PIM and sustainability
Newforma PIM software supports paperless processes and LEED certification documentation
People have been talking about the paperless office since the advent of the personal computer. Newforma customers are making it happen.
For example, LEED certification demands extensive documentation of compliance. Newforma software helps you compile, review and submit the requisite documents electronically. More importantly, it slashes the time required to do so.
LEED certification administration: a PIM challenge
LEED certification has its costs. A 2003 study noted an average time expenditure of 226 hours to document certification.
Moreover, per-project documentation costs can rise as high as US$70,000!
The U.S. Green Building Council and National Resources Defense Council estimate similar dollar amounts: US$30,000 to US$60,000.
The Newforma PIM solution supports the documentation-intensive work processes of LEED administration and certification, including the logging and tracking involved in materials certification, local product sourcing and post-completion commissioning. Here's how:
Document Sets activity center
LEED documentation is filed in many different places on your firm’s network. Newforma Project Center’s Document Sets activity center permits you to create virtual folders that gather information from those various locations. What’s more, the activity center makes it easy to print the information to a PDF for the USGBC.
Action Items activity center
LEED registration requires you to track hundreds, if not thousands, of action items. The Action Items activity center facilitates their delegation, tracking and reporting. It integrates with Microsoft® Office® Outlook® email so you don’t need to change your style of communicating, too.
Project Email activity center
Most project information flows via email. Newforma software makes it easy to file email with other project documents and find it again later. It’s equally easy to associate an email and its attachments as a supporting document to an action item.
Markup Sessions activity center
Newforma software makes it easy to view, redline, and comment upon plans (including DWF files) and model views (which you snapshot from you screen). Comments in the designated comment area are searchable using Newforma software’s robust search capability.
External LEED consultants reviewing the markups do not have to be Newforma customers. They receive a bookmarked PDF that the consultant may redline using Adobe® or Bluebeam® software.
Newforma software documents the back-and-forth discussion.
Submittals activity center
The Submittals activity center captures a record of all submittals correspondence, whether electronic or physical. LEED-related items may be tagged as such and sorted accordingly to submit with other LEED certification documents.
Custom activity centers
Newforma software lets you create custom activity centers. For example, we recommend creating a Google Maps activity center to map distances between the project location and local materials sources, useful in documenting LEED local product sourcing requirements.