BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product vs. Viewpoint Spectrum

BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product

Viewpoint Spectrum

Overview
Product	Rating	Most Used By	Product Summary	Starting Price
BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product	Score 7.9 out of 10	N/A	BuildingConnected is an online preconstruction platform supporting communication and collaboration with contractors, subcontractors, and real estate owners. The platform supports bid management with cost tracking and analytics, relationship tracking, alerting, and unlimited bid invitations. BuildingConnected was acquired by Autodesk in 2018.	N/A
Viewpoint Spectrum	Score 8.5 out of 10	N/A	Viewpoint Spectrum is a cloud-based construction ERP suite with project management, accounting, resource management, and reporting and analytics. Key features include workflow automation and collaboration tools, document imaging and sharing, cost estimating tools, and RFI management tools.	N/A

Pricing

BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product

Viewpoint Spectrum

Editions & Modules

No answers on this topic

Offerings

Pricing Offerings
BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product	Viewpoint Spectrum
Free Trial
No	No
Free/Freemium Version
No	No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No	No

Entry-level Setup Fee

No setup fee

Additional Details

—

Prospective buyers may contact vendor directly for a price quote.

More Pricing Information

Community Pulse
	BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product	Viewpoint Spectrum
Considered Both Products	BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product Verified User Anonymous Chose BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product PlanHub, iSqFt, SmartBid and Procore Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product Very similar but BuildingConnected, an Autodesk is easier to use. The projects available are easier to locate and the user friendly screens allow for deciding which projects to bid. Incentivized Helpful? David Noah Controls Engineer Chose BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product We also use AutoCad so it was easy for us to look at BuildingConnected first since they are by the same company. We had found out while interfacing with our customers that some other platforms (like procore) were hard to use and find information on, so we did not give them … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product BuildingConnected is one of my favorite bid management softwares because of its ease of use and simple interface. At a quick glance you can easily see where your project is, who is planning on bidding, and what values submitted bids equal out to. BuildingConnected makes it … Incentivized Helpful? DC Diane Coughlin Office Manager and PM Assist Chose BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product Procore has excellent project management, but the bidding side is the worst I have ever used. Planhub is easy to use and lets me put as many jobs as possible online. Incentivized Helpful? MD Melanie Dodson Preconstruction Manager Chose BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product BuildingConnected is 100x better than Smart Bid!! Much more flexibility and options! Incentivized Helpful? Marcel Cicort Estimator Chose BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product Have used BlueBook Construction, which has a smooth, quick search for local contractors. Still, they don't allow us the client project creation. I even had issues with them displaying proper project descriptions based upon was receiving inadequate and or erroneous bid … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product I'd say that BuildingConnected is by far the best software I've used in the industry. It's much more aesthetically pleasing, user-friendly, and just a better overall product than ProCore, iSqFt, & SmartBid. Those sites all seem to be lacking in at least one of those categories … Incentivized Helpful? Matthew Smith Estimator and Project Manager Chose BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product SmartBid is very similar to BuildingConnected. In our case it just depends which general contractor has BuildingConnected vs SmartBid. I can say that building connected has brought us more/new estimating opportunities by updating our profile - indicating what division we … Incentivized Helpful? SJ Spencer Jabbia Project Manager Chose BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product iSqft cannot stack up against BuildingConnected. The ease of use and intuitiveness of the software is lightyears ahead of iSqft. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product BuildingConnected is user-friendly and easy to understand. One of the key successes for communication within the bidding process is for a dialogue not only from within our company, but also with the subcontractors that we are reaching out to. Nearly all subcontractors we have … Incentivized Helpful? SC Steve Cole Contract Manager / Job Developement Chose BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product I have used various products to do my job and by far BuildingConnected is the best. I wish all construction companies used this program. They are easy to use and does most of the work for me. I like the way they call or text me and ask for my opinion on their product and if … Incentivized Helpful? SG Sarah Garrett Executive Assistant Chose BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product I like the look of BuildingConnected the best between the 3 of these products. Isqft to me has an outdated look and isn't super easy to navigate like BuildingConnected. I like the the visual look of BuildingConnected its very easy on the eyes and draws your eye to where you … Incentivized Helpful? Stephen Fontana Estimator Chose BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product Some of these other products are feature-rich but lack user-friendly features. BuildingConnected, what it lacks in some deeper features, it makes up for in Customer Service and User Friendliness. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product We use BuildingConnected for our bidding process mainly because of their database feature. Procore does not offer a database outside of using your own. Plangrid, Dodge & PanTerra have databases, but they don't seem to be as broad as BuildingConnected. SmartBid actually has some … Incentivized Helpful?	Viewpoint Spectrum Verified User Anonymous Chose Viewpoint Spectrum The cloud-based system is great, and the ease of use compared to other systems is why we chose it. Incentivized Helpful? JG Jessica Grushus Estimator Chose Viewpoint Spectrum Viewpoint Spectrum allows us to have one platform to do payroll, invoice for projects, and manage the cost of a project. Whereas Procore didn't have those features and we were using multiple other platforms to do all of those things. Incentivized Helpful? BC Brad Caza Controller Chose Viewpoint Spectrum Spectrum, when compared to Simply accounting, is better. It has more options, and it is easy to navigate. Spectrum meets our needs better. Spectrum, when compared to Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate, is better. Spectrum has better connectivity between its project … Incentivized Helpful? LM Louise Metcalfe Administrative Supervisor Chose Viewpoint Spectrum Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate Incentivized Helpful? AD Amy Davis Accounting Clerk Chose Viewpoint Spectrum Not sure how comparable these software are. Both are great and were used for different reasons for different companies and circumstances. I use Viewpoint Spectrum for the Roadway Contruction industry and SAP for the chemical manufacturing world. There are similarities but a lot … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Viewpoint Spectrum Spectrum is much more comprehensive than its competitors, and provides a much deeper level of insight into project costing. From bidding to project closeout, Spectrum's software allows for cohesiveness and fluidity where other programs are very segmented and difficult to track. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Viewpoint Spectrum Quickbooks Enterprise is much easier to use with a lot of the same more advanced features. From my experience, I wouldn't recommend Viewpoint Spectrum Incentivized Helpful? AP Amy Pacheco Controller Chose Viewpoint Spectrum Viewpoint is much more user friendly than Sage 300, but is more limited (less customizable). It is not easy to get custom reports out of Viewpoint, whereas Sage is perfect for customization. With that comes more attention to detail in Sage, from all users, to avoid erroneous … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Viewpoint Spectrum Spectrum is the only one I have used since starting here 2 years ago. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Viewpoint Spectrum Viewpoint Spectrum is much more construction based. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Viewpoint Spectrum I originally came off of the American Contractor when it reached its end of life, and my company converted to using Spectrum. American Contractor didn't give us half the visibility that Spectrum does - we still had to rely heavily on outside systems and processes to gain a full … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Viewpoint Spectrum Prior to acquisition by Viewpoint and then Trimble, the customer support was a major selling point of the software. Unfortunately at this time, that is no longer the case. Incentivized Helpful? NB Nancy Burriss Controller Chose Viewpoint Spectrum Foundation has some nice features that Spectrum doesn't and vice versa. Procore is much more complicated to use but it has better company wide reporting. I think Viewpoint will be a better choice in the long term. They are rolling out updates all the time. The cost is … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Viewpoint Spectrum This is my first construction job and Spectrum is the only software I've used. The company used to use Sage Incentivized Helpful? JW Jonathan Whitacre Assistant Controller Chose Viewpoint Spectrum Spectrum seems to be a better option for now since current leadership is comfortable with the financial aspect that Spectrum bring but some in the leadership team are not happy with the other offers that Trimble has. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Viewpoint Spectrum On my old accounting software one feature I miss is the feature where I could run a GL detail report and actually click on a line to see the actual entry. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Viewpoint Spectrum We selected Viewpoint Spectrum because it allowed us to run our construction and projects department along with our service department all in one application. We are into year five with Viewpoint Spectrum and are still very pleased with our decision. Incentivized Helpful? Margaret Reams Owner Chose Viewpoint Spectrum I have only evaluated the products. I chose Spectrum because it was (at the time) relatively inexpensive or on par with the others and seemed like the best option that fits our business model. It has not proven to be very costly for what we are getting in my opinion and nothing … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Viewpoint Spectrum Have not previously utilized any construction software. Our company has been on Viewpoint Spectrum for over 10 years. Incentivized Helpful? LM Linda McKown Purchasing Manager Chose Viewpoint Spectrum I wasn't part of the evaluation, but I did give input on what I thought of Viewpoint Spectrum before we bought it. I had used Timberline and Sage, before we got to Spectrum. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Viewpoint Spectrum Spectrum is an ERP system that was built with construction in mind. It has more applicability vs. Dynamics, which is used across many types of companies. Incentivized Helpful? PH Paula Hansen CFO Chose Viewpoint Spectrum I investigated Sage, Timberline, ConMast, and Quickbooks some 25 years ago. Viewpoint Spectrum was the best overall in most coverage and flexibility, ease of use, and mastery. I do not have any knowledge on other software currently. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Viewpoint Spectrum We stayed with Spectrum for what we thought would be an easy upgrade and transition. However, we are evaluating how we are going to use ViewpointOne Teams because we've suffered many roadblocks to daily use like daily logs and uploading of photos using the app. Also, choosing … Incentivized Helpful? Robert J Friedman CFO Chose Viewpoint Spectrum Procore is clearly the industry leader and top standard amongst PMs. Incentivized Helpful? SA Stephanie Amirrezvani Accounting Manager Chose Viewpoint Spectrum We originally had Jonas Premier prior to Viewpoint based on cost and flexibility (report writing). However, we discovered that Jonas reports are not available as described in the demo. And reports were not easy to read because they had to be created. It was challenging to … Incentivized Helpful?

Features

BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product

Viewpoint Spectrum

Human Resource Management

Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
	BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product 8.0 Ratings 5% above category average	Viewpoint Spectrum - Ratings
Job profiles and administration	8.00 Ratings	00 Ratings

Reporting & Analytics

Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
	BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product 1.2 Ratings 146% below category average	Viewpoint Spectrum 3.6 Ratings 67% below category average
Dashboards	1.10 Ratings	7.80 Ratings
Standard reports	1.20 Ratings	3.30 Ratings
Custom reports	1.20 Ratings	2.50 Ratings
Data exportability	1.10 Ratings	00 Ratings

Construction Project & Field Management

Comparison of Construction Project & Field Management features of Product A and Product B
	BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product 3.6 Ratings 71% below category average	Viewpoint Spectrum - Ratings
Plan distribution & viewing	1.30 Ratings	00 Ratings
Plan markups & sharing	1.30 Ratings	00 Ratings
Issue tracking & punchlists	8.00 Ratings	00 Ratings
Photo documentation	7.00 Ratings	00 Ratings
Jobsite reports	6.10 Ratings	00 Ratings
Document sharing	1.30 Ratings	00 Ratings
RFI tools	1.20 Ratings	00 Ratings
Collaboration & approvals	1.20 Ratings	00 Ratings
As-built drawings	1.20 Ratings	00 Ratings
Mobile app	1.00 Ratings	00 Ratings
Submittal design and management	1.20 Ratings	00 Ratings
Checklists	1.20 Ratings	00 Ratings
Meeting Minutes	6.00 Ratings	00 Ratings
Specifications	8.90 Ratings	00 Ratings
Change orders	6.90 Ratings	00 Ratings

Estimating

Comparison of Estimating features of Product A and Product B
	BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product 6.2 Ratings 25% below category average	Viewpoint Spectrum - Ratings
Takeoff tools	1.20 Ratings	00 Ratings
Job costing	7.00 Ratings	00 Ratings
Cost databases	6.00 Ratings	00 Ratings
Cost calculator	8.00 Ratings	00 Ratings
Bid creation	8.90 Ratings	00 Ratings

Payroll Management

Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
	BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product - Ratings	Viewpoint Spectrum 5.0 Ratings 36% below category average
Pay calculation	00 Ratings	7.70 Ratings
Benefit plan administration	00 Ratings	7.00 Ratings
Direct deposit files	00 Ratings	8.20 Ratings

Customization

Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
	BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product - Ratings	Viewpoint Spectrum 5.3 Ratings 36% below category average
API for custom integration	00 Ratings	5.30 Ratings

Security

Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
	BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product - Ratings	Viewpoint Spectrum 8.3 Ratings 1% above category average
Single sign-on capability	00 Ratings	9.50 Ratings
Role-based user permissions	00 Ratings	7.00 Ratings

General Ledger and Configurable Accounting

Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
	BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product - Ratings	Viewpoint Spectrum 8.9 Ratings 14% above category average
Accounts payable	00 Ratings	8.00 Ratings
Accounts receivable	00 Ratings	8.00 Ratings
Global Financial Support	00 Ratings	9.30 Ratings
Primary and Secondary Ledgers	00 Ratings	9.40 Ratings
Journals and Reconciliations	00 Ratings	8.70 Ratings
Configurable Accounting	00 Ratings	9.20 Ratings
Standardized Processes	00 Ratings	9.40 Ratings

Inventory Management

Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
	BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product - Ratings	Viewpoint Spectrum 6.2 Ratings 24% below category average
Inventory tracking	00 Ratings	5.10 Ratings
Automatic reordering	00 Ratings	6.00 Ratings
Location management	00 Ratings	7.40 Ratings

Order Management

Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
	BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product - Ratings	Viewpoint Spectrum 7.8 Ratings 1% below category average
Pricing	00 Ratings	7.20 Ratings
Order entry	00 Ratings	7.20 Ratings
Credit card processing	00 Ratings	8.80 Ratings
Cost of goods sold	00 Ratings	8.10 Ratings

Subledger and Financial Process

Comparison of Subledger and Financial Process features of Product A and Product B
	BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product - Ratings	Viewpoint Spectrum 8.1 Ratings 8% above category average
Billing Management	00 Ratings	9.50 Ratings
Cash and Asset Management	00 Ratings	8.00 Ratings
Travel & Expense Management	00 Ratings	7.00 Ratings
Budgetary Control & Encumbrance Accounting	00 Ratings	7.00 Ratings
Period Close	00 Ratings	8.80 Ratings

Project Execution Management

Comparison of Project Execution Management features of Product A and Product B
	BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product - Ratings	Viewpoint Spectrum 6.7 Ratings 2% below category average
Project Planning and Scheduling	00 Ratings	5.00 Ratings
Task Insight for Project Managers	00 Ratings	7.10 Ratings
Project Mobile Functionality	00 Ratings	7.30 Ratings
Definable Resource Pools	00 Ratings	7.20 Ratings

Procurement

Comparison of Procurement features of Product A and Product B
	BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product - Ratings	Viewpoint Spectrum 7.8 Ratings 12% above category average
Bids Analyzed and Compared	00 Ratings	8.80 Ratings
Contract Authoring	00 Ratings	8.10 Ratings
Contract Repository	00 Ratings	8.10 Ratings
Requisitions-to-Purchase Orders Integrated	00 Ratings	6.80 Ratings
Supplier Management	00 Ratings	7.30 Ratings

Best Alternatives
	BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product	Viewpoint Spectrum
Small Businesses	FollowUp CRM Score 10.0 out of 10	Zoho One Score 8.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies	InEight Score 8.3 out of 10	Infor VISUAL Score 8.0 out of 10
Enterprises	InEight Score 8.3 out of 10	24SevenOffice Score 9.0 out of 10
All Alternatives	View all alternatives	View all alternatives

User Ratings
	BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product	Viewpoint Spectrum
Likelihood to Recommend	1.3 (0 ratings)	7.3 (0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew	9.0 (0 ratings)	9.1 (0 ratings)
Usability	10.0 (0 ratings)	8.7 (0 ratings)
Availability	- (0 ratings)	9.0 (0 ratings)
Performance	- (0 ratings)	8.5 (0 ratings)
Support Rating	8.9 (0 ratings)	6.4 (0 ratings)
In-Person Training	- (0 ratings)	7.0 (0 ratings)
Online Training	- (0 ratings)	9.1 (0 ratings)
Implementation Rating	10.0 (0 ratings)	8.9 (0 ratings)
Ease of integration	- (0 ratings)	6.6 (0 ratings)
Product Scalability	- (0 ratings)	7.6 (0 ratings)

User Testimonials
	BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product	Viewpoint Spectrum
Likelihood to Recommend	It is perfect for anyone in construction - whether you're an estimator or project manager. BuildingConnected is the go-to resource to help you stay on top of your projects. It is not as appropriate for people that are not in the construction field. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to be more organized. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	Viewpoint Spectrum would be fine for small to medium-sized companies. It would be great for transitioning from an in-house paper-based process, especially since it's designed with small construction companies in mind. They're making it even easier for smaller companies by offering additional features that you'd normally have to find in other products. However, companies can easily outgrow this system. We have about 15 years of data in the system, over 300 active jobs, and nearly 1,500 employees. In the past 3 years we've noticed slower performance and frequent locks in the system that require intervention from a system administrator. We moved to the cloud about 2 years ago and this has made troubleshooting even more difficult as we don't have the same access that we did before to resolve performance issues. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review
Pros	Helps keep track of multiple jobs at once Helps sort your bid invites into won/lost/pending/archived etc. It is a central location where general contractors can put all their updated files and addendum Lets you see which contractors are bidding the same job so you can coordinate your estimating Incentivized Matthew Smith Estimator and Project Manager Read full review	Dashboards make navigating to the crucial information quick and easy. The layout with what we affectionately call the job info bar helps our project teams to quickly get where they need to go in the system. Crystal reports are easily managed and integrated with Spectrum, giving us great flexibility in custom reports. With a little training, and I mean a little, Spectrum is user friendly. Easy to create favorites/shortcuts for ease of use. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review
Cons	Stronger Sub search for situations in which we are not creating and publishing a project within BuildingConnected. In many instances, we simply need to find a trade subcontractor immediately. We cannot waste time in creating, publishing a project, documentation, files, etc., etc.. We should have an excellent advanced search window for this purpose. Incentivized Marcel Cicort Estimator Read full review	Subcontract Kiosk can be glitchy - allows subs to overbill on subcontract billing items Document Imaging can be glitchy - often says users do not have adequate security to view/add documents, but they do - if they sign out and back in, it works fine At times, support can be lacking - sometimes case responses are delayed or you get an incorrect answer Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review
Likelihood to Renew	No answers on this topic	It checks all of our boxes at the moment. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review
Usability	Very easy to use. Incentivized DC Diane Coughlin Office Manager and PM Assist Read full review	Some things in Spectrum are NOT that intuitive, but I think knowledge of the software just comes with time. There are still some things I need assistance with in Spectrum but I'm very comfortable with my day to day items now that I've been using it for years. However, if there is something I don't do often or haven't done before, I don't find the software to be that intuitive, I actually find the logic on some things to be a little weird but it's fine once I know how to do it. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review
Reliability and Availability	No answers on this topic	Very little down time. They host our system. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review
Performance	No answers on this topic	For the most part the product is very reliable. Since we are hosted we sometimes have connectivity issues but I would say that is more our ISP than Spectrum. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review
Support Rating	Though I haven't had to utilize any live support at BuildingConnected, I know others at my company have and have had good success with them. They seem to be very responsive and since the software is so simple, there are not that many pitfalls or hurdles that you need to work through to accomplish your task. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	The support has recently changed. Last year, you could call in and get an immediate response. Now that doesn't seem possible unless you have an urgent situation with access to the software, payroll or payables. I have found that using chat or e-mail works nicely for the most part, but sometimes I feel it would be easier if someone from support would jump on our site and take a first-hand look rather than going back and forth Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review
Online Training	No answers on this topic	Our trainer was excellent and navigated the time zone differences expertly. She gave us test assignments to complete and was available for questions at any time. Incentivized LM Louise Metcalfe Administrative Supervisor Read full review
Implementation Rating	Quick and easy. Pretty much menu-driven Incentivized DC Diane Coughlin Office Manager and PM Assist Read full review	It is important to have a strong implementation partner. It made the transition from our old system to the new system easier. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review
Alternatives Considered	BuildingConnected is one of my favorite bid management softwares because of its ease of use and simple interface. At a quick glance you can easily see where your project is, who is planning on bidding, and what values submitted bids equal out to. BuildingConnected makes it really easy to find and engage new subcontractors, and is very easy to use as a team. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	Spectrum, when compared to Simply accounting, is better. It has more options, and it is easy to navigate. Spectrum meets our needs better. Spectrum, when compared to Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate, is better. Spectrum has better connectivity between its project management system compared to Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate. Spectrum, when compared to CMIC, I believe they are equal. CMiC has a better project management system, but Spectrum has an easier accounting system to navigate. Incentivized BC Brad Caza Controller Read full review
Scalability	No answers on this topic	You can grant user specific access which is nice. Project managers do not need all the same modules as Accounting. But Accounting does need access to PM modules as well MM Marjie Maguire Sr. Payroll Accountant Read full review
Return on Investment	Our company is able to view the number of bid responses and award percentages for each subcontractor. We save a considerable amount of admin time by utilizing BuildingConnected. Correspondence to all subcontractors can be concurrent rather than individually where a general note must be distributed. Incentivized MD Melanie Dodson Preconstruction Manager Read full review	Viewpoint Spectrum has allowed us the opportunity to be proactive in analyzing the costs for a project in time to make a difference in the outcome of the project. It has allowed us defense in supporting our communications with the project owners. Viewpoint Spectrum has allowed us to become more productive with its accounting software and the cohesion between the modules. It has definitely streamlined the processing necessary to account for the business. Incentivized P( Paula (Queenbee) CFO Read full review
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