Monograph, BQE CORE, Deltek Ajera and Deltek Vantagepoint each connect projects, time and billing. None of them is designed to run your inbox, your inquiry replies or your WhatsApp threads.
This guide sets out what each tool says it does, from the vendor's own pages, and the admin that usually sits outside them.
Step by step
1Read each vendor's current page
Features change often. Vendor pages describe features, not how well they work; ask for a demo on your own data.
2Keep the system as the record
The practice-management system stays the record for projects, time and invoices.
3List the admin that sits outside it
Much of a small firm's admin happens before a project exists, or between people, in tools the system does not read: inquiries, project set-up, meeting notes, client status emails, decisions in WhatsApp, receipts and late-invoice follow-up.
4Ask the vendor what other tools can read and write
Ask about the API, the direction of each integration, what the AI features see, and whether you can export everything. Write the answers down. They decide what an automation can safely do.
5Automate the writing and filing around it
Automations around the system do the writing and filing, and write back only what the system is designed to accept, such as through its own integrations.
Free tool
What to automate around my software
Choose what your firm uses and the tasks that take the most time. The result lists what your tool says it already covers for those tasks, and what is left to automate around it. It runs in your browser.
"Covered" means the vendor's page names a feature for it; check how well it works for you. "Around it" is our suggestion.
Practice-management software (sometimes called project accounting or ERP, enterprise resource planning) is the system of record for a design firm: projects, phases, budgets, timesheets, invoices and, in some tools, the general ledger. Choosing one is a large decision. This guide does not rank them. It answers a narrower question: once you have one, what admin is still done by hand, and which of that is worth automating?
Every product claim below comes from the vendor's own website, checked on November 5, 2026, and is linked in the sources. Vendor pages describe features, not how well they work; ask for a demo on your own data. Where a vendor page does not mention something, we say so rather than assuming it is missing. We have no commercial relationship with any of these vendors.
What each tool says it covers
Tool
Positioned for
Core features (vendor's words, summarized)
Accounting
AI features named by the vendor
Monograph
Architecture and engineering firms
Phases, budgets, timelines and milestones in one plan; time tracking tied to projects and phases; invoicing; resource planning; profit reporting
Integrates with QuickBooks Online
None listed on its project-management page
BQE CORE
Architects (one of several professions it sells to)
Time and expense tracking, project management, billing (batch invoices by percent complete or by time and expense), RFI, submittals, CRM, HR
Built-in general ledger with cash, accrual and project-based accounting; also integrates with QuickBooks Online
"Business and artificial intelligence" for insights; AI help coding downloaded bank and card transactions
Deltek Ajera
Small architecture and engineering firms
Project management with project-based accounting; schedules; auto-filling timesheets; expense capture from receipts; invoices from project data with approval routing; staffing by availability
Built in (project-based accounting)
Ask Dela; Timesheet Assist; receipt reading (Intelligent Character Recognition)
Deltek Vantagepoint
Architecture, engineering and consulting firms "of all sizes"
CRM and pipeline, project plans and Gantt charts, financial management and billing, resource management
Built in; can also run "Front Office only" alongside an existing financial system
Dela, described as native: natural-language answers, early warnings on revenue and spending, drafting emails from Vantagepoint data
Details worth knowing before you automate
Monograph and QuickBooks: Monograph's integration page says invoices, expenses and consultant bills go one way to QuickBooks Online, and project, wage, labor, consultant and operating costs come one way back. Editing an invoice in QuickBooks does not update Monograph ("No, by design"). Automatic payment status updates need QuickBooks Online Plus or Advanced. There is no direct integration with QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Time or QuickBooks Payroll.
BQE CORE's architect page lists payment integrations (Stripe, AffiniPay, DesignPay, CPACharge, LawPay) and integrations with QuickBooks Online and Dropbox.
Deltek's Ajera page refers to use in the cloud. Deltek's Vantagepoint page says more than 80% of Vantagepoint companies use the Deltek Cloud (a vendor figure).
Deltek's blog post introducing Ask Dela for Vantagepoint (June 6, 2024) says it retrieves information from projects, employees, firms, contacts and activities, summarizes project data and drafts emails.
If something here is out of date, tell us at hello@archon-partners.com and we will correct it.
The admin that usually sits outside the system
This part is our view, from how small firms tend to work, not a vendor claim. Practice-management software is strongest once a project exists and someone records time against it. Much of a small firm's admin happens before that, or between people, in tools the system does not read:
Admin task
Where it usually lives
What an automation can do
New inquiries
Email, website form, WhatsApp, phone
Collect the same intake answers every time and draft a reply for a person to send
Project set-up
Shared drive, by hand
Create the folder structure and the first rows in your logs from the intake answers
Meeting notes to tasks
Notebooks, recordings, chat
Turn notes into minutes and a task list with owners, ready to paste or file
Client status emails
Each person's mailbox
Draft a weekly update per project from the week's notes
Decisions made in WhatsApp
Phones
Turn a thread into a dated decision log you can file with the project
Receipts reaching a project
Pockets, photos, email
Sort receipts into project folders and rows before the close; some tools above now read receipts themselves
Late-invoice follow-up
Memory, or a reminder in someone's calendar
Find late invoices each morning and write reminder drafts; never send
Questions to ask a vendor before you automate around it
Send these to the vendor, or bring them to the vendor call. Replace everything in [square brackets].
When: Before you connect any other tool to your practice-management software.
Subject: [Tool name]: questions before we automate around it
1. Which of our data can another tool read, and which can it write? Is there an API (a way for other software to read and write data), and is it included in our plan?
2. Which direction does each integration sync, and what happens if someone edits a record on the other side?
3. If the tool has AI features: what data does the AI see, and does the vendor use our data to train models?
4. Can we export everything (projects, time, invoices) in a standard format if we leave?
Answers, from [name] on [date]:
1. [answer]
2. [answer]
3. [answer]
4. [answer]
Frequently asked questions
What is practice-management software for architects?
Software that connects projects, time, budgets and billing for a design firm. The main tools sold to small and mid-size architecture firms in the US include Monograph, BQE CORE, Deltek Ajera and Deltek Vantagepoint.
Does Monograph integrate with QuickBooks?
With QuickBooks Online, yes. Monograph's integration page says invoices, expenses and consultant bills go from Monograph to QuickBooks Online, project costs come back, and there is no direct integration with QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Time or QuickBooks Payroll.
Do practice-management tools have AI features now?
Some do. Deltek lists Ask Dela, Timesheet Assist and receipt capture for Ajera, and Ask Dela for Vantagepoint. BQE's architect page mentions artificial intelligence for insights and BQE describes AI coding of bank transactions. Monograph's project-management page does not list an AI assistant. Check each vendor's current page before you decide.
What should a small firm automate around its practice-management software?
The steps before a project exists and the messages around it: inquiry replies, intake into a project folder, meeting notes to tasks, client status emails, and receipts reaching the right project. Those usually live in email, chat and shared drives rather than in the practice-management tool.
Archon & Partners