’s hard at first when you get to end of job and have to make up a gear list when used to racing off to next emergency.but that’s a good thing , right

Vorteile

There is so much I like about Fergus, but probably my favorite is that I know EVERY expense incurred by a job will be accounted for in the Job's invoice. Nothing is missed.

Nachteile

It would be good to be able to enter "Due By" dates when entering Supplier Invoices. Or have a default "Due at end of next Month" setting.

Vorteile

I use this on every aspect of my day to day month to month job plan. It syncs with my accounting package and I never have to go to any other software package.

Nachteile

To be honest I have yet to find anything I would call cons. You dream of great software to help you, well here it is. people who understand and have created exactly what we need

Vorteile

Its functionality - it does a lot.
If we don't know how to use it, Fergus support is always only a call away with the solution.
Fergus is continually developing the software and is very user-centric in that it takes on development suggestions from its users.

Nachteile

I've always found GPS location is quite patchy - unreliable

Vorteile

No paperwork. Photos able to be attached to jobs. Fergus talks to xero and merchants. Good calendar system.

Nachteile

No stock file. Photos are no longer able to be enlarged on phone. Notes on quotes cannot tag a persons name at the end of the list. Cannot pick out a supplier to look up a stock item like we can on the desk top

Vorteile

Easy to use. Great financial tracking.
Great phone app for staff but can be used on a tablet or dedktop.

Nachteile

As this was designed for plumbers doing lots of small jobs it could be improved for construction where you may have on one job with many variations for a year

Vorteile

Talks to accounting system directly, downloads supplier invoices directly and allows job bookings for several staff over several periods in a day/week

Nachteile

Photos won't resize on mobiles and credit card payments including fees not accessible other than 1st email acceptance to Client

Vorteile

Import invoices and allocate to jobs a and send to accounting software worth the money alone.
Price lists imported

Nachteile

No uk suppliers offer an API gateway
No uk gas certificates built in
No phone support available
Only video training

Vorteile

Possibly the the thing I most apart from the comprehensive features would be the amazing and helpful customer support.

Nachteile

I find this software to be similar to alot of cloud based softwares in that it can be very slow at times

Vorteile

Captures all jobs in progress all staffs time and materials, the importing of invoices is great.

Nachteile

Doesn't not do credits, sometimes we are required to give credits for labour and or materials, not only do we need to go back in time and see these credits to fresh our memory on what we did and why we did it, our customer's want t see a credit in an invoice format, only way to do a credit is in MYOB and because Fergus makes changes to that software, the format in which is prints is disgusting and I cant issue those to our customers, not very professional at all

Vorteile

Easy invoicing and organising job allocations

Nachteile

Doesn't make the coffee!

Vorteile

Reporting and the ease to use it. Its transparencies and accountability has help us become a better company and manage our jobs at a higher level.
The amounts of updates done to further improve the software is impressive.

Nachteile

At the moment when generating from quote in purchase orders it generates upside down which is annoying.