Funny about Our "Constructech 50" Listing

Ours is not collaboration software, as listed! Let us explain.

We’re among the companies listed in Constructech magazine’s ranking of the best technology vendors in the construction industry. It’s an honor and a privilege we’re proud to announce.

That said, the good editors of Constructech must organize the companies somehow, and Newforma was included among those whose primary application is “Collaboration.”

The ironic thing is, in response to Constructech’s invitation to submit a Vendor Profile, we had submitted one titled “The Trouble with Collaboration Software.” In that summary, we explain how collaboration software typically makes internal operations less efficient by forcing you to duplicate data and effort.

Newforma approaches collaboration from the opposite perspective. Newforma software is built to manage project information internally, and to facilitate sharing for what it is—an extension of your internal workflows.

That’s why we call it software for project information management, or PIM, of which collaboration is one part.

Take a minute to read “The Trouble with Collaboration Software” and see if you don’t agree.

And to Constructech: Thanks for the opportunity!

Complex projects require team-wide project coordination

A recently published project case study, General Contractor Strengthens Ability to Win, Manage and Deliver Projects, showcases how Nibbi Brothers General Contractors successfully uses Newforma enterprise software to manage their project information and improve project team collaboration.

Even though projects continue to get more and more complex, contractors are expected to complete their work faster than ever and with fewer mistakes. For many general contractors this a problem but not for Nibbi Construction.

“Our most successful projects have resulted from highly collaborative approaches to complex technical challenges,” Nibbi President Bob Nibbi said. “As the construction marketplace moves in this direction, we become more competitive.”

Nibbi recognized that a complete construction solution would improve coordination resulting in reduced cost and fewer mistakes. They have seen improvements in managing their email, processing submittals, RFIs and other project documents, as well as improving coordination and collaboration with project partners and Nibbi professionals working in the field.

The Exploratorium @ Pier 15 project is just such an example. As Assistant Project Manager Jill Brown explains, "On the Exploratorium project, supervisors, superintendents, partner architects and subcontractors are submitting and responding to RFIs an submittals using Newforma software. We've eliminated potential errors and tremendous amount of data reentry." In fact, Nibbi has had so much success coordinating with the partner architect, EHDD Architecture, EHDD just purchased Newforma software themselves.

As Bob points out, “All of our communications – email, transmittals, RFIs, submittals, changer orders and more – presents a consistent professional image that promotes clarity and confidence."

Read firsthand how Nibbi Construciton has used Newforma to improve team coordination allowing them to win more work, accelerate turnaround, avoid disputes, manager their risk and stay on schedule.

Click here to learn more about the Newforma Construction Suite.

Logic behind the Newforma Construction Suite

We have been building Newforma over the past 7 years by following the project life cycle of the AEC/O industry. We initially started working with architects back in 2007 because they were most impacted by the challenges that our early solution solved: managing project email, finding project information on their file servers, and exchanging information with the external team members. This logically led to engineers becoming interested in Newforma Project Center (NPC) because they were recipients of the architects’ information published via NPC.

As the initial projects managed in NPC moved into the build phase, constructors started receiving information exchange notifications from our A and E customers—then they became curious about what we have to offer. And now, led by our construction customers, owners are recently taking a strong interest in our product.

Successful construction projects always have one thing in common: effective communication and collaboration throughout the entire team. This underlying demand from all of our customers to improve their communications ultimately led us to create this optimized suite of collaboration-centric solutions optimized for each major project player. It really is just logical!

This year we’ve had many discussions with our construction customers and observed how their employees are already using our software. The creativity that we witnessed directly shaped the three packages that we now offer within the Newforma Construction Suite.

We discovered that each construction company has different groups with distinct areas of responsibility. Some team members focus on front-end activities such as buyout, or coordination of design models with subcontractors. For these customers, we created the Preconstruction package starring our robust file coordination tools, audit trail and notifications. For project managers who oversee the ongoing construction process, we offer the Project Management package containing the full gamut of document control, RFIs, submittals, action items, meeting minutes, and contract functionality. And some team members are focused exclusively on jobsite activities. For this group, we developed the Field Management package for collecting field information and managing punch lists.

As of today we have over 52,000 subscribers and an additional 400,000 participants in our Newforma Project Network. With our Newforma to Newforma technology we provide a way to link all project team members using one of our Suites to connect so they can seamlessly share information while also managing their internal project information privately. Contractors are an integral part of the Newforma Project Network and as such deserve a solution tailored to their needs that also integrates with the rest of the project team.