The latest news release from UK construction collaboration technology vendor Cadweb – who describe themselves as “the longest and oldest, established project extranet provider in the UK” [just how long is Cadweb?] – shows that Cadweb has finally woken up to functional advances made by most of its UK competitors several years ago.
Cadweb says it plans to add several “key functional modules that enhance and compliment [sic] the core functionality of the system”. The first two to be launched apparently cover Tendering and CDM compliance. Well, tender management has been available from 4Projects, BIW Technologies [my employer], the former BuildOnline (now CTSpace) and Sarcophagus (to name but four) since at least 2003, while BIW was already helping its customer Sainsbury’s comply with the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations as long ago as 2001.
Cadweb says “Health and Safety; NEC contractual documentation compliance and a financial module are all planned to be added in the near future” (I am not clear how Cadweb’s health and safety module will complement its CDM compliance functionality – surely there’s some confusing overlap here?). Once again, contract process support has been available from BIW since it launched its workflow toolset in 2003, with specific NEC tools delivered in 2005 (outside the construction collaboration field, NEC support has, of course, also been available as a standalone application from MPS for four or five years – see posts here and here); and BIW first showcased its project financial control functionality at its 2006 user conference.
