Construction industry professionals often have requirements for how their project documentation looks and feels. In addition to corporate branding standards, there may also be client or project-specific requirements for logos and legal disclaimers. Sometimes there are specifications for document size and orientation.

Generic project documentation forms can be ugly, clunky, and difficult to customize. And not all systems allow forms to be modified to meet branding requirements.

Project teams need the ability to standardize project information. However, transmittals including meeting minutes, site visits, submittals, and RFIs should be able to reflect your company and/or clients’ requirements.

What can be customized on the forms?

• Font
• Form layout
• Branding requirements
• Headers and footers

What can be added to forms?

• Submittal stamps
• Legal disclaimers
• Additional information (client project number, job site location, etc.)
  You can also remove extraneous information.

Out of the box, Newforma Project Center automatically incorporates your logo on everything, but with forms customization, it can be exactly what you need.

Branding your meeting minutes…

Meeting minutes capture the “who, what, when, where, and why”. They can often include critical project decisions. Meeting minutes include all this information (and more) in one document.

Take attendance, record notes, assign action items, and list supporting documents using the meeting minutes.

You can use the default format, or a customized version using your branding requirements, and include only the data important to you and your client.

The default logo in the header would typically be your company’s logo. Since I work at Newforma, that’s our logo up at the top.

Here’s an example of Project Center’s default meeting minute template:

The default template includes all standard project information, meeting participants, and location but it doesn’t include branded colors/fonts, custom headers and footers.

If your client requires a different logo or more than one logo, it can be anywhere you want on the form like the custom example below. Check out the footer – it’s the client’s branding and font. The order of the information can also be rearranged. In addition, visual items like lines to separate sections can be added.

(Note: the above examples are using identical project information in Newforma Project Center, just displayed differently through the customization of form templates)

Getting the most out of your site visit notes…

Team members who visit the job site create trip reports. When multiple team members visit frequently it can be information overload. The team needs all the site visit information in a layout that is easy for the owner, contractor, and design team. Standard forms provide all the site visit information in a generic fashion:

The generic template includes all the standard information, however, you are stuck with that table layout and photo size.

With customized site visit templates, you can rearrange information, and make the photos as large as you’d like:

You can change table layouts to consolidate information and add legal verbiage to match your standards or your client’s needs:

You can use color fonts, add headers and footers, and place your logo in multiple places:

(Note: the above examples are using identical project information in Newforma Project Center, just displayed differently through the customization of form templates)

Transmittals that match YOUR branding requirements…

Architects can be picky….. meaning they have high standards! With some elbow grease, patience, and a good grasp of Microsoft Word’s table feature, a range of branding requirements can be accommodated. The default form has all the right information, but according to your coworker on the other side of your cube wall, it’s unacceptable.

The default RFI transmittal contains all the necessary information:

But the custom example below incorporates black bars, a custom footer, a special bold font, and OK… in my opinion…a nicer layout:

(Note: the above examples use identical RFI information from Newforma Project Center, just displayed differently through the customization of form templates)

Submitting another example…

Just like the RFI example above, the below generic submittal transmittal contains all the pertinent information:

But do you have a client who requires the old-school submittal stamp with checkboxes on the submittal response? If so, it can be done with a customized form:

(Note: the above examples use identical submittal information, just displayed differently with a stamp through the customization of form templates)

This just in…

Generic forms don’t have your or your client’s definitions and space for physical signatures that are sometimes required:

Working with Microsoft Word and utilizing keywords in your project data, forms can show definitions that are specific to the type of contract change requested. The definitions and space for signatures are in the form below:

(Note: the above examples use identical bulletin information in Newforma Project Center, just displayed differently through the customization of form templates)

Ready to customize your forms?

Newforma Professional Services can meet with your team to scope requirements. A Statement of Work will then be created and Professional Services will complete the work. Alternatively, a Statement of Work could entail a collaboration session where you and your team learn how to customize forms.

The good news is that you don’t have to be stuck with a boring form, you have several options to fine-tune your project documentation!