Feedback on Projects, Tasks, and Billing

JMWDBA
JMWDBA Member

So I will start by saying I was evaluating the platform to see if I can cross over from using Zoho Invoice and Zoho Expense. There are a couple of things that I thought were pretty basic that are not quite pleasant when it comes to Simplifi Personal & Business.

Overall Impression

Quicken Simplifi shows tremendous potential, and I can see the value it would provide for users starting fresh. However, as someone migrating from an established system, I've encountered some challenges that I hope might be considered for future enhancements, or maybe it's there and I need to recalibrate my thinking coming from other established systems. Why am I migrating if I am using an established system? Because Zoho has created artificial limits on products to force you into their more expensive products. I can't blame them for this, but it was also an indicator to me that I needed to evaluate other players in the space.

Migration Experience Observations

The transition process has been more time-intensive than anticipated, primarily due to needing to manually review every imported transaction. Additionally, I've noticed that transactions from the same merchant sometimes appear with slight name variations, requiring separate rules for each variation.

Wishlist Item: It would be wonderful if there were enhanced auto-categorization features or bulk editing capabilities to help streamline the migration process for existing users. It seems to try and do a little of this but fails more than not.

Project Management and Billing Feature Requests

1. Date Selection During Task Creation

When creating billable project tasks, I currently include dates in the description field since date selection is only available during invoice creation.

Wish/Request: It would be incredibly helpful to have date selection available during task creation to better align with natural billing workflows.

2. Enhanced Expense Organization

I'm finding the expense management structure a bit challenging to navigate. While there's a great "ready to bill" section for project tasks, I don't see a similar section for expenses.

Wish/Request: A dedicated billable expenses section with client and project filtering would be a game-changer for invoice preparation.

3. Mileage Tracking Integration

Wish/Request: I'd love to be able to link mileage expenses to specific clients and projects, and have them appear in the billable sections alongside other project-related expenses.

4. Time Tracking Capabilities

Wish/Request: Built-in time tracking for client projects would be amazing. Currently, I track time externally and have to manually enter each item in Quicken because there is no bulk import that I have seen. A bulk import feature for time data would be incredibly valuable.

5. Manual Expense Entry with Receipt Management

I'd appreciate the ability to add expenses that aren't from connected accounts while still being able to attach receipts. I've also experienced occasional account disconnections that require manual reconnection.

Wish/Request: A system similar to Zoho's Invoice/Expenses integration where receipts automatically attach to invoices would be fantastic for client communication.

Why These Features Matter

As a consultant who bills clients for projects and expenses, these enhancements would significantly improve my workflow efficiency and make Simplifi an even more compelling platform for service-based businesses.

I'm excited about Simplifi's potential and would love to see these considerations in future updates. Thank you for creating such a promising platform!

Comments

This discussion has been closed.