It's great to have a project management, billing, scheduling, payables all in one place.
Workamajig is always improving and putting out new releases. If there is something you need, just ask them and they can implement it for a cost or in some cases they offer it as part of new releases.
We initially used WMJ for the scheduling aspects of the software, but in the last 8 years it's become so much better as a project management tool.
We purchase a significant amount of media on behalf of our clients, and Workamajig provides tools that allow us to seamlessly manage media orders, invoices, and client billings. We advance bill a large portion of that, and Workamajig's tools for tracking and applying advance bills are second to none. I extensively researched accounting systems before we made the switch, and nothing else out there offered the tools we needed at a price point that made sense for our company.
As an administrator, it can be a little tough sometimes to dial in the correct permissions for different individuals or security groups. There are so many different permissions that can be toggled, and it's not always clear how they connect to specific things that users can see or do.
Workamajig is helping us solve issues that we were previously having with tracking and reporting. There's so much data that can go in, and so many options for pulling that data through to useful reporting. There are also even options for custom reporting that we've barely even scratched the surface of so far.
This system is intuitive, and very easy to learn and use. I was trained in-house and had to learn many aspects of the system on my own, but had no problem. The Help guides are a grea resource, and the personal support is awesome!
The downside could be considered an upside... there is so much to learn. Three years in, and I am still learning. There are numerous short cuts and tricks that I need to explore.
I need clear reporting that doesn't take a week to compile. I can pull many reports in minutes that help us with staffing, pricing, and scheduling. I can modify on the fly and save for future reporting periods. This saves time over data dumping and manipulating in Excel.
Workamajig is the perfect platform for any agency looking for robust features, flexibility and all-around competitive pricing.
Nothing glaring comes to mind. Workamajig does so many things so well!
Forecasting (both financial and resources) and project health monitoring. The Workamajig platform provides all of the business intelligence needed to keep our business efficient, optimized and profitable!
Two days before rolling out WMJ to our agency, the client portal and project manager were released. Made the decision to use Platinum rather than classic (flash based), due to the beautiful interface. It allowed a lower level of angst among both our internal clients, but staff users. For clients, It is more intuitive to use and requires less training than classic. This is a huge time saver for the few of us on my staff who are handling the training. Honestly, it is still a bit buggy in a few areas. During a roll out this has not been ideal, but the WMJ support staff have been EXTREMELY responsive to get us back on track. Thanks so much to Randy and Esther who are my rock'n team, and all the engineers!! Since WMJ just launched, plan on implementing the "Workamajig Way" which is a best practices approach to utilize the built-in functions of this very powerful tool.
Log-in credentials - Currently have to input every client log-in request (insert hair pulling). A client self-created log-in account would be such a huge assist (with review by WMJ admin). Understand, from the 5.0 conference, we may be able to use SAML. Emailing tech support - I would rather be able to call and speak with my account manager directly. Emails are cumbersome, especially if in a different time zone. So WMJ, hire more support staff to reduce the client load each manager has. It will make a huge difference and be much appreciated. Online training - Ugh. Only an hour a week is not ideal or practical when there are so many questions. More updated/current online videos showing how-to in all areas would be wonderful. A step-by-step guide in the program would be helpful to our clients (and us). Online help guide - Somewhat helpful, but needs to be more in-depth. Not all aspects are fleshed out enough to answer many questions asked. Security groups - A more detailed explanation of each specific permission. Some of it seems like in-side baseball. Terminology - Use the same language throughout the platform, guides and communications (e.g. tasks, assignments, task assignments, etc.). It will keep the confusion to a minimum. Language - Only in English. Our clients globally need to see the platform in Spanish, French and Arabic. Heard at the 5.0 conference that at least Spanish and French will be added, and will be user activated.
As the internal marcom production director, I was tasked to find a "one stop shop" portal for our internal clients. This was particularly needed for our colleagues overseas and in U.S. regional offices, in addition to the ones in our building (about 4,000 total). This meant all project requests for all creative needs must reside in one place and be customized (we currently have four, with two more on the way), and accessible from anywhere. Project requests need to be directed to the right project managers for review to avoid silos and gaps in coverage (connecting the dots). Production had previously managed only design projects. Our mandate was to now enable all marcom units with a staff of 50 (communications, social media, advertising, web, video, print shop, marketing strategy, Hispanic marketing and editorial/writing) to have projects in one location for easy review, management and reporting. Part of the reporting requirement was also to track time spent to show how resources/staff are being used (or overused), and which clients utilized what percentage of services (currently free, except for printing). It should show the metrics why more resources/staff and a charge back system are needed. Oh, and it should be easy to use to meet 100% use worldwide.
I love the fact that estimates, hours, budgets, finances, purchasing and all things that go into running a successful creative company are tied together. Client, project and operational costs are all available in one system. I also LOVE that I can create custom reports and schedule them to automatically be sent out. While not all data sets are available in all reports, the flexibility is really incredible.
Workamajig is a beast. Because there is so much "in" the system, working through data, reports and finding your way is sometimes cumbersome. There is definitely a learning curve the first year or so, but the training and support we have had available was very helpful. In some instances we've had to hire outside consultants to help "build" our system, but it was well worth the effort and expense. 5 years in and we utilize almost every aspect of the system.
Insights from all the data throughout the system is helping us make financial, personnel and resourcing decisions. And as we grow we are needing more resourcing help and Workamajig is doing that.
Workamajig has an intuitive user interface, and the integration of financials (i.e., estimates, POs, expense tracking) is terrific. I'm a new user, but all signs are positive. And the support is truly wonderful--responsive and very, very helpful; in particular, the support and guidance of Jennifer Broadwater!
None that I can speak of; other than Jennifer isn't in the same office as I!
To run our agency.
With Workamajig, the features that I really enjoyed and utilized the most were project review, billing, and the reporting metrics (KPI). With a client roster of 10+ clients, WMJ was an absolute necessity to stay organized with the amount of overlap with project coordination, media trafficking instructions and mass client billing. For example, specifically within the financial aspect of WMJ, what I really liked was the ability to streamline billing instructions for multiple invoice types. The different options for time and materials, fixed fee and retainer bills made it easy to navigate and tailor per client scope and individual need. It was helpful to have all of the prior month's billing instructions noted in the system to revisit and review in the future for reconciliation/reference where needed. WMJ helped me to improve project management, billing and finance, reporting and so many other project tasks. WMJ ultimately made our clients' work easier tracked and managed, which led to higher productivity and improved efficiency. This was really the most robust solutions systems that I've worked in and it is totally worth the financial and learning/implementation commitment.
When I first began using WMJ, it wasn't the most user-friendly; the interface wasn't great or very intuitive but the experience did improve over time! It seemed like because the system functionality was so complex, it didn't allow for smooth functionality (some modules performed better than others). Some functionality did not link into specific sheets/forms like it was supposed to. Sometimes some modules did not "talk" to the other modules. Also, although I loved working with this system, Workamajig did not always allow for the most seamless transition after undergoing updates. There always seemed to be bugs (at the most inopportune times) that would sometimes hinder and affect client work needs. There would be times when our in-house IT team would try to reach WMJ for support and sometimes timely solutions were not in reach. Desktop support was better accessible as opposed to mobile support; however overall WMJ seemed to have a responsive team. Once an issue was noted, their support team would follow up with communication notation and improvements.
They key business problem that WMJ helped me to solve was related to scheduling multiple projects for assignment to cross-functional teams and then tracking against those deliverables through project completion. Workamajig also allowed for greater team collaboration and reinforced project communication and accountability (between teams). It really helped our agency and client account teams organize multiple clients and accounts by specific tasks and dollar amounts. YoY analysis helped me to see just how much efficiency we'd gained with WMJ's implementation. I also was a big proponent of re-visiting project burns to see the level of efficiency we were helping to drive for our clients, (as opposed/compared to those same project-types, in a world without WMJ.)