Tradogram

Tradogram has made our processes run smooth and straight-forward. Everyone - from the Site Supervisors, trades to the office staff, have been able to use and navigate without any issues. Some of the site supervisors have never really used a computer in their job, and they were able to create PO's and understand the system within 30 mins of using it.

I am very pleased with how easy it is to create a PO, how easy the approval process is for all parties & how the program communicates through email (with just a click of a button you can view a PO or approve/reject). Everything is customizable and we were able to tailor the program to work exactly how we envisioned. We were even able to add a link to a SharePoint folder right on the PO itself, so trades could access the project files.

Another huge positive, is that this program is cloud-based, so anyone can access it from anywhere. It has made working remotely infinitely easier.

Also, budgets are easy to import and track by accessing the "Spend Report". This is a huge deal for us, so we can see the original budget vs. what we've spent to show what is remining for each line-item.

Initially with the integration setup, there was an issue with getting the vendors to push over from QuickBooks Online and a lot of the GL accounts were not communicating. But with the help of the support team, we were able to get to the bottom of all the issues quickly and effectively. They were super helpful in getting it working and integrated properly.

Also, not really a con because we got around it, but we were told there was an iPhone app coming out for this software before Christmas, and it still hasn't been released. We rely heavily on apps for communicating/working remotely, since our whole crew is working from different cities & provinces. So instead, we decided to get our site supervisors iPads and we saved the web login page to the home screen of the iPad, so it works just like an app. It seems to work better anyway because the screen is bigger and easier to navigate on.

The positives are that it encompasses purchasing from start to finish. This includes submitting requisitions, creating RFQ's, Purchase Orders, and Invoices. It tracks changes in pricing for negotiating purchases. Suppliers can enter pricing into the system, which allows the buyers to compare supply pricing on the same screen. You can select the suppliers to award, cancel the unused requests, directly from the system. Overall it's good but it needs customization for each organization. Luckily, it's priced fairly low so the additional cost for custom programming is, so far, affordable.

Assigning items to suppliers is very confusing and there are ways to unlink items from other suppliers way too easily. This part of the system needs a lot of work. In addition, if you want to add multiple items from the database, but they are the same items, with different quantities perhaps, there isn't a way to copy items within RFQs or Purchase Orders. Also, you cannot delete Suppliers, so if you have more than 1 person entering them and they duplicate, you have to ask Tradogram to do it.

What first caught my eye was the user friendly interface. There is ease of use throughout the process of using Tradogram. The online chat support is great, they are always friendly and get back to me within a reasonable time and 90% of the time can solve any issues I am having.

I do not like when I search for a PO, or a delivery etc. and I find the one I want and open it, when I click to go back to Purchase orders, it takes me back to the first page of all the PO's I want it to go back to what I have searched for...

100% visibility of our spending. The flow of data among modules makes it very friendly and efficient to take actions available including report generation within each module. The flexibility to edit POs once issued is a plus. Very clear and easy to navigate dashboard feature. The very soon-to-be most liked in the near future is the smartphone App. Eagerly awaiting its deployment!

Tradogram comes with no basic written instructions to use its modules and grasp the flow of data. It is a simple software but that would save the many hours taken to become familiar.