Category: People issues

Does Social Media Belong in CAD Applications?

Via the excellent TenLinks newsletter, I found this Cadalyst article by Robert Green on social media in the CAD workplace. Robert admits he is not a big fan of social media in the workplace: I do see some value in it for CAD managers, as long as it is used judiciously. However, I foresee nothing …

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Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2012/08/does-social-media-belong-in-cad-applications/

Xpin offers new interface ideas

Last week I met Matthew Jennings, business development director, and online director Richard Hulbert of London-based digital agency Code Vanilla, which has developed a cloud-based collaboration platform called Xpin (described here). Following an introduction via Su Butcher, Matthew had asked for feedback on the Beta release of Xpin and whether it might be of interest to architects. Explaining Xpin …

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Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2012/08/xpin-offers-new-interface-ideas/

#MobiBIM 2012

One of the best events I attended last year was a conference on building information modelling (BIM) and mobile IT, organised by COMIT (Construction Opportunities for Mobile IT). I applauded the combination of the two topics when it was announced last year, and I am pleased that COMIT is running the event again – this year on …

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Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2012/07/mobibim-2012/

Making QR codes more useful

EZOfficeInventory logo

In January this year, I wrote about ICON and its potential use of QR codes for asset management. One US-based company is already providing this service, I hear. Syed Ali, CEO of EZOfficeInventory, has been in contact, highlighting the value of a web-based delegated model where everyone plays a role in updating and verifying information on …

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Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2012/07/making-qr-codes-more-useful/

FIDIC – behind the times when it comes to collaboration?

FIDIC red book

(A guest post by document control manager Edward Surgeon, partly stimulated by my previous coverage of contract change management features on construction collaboration platforms.) As a document control manager, a big part of my job is to maximise user adoption of our collaboration system across our projects. This means that my radar is always scanning …

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Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2012/07/fidic-behind-the-times-when-it-comes-to-collaboration/

Document control takes a vacation?

For a couple of my clients, I have considering the production of various infographics related to the products or services they provide – these are proving popular online as a simple way to summarise various types of data (surveys, system operations, timelines, etc), and good infographics can become quite ‘viral’ on social networks such as …

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Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2012/06/document-control-takes-a-vacation/

e-Builder launches its own social network

e-Builder, the Florida-based Software-as-a-Service construction collaboration software vendor, has just announced the release of its latest upgrade (e-Builder Enterprise™ 7.13), and e-Builder users “can now join real-time conversations with other users in the new e-Builder Community, the online social network for all e-Builder construction program management professionals.” The e-Builder Community is the online meeting place …

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Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2012/06/e-builder-launches-its-own-social-network/

Construction collaboration vendor news round-up – June 2012

Cadweb launches new website Founded in 1995, London-based Cadweb still positions itself as the longest-established provider of project extranet services in the UK. It has just launched a new website – mainly a new ‘look and feel’, as most of the written content has hardly changed – while its latest June news release concerns a …

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Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2012/06/construction-collaboration-vendor-news-round-up-june-2012/

If you really, really don’t want SaaS …

While I am a champion of Software-as-a-Service and I spend a lot of my time looking at SaaS-based solutions for construction collaboration, I appreciate there will always be people for whom keeping things within the company IT infrastructure, or paying once up-front rather than by pay-as-you-go subscription, is preferable. For such people in the architecture, …

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Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2012/05/if-you-really-really-dont-want-saas/

Document Control Essentials

Melbourne-based Aconex has been looking to dominate the Australasian market in more than just provision of SaaS construction collaboration software – it also wants to dominate delivery of document control training. I have written before (December 2010) about its training programme for document controllers, but this now appears to be delivered by a dedicated business, …

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Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2012/05/document-control-essentials/

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