Scoro

What is Scoro

Scoro is a comprehensive Professional Services Automation (PSA) software designed to manage the entire workflow of a professional services business. Its core purpose is to bring together project management, resource planning, customer relationship management (CRM), and financial management into a single, unified platform. This helps businesses like consultancies, agencies, and IT firms to eliminate the need for multiple disconnected tools, providing a single source of truth for all their operations. By centralizing data, Scoro gives companies real-time visibility into project profitability, team utilization, and overall business performance. The company was founded in 2013 and has offices in major cities including London, New York, and Tallinn, serving thousands of businesses worldwide.

Scoro Features

Scoro offers a wide range of features to cover the entire business lifecycle:

• Project Management: Create detailed project plans with tasks, deadlines, and budgets. Track progress in real-time and manage all project-related documents and communications in one place.
• Time Management: Team members can track their time spent on tasks and projects. This data automatically feeds into billing, reporting, and profitability analysis.
• Resource Planning: Get a clear overview of your team's availability and workload. Plan resources effectively to avoid overbooking and ensure optimal utilization rates.
• Financial Management: Create professional quotes, budgets, and invoices directly within the platform. Track expenses and monitor project profitability to understand which clients and services are most valuable.
• CRM & Quoting: Manage your customer contacts and sales pipeline. Create and send detailed quotes to potential clients and convert them into projects with a single click.
• Reporting & Dashboards: Access customizable dashboards and detailed reports on key performance indicators. Get instant insights into sales, project performance, team utilization, and financial health.
• Integrations: Connect Scoro with other essential business tools like accounting software, calendars, and file storage to create a seamless workflow.

Scoro Pricing Plans

Scoro offers several pricing tiers designed to fit businesses of different sizes and needs. The plans are typically structured as follows:

• Essential Plan: Aimed at small teams and startups, this plan includes core features for project management, time tracking, and basic financial tools like invoicing.
• Standard Plan: Designed for growing businesses, this tier adds more advanced features such as detailed reporting, resource planning, and quoting capabilities.
• Pro Plan: This plan is for established companies that require more sophisticated functionality. It includes advanced financial management, budgeting, and more automation options.
• Ultimate Plan: A custom solution for large enterprises, offering the full suite of features, enterprise-grade security, dedicated support, and advanced integrations.

Scoro Free Plan

Scoro does not offer a permanent free plan. However, they provide a 14-day free trial for new users to explore the platform's features. The trial gives you access to a full-featured version of the software, allowing you to test its capabilities for project management, resource planning, and financial tracking. No credit card is required to sign up for the free trial.

How to use Scoro

Getting started with Scoro involves a few simple steps to centralize your work:

1. Sign Up: Start by signing up for the 14-day free trial on the Scoro website.
2. Set Up Your Site: Configure your company settings, add your team members, and assign user roles and permissions.
3. Create Your First Project: Create a new project, define its scope, set a budget, and add tasks with deadlines.
4. Plan Resources: Use the Planner to see your team's availability and assign tasks based on their workload and skills.
5. Track Time and Progress: Your team can log their time against specific tasks. You can monitor progress against the project timeline and budget in real-time.
6. Manage Finances: Create and send a quote directly from Scoro. Once the project is underway, issue invoices for completed work and track payments.
7. Analyze Performance: Use the dashboards and reports to monitor key metrics like project profitability, team utilization, and sales performance to make informed business decisions.

Pros and Cons of Scoro

Pros

• All-in-One Solution: Combines project management, CRM, billing, and reporting, reducing the need for multiple software tools.
• Strong Financial Focus: Excellent features for tracking project profitability, budgeting, and invoicing.
• Real-time Visibility: Provides a comprehensive overview of business operations on a single dashboard.
• Highly Customizable: The platform can be tailored to fit specific business workflows and needs.
• Good User Interface: The interface is clean and intuitive, which helps with team adoption.

Cons

• Pricing: Can be more expensive than simpler, single-purpose project management tools, especially for small teams.
• Learning Curve: The extensive feature set can be overwhelming for new users and may require some time for training.
• Limited CRM Features: While it includes CRM functionality, it may not be as robust as dedicated CRM platforms like Salesforce.

Scoro Integrations

Scoro integrates with a variety of popular business applications to streamline workflows. Key integrations include:

• Xero & QuickBooks: For seamless accounting and financial data synchronization.
• Google Calendar & Outlook Calendar: To sync meetings, events, and deadlines between Scoro and your calendar.
• Zapier: Connects Scoro to thousands of other web applications for automated workflows.
• Slack: To receive project updates and notifications directly in your team's communication channel.
• Jira: For teams that need to sync project tasks and issues between Scoro and Jira.
• Google Drive & Dropbox: For easy file sharing and document management within projects.

Scoro Alternatives

• Kantata (formerly Mavenlink): A direct competitor also focused on professional services automation. Kantata offers strong resource management and business intelligence features.
• Accelo: Another all-in-one platform for service businesses, combining sales, projects, tickets, and retainers. It is known for its automation capabilities.
• Monday.com: A flexible Work OS that can be configured for project management. It is highly visual and user-friendly but lacks the deep financial features of Scoro.
• Asana: A popular project and task management tool excellent for team collaboration. It is less focused on the financial and resource planning aspects of professional services.
• Wrike: A versatile project management platform suitable for larger teams and complex projects, offering robust reporting and customization.

Scoro API

Yes, Scoro provides a powerful REST API that allows developers to build custom integrations and connect Scoro with other systems. The API enables you to programmatically access and manipulate data such as projects, contacts, tasks, and invoices. Access to the API is typically available on the higher-tier plans. To get started, you would need to obtain an API key from within your Scoro account settings under the integrations section.

Here is a basic cURL example of how you might fetch a list of projects:

curl -X GET \
  'https://YOUR_SITE.scoro.com/api/v2/projects' \
  -H 'Accept: application/json' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY'

For detailed information, you should consult the official Scoro developer documentation.

Scoro Affiliate Program

Scoro offers a Partner Program rather than a traditional, public affiliate program. This program is designed for consulting firms, resellers, and implementation specialists who want to sell or recommend Scoro to their clients. Partners typically receive benefits like sales commissions, training, and co-marketing opportunities. If you are an influencer or content creator interested in promoting Scoro, it is best to contact their partnerships team directly through their website to inquire about potential collaboration or referral arrangements.