Nostra

Excellent Planning & Management Tool

Pros

For me, the most impactful features of Nostra are revenue forecasting and resource management. I always know the projected revenue for our work streams as well as resource allocation across the entire company. If someone is underutilized, it shows up in a report.

Cons

I think the recruiting features could be expanded upon, but I understand that those features are coming soon in an update.

This is an essential tool for any professional services businesses

Pros

As the VP of People for a 200-person company, it is crucial for me to have one place to find information about each employee for managing reviews or addressing concerns. We have all our employees manage their own profiles and have explained the importance of it for reviews and staffing, resulting in great turnout. I like that I or the managers can also review or make adjustments to qualifications. It really fosters a good environment for regular conversational feedback, which is vital when your people are your business in professional services.

Cons

I find their customer service takes feedback very seriously, but sometimes it takes 2-3 weeks to implement a requested change. Its not a big concern for me, but in an ideal world, I did prefer a quicker turnaround.

Great recruiting management tool!

Pros

As the leader of recruitment in a mid-sized software delivery firm, Nostra has been an immensely impactful resource for me. My department is responsible for sourcing and hiring decisions and building engineering teams from our existing roster. Before Nostra, we relied heavily on tribal knowledge, spreadsheets, and our employee resume database to allocate employees to the right projects. Now, Nostra uses data about employees' skills, proficiency levels, project schedules, and interests to produce a "fit score" for any given role. When I look at a new opening on any team, I see a list of possible options ordered by their "fit". This has been incredibly helpful for team building. The Unstaffed Project Roles view is my primary tool to see open roles and determine our recruiting priorities and high-level strategy. I usually sort by "start date" and "probability" to see which roles are most important to fill first. Conversely, I sort by "type" when I have a promising candidate and am deciding where they might fit (e.g., if I have a solid Project Manager and want to see all our PM openings side by side). I was very excited to start using Nostra, and it has saved an immeasurable amount of time for me and the larger management team. The UI is clean, intuitive, and easy to use despite the complexity of the problems Nostra solves.

Cons

I have made a couple of feature requests through the "feedback" tab in Nostra, and so far, they have all either been addressed or are in progress. I am looking forward to having more easy-to-view data about which skills are most needed across different roles.

Very good time tracking and employee management software

Pros

I like that Nostra is easy to use and that I can log in via my Microsoft Outlook account.

Cons

I have no cons about this software, and I find it really helpful.

Easy to learn tool for sales teams and executives to stay connected

Pros

Their project page is a streamlined way for me to view all active projects and current deals. We are a small team and do not use a CRM, so managing active deals out of Nostra allows for transparency every step of the way without constant update meetings. The most important reporting feature for us is the financial forecasting. It is easy to use, has a clean interface, and includes important filters that allow us to dive deeper into pipeline revenue and what we need to focus on closing. Since there's regular travel and this is a busy business, having this insight into what everyone is doing is crucial.

Cons

As a newer company, some features have not completely rolled out yet, but since we have onboarded, its become clear to me that they are working quickly. I am looking forward to the main reporting dashboard page because the mockups look great.

Nostra

Pros

It is very easy to use, and our employees are very happy with the transition.

Cons

I don't have much to say here. The minor glitches I experienced were fixed immediately. I do not even think about the software anymore!

I can't imagine going back to life without Nostra

Pros

The visibility is outstanding. The UI is simple, making it easy for my team and me to know exactly where every resource is. It makes forecasting so much easier and helps me optimize my project configuration by showing how different setups affect my bottom line. As our company has grown, keeping track of each teammate's skillsets and interests has become nearly impossible. Nostra has been a game changer for tracking this information and even offers a fit score to recommend the best available resource for my project.

Cons

Nostra is relatively young, I think the bones are there, but they could add some additional functionality to make it even more powerful. There are a few little things that I might consider minor defects in the application, but nothing major. I actually left feedback on one of them, and they did end up fixing it!

Great product withg a Myriad of uses with very responsive customer service.

Pros

Nostra helps me keep projects organized and better prepares me for upcoming projects with skill trackers.

Cons

The names between Nostra and my connected software HAVE to be identical. If they are not, it will create copies. It creates just the slightest bit of clerical work at the start but more than makes up for it later.

Setting a new trend in resource planning and resource management

Pros

It has made the challenging task of managing resources and planning future staffing needs much, much easier for me. They provide a unique and innovative solution.

Cons

There are features and UI/UX gaps that are still under construction, but whenever I encounter any roadblocks to deploying, the team has been quick to resolve them.

Time tracking, project management, revenue forecast tool

Pros

Nostra has made spreadsheets a thing of the past for me. With Nostra, tracking time, forecasting revenue, and managing projects and roles has become much simpler and easier to understand.

Cons

It is a relatively new tool, but whenever my company or another client has asked for a new feature to be added, I reach out to their support team, and they respond promptly, looking to find the best solution.