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Newforma Project Center

Score5 out of 10

12 Reviews and Ratings

What is Newforma Project Center?

Newforma Project Center is web-based construction project information management software for collaboration. Users can access a drag and drop interface, relate emails to documents, markup and review designs, track meeting minutes and action items, and search across projects. It has mobile accessibility.

Categories & Use Cases

Top Performing Features

  • Document sharing

    Users can share/attach other documents related to construction projects, such as specifications, contracts, drawings, etc.

    Category average: 8.3

  • Collaboration & approvals

    Users can comment, send messages, and/or approve documents.

    Category average: 8.1

  • Plan distribution & viewing

    Users can compare different versions of plans, and view live updates/revisions to plans (usually from a mobile device in the field).

    Category average: 8.4

Areas for Improvement

  • Plan markups & sharing

    Users can annotate plans from the field and easily share plans/markups with other project stakeholders.

    Category average: 8.2

  • Jobsite reports

    Users can create and share reports on jobsite safety, daily progress, etc.

    Category average: 8.2

  • Mobile app

    Users can easily access the system from the field on mobile devices such as phones and tablets.

    Category average: 7.4

Online Collaborating Dream

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Newforma Project Center has been a great tool for online collaborating with the engineers and architects within my company. It has virtually eliminated the need for us all to travel to one location to discuss certain line items within each project. It allows all of us to access RFI's for projects while it also tracks everything we do.

Pros

  • Allows for online collaborating specific projects
  • Keeps track of emails and RFI's engineer and architect needs, quick and easy access to

Cons

  • I have found it difficult to locate audits.
  • Some users have issues while uploading project data.

Return on Investment

  • ROI has not been evaluated yet, but I assume it will be positive.

Alternatives Considered

Trello

Other Software Used

Trello, ZipBooks, AceProject, Deltek Project Information Management, TeamViewer

Valuable document control between projects, teams, and organizations

Pros

  • Archiving of project-related communications of all in the tam
  • Searchable database of communication with many filters at great speed
  • File transfer tracking for incoming, outgoing, and receipt (download record)
  • Integration with Outlook and 3rd party graphics managers
  • Automatic organization of files types and content in the server directory

Cons

  • The initial file structure of shared directories needs to be set-up with a specific naming convention and order. Consistency is key to maximize the organizational capabilities of Newforma
  • There are many capabilities in the application that go unused due to a lack of training materials
  • Integration with Outlook is good but requires training across the organization for all users to consistently use it

Return on Investment

  • Newforma makes it easy to transfer, share, archive, and search extensive data sets in a single GUI
  • For it to be effective, all users in a team must receive a basic training and use it consistently
  • Adoption in the industry is good (A/E); many teams use it consistently. Learning to use it once produces time-saving in subsequent projects

Alternatives Considered

Google Drive, Dropbox and Box

Other Software Used

Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, PlanGrid

Newforma for construction administration

Pros

  • Construction administration.
  • Document filing.

Cons

  • File downloads.
  • User-interface.

Return on Investment

  • Faster construction timelines.
  • Tracking of information.

Other Software Used

Revit, Rhinoceros 3D, AutoCAD

Newforma Project Center

Pros

  • Newforma sits on top of our previous filing system (Windows Explorer). This was very important to us because we didn't have to change the project numbering system in order to fit Newforma's design. Also, if we were to decide we didn't like it, we could easily revert back to our previous methods.
  • Newforma does a great job of indexing information, making searches much easier by being able to use keywords instead of knowing the exact file location. No more traversing through countless folders before finding what you need.
  • Newforma keeps a read receipt for everything that you submit through it for issue tracking, and keeps an easy to read record of your workflow.

Cons

  • If a document has two different size papers within the document (say a blueprint is included on an 11"x17" paper), Newforma will not print through the application.

Return on Investment

  • Saved countless hours archiving emails and other data.
  • Reduced paper filing by going more digital.
  • Our employees now have an easy to use search tool to find the data they need.

Alternatives Considered

Procore

Other Software Used

Deltek Ajera, AutoCAD, Microsoft Office 2016

A decent EMS for your business

Pros

  • Simple email filing
  • Transmital process allows sending out large files and tracking downloads
  • Single pane view of your projects

Cons

  • This was primarily an email archiving solution, but we're pushing forward with trying to integrate it with more of our business solutions to make it part of a suite of packages.

Return on Investment

  • Reduced paper filing
  • Ease of searching emails to find emails