New web-based and cloud-based tools strip away some of the obstacles in running an efficient practice

The latest version of Newforma's Project Information Management application integrates with Revit to provide synchronous data exchange with the building model.

Kristine Fallon Associates outlines a procedure whereby they leverage technology to reconcile the information in the contract documents with that in the architect's design model, greatly reducing the risks associated with failing to spot discrepancies. Until BIM-generated models function as contract documents, this procedure is a practical way to make the design model more useful to contractors, subcontractors, and the larger project team.

If you work with project information such as email decision trails, RFIs, submittals and action items – and you know you do – could you gain by being able to link it to specific locations in the model? Newforma executives Ian Howell and Bob Batcheler make the case for bi-directional links to and from any location within a BIM.

Information managment systems abound these days in the AEC industry, and because there is so much information, there is a need to manage it from different perspectives. Newforma's Project Information Management (PIM) software is one of those technologies, focused on the project management aspect of AEC workflows. Newforma Project Center Eighth Edition is the newest release, which has built-in ubiquitous access to shared information, shared responsibility, integrated project delivery, transparency and much more.

As contractors try and get their arms around another acronym—PIM—and what it might mean to their organization, it could be another recently released product from Newforma that captures their attention. Newforma Contract Management provides a platform for tracking construction phase and contract administration workflows on a job. This includes things like RFIs (requests for information), submittals, change orders, addenda, and punchlists, among others.

The architecture firm, Perkins+Will, and the MEP engineering firm, Environmental Systems Design, for the Rush University Medical Center use Newforma project information management software to heal an ailing submittals management process.

Newforma Senior Technical Advisor, Jim Forester P.E., highlights how five innovative design and engineering firms are using software for project information management (PIM) to enable integrated project delivery’s (IPD) ideals of transparency, information sharing, accountability and effective use of building information modeling.

More and more software providers in the construction industry are making announcements about offering their products in a virtualized environment. This gives firms in the AEC industry the flexibility to decide if they would like to run the software on a physical server or in a virtual environment.

Most recently Newforma announced some of its customers have moved the Newforma Project Center on virtualized servers and have begun to see the benefits of the switch.

The SP-SSA International Terminal in South Vietnam presents all the civil engineering challenges that go with constructing a modern container terminal over an intertidal salt marsh. One such challenge for consulting firm BergerABAM is managing the flood of project information generated by team members in Panama, Mexico, Vietnam, and the United States. Newforma project information management software brings efficiency, mitigates risk, and drives accountability on this complex project across different time zones.

Attendees of two recent London conferences on building information modeling voiced their frustration with BIM work processes. Always the problem-solver, Terry Nichols, HOK's former director of emerging technologies, compiled this primer on using Newforma's software for project information management to guide, monitor, capture and improve the BIM process.

Project information management makes it possible. "Building information modeling, for instance, is part of the answer," according to Newforma CEO and former architect Ian Howell. "But not a silver bullet. All of the supporting documents—environmental analyses, cost estimates, specifications, etc.—need to be readily accessible to the right people at the tight time, as well. This is the essence of project information management, and combined with BIM, IPD is possible."

This article appeared in Metal Architecture magazine, October 2010.

HOK adopts Newforma Project Center software to manage email but quickly accomplishes much more.

This article appeared in CAD User magazine, September/October 2010.

Managing the ‘I’ in BIM is complicated by the fact that no single model contains all of the information about a building or infrastructure project. “The reality is actually a federated project model,” says Newforma Chief Executive Officer Ian Howell.

Newforma CEO Ian Howell discusses how it is becoming increasingly apparent that model-based design requires more than BIM alone.

This article was originally printed in The VOICE magazine, Summer 2010. The VOICE is a publication of the Construction Users Roundtable and is published by Matrix Group Publishing. For advertising information, call 866-999-1299.

KA Connect is a tribe of AEC industry professionals who are reinventing the way that they build teams, develop methodology, and leverage technology to foster a culture of organizational learning. In this video from the 2010 conference, Bob Batcheler shows the tribe how to turn information into knowledge. You’ll also get some excellent book recommendations along the way.

The ninth segment of 2009 and Beyond revisits International Developments, written by Ian Howell for the 2006 Report on Integrated Practice. Ian Howell, CEO of Newforma, Inc., sat down recently with Markku Allison, AIA, to discuss his 2006 essay and how the topics of international development and integrated practice go hand in hand and remain valid issues for practitioners today.

• Article by Kimberly Yoho was released in AIArchitect in June 2010
• Listen to the interview on AIA Pod Net

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This case study, reprinted at two ConnectPress websites, shows how Populous has adopted Newforma Project Center software to streamline work processes, improve coordination and communication, reduce exposure from errors and omissions, increase visibility into costs and quantities, and support repeatability.

Newforma Chief Executive Officer Ian Howell tells how project information management (PIM) software combines with building information modeling (BIM) to facilitate integrated project delivery (IPD).

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Newforma Project Center is not document management software per se, but in its role as AEC project information management software, it certainly performs some document managenet functions. ConnectPress Editor Lauren Browne talks to Newforma Chief Executive Officer Ian Howell about managing AEC documents in this article, which appeared in sister ConnectPress publicatons.

For five years Jeff Yoders covered IT, CAD, and BIM for Building Design+Construction magazine. Now he's blogging full time about the latest news and products for the AEC industries. Here, Jeff reports on Newforma Project Center Seventh Edition's support for non-Outlook e-mail applications such as Novell GroupWise, Lotus Notes and web-based e-mail applications such as Google's Gmail.

In this article from WPL Publishing's Construction Project Controls and BIM Report, John Jurewicz, AIA, reviews how project information management software can be used to manage model information.

Project information management (PIM) software is a new category of technology designed to tackle the growing challenge of managing electronic documents and digital workflow by architects, engineers and contractors. In this "Insights" column in Structure magazine, a publication of the National Council of Engineers Associations (NCSEA), Newforma Vice President Bob Batcheler describes how PIM software offers much more than simple efficiency in day-to-day operations. It also mitigates risks.

Craig Stauffer, S.E., and Steve Farvour, S.E., of PCS Structural Solutions, show how project information management (PIM) software has enabled their team members to more efficiently collaborate on model-based design projects.

Building Design & Construction Senior Associate Editor Jeff Yoders explains how building teams are using project information management (PIM) software to deal with everyday forms, procedural documents, contracts and other project information that needs to be shared with virtually everyone on the job, whether or not they're using BIM.

Senior Associate Editor Jeff Yoders writes, "The recent AIA National Convention and Design Expo in Boston came with a steady stream of new modeling and visualization, project management, and collaboration solutions from major industry software vendors such as Autodesk, Bentley, Graphisoft, Adobe, and Newforma. ... Newforma Project Center Fifth Edition greatly expands the ways external team members can collaborate via Outlook and introduces new capabilities for project monitoring and contract administration."

This article was originally printed in The VOICE magazine, Summer 2007. The VOICE is a publication of the Construction Users Roundtable and is published by Matrix Group Publishing. For advertising information, call 866-999-1299.