JForce
JForce is a comprehensive project management system for Joomla! JForce allows you to manage projects within your business and among your employees. The system also allows you to share information with clients. JForce offers a variety of features to support your business needs! (Think BaseCamp + Freshbooks )
JForce also includes:
Project Specific Access Roles
Milestones
Tasks
Support Tickets
Discussions
Documents and File Versioning
Comments
Dynamic Dashboard
Calendar
Events
Messages
Email Notifications
Fully compatible with Joomla! 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, and 2.5
First this extension seemed to be a promising choice: Before I purchased it I wrote some emails with my questions to the developer and I also got accurate response via support chat on their website. The extension has all the features a support system needs. Everything is - more or less - working out of the box.
After purchasing, installing and configuring the component I discovered some issues. Some things worked a little different that I expected. Well, that is just normal, I know. Some things I could resolve by myself with little workarounds. Some not. I even found a "true" bug that needed to be resolved by the company. They did that after a longer time period of convincing them that there is a bug. So far so good...
Using the term "longer time" describes the real problem: After a couple of weeks using JForce as primary helpdesk and project management tool, more issues and questions popped up.
I wrote emails but no response anymore?).
I tried the support chat. _One_ time (only) I got huge help from someone of the company checking some of the questions and issues I submitted, working on them right away. Additionally I got promises to work on the rest of it. But after that: nothing anymore. I tried the support chat several times, only getting sales people unable to help with the issues and questions.
Several times I was told that my emails got trashed because they were categorized as spam. I should resend them and use the ticket system.
Both I did, but to the most tickets I got no response. Getting back to the support chat to tell them I have submitted some tickets I just got the answer that someone will be looking into it. Most of the time it took more than 7 days to get their attention.
All of that happened within the last year. Some of my support tickets are still "open" since last November.
It's sad to say but it occurs to me that this extension is not under active development anymore. At least there seems to be no support anymore (at least this is what I experienced).
This extension can do a lot. But it needs some tweaks. I'm talking about little things like not working popups or search fields, etc. I guess these are all easy to find and eliminate (template incompatibility, etc.). But no one seems to listen. Therefor I would not buy it again.
my summary:
* feature rich
* but not easy to configure
* buggy
* but only few updates
* expensive
* but poor support
When we started implementing the product we found a number of bugs, mainly date related so we attempted to contact jforce for advise...and this is when the story stops. My developers have attempted to contact jforce on multiple occasions, both via email and even contacted the office directly and leaving messages. I have emailed with no response.
The product is only as good as its support and the support is 0/10
Come on guys...get your act together please.
Bryan Moore, Christchurch, New Zealand
Unfortunately this is a case of a business owner being misled by his developers. Bryan was told that his team contacted support on numerous occasions for assistance. They attempted to place the fault on JForce as a third-party developer which was simply not the case.
We request that all support questions be submitted as a support ticket within our system. This allows us to streamline responses, track each and ensure that nothing is missed. It's very simple and we clearly state this to be the case. Otherwise, we have no way of ensuring that users have an active account etc.. (although, we do very often offer quick assistance with our live on-site sales chat).
Bryan's developers told him that they had submitted "numerous tickets" and emails with no response from us. This was an outright lie and as we discovered we had received one email from them to an untracked email address. When we found this out we emailed Bryan and let him know this was the case. (Also, it would be worth mentioning at this point that when Bryan emailed our correct email addresses, filled out our contact form, and talked with live sales chat he received immediate replies on all channels).
We let Bryan know that if his developers would resubmit each of their tickets (since they hadn't submitted any yet) we would handle each one of them immediately. He said he understood and would tell them to send their questions as tickets through the proper channels.
We waited...and waited...finally one of his developers emails and gives us the two questions regarding date functionality. He then told Bryan that he did not submit a ticket because he didn't know the account information and the developer that did know it was on holiday. So, unfortunately, once again we did not get a ticket submitted and have not received any of the information we request to properly fix any problems that Bryan is facing.
It is an outright lie to claim that we have not provided support, or that we have been unresponsive in our communication. We have provided support via email, contact request form, and live sales chat. Bryan has held conversations with at least two people within JForce. We will be working with Bryan directly to hopefully clear things up.
Finally, if you would like to test our level of engagement, simply visit our site and ask us via our live sales chat, or fill out our contact form. :) You can see for yourself how quickly we respond!
Thanks!
David
Plus option is a seperate language file, to make translation in your own language.
Support helped to fix some problems wich i had after installation. Took some time but...
I love the option to duplicate the pre created projects, with milestones and task.
You don't need to create new task and new milstones for a new simular project. That's a big time saver.
Unlike what you need to do in i.e. VTIGER crm here you can't copy these milestones or tasks.
Thanks David for this great component.
Unfortunately there is only 1 person that supports this project.
There is no user forum where people can help each other.
There is never an answer when I call their numbers.
Because of poor support from the developers our customer service has suffered and we, at this time do not recommend this extension especially to pay for it.
Jforce NOT RECOMMENDED
Unfortunately this user chose not to communicate via standard business hours as requested. Still, we provided timely responses to all emails and voicemails. Carlos did not read the user manual and struggled to find the help website listed here on the JED as well as on our top level menu.
After several unsuccessful after-hours, weekend calls went unanswered Carlos sent an abrasive and profanity filled email. Still, in spite of that we offered email support in order to continue to offer above average support. However, we think it's not too much to ask that we be treated with respect and common courtesy in return.
When Carlos continued to struggle with understanding how to setup his site we attempted to arrange a one-on-one meeting to assist him. He was told that if, after that meeting, he still was dissatisfied with the product or our service we would break our terms and conditions and offer him a full refund.
Instead of a response he posted a bad review here instead. We regret that we could not live up to his expectations and hope that this response will help to clarify the situation behind this negative review. Our goal is that every client be satisfied with this product that we've spent so long developing and more than happy with the support we provide. And if not then we will certainly do everything we can to fix it. If there are other questions you might have prior to purchasing please don't hesitate to contact us and then decide if JForce is the right product for you.
In July of 2011, with a rapidly expanding marketing firm, I was searching for a solution to manage & interact with clients and staff members without having a messy paper trail. I tried literally every option available.
When I took the product tour for JForce and then looked at the price it scared me. I gave the guys at JForce the benefit of doubt and went forward with the purchase.
I cannot put into words how truly amazing this system is. It is like having a well oiled machine on your Joomla website. Functionality is flawless, and support (even last at night) responds with Godspeed.
The system allows for seemless project management for any company who benefits from the function. Customization is simple. If I could give 10 stars I would!!
Thanks guys, and we wish you the absolute best of success!
The solution I've been looking for was very clear in my mind. It was one that accomplished the following:
1) Provided an intuitive interface that let me quickly document the aspects of a project that I think are necessary AND then display those aspects to my clients in a user-friendly way.
2) The solution had to include reusable Project Templates
3) I needed multiple user access levels without having to spend time setting granular permissions for each user/group/company
4) Perhaps most importantly, I was looking for a solution that would help strengthen the relationships I have with my clients.
JForce honestly seems to be a great fit. I still have more testing to do, but so far my hopes and expectations have been exceeded by far.
The component installed with ease. The were two small issues that prompted me to request support, and 15 minutes later the company was actively working on my site. I have to add that they provided this level of support on a Saturday over a holiday weekend.
Hats off to JForce. Great work guys!
In addition to allowing our customers to purchase their lab invoices online we also use Jforce as a case folder to each investigation. We have used other evidence tracking software - but they dont support task, milestone, time tracking or allow credit card payments. Its our single tool that tracks everything from billing to evidence used in court.
we highly recommend JForce PM for any business that needs back end tracking of people, billing, time. and services.
I recall my dealings with David the project lead on this extension to be very pleasant and informative, he made no qualms about the support and development challenges he was facing back then and I appreciate his sincere honesty.
He definitely seems to have hit a home-run with this version and I am thoroughly impressed. As far as project management for Joomla goes, this is in a class of its own...forget ProjectFork...seriously...it's archaic, awkward and the interface a serious challenge to get used to...we tried it for a while last year and promptly abandoned it after too many user complaints.
I'm currently giving JForce a THOROUGH testing and so far it is working flawlessly. Hats off to David and his team, this is an extremely valuable component that could revolutionise small business CRM...would be nice if there was an API doc to integrate with. This is the kind of component that could easily spawn a vibrant 3rd party extension community. Think integrations with Clickatell for SMS, integrations with ACYMailing, integrations with Virtuemart and MobileJoomla, etc...
I'll be deploying this on a live customer-facing site next week after putting it through its paces and I'm confident that it will hold its own as it has in testing.
This is GOOD value for money and it WILL help you get better organised.
The earlier versions were a little more challenging as you needed to understand CRM and Project Management processes to configure them properly. But David was always available to help.
Not so anymore! I just upgraded overnight to the latest version (with a little help from David again) and we have it working and ready for my customers to share this morning! Its brilliant out of the box! With many of the settings already in the sample data. I love the new version. Well done JForce and David!
I still use the old version of JForce with the CRM tool to manage over 1,000 customers from my website business and I sell services across the world managing a growth rate of 30% every quarter in this tough economic environment since I started. I couldn't manage this growth without JForce. I have genuinely turned over $12M in my website business last year with a virtual business using a website. JForce allowed me to provide superior customer service using their CRM and Project Management tools and I just won a $7M account by including JForce Project Management in my service bundle to my clients.
This is the best $250 I ever spent! David is also available to provide a smooth implementation, customisations and he can also offer training for my valuable customers - another great value add I have over my competitors.
David's service and responsiveness is just as consistently great as it was 3 years ago.
Well done David! Any business not using this well thought out, cost effective, browser based solution isn't serious about managing their customers and workload.
A comparable system would cost many thousands of dollars with lots of customisations required and weeks to months to implement.
David knows my websites and can confirm how successful they are.
Thank you David. I am looking forward to continuing to work together with you. My customers love JForce. Anmy yours will too.
Unlock the power of Jforce with your customers.
I will be a customer for many years to come.
Thank you JForce and especially David.
Di Lyons
It has been a long way :-) and there have been problems, for some time support was almost none exiting.
But they have changed, many of the problems have been removed and the problem with lack of support especial. Over the last two weeks the Jforce team have been great, working on finding and fixing the problems on my clients site.
I would gladly recommend jForce to anyone!!
It has been easy to work with and also to expand on
But what was even better than the extension itself, was the support I received from the WebSpark team. All of my numerous queries/mails were always responded to satisfactorily within a single day (accounting for timezone differences).
Also thanks to David for extending a special pricing for us, making it JForce the more affordable and indispensable to our project. The price was the only stumbling block for us, and the team understood this and gave us an unbelievable accommodation on that front too.
5/5 all the way!!!!!!!!! JForce rocks.
Thank you for the review and feedback! I cannot begin to express how thrilled I am to hear your comments! Customer support is our top priority and we have worked hard to improve. We look forward to continuing to provide you with VIP treatment.
Thank you again for the feedback!
David Hurley
This system is very intuitive for the user which increases the chances that your clients will actually use it! If they use it then you will get the benefits of both being able to stay organized and staying on top of your billing/cash flow which is crucial to your operations.
Obviously much time has been invested in this system and I think it is a great value for a one-time payment type system. A few more valuable suggestions to the developer from a system ownership standpoint and it will truly be a premier extension that any project manager cannot do without.
A few things that I think could be useful:
As you are immersing your self into a new system you will want to be sure that all of your e-mail templates look just right and convey the right message. It would be nice to have a development mode where it prompts you before sending out one of the automated e-mails and/or allows you to preview the e-mails that are about to be sent. It is a bit nerve wracking to wonder whether an e-mail is being dispersed. After a certain amount of time you could turn off that development mode.
Option to CC owner on all e-mails. This will allow you to audit the outgoing mail on a regular basis.
Add a PayPal link to new invoice and invoice update e-mails when PayPal is the method. This prevents your customer from having to log in to pay the invoice. I performed this change on my own system.
TinyMCE is hard-coded in which means you cannot use JCE or other. Would be nice to have that option.
The extension seems to have the potential to be outstanding. Just figured I would give my two cents as it seems to be getting a bad wrap from some folks.
Thanks for such an honest review. It has not been an easy journey and we've certainly had our share of mistakes and errors. I agree that I think we've turned the corner and we've got an amazing product and the level of support that we should have been offering all along.
We look forward to offering amazing customer service to each customer and demonstrating exactly how awesome JForce can be for their business.
Thanks again rmis!
David Hurley
has a lot of bugs! simply doenst work.
There is no phone number in website;
The support dont response any email;
I open an dispute on paypal, and the seller did not response as well...
Hi next4ideas,
You are correct that we did not advertise either a phone number or even the best way to get support. Our support was not good. JForce is a comprehensive project management system and as a result there are times when it may appear that there are bugs. Often times this relates to an interaction with another third party component, or even a template. Most common were Javascript issues. We have made great steps forward in the Javascript declarations we use and have addressed all of the bugs that were present.
I am very pleased to say now that our support is much better and I am focused on making sure that each of our customers is taken care of and their problems addressed.
I would like to speak with you and learn more about the problems you faced when you worked with JForce and offer personal support in resolving any issues you faced. I would like to also extend your support length and upgrade opportunity so that you can experience the latest version of JForce.
If you will email me through jforce.com I will make sure that you are treated to the support you should have received initially.
Thank you,
David Hurley
For a company that provides an extension to provide support, they have no support themselves.
Repeated tickets submitted, emails even to the parent company and no response.
I had to file a complaint with PayPal to get a refund, which was granted as they failed to respond to it.
Anyone considering to part with $99 for an extension, consider the support you get, none!
I would still consider using this extension as it does have great potential, but I have no confidence in the company.
Hi K2Joom,
I cannot begin to express how upset I was to hear of your trouble with JForce and our support. When I read about the problems you were experiencing I was extremely disheartened. I have restructured the entire company and re-written almost the entire component. We have completely changed the way our website logs in and registers users. If you would be interested in trying our product and support again I would like to personally extend an apology and provide you with the level of service you should have received.
If you are open to this solution I will make sure that your account is re-activated immediately and I will personally help with any support issues that may arise. I cannot say enough how discouraged I was with the way our support was handled in the past; but I can proudly say now that we are handling things as they should have been, and I would like the opportunity to demonstrate that to you.
I look forward to restoring your confidences in JForce both in our amazing product as well as our improved and refocused dedication to support.
Thank you,
David Hurley
If it worked it would be great (I would assume). But it doesn't. I can't make users or assign to companies so right now I also can't launch my client's site. I'm going to check into Project Fork as an alternative.
Hi aibreanstudio,
I am very sorry for the lack of support you received. We have just recently released an updated version that utilizes the version of MooTools included in Joomla! 2.5. This fixes all bugs you were experiencing with the previous version. If you would like to try JForce again I would be happy to extend your support and upgrade term for a reasonable length and work with you to make sure it is functioning correctly on your website. Simply send me an email through jforce.com and I will work with you to demonstrate both the new product we have and the new level of support we offer.
Thank you for your open and honest review of our system as it was in the past. Your comments were helpful as we restructured and rebuilt the entire component as well as our support system. I trust you will find the updated component more suitable for your needs!
Thank you,
David Hurley
Hi daunho,
You are absolutely right, our support was poor. We did not have the staff necessary to handle the level of response we received. I am very happy to announce that we have released an updated product as well as a completely revamped support service.
If you have any problems or questions I would encourage you to contact me through Jforce.com and I will make sure any problems you have are handled quickly.
Additionally, I would like to offer you an extended support term so that you can see first-hand the type of support we now offer to each of our customers. I am sorry for the problems you experienced and understand the frustration it caused you. I am confident I can remedy that and restore your satisfaction with JForce. I look forward to showing you what we can offer.
Thank you,
David Hurley
For the developer, I highly recommend that you release a 30 day or even 7 day trial just to allow the doubtful crowd to try the component and realize how powerful it is,.....trust, they will then pay the price.
Sincerely,
J.Alame
