Our Latest Contract Administration Case Study Comes Directly from the Customer

A new @ARCarchitects' blog post describes how Architectural Resources Cambridge is working “smarter and more efficiently” thanks to Newforma software.

In “CA, PIM and the Cloud,” Project Manager Ray Paradis, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, tells how Newforma software contributes to improved processes for design and construction administration.

Here’s one revealing excerpt:

Newforma allows ARC staff to track and organize all RFIs and Submittals into a report log. It assists with indexing RFIs and submittals and has the function to create a so-called “live log” of all current open items. I find this portion of the software to be invaluable as an audit against the Contractor’s Log of “Outstanding Items” owed by the Architect. When we forward an RFI and submittal for review by one of our consultants, we have the opportunity to attach a due date.  This function is especially helpful for those items deemed “hot” by the Contractor.

And the following excerpt illustrates how one function alone – Newforma Search – can come to the rescue when a consultant requested a year-old phased construction diagram and related correspondence:

I was able to quickly type the word “phasing” in the subject heading and instantly retrieved the email and the entire history including attachments. It was seamless and saved considerable time and effort.

We recommend “CA, PIM and the Cloud,” and we welcome its author to a distinguished line of Newforma customers who have written about their CA practices:

• Chris Weatherford, Perkins+Will, and Joseph Najera, Environmental Systems Design:

Converting to Electronic Submittals Management: A Case Study (Rush University Medical Center)

• Tim Rice, AIA, and Art Haug, AIA, LMN Architects:

Managing Submittals at LMN Architects: Before Newforma Project Center and After

• Chris Cornell, P.E., S.E., M.ASCE, BergerABAM:

PIM puts international project on firm footing

For these an other case studies, visit newforma.com.

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!

Newforma Webinar: No More Flying Blind - 5 Steps to Improve Revenue Performance

Join us for a Live Webinar on June 28th, 1:00 PM EST

In this 30 minute webinar, you'll learn the 5 steps that architecture and engineering firms can take to improve revenue performance. No longer will you be "Flying Blind" when it comes to project management financials. Topics we'll cover in the webinar include:

•  Meet profitability and performance goals
•  Forecast more accurately, further into the future
•  Improve resource utilization
•  Improve performance monitoring and control
•  Standardize planning and reporting

Register Today

For more information or to schedule a personal presentation, please call +1.727.393.5405, email Julie Beck or visit our website.

Impressive Lineup of Speakers at Newforma User Conference

The Newforma international user conference, Nugget 2012, will not disappoint! We have an impressive lineup of topnotch speakers from major AEC/O firms, including HOK, Skender, HNTB, Haskell, Nibbi Brothers, BOND and many more scheduled to participate in over 55 sessions.

Nugget 2012, taking place September 17-19 in Fort Worth, Texas, is 2-1/2 days of valuable tips, training, and networking opportunities. We promise you will come away from this event with product knowledge and techniques that will make you more efficient with Newforma sofware.

Hear from Mike Tardif of Grunley Constuction on how they are successfully leveraging a virtual private cloud (VPC) to maximize Newforma Project Center performance and usage, or learn from Matt Bleidorn of Perkins+Will on how they are reaping the benefits of a paperless submittal review process.

Discover best practices from two Texas design firms, PageSoutherlandPage and Parkhill, Smith and Cooper, who set themselves up for success through the use of “expected submittals” management, Info Exchange user guides for contractors, and other best practices for RFIs and submittals.

And that's just a sampling of the presentations.... There are many, many more!

Nugget 2012 will not be "death by PowerPoint." Rather, sessions will offer outstanding opportunities for networking, interactive discussion and invaluable Q & A. Share best practices with industry leading AEC/O firms and interact with Newforma employees. Newforma staff members from all departments, including product development, training and support, leadership and more, will be on hand to hear your thoughts, experiences, and input on future directions of Newforma software.

Sign up today to attend Nugget 2012.... You will not be disappointed. Visit http://www.nugget2012.com/ for complete details and to register.

Visit Newforma in Orlando at CFMA, June 23-27

We're headed to Orlando for the Construction Financial Management Association's annual conference at the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek, June 23-27. The theme of this year's event is 'Making Connections' and that's just what we intend to do with the more than 700 construction financial professionals in attendance.

If you plan to attend CFMA 2012 stop by the Newforma booth #914 and say hello. We think attendees will be excited to see what we have to offer construction financial management professionals.

The latest version of Newforma Project Center reduces risk and saves time in the management of email, searches, markups, meeting minutes, project files, record documents, images, file transfers, action items and more. New and improved features streamline access to information via the web and the publishing of handover and project closeout information.

This is all good news for builders everywhere who are under pressure to deliver increasingly complicated projects in ever-less time and Nibbi Brothers General Contractors is no exception.

To strengthen its ability to exceed expectations for budget, schedule, performance and quality, Nibbi Brothers implemented Newforma enterprise software for project information management.

According to Nibbi President Bob Nibbi, "We recognized that a complete construction management solutions would improve coordination. It would help us manage email, submittals and other project documents, as well as facilitate collaboration with external partners and Nibbi associates working in the field."

If CFMA 2012 is in your future be sure to stop by Newforma's booth #914 and see a demo, you won't be dissappointed.

What’s It Take to Bridge the Design-Build Divide?

A new ebook by our own Susan McDowell documents the way Newforma software won over both sides of a major D-B company.

Most project management software has been built for one side of the industry or another, the construction side or the architecture/engineering side. Perhaps that’s why Susan, as the technology application manager for a successful design-build company, was unable to get her 100 or so A/E colleagues to embrace the company’s old project management software. The construction staff readily embraced the old system, but the design side resisted. The software didn’t really work the way they did.

In “Bridging the Design-Build Divide,” Susan, who is now Newforma’s director of construction solutions, describes how Newforma software got the design and build sides of to work as a truly integrated team, in concert with external stakeholders.

Susan says Newforma software helped the D-B company chip away at the walls that divided the different facets of a project team: design and construction, internal and external, home office and field.

“Bridging the Design-Build Divide” is free and requires no registration to read; download the PDF here.

RTC North America June 28-30

We’re looking forward to seeing you at the Second North American Revit Technology Conference. It runs from Thursday, June 28, to Saturday the 30th, in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Register here.

You may ask, “What is a company that makes software for project information management doing at a conference focused on building information modeling?” The common element is the word “information.”

There’s a lot of project information in a Revit model that may be more easily managed in some other application. Space planning spreadsheets, for one. Lots of Newforma customers tell us they would rather manage space planning spreadsheets using Excel and Newforma Project Center, then import the data into the model.

Or there may be project information that pertains to the model without being part of it. Think of all those emails documenting design decisions: Wouldn’t it be great to tie those emails to that part of the model?

For all these uses and more, Newforma created its add-in for Autodesk Revit. It facilitates the management of the “I” in BIM.

For a step-by-step tutorial on one aspect of the integration between Newforma PIM software and Revit BIM software, see an AECbytes “Tips and Tricks” column by Matt Tosto of Affiliated Engineers, Inc.

In “Managing Revit Drawing Revisions in Newforma Project Center,” Matt describes how AEI’s Newforma-driven process eliminates tedious manual spreadsheet updates and provides easy access to every current and previous revision of a drawing in a project.

For more demonstrations and conversations, visit the Newforma booth at RTC North America June 28 – 30!