Newforma®, Inc., a software company addressing the project information management (PIM) needs of the design and building industry, announces that Newforma Project Center Fifth Edition is now commercially available. Building on the core, battle-tested capabilities of previous versions, Fifth Edition advances Newforma’s support for the contract administration (CA) phase, greatly expands the ways in which external team members can collaborate via Newforma® Info Exchange, and introduces new and unique capabilities for project monitoring. A complete description of all the new and expanded functionality in Newforma Project Center Fifth Edition can be found at newformant.com, a recently launched community site for Newforma users.
Streamlined contract administration
Contract administration continues to be one of the most vexing, time-consuming and profit-eroding phases of project execution. The new CA module of Newforma Fifth Edition improves support for managing submittals and introduces support for the logging and tracking of requests for information (RFIs). A submittal or RFI can now be created from an incoming email in Microsoft® Outlook®, received via Newforma Info Exchange or simply entered in the RFI activity center. From there, RFIs can be effortlessly logged, assigned, tracked and captured in reports. In addition, through enhancements to Newforma Info Exchange – Newforma’s solution for easy and secure exchange of information with the external team – submittals and RFIs can now be shared with and addressed by external team members via an easy-to-use internet browser interface.
Expanded information sharing
In addition to submittals and RFIs, Newforma Info Exchange has been enhanced to support external team involvement with action items and the exchange of updated project documents via the Project Folders activity center. For example, once a file folder or document set is published to Newforma Info Exchange, designated external team members will be notified of the availability of new files, and can also upload their own related files. As work progresses, internal and external team members can seamlessly re-publish and receive future revisions, ensuring that all members of the design team are working from a common, up-to-date set of coordinated reference drawings and models.
New dashboard for monitoring activities
In the midst of executing a project, with the reality of unanticipated changes in design, scope or field conditions, project managers are often challenged by the inability to easily foresee how any one or combination of events might impact project delivery. With the new My Project Center dashboard and unique Project Timeline functionality in Fifth Edition, architects and engineers can, at a glance, monitor everything about their projects – from an individual action item or issue to overall activity against the project plan as a whole. As a result, project managers have the visibility they need to identify when project activities threaten to diverge from plan and can take corrective action. In addition, through integration with Deltek® Vision® software, project financial and planning data is united with other technical project information on every project manager’s desktop.
For more information about Newforma, visit www.newforma.com or phone 603-625-6212.
