JobBOSS² Shop Management Review: Details, Features

The program is advertised as customizable and flexible but we have found it ridgid and not built for a custom machine shop. All material is treated as in house inventory whereas we order material based on the BOM. The software feels built more for a production company, with say multiple orders of the same widget per month. As a custom machine shop our work is unpredictable and inconsistent. There are no two jobs the same. We have moved a great deal of our processes outside of the software, onto Excel, to assure we. are accurately capturing the jobs.

The software seems to be lagging in comparison to what other systems in the market have to offer, especially in regards to production scheduling/management. The scheduling module does not offer a “drag and drop” feature, nor is editing the data easy to do. Any changes across the schedule require a great deal of manipulation. I am used to systems that will auto-correct across a schedule. Even upgraded versions within their family of software did not impress when comparing to other similar systems available.

For smaller job shops, it’s a great software to start with during the growth process.

The software does everything we need it to do to support our shop (job shop) but the interface and workability of the system is where we are struggling. The actual screen and composition of the system is unattarctive and hard to learn. We are constanlty running into gltiches or errors and trying to train new staff on the program is near impossible. It may just be our personal preference, but the overall look of the software, we find unattractive.

Overall, the software is absolutely awesome! Support and trainers are very knowledgable and helpful. I also cannot express what an amazing trainer Dave Fothergill is. I have had nothing but the best experience this far.

There are alot of things we like about the system. Our shop guys can access the system via an App on their phone, allowing them to clock their time and scan a QR code for prodcution tracking. It also allows me to monitor production from home if needed. But then there are many areas that we really dislike. The support is horrible. Often times we won’t hear back for days regarding a support request and the response always seems the same; we need to pay if we want the issue fixed. Where the heck did all the money we already pay go?? Their scheduling add-on is also very difficult to navigate. It allows little editing to the routing steps or estimated production times.

The system is more of a MRP than an ERP but it does not integrate well with many accounting systems. We tried to connect it with Quickbooks and was told it would take 15 plus steps. The software also offers little shop floor control or QA control. We have customized Excel sheet to manage all our pass/fail needs and corrective actions. The accounting features are lacking. Any type of drill down functionalities are non existent. If I want to do drill down reporting on a curtail costs line item, I have to do several steps of a work around. What should be a simple tasks will take 30 plus minutes.

We were looking for a new Manufacturing ERP for our business. We have been using JobBoss for the last few months.

The training included is really bad. You end up paying for a program before you really are able to use it. And on top of that, once it is set up, it doesn’t always work right.

We would not purchase the Job Boss program again if we had the chance.

We reviewed a few systems with Software Connect but ended up going with JobBoss2. So far the system has been great and really reduces our work load for certian tasks.

It has great data collection and integrates with QuickBooks which was a good plus for us.

BUYER BEWARE!! We cannot begin to describe the horrors, run, run away from this as fast as you can and hide in a bunker until their sales people leave! I promise you, the Egyptians did better ERP on stone slates then they can with their 1985 style of programming. 10 clicks in and 10 clicks out to print a simple work router, just plain simple processes they managed to make completely incompetent.

When you have an issue and cant understand something it takes hours to get help. A lot of the time the person on the other end has no idea about what your asking. They try to redirect you to someone else to still not get answers or them even calling you back. It would be nice to have training videos to watch and not have to pay extra for when you already pay for the usage every year.

To anyone that is thinking about purchasing E2, now known as Shop Tech…BUYER BEWARE

Our company made the decision to purchase E2 in 2018 at a machine show. The sales associates that were demonstrating the software did an amazing job showing off it’s operational talents and expertise. The company paid for two of us top management specialists to travel to a training sight where we worked out of a step by step workbook, which began the wasting of monies…But then 1/1/2019 the nightmare began.

First and foremost, the program was not the same as the one purchased by the President of the company. They supplied a brand new version of E2 and told us that it had been a replacement for the one we purchased and the prior was no longer available… For two years to follow we were nothing but guinea pigs. Our company suffered computer glitches, accounting problems, data loss and production interruption, due to the unready malfunctioning computer software supplied. Numerous hours spent with E2 support, could still not rectify the continuing accounting issues and glitches within the software. Weekly we received updates from E2 tech support to fix problems in their new system. These updates regularly had thousands of changes.

We hired a representative from their company to fly out for some help with direct training and accounting fixes. We had to prepay for his services. Upon arrival he informed us that he too was unfamiliar with the accounting portion and couldn’t help us much. His services totaled over $6000.00 We finally resorted to paying our CPA office several hours to go through the process with us and balance the books.

In short, $37,000.00 later, not only we would NEVER recommend this product to any sized businesses, but if you’re thinking of viewing this product, don’t waste your time. They will show you a demo of software that’s already setup and operating smoothly, which is NOT what will happen when you implement. As of January 2021 we have since, happily moved on to new software, but recently been forced to pay for the last six months of (non) tech support or risk being sent to Collections from Shop Tech. Classy Shop Tech…very classy. Goodbye Shop Tech… And good riddance!

I mean it works… The ERP options on the market are all rather clunky, with bad UX, and poorly thought out features. E2 is one of the best I’ve used, but that’s truly not saying much. It’s one of the better options on the market, but even with that being said, I can’t even give it a 3/5.

E2 is poorly designed from the ground up by engineers neither familiar with manufacturing environments or the fundamentals of basic software design. Most of their modules feel like poorly planned afterthoughts and don’t function properly. The software is advertised as a data gathering tool, but in the end, the data is buried under a mountain of clicks and an interface that operates like a series of Russian dolls. If you want to talk to someone who really knows the software, you almost have to threaten litigation.

We had no real employee accountability. We were busy with work but had employees not living up to their full production potential which was wasting time and Money. E2 completely changed that.

I love the mobility of the software. We go to the lake every single weekend and I can be on the boat doing whatever I need to do with E2 on my laptop and the kids can be swimming in the lake having fun. I can see them and I’m there.

The access to data has been a game changer for the shop and for my ability to lead the company. I like E2 because I can quickly access nearly any information I need about the shops processes, and then use that data to make smart, fast decisions.

After talking with the E2 team, I knew it would not only get me the certifications we needed but it was going to help me run everything about my business, now and in the future.

When the last recession hit, we saw business vanish quickly. I knew we had to mind cash flow closer than we ever had before and thats when I realized how valuable E2 was for our company.

UX design is frustrating at best and very unintuitive. Documentation and support are also lacking. The installer binary for 7.2 actually says its 7.1 - did anyone QC this software? Why are my users getting listbox errors when querying the database? Why is it so hard to edit job traveler appearance and customize other things? I would not recommend this ERP to anyone - it does not simplify processes or facilitate any meaningful reporting without massive effort on the users behalf (hope you know SQL!) Im writing this review whilst digging through the documentation to find some sort of guidance to assist end users and I wouldn’t wish this on my enemies. Don’t believe the well crafted SEO on the web, this software is garbage with a GUI.

About as useful as a fork when eating soup.

I find the software to be ver user unfriendly and feel the interface was designed 1995.

This product it seems to have everything that we are looking for in an ERP/MRP software.

started with a company that uses the system. I’m not getting proper guidance how to fix the scheduling portion of the system. Not very comfortable with advocating this service to others

There is one glaring flaw!!! We just discovered that the hours worked on a job don’t match with the Job Cost Detail report. The Job Cost Detail report says there were 6.5 hours for a job however, the Time Audit report says there were only 2 hours on the same job. Which one is correct? I called support. They informed me that this problem has been an issue with my version of the software. I currently use 11.9.4. I was given a couple of things to try to correct this problem and they didn’t work. I was told that I will have to upgrade to correct the problem. I was very disappointed at how flippent support was about this problem. It was like they didn’t care. I have to get my IT person involved to do the upgrade. I called support again to get their hours of operation and was placed on hold for over 7 minutes. I hung up, called back and contacted a different department to find out their hours of operation and informed them that I was on hold for over 7 minutes. They informed me that only (2) individuals were there to cover that area and that they have been busy all day with no break at that’s why I had to be on hold for such a long time. I don’t know when I’ll be able to get my upgrade completed and sit here wondering how many jobs I’ve invoiced that are incorrect, (I have close to 600 jobs that I’ve invoiced this year). I’m appalled that JobBOSS knew of this issue and yet I was never informed about it. No call, no email, nothing. Extremely disappointed in JobBOSS’s support and handling of problems.

I use it as a full-service ERP, covering all my production, purchasing and accounting needs

Serapid decided to purchase JobBoss over the competition. We thought the program was a good solution to get us from multiple spread sheets to 1 software package shared by the whole company. The training was better than competitors. The software has brought job release thru final invoicing into the modern times. Inventory control is real time with stock status, cost and planning easily evaluated. Purchasing is straight forward form the job BOM to RFQ to PO in easy steps. Job costing is current and accessible. With the addition of the BOM Import tool JobBoss has hit a home run.

The software does well for our needs… the accounting/ payroll integration could be better and I would like to see a Human Resource Module along with a Machine Maintenance Module…

Module driven software with a very friendly data base design. The outline is a very universal structure, but is to be very accurate to the manufacturing processes. Data Collection is very powerful even know we do not fully utilize to it abilities. Data collection at serves the manufacturing very well as time and attendance and Job costing. Accounting package and Payroll would be considered add ons at one time, but have been upgraded and serve us very well.

Strengths - Flexibility, User Friendly, All in one (Quoting, Job\Sales Entry, Purchasing, Shop Floor Management, Shipping, Accounting and Payroll) how can you go wrong???

Good layout: standard progression using tabs. Self populating dropdown fields. Good search feature in most modules. Good formatting of crystal reports. Good Copy feature from Quote to Job, PO to PO, etc. We use JB from Quote to Cost, Inventory, Scheduling, Acct, data collection, etc.

JobBOSS handles the front end to the back end (and all points in between) for our Manufacturing Company operations. There is nothing I need to do outside of JobBOSS with other software to run and manage our business.

Very user friendly. Easy to teach and reproduce implementation.

JobBoss is a very good and easy to use software. We have jobs that consist of 1 component and some with 200 components and many repeat orders. JobBoss handles the diffrent job types without any issues. JobBoss does an excellent job of tracking job time and costs. It is seamless from the Quote to final job cost. I would highly recommend it for any size shop.

JobBoss helps us accurately track jobs from quotation to shipment. In addition the use of of ShopBoss helps keep us on schedule to make sure deliveries stay on time.

Software is very user friendly, puts the power at your fingertips to run your shop and office.

JB was designed to help manage and control production costs in a typical job shop environment. It covers all aspects of manufacturing from quote to invoicing, and real time data collection.

It is built around a manufacturing job shop and is designed to track the job through the manufacturing stages. It is also supposed to handle inventory as well.