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AEC Project Execution Challenges
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Newforma Project Center
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Document Management Systems
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Extranet Collaboration Portals
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Email Management
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"I depend on email, and I need to keep it organized with other project documents."
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Newforma Project Center software
allows you to file email with other
project documents with drag-anddrop
ease, and to find it again just
as readily.
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Document management software duplicates what’s stored on your email server, often requiring extra steps for tagging.
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Extranets either offer no email
management or require you to use
their email environment separate
from your in-house email.
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Comprehensive Search
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"I spend a lot of time searching for previous emails, drawing versions and the like."
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Newforma software finds search
terms in more than 200 industry
file formats, including emails and
their attachments, as well as in
the BIM object properties of DWG
and DWF files.
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Document management requires that you move files into another database. Searching is only as good as the metadata you applied, and often does not support AEC file formats.
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Extranets don’t help you search or manage internal project information. They're not behind the firewall.
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External Communication
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"My team members and I regularly exchange files that are too large to email."
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Newforma software makes large
file transmissions as easy as email
without its size limitations. Further,
all file sharing is managed from
your servers on your network, at
no additional cost.
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In-house document management systems provide little or no support for file sharing and collaboration.
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Extranets duplicate files already stored on your internal file server and charge by the amount of data stored. Their separate security adds to administrative overhead.
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BIM/CAD Design Review
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"As design changes get easier, the volume of markups is going up. How can I track who made what change and why?”
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Newforma software automatically
logs and tracks markup sessions
for CAD drawings or BIM model
views. Newforma Compare functionality
further supports quality
assurance by showing that all
changes have been made.
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Document management systems
burden the user with check-in and
check-out procedures to document
changes. Also, they do not assure
that all relevant changes have
been made.
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Extranets do not address the internal design review process that precedes publication of documents to the external team.
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Project Monitoring
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“It’s difficult to tie
project activity to
our project plan in
a way that helps us
identify true progress or serious
red flags.”
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Newforma software has built-in capability to help users monitor project activity from specific action items to overall activity against the project plan.
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Document management systems typically require customization in order to capture workflow conditions that trigger alerts and are coordinated with project timelines.
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Extranets do not address the integration of project activity with the firm’s internal project planning software.
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Contract Administration
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"I need to see audit trails for submittals, transmittals, design review and more."
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Newforma software supports
key AEC work processes, from
RFIs to submittals to action items
and more, whether with internal
or external team members.
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Document management systems typically require extensive customization or additional third-party software to fit AEC work processes.
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Extranets force work process activity to a generic, hosted, one-size-fits-all environment that does not support all the work you do internally.
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| LEED Administration |
| “It’s a full-time job to compile the documentation required for LEED certification – never mind the extra project management time needed to complete LEED activities.” |
Newforma software automates the assignment of action items and tracks the completion and documentation of those items against the LEED Checklist. |
Document management systems are not designed to track the progress of specific activities against a checklist and a timeline. |
Extranets are not well-integrated with email, the primary communication medium for information related to certification action items. |
| Integrated Project Delivery |
| “Managing our everyday flow of incoming project information is already like drinking from a firehose. IPD threatens to drown us!” |
Newforma software streamlines project information management and provides safeguards against details slipping through the cracks. |
Document management is about
storing structured information, but
the problem is in managing and
sharing dynamically changing,
ad-hoc information. |
Extranets can’t tie shared
information to email decision
trails, model-based design work
processes and the logging and
tracking of internal workflows. |