Digital CA procedures

Specification & Product Discussions Construction Contract Administration Discussions
1

What do people see being done for digital contract administration in the way of communicating and moving documents around?

  1. Does anyone see architects setting up FTP sites for contractors to upload submittals, RFIs, etc.?

  2. How about emailing of PDF files to architects for submittals and RFIs, etc.? Is this common? Is it workable?

  3. And project websites set up by contractors, such as Prolog, Viewpoint, Submittal Exchange: these seem to be common on large projects. How about small ones? Does the architect ever set these up.

I appreciate the input of all.

2

1 - For traditional delivery methods, it is more common for architects to set up FTP sites for design coordination and client participation. These sites are often supplanted by the contractor’s software/site during construction.
2 - PDF format for submittals and RFIs is very common, whehter they are emailed or shared on a project website.
3 - Project websites are usually required for large design-build projects. Some firms have marketed these types of sites to architects but my firm has only beta tested one or two of them.

3

John

Yes to all of your questions. Digital is my preferred way of CA communications, as it leaves a positive virtual “paper trail” and is quick. Most common with architects in my area is to use either an ftp site or one of the commercial large file transfer services. It is essential for the reviewer to have either Adobe Acrobat Pro or the equivalent, as one needs to be able to fully do markups of docs and the Standard version does not really do this as well or as fully. Also, the pdf documents must not be “locked” if they are to be marked up. It gets cumbersome to make unlocked copies if that is even possible.

If you have a well-thought-out log system that takes use of digital transfer into consideration, the whole process is very efficient. I use Excel spreadsheet logs, but there are probably other programs that work well too. If you need a really secure transfer protocol (such as certain government or corporate projects), make sure you have that well worked out and approved by the owner/client before the construction documents are completed.

4

we use Newforma…but 75% of the time the contractor has their own system and occasionally a large owner will have their own system…at this point we use ours AND use theirs which is clumsy at best.
However, to collect the data we need to manage the job and (just for fun) collect any business metrics on our product we have to use something.

5

to answer exactly

  1. old news …no. Everyone uses portals to whole sites that include that ability.
  2. preferred. the last thing is need is a pile of paper …3 copies and reproducible shops…OMG how last century. bluebeam and a pdf copy please…we even have an approval stamp set up in bluebeam.
    3.there are no small projects only small companies..ha ha…yes small projects often go commando …and then they get messed up. but small contractors don’t have the software…so we get to use ours which helps a lot.
6

I agree with Marc. We also use Newforma (its preferred by our contractors for the most part) and we have in our division 01 that all submittals are electronic, with the exception (of course) of samples. We do all project reviews using Bluebeam, and those are interactive sessions with both the contractor and/or the owner. (sometimes separate sessions with each.

And we also have a stamp set up in Bluebeam as well. Many large offices are priding themselves on being “paperless” (SmithGroup is one of them) and my office would like to be paperless but a generation of old guys will have to retire before that fully happens.

Our specs and drawings are turned into PDFs, typically bookmarked, and then uploaded to a portal, as Marc says.

We receive all drawings and specs from consultants in Newforma as well. This is happening for small projects (a 10,000 square foot TI job) and large projects (a whole new airport for Salt Lake City).

I’ve seen ProLog, but not Viewpoint and Submittal Exchange. I think we tried Submittal Exchange and found it clumsy.

And as a timeline – I’ve seen work handled this way since about 2007.

7

I agree with Anne and Marc.

We also use ProjectWeb.

8

We get PDF submittals from architects, so I assume most of our architectural clients are delivering and sharing submittals via PDF files emailed around to the team members.
Lately, never do we see an FTP site or a Dropbox used for Submittal distribution or review.

9

This is an issue near and dear to me. I am a big believer in these systems, and have endeavored to use most of them at one time or another to become as well versed as possible.

  1. Does anyone see architects setting up FTP sites for contractors to upload submittals, RFIs, etc.?

Answer: Yes, but not really “FTP” anymore. Box.com is preferred for this sort of thing, or ideally, Newforma. Newforma’s InfoExchange process is pretty awesome at tracking and distribution of documents.

  1. How about emailing of PDF files to architects for submittals and RFIs, etc.? Is this common? Is it workable?

Answer: YES. Emailing RFI’s and Submittals is a daily activity. It is very efficent, but it does require effective tracking and logging methodologies on both ends. Newforma also does this well, so even if you aren’t using the “CA module” of Newforma, simple email management and issue tracking is pretty well covered. I don’t think it replaces proper logging though. One of the benefits of properly logging RFI’s, ASI’s, change orders etc.. is to track the Reason for the item. Newforma’s CA module has reason codes, as do some other programs, such as E-Builder and ConstructWare. SubmittalExchange does not.

  1. And project websites set up by contractors, such as Prolog, Viewpoint, Submittal Exchange: these seem to be common on large projects. How about small ones? Does the architect ever set these up.

Answer: Yes, it is okay for the architect to provide the project extranet, and possibly advantageous for us to do so, however, there is a BIG caveat to this. Contractors track far more than what Architects do. Heavy duty systems, such as ProLog or Expedition are overkill for simple CA tracking of RFI’s, Submittals, etc… An Architect might use about 10% of those systems full capabilities, so it doesn’t make sense for the Architect set up or maintain those systems.

Submittal Exchange is quite basic, and their fee structure is a simple percentage of construction cost, so its well suited for large projects or small. It’s not perfect (no way to track reason codes, and no way to ensure the contractor actually reviews the sub’s RFI or submittal before forwarding it to the architect), but it’s pretty good. Currently, it’s not mobile friendly, so that is a drawback as well.

As Ann said, as architects, we have Newforma for inhouse benefits, and we can invite the owner/GC team to use it as well, and if they don’t already have their own system, they all seem quick to accept our Newforma system. There is also the benefit Newforma-to-Newforma interoperablity features when the Owner or consultants have their own Newforma server.

I have created a software program called SimpleCA that is taylor made for smaller A/E firms to handle construction administration tasks, but its based on a deadend technology and I never got around to funding a modern MySql/Pearl build of it. Investors welcome :slight_smile:

10

I forgot to mention that we also use Newforma for email management. Project related emails are saved to the project file in Newforma, providing a contemporaneous email record of the job. (it also is the only way we can save that many emails without having our inboxes frozen). For projects that go on for years, Newforma allows you to search emails even if you only sort of remember what it was about.

and yes, as above, we seldom use “FTP” sites anymore – we’re using a much more inclusive project tracking location.

11

We also use Newforma for submittal, RFI and email management. It works pretty well. As long as we receive electronic submittals, it doesn’t matter a whole lot what software created the submittal. That is except for systems such a eBuilder that do not send a submittal, per se. They send a link and you have to go to the website to review. They do not create anything that can be filed in Newforma and our CA people are not happy when they run into a project run that way. We are also uncomfortable that we lose control of the submittal process and the record keeping that our liability requires.

12

Don, I am currently on a project using E-Builder.net. I think it is a terrible system, I will never ever recommend it, not even to my enemies. However, we have a process that allow allows us to use Newforma and E-Builder together, though it is duplicative of effort. The contractor creates a normal RFI via PDF, with all relevant attached exhbits, etc… as an attachment to an E-builder “process”. We download that PDF, log it into Newforma, distribute as needed, and respond. After we close it out of Newforma, we then upload the response to E-builder. It’s a PIA, but as a result, we have our database of the CA history, and are not reliant on the clients mercy to preserve the official record via e-builder.

13

Newforma here, too. It’s great for tracking distribution and submittals, but I prefer Outlook for e-mail. I keep only the most recent message in a thread, while Newforma keeps every stinking e-mail, so if you search for something you get a long string of results showing each step in the thread.

Also, with Outlook I can enter a couple of words and find all e-mails with those words instantly, in any of the hundred-plus project folders I have. I upload to Newforma periodically.

14

Sheldon, I have a question about Outlook which I also use for email, how do you keep Outlook from signing you off, my computer is on all day, it seems if I don’t access email for a few hours, Outlook does not respond and I have to signout and than sign back in, very frustrating.

15

I have never had that experience. Is it only Outlook that shuts down? Which version are you using?

16

If I leave the computer running for a few hours and come back to it, start writing an email for example, when I try and send it I get an error message that its been 24 hrs (which it never is) and I need to sign back in, so I sign out. In regards to the version, I’ve not been able to locate it, per Microsoft if I access the help menu by clicking on the wheel a line item should come up for Microsoft Outlook version, it does not…very frustrating. I am running Windows 7, perhaps I need to upgrade to 8?

No other problems occur, when I sign back in I can start again…I usually copy the email before I exit so I don’t lose my work.

17

It sounds like you are using a hosted version of Exchange (perhaps through your internet service provider?), and they have a timeout policy that’s conflicting with your usage habits. If I’m right, try calling your ISP to change that setting.

18

I’ve had similar problems when the BIOS loses the time, and restarts its clock way back to its beginning. Whenever there’s a power interruption, I have to reset the BIOS date and time. Probably not related to your problem, but who knows with these things?

19

Sheldon, here is a quick tip in Newforma search functions that I myself just learned the other day. It greatly helps reduce the number of false positive returns the search function serves up.

  1. Using the Newforma search bar in the top right corner of the screen, type in your search term and click the down arrow to the right of the magnifying glass, and limit your search to just emails.

  2. You can combine words into phrases in the search bar, by using quotes, example: “search all these words in this combination”

  3. Once your search is completed, you can then drill down further, GREATLY enhancing the results. Do this by clicking in the Top LEFT, where it says “Search These Results”

This last tip helps you refine your search to match what Outlook provides