JobBOSS² Reviews

JobBOSS² is an incredibly comprehensive and user-friendly software solution for streamlining and automating business processes. It offers a wide range of features such as collaboration tools, scheduling, accounting, and analytics. The user interface is intuitive, making it easy to learn and use. The customer support team is also excellent and always available to help when needed.

Although JobBOSS² is a great tool overall, there are some minor issues with the software that can be frustrating. For example, some of the features can be difficult to access and the user manual isn't always clear. In addition, the licensing costs can be expensive for smaller businesses.

The software is powerful and easy to use a majority of the time. Support is helpful and readily available. We use E2/Jobboss2 for all of our estimating, order management, quoting, purchasing, scheduling, and more. After 6 years with the software it is definitely sustainable and a needed tool in our shop.

The homepage user interface is difficult to look at. There is a lack of customization options concerning fonts, text size, etc. Right now we have to use third party extensions to try and adjust fonts so some of our users can read the text properly. These extensions tend to cause problems with the logos so navigating becomes a little more difficult if you aren't familiar with where the buttons are. Implementing higher contrast homescreens would be beneficial and/or having an ingrained option for text size customization.

The ERP system features and user interface meets our needs. System provided reports work well. It supports our ability as contract manufacturer machine shop to supply simple parts to more complex assemblies for commercial, defense and aerospace OEMs.

Poor experience with customer support and communication to resolve software issues. A recent example is with a system caused large inventory errors. Initial response with repeat follow up took over 3 weeks, and reaching out to others after 4 weeks.Requests to procure custom reports take weeks for feedback.

E2 creates a clutter free work space with a simple layout and design. Shop Tech has broken down the manufacturing process to get a true understanding of how our company really operates. The bolt on modules allow for greater control of specific functions in particular departments. We specifically use the Scheduling and Custom Order Import Automation functions. Scheduling give us a top level view, department view, work center view, and all the way down to a view of sub parts that make up a single part. This tells us exactly where an order is as well as if we are under or over loaded at the work center and department level. All I have to do is pull up the schedule, click a button for the level of detail I want to display and away it goes. The Custom Order Import Function has allowed us to automate the order entry process by simply downloading a file from our customer, pointing where I saved the file, and clicking "Import". This function creates the order and based off our custom company settings which we have setup to automatically pull from stock jobs, inventory, post a quantity to make or a combination of all of the above. We can then run a requirement report to see what we need to make to fulfill open orders or to make stock for inventory. It really doesn't get easier than that.

The extra modules do have a cost but they are well worth it. On the plus side of that, E2 will demo the modules with full functionality and if it doesn't incorporate everything that you need you don't have to purchase it.

E2 has really helped us streamline all of our processes: from initially purchasing, through receiving, invoicing, check writing on the AP side; to processing POs from customers, generating orders, travelers, packing lists, and invoicing on the AR side. I can't imagine going back to what we did before! In the E2 system, once a part number/PO is entered, all of that information travels through all of the processes and handling of that item. No more repeated entries, with that time consumption and potential for error--one entry and you are done!--the processing of the PO or part number then goes through the whole shop and out the door. And I am not even including the ease of quoting and routing, which is less in my area of work, but is the area where most parts "begin" their life with us. E2 takes these parts all the way through, including the generating of Return Authorizations and credits when those are needed, in a seamless way.

Honestly, I can't think of any significant cons. We have had the occasional glitch or problem with usage, and there are some areas where I wish we could use the system even more, but for the massive amount of work we do use it for, it is excellent!

This product is extremely easy to use, and very forgiving of mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes, and E2 makes it possible to catch and correct mistakes, while keeping an audit trail all along. We have had the system for 20 years and our company has been able to grow and use more functions of the software such as quality and scheduling. We had planned a 6 month dual period with our old software but deployment was so seamless that we only ran double for 1 month. Everything is integrated from the initial customer quote through order entry, the invoice, receipts, and the General Ledger. Tech support has been so helpful, and team members are knowledgeable of the job shop business as well as the product!

The only issue I have struggled with is user access to data. To give a user rights to view certain data, they also are allowed access to edit it. We can work around that with creative report writing. I can think of no other big drawbacks to the system.

In general, it's easy to use. Each module has similar buttons and interfaces. I think the AR/AP modules work well since it's not the primary focus of the software.

Quote entry has extremely limited ability to adjust margins (it can do it, but it's not easy). Adjusting margins are key for job shop environments. After speaking with support about my needs, they told me to quote outside of the system. Which means, I was literally told not to use your product.

Legacy fields get stuck in the system. There's a lot of clutter in our system because we need to change user defined fields but they're not available in the find/replace utility.

Scheduler is very poor. Difficult to use, glitchy. Doesn't (automatically) schedule for available labor resources, which is a huge part of a job shop environment. Reviewing scheduling during quoting doesn't account for current back load (or didn't at the time we last considered it).

The recent "facelift" was atrocious. It's actually a huge deterrent to updating versions. What benefit is this facelift to me?

My perception is that there will be no feature additions to the core product. Any improvements come in the form of custom utilities with additional cost.

The best part of this software is the ability to integrate inventory, invoices, shipping and work travelers in one place.

The interface is awkward, and the functionality of the interface is not intuitive. Actions like "F2" are swapped with a right click of the mouse, or double click at random in different screens.
To be able to check the status of an inventory item while in a job window requires opening another instance of the program.

The new web based software works well and is easy to use. The integration of the of all the different modules is very nice. Data collection tied to operations and job travelers gives us a great way to quote more accurately and efficiently. The Rapid Documentation System gives you all that you'll need to become ISO certified and ties right into your E2 system. The new apps that they have created have added features making it easy to enter additional information and part pictures.

The web based system has a repository manager which is the weakest link in the system. It's time consuming to upload documents, enter documents into document control, and then link to the part number. This needs to be simplified. Also all the documents must be PDF's if you want them to print with a job traveler. In the new web based system you will be mouse clicking all over the screen instead of tabbing from field to field. Also you will need a large monitor to minimize the screen from jumping around and still be able to see the font.

Once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy to navigate through. We do not utilize everything E2 has to offer. We create orders, packing slips, invoices and vendor PO's with E2. We are in an internet deadzone and have really bad service in the shop so we are unable to use the data collection portion and we use QuickBooks for our billing. for what we use it for it works great. The traveler make sense, creating packing slips and invoices is simple and the customer service is top notch.

The interface is not really intuitive, there was a big learning curve for my team. For example, when we were first trying to print job travelers we were hitting the "print" button in the top right. This was not the correct button. The correct button is "reprint" on the left side of the screen. Why would we be "reprinting" something that we haven't even printed yet? And why have two print options when one isn't even really an option? Another example with some of our frustrations is with the GL accounts. You have to assign an account to a tool in order for it to be properly assigned in QuickBooks. When invoicing, you are required
to enter what GL account you would like that invoice assigned to, but it does nothing. The GL accounts are attached to tools, not invoices. If you do your bookkeeping in QuickBooks it is pointless. It would be really helpful if you could assign your GL account in the invoicing stage, but you can't.

The thing I like most about E2 is that it is so user friendly. The process of training new employees is very simple due to the ease of E2. E2 is very functional. It works wonderful for all our departments: AR, AP, Quoting & Estimating, Receiving & Shipping, order entry & purchasing, job tracking and all accounting and inventory reporting. The online forum, tutorials and customer service alone are reasons enough to purchase E2. Their customer services is top rated. I have always received help and been completely satisfied with the results each and every time I've contacted E2.

The thing I dislike about E2 is orphans. Orphans are little glitches that are caused when something goes wrong. E2 doesn't go backwards very well, meaning you have to be very cautious when undoing / unwinding things. Some of my fellow employees fail to unwind things the proper way so we get an orphan occasionally. Although I must say, orphans are an easy fix for E2 customer service reps.