2012 AIA Expo Wrap Up

Thanks again to all of the AIA members, participants, vendors, and partners that made their way to the BPI booth this year.  What a great show it was!

This year was certainly an upswing from the last couple, as the AIA members were attending in full force.  We all certainly hope this has to do with the AEC market taking a turn for the better.

At the BPI booth, we saw a focused interest in the Construction Information Management software solutions.  This ranged from online bidding sites to sophisticated software applications which allow you to track workflow documentation on projects from initial design through closeout.

However, getting the most attention was the scan to file document site where BPI scans old valuable plan sheets into a portal and delivers the documents in a digital searchable format. We thank everyone for their great feedback and interest in this regard and look forward to cleaning out all those ‘closets’.

We also want to call attention to the lucky winners of our Sports Canvas giveaway. The winner of the print and clip coupon giveaway was Bill Simpson of FCM Corporation. Thanks, Bill, and congratulations! Following Bill’s lucky streak with the final 3 giveaways was Steve Harms of Tri-North Builders, Chad Wright of Northwestern Mutual and Jim Fryk of LaMacchia Group.

Congrats to all the winners and thank you all for your support at the Expo.

Did not attend 2012 AIA?  You can still partner with BPI, the complete source for all your large format document needs.  Call one of the locations below to find out more about our Color Services, Construction Information Management, or to have a demonstration on the new Canon iPF760 MFP.

Under the Hood – 3rd in a Series

In our first article about Online Planrooms and Digital Document Management, we looked at a broad overview of the services available to help you in organizing and managing your documents.  In our second article, we started to delve into the specific questions as they relate to Online Planrooms and Digital Document Management.  Now we will continue to explore more of the questions that must be asked before choosing a plan management solution.

How can I win more bids and/or track my project?

Let’s break this down into two separate questions: “How can I win more bids?” and “How can I track my project?”  The first part is a little tricky to explain.  An Online Planroom will allow you to easily give more visibility to your project and to reach companies you may not have had access to before.  This is done with an ad in a trade publication or local paper that directs potential bidders to a web portal where your project is housed.  Your customers will be able to review the files and place an order for a hard copy set or a digital download of the files, thus allowing them to more quickly return a bid to you.  More market penetration + faster bid response = (potentially) more bids won.  The actions that are made upon the web portal are tracked, which leads into question 2, “How can I track my project?”

Projects are tracked through the Online Planroom, each project retaining a record of who has looked at the specific project to easily create a Planholder list.  If a plan is viewed, downloaded, or a hard copy ordered, this information is recorded as well.

Are my project documents secure and available 24/7 online?

The short answer to both of these questions is yes.  The files hosted on the Online Planroom can be locked down for viewing purposes only.  If locked down, files cannot be printed or modified without unsecuring them using the proper password.  If a set of digital files is ordered, those specific files are unlocked to allow printing.

As to the availability of content on the Planroom, the files on the Planroom are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Once the files are loaded to the Planroom, they are available for viewing and ordering based on your requirements.  Files are able to be viewed and ordered from any internet capable device – desktops, laptops, tablets, even smartphones.  There is no special software required.

Do I have the right addenda or revision and how can I track this?

Different Online Planroom offerings track this information in different ways.  Some applications file each modification of the file into a separate folder, meaning the Bid Set is in one folder, Addendum #1 is in another folder, Addendum #2 in another folder, etc.  Some Planrooms have a folder that contains the most current versions of the files, thus creating a “current set” of the latest files.  Some Planrooms sort the various document issues into separate tabs, and some Planrooms combine several of these methods giving a greater flexibility to how your plans are to be displayed.

Ensuring you can track who has which documents is an important criteria when selecting the best Planroom solution. The integration of communication tools to notify bidders is another key element which can you save you time and money while allowing the bidders to view changes quickly online.

We hope that this series has helped you to decide whether an Online Planroom offering is right for you.

Under the Hood – 2nd in a Series

In our first article about Online Planrooms and Digital Document Management, we looked at a broad overview of the services available to help you in organizing and managing your documents.  In this article, we will start to delve into the specific questions as they relate to Online Planrooms and Digital Document Management.

Where do I start with selecting an Online Planroom

This is an excellent question.  Let’s start with what you need the product to do.

• Organize your documents in a clear, easy to maneuver web-based application
• Track the changes made to your documents
• Track the interested parties who have copies of your documents
• Allow for the accessing of digital copies of your documents for markups and takeoffs
• Allow for the notification of current interested parties of document changes in a quick, efficient manner
• Save time and money
• And all of the above done in ‘real-time’

If you answered yes to any (or all) of the above or were nodding you head while reading, then Digital Document Management can help.  There are several options available, such as a basic Online Planroom, which will monitor who has the documents and allows your customers to view the documents online; to an in depth Document Management System, complete with the ability to allow documents to be viewed, ordered and downloaded, complete online notification tools and an in-depth pre-qualification and bid-management process.

How do I get the right information to the right people quickly?

When documents are hosted on a Digital Document Management system, the information is secure and available to your customers at all times, at any hour of the day, from any internet capable device (including smartphones!).  Through a Digital Document Management system, alerts can be sent to your customers regarding changes made to a project, (or a single file) almost immediately from the time that the updated file is released.  This notification is done through email or fax and also tracks when the notification was sent to the customer and when the customer looked at the notification.

How do I handle the bidding phase of my project

If your current process is to have a reprographer run several sets of hard copy plans, have those plans sent out and then repeat the process for each and every Addendum, Change Order or Construction Bulletin, your valuable time and money is being wasted.

Traditionally, that is how bidding process has always been done.  Run many sets, send them out and repeat the process for any changes.  With a Digital Document Management system, bid sets are uploaded one time.  Your customers can view and order hard copy or download only the pages they need (or only order full bid sets if that is your preference).  You no longer need to pay for 30, 50, 100 sets to be run.  Pay for only the sets to be run that are needed.

While a Digital Document Management system may not solve all of your Bid Process headaches, it can certainly help to organize your documents and streamline your process to free up your time to focus on more important things.  Things like your customers.

Taming the Beast

In the last five years, BPI has earned opportunities to partner with prestigious companies on three of Wisconsin’s largest construction projects ranging from $85 million to over $2 billion. One such opportunity included Wisconsin’s largest hospital construction project, while another gave BPI the experience of working with global partners in New York and Japan on Wisconsin’s largest private construction project. A third opportunity includes Wisconsin’s largest public housing development and the largest tax credit allocation in Wisconsin’s history. In all circumstances, BPI is able to deliver customer excellence using a variety of industry tools.

In 2006, BPI began a 4-year partnership with a large health organization in the City of Milwaukee. BPI’s responsibilities included using KIP large & small format copy/scan/print equipment along with various software’s for implementation and execution of the following items:

• more than 90% of print work
• online plan availability
• collaboration with architects, including the lead architect in St. Louis, MO
• onsite scanning by BPI personnel at customer site of all construction documents at project closeout
• complete plan index with proper nomenclature/terminology to provide plan description and document consistency

While execution is key, communication is also of critical importance. BPI honed communication skills while partnering with an overseas customer that had headquarters in New York and Japan. BPI’s Milwaukee office hosted several of the customer’s Japanese officials while using all the latest industry tools and knowledge to work through assorted logistics, such as:

• printing and assembly of closeout and O&M manuals
• hundreds of thousands of originals sized from 8.5×11” to 36×48”
• documents including both color and black and white images
• training of construction site personnel
• final product shipment to Japanese headquarters

A vital component in both execution and communication is timing. Using DFS software, BPI is able to closely partner with a local housing authority to provide the most up-to-date, quality digital drawings at the construction site. The primary outcomes are invaluable:

• Having the most recent sets of drawings and documents means timely information is not jeopardized and smooth workflow continues
• Elimination of inaccurate, poor-quality, or unreadable drawings reduces confusion and onsite errors
• Contractors had the ability, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,  to find, view, order printed hard copy plans (available from any of our 4 local BPI facilities) or download digital files directly from the site for instant access and print

Large construction projects and printing jobs can become unruly and take on lives of their own. Each project can become a beast that delays progress and affects the bottom line of all parties involved. Leading companies, both local and global, count on BPI’s dedicated and knowledgeable staff to tame the beast and assure execution, uninterrupted communication, and appropriate timing. BPI commits to its partnerships by using the proper industry tools to provide customer excellence from each project’s concept to its completion.