Newforma Project Center Overview
Newforma Project Center is a project information management solution offered by Newforma. It creates a powerful, productive environment for project managers and their project teams, enabling them to easily organize project information, exchange large amounts of information with internal and external project team members (via Info Exchange), and run project processes more efficiently. It integrates information from multiple sources, such as CAD, Microsoft Office, .PDF files, and email, enabling users to search, compare, review, mark up, transfer, and use information more effectively. Project Center organizes and provides context for the information in terms that any AECO team member can relate to, and offers a suite of activities that all AECO project team members will find useful.
Features
Newforma Project Center consists of integrated activity centers that support an intuitive and streamlined project information management process. Most of these activity centers are available via Info Exchange as logs.
Project Center is comprised of the following features:
Action Items
Action items are seamlessly integrated with Microsoft Outlook to help create, edit, and manage them easily, and engage the power of the project team in resolving problems quickly and effectively. Project action items and their email correspondence are automatically filed and logged to the project, allowing all project team members to view, search and contribute to action item resolution. Supporting documents and drawings can be associated with action items, providing a permanent record of all related documents as well as identifying all action items associated with any particular file. While project managers are the primary beneficiaries, the greatest benefit is realized when all project team members use this feature to track action items that need to be addressed.
Addendums
Addendums are documents or information that clarify, modify, or support the information in the original contract documents. Project Center uses the Addendums activity center to log, edit, and manage addendums electronically.
Building Information Management
The Building Information Management activity center is used to register and track Building information Management (BIM) data for the current project.
Bulletins
Bulletins are issued when changes occur that affect the project drawings and specifications after the detail design is complete and a contract is awarded for the project. Project Center uses the Bulletins activity center to create, log, review and track bulletins electronically.
Change Order Proposals
Change order proposals are the contractor’s response to a proposed change in contract sum, contract time, or requirements (outside of the scope of a contract and/or the provisions of its changes clause) in response to a proposal request or a construction change directive. Project Center uses the Change Order Proposals activity center to log, review and track change order proposals electronically.
Change Orders
A change order is a signed written order legally amending a contract to affect a change in requirements, cost, or schedule to a previously negotiated contract. Project Center uses the Change Orders activity center to create, log, review and track change orders electronically.
Compare
Compare visually identifies differences between project folders, files, document sets, or record copies, eliminating the time-consuming process of manually comparing them. The compare feature enables project team members to focus their attention on important coordination issues and evaluate the quantity, cost, and scheduling impacts of design revisions.
The Batch Compare dialog box eliminates the time and cost of comparing large drawing sets, enabling the project team to quickly set up batch compare processes that output results to .PDF files or a plotter.
The Newforma Viewer (described below) is also used to compare files. It enables you to electronically compare two or more versions of a drawing. The compare animator allows project team members to dynamically transition between adjacent drawing versions for a clear understanding of how the design has evolved over the project timeline. It also provides the ability to animate changes and filter out dimensionally insignificant changes. Multi-version animation sequences can also be output as animated .GIF files through Project Center's Digital Light Table.
Construction Change Directives
A construction change directive is a written order generated by the designer directing a change in the project and stating a proposed basis for adjustment, if any, to the contract sum or contract time. Project Center uses the Construction Change Directives activity center to create, log, review and track construction change directives electronically.
Contract Management
Contract management enables users to create and track the workflow of addendums, bulletins, change orders, change order proposals, construction change directives, contracts, cost codes, daily reports, proposal requests, punch lists, RFIs, site visits, sketches and supplemental drawings, submittals, and supplemental instructions.
Contracts
A contract establishes the legal obligation for one party to pay another a certain amount of money for a specific scope of work to be performed. Project Center uses the Contracts activity center to create, log, review and track contracts electronically.
Cost Codes
Cost codes are used to keep a track of the cost items in a project. Project center uses the Cost Codes activity center to create cost codes for a project.
Custom Fields
Project Center administrators are able to create custom fields for contact, companies, project team members and project to better reflect the processes of the company.
Daily Reports
Daily reports capture the official record of the job site status, people on site, and work accomplished during the day. Project Center uses the Daily Reports activity center to create, log, review and track daily reports electronically.
Document Control (Record Documents)
Document control simplifies the cumbersome tasks of managing document revisions, assembling document issues, and maintaining the project document register. Importing record documents from and exporting them to an Excel spreadsheet enables batch creation and editing of record document information, and the Newforma Project Information Link ensures that drawing and revision numbers remain in sync with Autodesk Revit. A Document Register report displays the revision history for each project document, and Info Exchange provides easy access to the most recently issued version of each project document for remote Project Center users and external project team members via the Record Documents log.
Project Center uses the Document Control activity center to manage a project's key document deliverables from planning through design, construction and client handover.
Document Sets
Document sets enable you to “virtually” organize related project files and folders into process-specific groups without duplicating or modifying the underlying file structure. Live links to Windows folders and files, and advanced file name filtering allow document sets to be dynamically updated as the underlying folder contents change. You can view and search document set contents, send the document sets to other project team members, and compare current project files and folders with archived or updated versions.
Field Notes
Field notes refer to various notes pertaining to issues on the jobsite recorded by project team members such as architects, consultants or a general contractors. Project Center uses the Field Notes activity center to create, log, review and track field notes electronically.
Info Exchange
The Newforma Info Exchange Server is an automated and secure means of exchanging project files with internal and external team members that overcomes the file size limitations of email, and is integrated with the transmittal, submittal, RFI, and markup workflow within Project Center. Simply select files to send from any activity center in Project Center, add recipients, and Info Exchange takes care of the rest, including packaging the selected files and their XREFs and posting them to the Info Exchange website, which is hosted on the Info Exchange Server within your company’s IT infrastructure.
Internal team members receive an email message with a direct link to download the files in Project Center. External recipients receive an email message with a link to download the file transfer through a browser with a secure connection to the Info Exchange website. This same web interface can be used by external team members to upload file transfers. Info Exchange tracks the download activity associated with each file transfer and sends final notifications to recipients with pending transfers prior to removing them from the server on the designated expiration date. It also maintains a backup record copy of each file transfer, allowing the file contents of expired transfers to be re-sent, reviewed, or compared to updated versions.
Markup
Markup supports a drawing "red-line” workflow for electronically reviewing, marking up, and commenting on sets of project drawings using the Newforma Viewer (Info Exchange users use the Newforma Web Viewer). CAD expertise is not required to use the built-in tools such as free-form drawing, revision cloud, stamp tool, and multi-line text. Users can quickly create multiple markups for a drawing or BIM model, link them to action items or project files, and save them to a markup session associated with the underlying source file. Anybody on the project team who selects the project drawing or BIM model can easily browse, preview, and add comments to the related markups. After markups have been reviewed and any corrections incorporated into the underlying source drawings and models, the markups are closed but remain a permanent part of the project record.
Meeting Minutes
Every project includes a number of meetings to discuss progress and delays and to clarify specifications or designs. Project Center uses the Meeting Minutes activity center to view, add, edit, and manage project
The Newforma Contact Directory gives all Project Center users access to the companies and contacts in the Project Center database. It also enables users to generate form letters from contact and project information. Users use this utility to manage and configure Project Center and its companies, contacts and form letters.
Newforma ID
For members of the AEC industry who access a variety of Newforma websites and accounts, Newforma ID provides a single user name they can use for everthing they do using Newforma software. Newforma ID simplifies access to Newforma projects, products and services, including:
● Projects managed via Newforma Project Cloud;
● Projects hosted and managed via Info Exchange;
● Project information available via the Newforma Mobile Apps;
● Cloud delivery of file transfers and shared folders.
Newforma Mobile Apps
Newforma Mobile apps put project information at your fingertips where you need it, even when you are in the field. Use your Newforma ID to logon to your mobile apps to easily access your project data.
Newforma Project Information Link (Revit)
The Newforma Project Information Link enables Project Center users to quickly share project data between Autdesk Revit and Project Center.
Newforma to Newforma
Newforma to Newforma (N2N) enables your company to seamlessly connect to other companies that use Project Center to streamline the coordination and exchange of critical project information. By using a direct, secure communication channel between the Project Center servers and Info Exchange servers within each company's corporate firewall, N2N enables a fully integrated and transparent mode of delivering project information without compromising control of it. It significantly accelerates project execution between partnering companies.
Newforma Viewer
Project Center users use the Newforma Viewer to create markups, as described above, as well as open, view, and compare drawings electronically.
Info Exchange users have similar capabilities with the Newforma Web Viewer.
Potential Change Orders
Potential change orders are issues that could affect the cost of a construction project. Project Center uses the Potential Change Orders activity center to create, log, review and track potential change orders electronically.
Projects
Projects are the primary method by which information is accessed and organized within Project Center. Projects are created by specifying key informational fields such as Project Name, Project Number, Status, and Type. Project Center projects also contain paths to root project folders on your company’s network, allowing the files and sub-folders beneath the root location to be associated with the project.
Project Center does not require you to move, modify, or restructure your network-stored project data. Instead, you simply define projects that reference the data as it is currently structured on your firm’s central file server. The data is then grouped together and accessible from one place to all team members instead of many different locations.
Project Center Add-in for Microsoft Outlook
The Project Center Add-in for Microsoft Outlook integrates Microsoft Outlook with Project Center for seamless filing between Outlook items and your projects.
Project Center Server
The Newforma Project Center Server acts as an unseen background software application that supports the actions users perform on the Project Center clients, such as searching files, XREFs, and project items, managing the interaction with Newforma Info Exchange, and administration of each project’s store of centralized data (such as contacts, action items, transmittals, submittals, document sets, etc.).
Project Email
Project email enables you to manage the flood of email that can swamp your Inbox. It consists of the Project Email activity center, which members of the internal project team can use to browse, sort, filter, or search the messages and any file attachments, and the Project Center Add-in for Microsoft Outlook, which allows users to quickly file email messages to Project Center projects, benefitting all project team members. Duplicate email messages are prevented, related email messages can quickly be found, and when you need to find information, all project email messages and files are listed in one location.
Project Images
The Project Images activity center enables Project Center users to quickly browse all of the image files that are in the open project from one location. It lists all image files that are listed in the Project Files activity center, without all of the other types of files. As more image files are added to the project, Project Center automatically adds them to the Project Images activity center.
Project Keywords
The Project Keywords activity center lists the keywords used in the current project, as well as the project files, email messages, and Project Center items to which the keywords have been added.
Project Publisher
Project Publisher enables Project Center users with the appropriate permissions to package selected project documents to archive a project at defined milestones as well as publish a project (i.e., project closeout or handover) to clients at the end of the project. It enables them to select the information to publish (including record documents, submittals, change orders and other project items), set the appearance of the information, and then publish the results as a .PDF or >HTML file to an optical disk or network folder.
Project Teams
The Project Team activity center enables Project Center users to create and manage a team for each project. Internal and external project team members are added from a central list of contacts and are then available to all project users when sending file transfers, managing action items, RFIs, and submittals, administering Info Exchange, or reviewing markups.
Project Timeline
Project Center users use the Project Timeline activity center to view, add, edit, and manage project milestones, phases, meetings, and holidays.
Punch Lists
Project Center users use punch lists to track repairs, finish work, and problems required to complete a large project such as the construction of a building. The Punch List activity center is used to create and track punch list items.
Record Copies
The Record Copies activity center keeps a log of all Project Center items and file transfers that have been created and sent for each project.
Reports and Forms
Project Center uses templates to gather and display project information in the forms, reports, account notifications, reminders and file transfer notifications that are created and sent from Project Center. The templates are .DOCX or .XLSX files that are used to format the data displayed in the Project Center forms. Project Center users can edit the files to create new template styles to fit the needs of their company.
RFIs
Requests for information (RFIs) play a significant role in the construction administration phase of a project. Project Center uses the RFIs activity center to log, edit, and manage RFIs electronically.
Search
Search provides a single interface to search all sources of information, including email messages, .DWG, .DOC, .PDF. files, and other supported file formats, and project items such as transmittals, submittals, action items, RFIs, timeline items, markup sessions, etc. All text matches are displayed along with links that take you directly to the desired information.
Site Visits
Regular site visits are conducted throughout the course of a project for many reasons. Project Center uses the Site Visits activity center to log, review and track site visits electronically.
Sketches and Supplemental Drawings
Sketches, which can be scanned hand drawings or supplemental drawings (portion of a drawing updated to reflect changes in the original design) are typically sent along with an addendum or supplemental instructions. Project Center uses the Sketches and Supplemental Drawings activity center to create, log, review and track sketches and supplemental drawings electronically.
Spatial Index
The Spatial Index activity center enables you to create spaces that track and index rooms, areas and spaces from Revit models. You can analyze various aspects of a project such as site, building, level, and room, for example. You can also track standard properties from Revit, including room name, number, type, occupancy, department; wall, floor, and ceiling finish; as well as area, volume, and perimeter.
Submittals
Tracking submittals and the entire interaction associated with processing and reviewing submittals gives the project team a tool that is tailored specifically to increase responsiveness and reduce the cycle time and effort in reviewing submittals. Project Center uses the Submittals activity center to log, forward, review, and respond to submittals received by the project team.
Supplemental Instructions
Supplemental instructions are formal notifications used by architects to issue additional instructions or to order minor changes in the project. Project Center uses the Supplemental Instructions activity center to create, log, review and track supplemental instructions electronically.
Transmittals
Project Center uses the Transmittals activity center to create and log transmittals that accompany the exchange of both physical and electronic materials with other project team members. Transmittals contain descriptive information about the electronic documents or physical items being conveyed. You can customize the appearance of transmittals to match your company’s existing forms. Transmittals are often created as by-products of other processes, such as file transfers sent via Info Exchange or email, or submittals.
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