Which is the better project information host: The enterprise? Or the cloud?

If you were hoping for a definitive answer, please accept our apologies, because the answer is, “It depends.”

The optimal location for your project information depends on your business needs and the information being managed.

For example, because architecture, engineering, construction, and owner organizations maintain so much information on their networks, we offer software to manage all that data.

At the same time, because extended project teams – teams that span multiple companies – gain efficiencies by filing and managing project information in one place, we offer software to host it in the cloud and access it via the web, where everybody has equal access.

Note in the example above, the answer is not “either/or.” It’s “and.” So we’re doing that, too – linking enterprise-hosted information to cloud-hosted information. (If you’re acquainted with Newforma-to-Newforma connectivity, you know how we do it.)

To see the future of project information management, get the whole story from Newforma Chief Executive Officer Ian Howell’s newly revised white paper, “PIM in the Cloud.”

Request your copy here.

Project Information Management Systems at Cross-Purposes

Newforma is reconciling two approaches to PIM. Consider:

The purple, horizontal bar shows project information managed across the enterprise. This is a preferred method for design firms. Among other benefits, it permits you to tailor your processes to your organization.

By contrast, the green, vertical bar shows how project information managed across the project provides one PIM platform for the entire project team. This is a preferred method for construction companies. Its costs can be borne as part of the project.

How can you get these two approaches to work together?

The Newforma solution is simple: Offer both systems, and allow the two systems to talk to each other. Newforma-to-Newforma connectivity is how we do it.

(Newforma to Newforma also permits multiple enterprise customers to share files as if the different companies were on the same network!)

For more information, read our Newforma to Newforma tech brief.

App Happy

Because you love smartphones and tablets, we're strengthening our ability to deliver great mobile and web apps.

As detailed in this news release, Newforma recently hired a whole team of app and web developers. They had already been working together, so the ramp-up time is zero.

Good thing, too. The demand for new smartphone and tablet apps is urgent, based in part on the success of our tablet app for punch list management, shown here. (The people we hired developed this app, which is how we know they’re awesome.)

To show you how dedicated these guys are, check out these pictures. They're from a recent Newforma Engineering Team wiffleball game.

At bat, team leader Michael DeSouza prepares to crush his pitch. But look in the shadows and you’ll see web developer Jordan Sage doing homework. That’s dedication!

This week it’s phones, tablets and websites. Last week we announced new capabilities in the cloud. For a fuller discussion of why we accommodate so many technology platforms, see this blog post and the white paper it describes, “What’s the best technology platform for project management?”

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.