Newforma Introduces Newforma Design Suite for Architects and Engineers

MANCHESTER, NH--(Marketwire - Mar 6, 2012) - Newforma®, a project information management (PIM) software company improving building and infrastructure project delivery, today introduced the Newforma® Design Suite. The suite includes Newforma® Project Center Professional, anchored by the new, ninth edition of its industry-proven enterprise PIM software; and Newforma® Project Center Onsite, a new product for managing project information via Android™ and Apple® iPad® tablets. Select customers have already validated the products by using the new features to deliver live projects. New features include ATM-easy web access for remote users and external consultants; faster, more thorough publishing of handover and closeout information; central management of global contacts; and more.

Lyle Lemon is the BIM/CAD manager with Boston-based architects and planners Bruner/Cott & Associates, a design and planning firm validating new and improved features. "The new Contact Directory feature finally provides our firm with a solution to contact management," Lemon said. "It's great to be able to drag contacts from Newforma Project Center to Outlook and to merge Newforma contact data with our standard office and project-based Microsoft Word documents."

Lemon also appreciates the new project handover and closeout functionality. "The Project Publisher feature makes it easy to hand over project information in electronic form at the end of the job. The client gets a professional package that conveys a more favorable impression of our firm."

According to Partner Ron Heims at RDG Planning & Design in Des Moines, Iowa, "The improved navigation and modernized user interface of Newforma web access is huge. Our clients, consultants and contractors interact with us daily through our Newforma website. By making it easier for everybody on the team to access information and respond to RFIs, submittals, and other action items, Newforma has improved the collective responsiveness of the project team."

Like Lemon, Heims also values the new project information handover capabilities. "Our clients are demanding project information in an electronic format that they can use in the ongoing management of the buildings we design for them," Heims said. "Newforma software now allows us to fulfill the client's project information handover needs in two ways: With the new Project Publisher activity center, at project closeout we can easily produce DVDs or USB drives that provide all the project documents, drawings and logs the client needs. This information is accessible through a point-and-click menu that we can customize with our own brand. We can also simply keep their project information accessible and interactive on our Newforma website."

Finally, customers of Newforma Project Center Professional also gain the advantages of Newforma to Newforma, a new technology that enables customer-to-customer connectivity and empowers project teams to deliver more successful projects based on transparency with accountability. For a complete description of Newforma to Newforma and the Newforma Project Network, see the press release, "AEC Firms Say Newforma to Newforma Is Revolutionizing Project Delivery."

New and improved Newforma Design Suite features:

• The Newforma® Project Center web interface, an ATM-easy website customized to promote the brand images of customer firms. It is now more graphical, easier to navigate, and optimized for popular tablets. Home page widgets provide easy access to general project information, activity center shortcuts, primary company contacts, image galleries, project calendars, open items and recent project activity.
  
  
• Newforma Project Publisher, giving project teams the ability to package selected documents to a destination folder, CD or DVD when it comes time to close out, hand over and archive the project.
  
  
• Newforma Contact Directory, providing the ability to access and manage a firm's global company and contact database. It's a standalone Microsoft® Windows® application that can be accessed from Newforma Project Center Professional or the Newforma Add-in for Microsoft® Office® Outlook®.
  
  
• Newforma Form Letters, streamlining the creation of just about any type of AEC/O project or business document by merging Microsoft® Office® Word-based template documents with contact, company and project data sources managed by the Newforma solution.

Newforma Chief Executive Officer Ian Howell said, "Newforma has always concerned itself with making our customers more efficient and profitable while at the same time improving their ability to deliver projects in partnership with their larger teams. The introduction of the Newforma Design Suite takes these capabilities to a new level and makes them more accessible to firms seeking a competitive advantage. Improved project information management creates a virtuous cycle of improved project delivery, empowered teams and satisfied owners that leads to more business."

Packaging and availability

The Newforma Design Suite is available now. Its products may be purchased individually or as the full suite. The new packaging makes Newforma PIM software more readily available.

• Newforma Project Center Professional includes all of the latest features plus legacy features to manage project email, search the full texts of files on the firm's network, view and mark up drawings, gain mobile access to project information, and more. It also includes features to streamline the management of contracts, submittals, RFIs, change orders, and non-graphic information in Revit models.
  
  
• Newforma® Project Center Onsite bundles functions to facilitate work on-site, including a tablet app for punch list capture and management.

A third product, Newforma Design Suite Premium, bundles comprehensive services for deployment, configuration and training with Newforma Project Center Professional and Newforma Project Center Onsite.

About Newforma

Newforma develops and markets project information management (PIM) software for architecture, engineering and construction firms worldwide, and the owners they serve. Newforma's is the first industry-focused and integrated solution to connect firms to each other, to their project information, to their processes, and to remote team members, all for the purpose of more successful project delivery. Firms in the Newforma Project Network are using Newforma software to manage information on more than 740,000 projects, raising productivity, reducing exposure to risk, strengthening their brands, and freeing time and attention to focus on design, construction, and client service. For more information about Newforma, visit www.newforma.com, or phone +1 603-625-6212.

© 2012 Newforma, Inc. Newforma is a registered trademark of Newforma, Inc., in the United States and in other countries. All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and should be treated as such.