Friday, February 8, 2013

Passing a milestone: Newforma customers are indexing the information of more than 1 million projects

We had been anticipating this milestone for months. As we’ve added customers and as customers have accrued work, the total number of projects being indexed by Newforma servers has been growing by nearly 10,000 a month.Alan Gifford in 1 Million Project t-shirt

Newforma’s Alan Gifford was kind enough to model a collector’s t-shirt to celebrate the milestone. (“Nice work catching my good side!” Alan said.)

What does one million projects mean?

It’s 1.25 billion files.

It’s 250 million emails.

It’s 7.3 million transmittals.

It’s 1.1 million requests for information.

It’s 600,000 submittals.

You might say the achievement is extra large.

All thanks go to our customers, who have made this achievement possible. Good luck to you as you transform the design and construction business from one marked by high risk and humble productivity gains to being truly collaborative, productive and successful in every sense of the word.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

How customers use PIM software to manage internal project information

Nick Dunn is the information and communications director for Scott Brownrigg in London. He uses Newforma project information management software to manage all of the information pertaining to his department’s operations.

Scott Brownrigg-Red Kite House- Wallingford-The Environment Agency“I’ve been able to resolve contractual problems with vendors because I can find the information quickly,” Nick says. “We have 22,000 IT-related emails on file, compiled over the past five years. Newforma’s search capabilities make it easy to find information residing in those emails.”

Nick’s is one department. What’s it look like to manage an entire firm using Newforma software?

Maine’s WBRC Architects/Engineers is using Newforma software to manage internal projects and departments. Here’s a top-of-the-alphabet sampling of the firm’s internal projects:

  • WBRC Accounting
  • WBRC Administration
  • WBRC AIA 2030 Commitment
  • WBRC BIM Management
  • WBRC Board of Directors
  • WBRC Boiler Conversion
  • WBRC Business Development
  • WBRC Charitable Giving
  • WBRC Code Review

The project list goes on like that, through everything from “Library” and “Revit Study” through “Strategic Planning” and beyond.

WBRC-Harborside Hotel-Spa & Marin- Bar Harbor-Maine(One has to wonder if disciplined management like this contributes to WBRC being named the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce’s 2013 Business of the Year!)

Each internal project organizes its team members’ activities. For example, the Newforma Meeting Minutes activity center for the Board of Directors project gathers minutes for meetings of the board of directors and executive committee, as well as one-off phone calls of importance.

The WBRC Facilities and Equipment project includes open Newforma Action Items for “Cold Patch Parking Lot” and “Water Cooler System in Bangor.” Closed items include “Roof Repair / Replacement,” finished late in October of 2012 – just in time for winter!

Account representative Zak Ruck says, “They even returned their renewal agreement via Info Exchange. Out of the 300+ renewals that I’ve worked on at Newforma, this was the first firm to send it back via Info Exchange.”

You have to love those audit trails! Congratulations to Scott Brownrigg, WBRC and all Newforma customers who are using PIM software to manage their companies’ information as well as they manage their clients’ projects.