Jul 16 2007

Some Saas background

I occasionally get asked: “where can I read up on Software-as-a-Service?” One place to start is ASPnews.com, which last week had a good background article SaaS: An Idea Whose Time Has Finally Come … Again.

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2007/07/some-saas-backg/

Jul 11 2007

Autodesk Buzzsaw adoption

A news release from Autodesk gives some clues about the scale of adoption of its Buzzsaw construction collaboration application.

The release reports “a powerful but steady growth in European sales”, with Autodesk’s Mark Ellis adding: “We had been experiencing an average of two new customers a week for the past nine months, but more recently that has risen even further to four new customers a week”.

Ellis attributes this take-up to the product’s claimed ease-of-use (see also last week’s post: “Entry-level” collaboration):

“The market is experiencing an urgent need for a solution that is fast to install and straightforward for a complete range of disciplines to use. … Buzzsaw sites can be accessed by hundreds of authorized users from an extended project team – from architects and engineers to legal professionals and planners. Consequently, ease of use is always a major consideration.”

Autodesk mentions three recent UK deals (Barking Riverside, Gleeson Building and Bristol City Council). Underlining the claimed ease-of-use, it quotes Gleeson’s IT director Brian Jeffery who thought “some [rival] products available were too complex and would start to dictate how we use our processes” – demonstrating an ignorance of the capabilities of some so-called ‘complex’ systems – like BIW Technologies [my employer] – to offer simplified interfaces and to exactly model a firm’s existing processes.

(It is also perhaps worth adding that Autodesk is not a member of the UK vendors’ association, the NCCTP, and so its customers don’t have the ‘safety net’ of the organisation’s data exchange standard to fall back on if they decide to change to another vendor at some later stage. I met Mark Ellis briefly at the NCCTP conference in November 2005 and was hopeful that Autodesk might have joined the group, but we had no further contact.)

Global take-up

The Autodesk release also says: “Globally, there are currently over 200,000 Buzzsaw sites in use with a total of seven million files being managed at Autodesk’s multiple international data centers” (see also Constant monitoring at HQ).

These vague figures – the first I have seen since late 2005 (see posts here, here and especially here) – need to be put into context.

First, I assume “Buzzsaw sites” equates to users. The 200,000+ figure is a significant advance, ie: 60% growth, from the 125,000 claimed in November 2005 (but, as I wrote 19 months ago, we need to clarify if this figure includes many early free Buzzsaw users and if these are actual, as opposed to potential, users). Regular readers will know that I often bemoan the lack of reliable statistics in this area, but they do at least support the growth figures reported by at least one other vendor. Over the same period (November 2005 to date), BIW’s user community has grown from 51,507 registered users (from 5321 organisations) to 83,541 users (in 8521 organisations) – up 62%.

The figure of “seven million files” actually sounds a bit low to me, bearing in mind the number of Buzzsaw sites/users (as an illustration, BIW is currently hosting just over 5.5 million files), though this may be due to some Buzzsaw customers hosting the application and data themselves rather than in Autodesk’s data centres.

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2007/07/autodesk-buzzsa/

Jul 05 2007

ShareWorkz: intranet and extranet collaboration

I, and several of my colleagues, have received emails from Microsoft VAR ICS Solutions about ShareWorkz, described as “a functionally rich, best practice intranet and extranet collaboration platform, based on Microsoft SharePoint technology, that enables you to build a collaboration solution in less than one hour”.

While it describes itself as “a world first”, I guess that depends on the definition; back in January, I talked about BT Workspace – another collaboration product based on Microsoft SharePoint – but targeted at SMEs, and in May 2006 I discussed Bentley’s StartPoint, a more AEC-oriented SharePoint-related product. Certainly, ShareWorkz appears to be more of a generic enterprise product, with pricing to match.

“With a high specification intranet or extranet typically costing upwards of £250,000, ShareWorkz 3.0 costs at least 75% less than a traditional bespoke intranet or extranet project. License costs for ShareWorkz start from just £20,000.”

The price-list shows the cost of ShareWorkz 3.0 Server for up to 25 users as £15,000, excluding implementation and Microsoft platform hardware and license costs, plus an annual 20% maintenance charge. For 26-100 users, additional licenses would cost £70 a head.

AEC impact?

From my perspective as an observer of the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) collaboration extranet market, I reckon ShareWorkz may appeal to those organisations which want an ‘off-the-shelf’ extranet and want to retain in-house control over project information (assuming, of course, that appropriate contract mechanisms are in place to manage these responsibilities and the associated risks). The strong tie-in with Microsoft products will certainly allow easy sharing of standard Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, etc, but – as I said last May – will be less of an advantage when it comes to sharing, viewing and collaborating upon core construction project information: most AEC design data is produced in CAD files and exchanged in data formats (eg: DWF) for which special viewing, mark-up and commenting tools are required. Nor will a generic collaboration application be able to emulate the sometimes highly complex and highly contractual construction-specific decision-making processes that are built into today’s more sophisticated AEC collaboration platforms.

More fundamentally, there are already a handful of AEC-focused vendors who, firstly, have extensive experience in managing the legal/contractual issues experienced in rolling-out an extranet to a project team, and, secondly, have solutions ready to tackle the CAD file collaboration and process management challenges. Such solutions are also, of course, readily available as on-demand or Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offerings, meaning that customers will not have to be concerned about bespoke development, nor will they have any hardware or maintenance issues to worry about. Some SaaS vendors in the AEC sector also price their services regardless of the number of users, with charges levied by monthly or quarterly subscriptions, so that customers pay regular and predictable set fees for the duration ofthe project or programme – no big up-front licence payment or capital investment requirement.

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2007/07/shareworkz-intr/

Jul 05 2007

Promotion for Nathan

UK construction collaboration vendor Asite announced yesterday the promotion of my friend Nathan Doughty, previously the firm’s chief technology officer, to the position of chief operating officer. I have got to know Nathan quite well through meetings of the NCCTP, where Asite is this year’s chairman. Another announcement says Nathan has also joined the board of the UK Chapter of the International Alliance for Interoperability. I wish him well in both roles.

Previous COOs at Asite have included Tom Dengenis and Tony Ryan, both of whom were later promoted to CEO.

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2007/07/promotion-for-n/

Jul 02 2007

“Entry-level” collaboration

Just over a week after the previous one (see post), a second news release has appeared on Asite‘s website telling how a further customer has opted for its low-cost Asite Workspace solution, launched late last year.

Engineering and environmental consultancy Wardell Armstrong LLP has become the latest to select Asite Workspace, using the tool for “a specific project involving 30 geographically dispersed sites”.

I do wonder how the economics of this low-cost tool work out. As I have said before, while a simple solution may attract some new customers, there is also a danger that the vendor may simply be sacrificing sales of its more expensive system.

Entry-level solutions

I am also not altogether convinced that “an entry-level collaboration solution” will meet the need for collaboration “in situations where the cost and features of advanced collaboration tools are not justified”. However, low cost and simplicity may not always work out that way.

  1. So long as the project team remains small, a low-cost extranet licensed on a per-user basis (Asite Workspace starts at £25 per month per user;  BT Workspace – see post – starts even lower, at £7.50 per month per user) may seem attractive, but if the team expands – clients wanting some genuine collaboration will want to ensure everyone is connected – then the costs could soon mount up, eventually reaching the levels some vendors charge for their standard systems.
  2. In addition to monthly charges per user, customers will need to be clear about what quality of service (QoS)they might expect: what is the guaranteed uptime, how fast will the service be, what training, configuration and helpdesk support services are available, what happens to data at the end of a project, etc, and what (if any) additional charges are levied for such associated services, or for upgrade to a higher-level product.
  3. From a vendor perspective, an entry-level solution – as the name implies – suggests this is a tool that will allow customers to make their first steps with an online collaboration system, perhaps eventually upgrading to the vendor’s higher-level offering. However, there are risks in this approach. For example, first, by offering two alternatives, the vendor may secure a customer’s business, but – as already mentioned – may have forfeited a sale of his higher-level offering. Second, using an entry-level solution may blind the customer/team to the potential of more advanced systems. Third, customers may attempt to run a project that proves too ambitious for the technology, fatally undermining the team’s faith in all collaboration platforms, not just the system used. Fourth, the customer will need to know how any future upgrade will be achieved; will it, for example, retain all the data and metadata collected in the initial system, and what costs might be associated with such an upgrade?
  4. The implicit assumption that higher-level solutions are too complex for small projects should also be questioned. Some well-known UK construction collaboration packages can be configured to turn off the ‘bells and whistles’ so that users are presented with a very simple, user-friendly interface. This gives some advantages over lower-end systems: a) less need to upgrade/retrain if and when a client, project or project team’s needs become more demanding; b) system functionality can be expanded gradually to meet changing project needs; c) consultants and contractors can adopt and become expert in one familiar system for both simple and complex projects; and d) retention of all data for projects large and small in a single system, thus improving the client’s long-term estate or asset management, operation and maintenance capabilities.

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2007/07/entry-level-col/

Jun 28 2007

Construction Computing Show 2007

The Construction Computing Show 2007 in November will be co-located at the Emirates Stadium, London with Building Computing 2007, an event targeted at “architects and building professionals planning and designing buildings, new and refurbished, with a view to [their] operating IT requirements”.

This would seem a sensible step, opening up the event to a wider array of potential exhibitors and visitors, while the switch to a new venue will also help. Last year’s CC event seemed smaller than previous editions, and I have never been keen on the Barbican as a venue.

However, I see the organisers are persevering with the Construction Computing Awards. The ‘Hammers II’ will be presented on 21 November at the Novotel Euston – hopefully with a better comedian and a better public address system! The awards website looks like it’s still being updated (bits still say ‘2006’) so it’s difficult to conclude if there will be any changes to the award categories or nomination/voting system. I hope there will: some of last year’s announcements were barely credible.

[16 July update: IT Showcase is also running some Construction IT awards, run on the more traditional basis of a panel of judges evaluating several different categories of case studies.]

[27 and 28 November update: Following some adverse comments from awards organiser Stuart Leigh, I have deleted a personal view of the comedian which he regarded as defamatory.]

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2007/06/construction-co-2/

Jun 28 2007

FIATECH and COMIT to collaborate, but don’t forget the others…

At a Harvard University conference in Boston last year, I briefly met Ric Jackson of FIATECH and talked about the NCCTP’s efforts to develop a data exchange standard that would allow data to be transferred between different construction collaboration (‘extranet’) platforms. From a Cadalyst article, I see FIATECH has recently signed a memorandum of understanding with UK-based group COMIT.

FIATECH’s mission is to “provide global leadership in identifying and accelerating the development, demonstration and deployment of fully integrated and automated technologies to deliver the highest business value throughout the life cycle of all types of capital projects”, and has developed an interesting “Roadmap for Capital Projects”. COMIT provides information and guidance on the benefits of effective use of mobile IT in the UK construction industry. The two bodies have already worked together on the roadmap, and further work is planned, particularly in the use of RFID and “applications of augmented reality through 3D design and visualization technology”.

Such collaborations must continue. There are a seemingly growing number of bodies and projects all concerned with helping construction organisations make better use of technology. Earlier this week, for example, I had a look at the website of the Modern Built Environment Knowledge Transfer Network (one of a much bigger group of KTNs); in April, I attended BuildingSMART‘s London conference (see post); in May, I went to Dublin for a CITA meeting; I continue to work with the NCCTP and with Constructing Excellence (home of the IT Construction Forum); I also sit on an ICT and automation working party developing ideas as part of the National Platform for the Built Environment; and next month I will be talking to the KIM Project. These (and other) groups certainly need to keep abreast of each other’s activities to avoid needless duplication or potential overlaps or conflicts of interest.

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2007/06/fiatech-and-com/

Jun 19 2007

Workspace + Workspace

According to a news release on Asite‘s website, the company has secured a customer for its entry-level solution, Asite Workspace.

REID Architecture, who recently merged with 3D to become 3DReid “chose Asite Workspace to collaborate with its supply chain at the early stages of the Gibraltar’s new air terminal project”.

This will presumably be the same REID architecture that rival UK vendor Union Square last year announced had spent £95,000 to deploy its intranet solution – coincidentally also called Workspace – within the practice.

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2007/06/workspace_works/

Jun 15 2007

Email compliance

According to a news release on BuildingTalk.com, Union Square Software has launched a Seven Step Guide to email compliance for the construction industry. With email now, it says, “the de facto standard for communication within the construction supply chain”, management and retention of contractually important email is becoming a crucial IT issue.

Union Square argues, with some justification (I have discussed this in the past too – see here for example), that standard business tools such as Microsoft Outlook do not always serve the best interests of a project-oriented industry (indeed director Will Yandell insists: “Outlook provides possibly the worst place to store contacts and emails”), and poses enormous challenges for IT departments to manage back-ups and ensure no emails are lost.

The Seven Steps:

  1. Don’t make end-users responsible for filing/archiving emails. Take the responsibility out of their hands and automate the entire process.
  2. Make a decision to store EVERYTHING that is received and sent by anyone in the organisation. That way you can be sure nothing is lost.
  3. Don’t use your email system as the filing/storage repository for emails. Email systems were not … designed to be filing systems though more often than not that is what they have become….
  4. Use a SQL database to store the emails in their native format. They are designed to deal with millions of records and scale successfully…. Using a database can significantly improve the speed of searching and can also make integration with other [IT]….”
  5. Make sure that once archived the emails cannot be tampered with. It will be important later to show that the email has been stored in its original form and not tampered with.
  6. The system should make it easy for end users to find emails at a later date. … Full text searching should allow emails to be searched for any content and attachments filed with them.
  7. The system should facilitate the easier sharing of knowledge and can be seen as part of a wider knowledge management strategy. This may have particular value within an activity such as a project where there will definitely be some operational advantages in allowing the entire team to see certain emails.

Tags: AEC UK Union Square intranet email Seven Steps

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2007/06/email_complianc/

Jun 12 2007

e-Builder to make “major announcement”

I read that US construction collaboration vendor e-Builder is planning a major announcement later this month that will have a “resounding impact in the industry for years to come”. I am intrigued.

Mind you, the last time I got interested in such a pre-announcement it was only UK vendor Asite‘s build-up to the launch of its collaborative BIM product (and I am still yet to be convinced that this solution will make the big impact that Asite hoped).

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2007/06/ebuilder_promis/

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