Newforma expands PIM solution with new product for project financial and resource management

e-Mail

Print

 Manchester, N.H. — Newforma, a project information management (PIM) software company connecting architecture, engineering, and construction firms worldwide, released Newforma Project Analyzer, which provides project financial and resource management for architectural and engineering project managers and executives. Newforma Project Analyzer pulls read-only data from Deltek Vision to facilitate what-if scenarios concerning project scope, milestones, budgets, schedules, and staffing.

Commercial release follows extensive validation by selected customers who have already deployed the solution for use by project managers on live projects within their firms. SHW Group, with nearly 300 employees, is one of the nation’s highest-ranking architecture firms focusing on education design. “Newforma Project Analyzer translates the rich data captured by our Deltek Vision accounting system into a form that’s more accessible to project managers and senior executives,” said SHW Group Chief Financial Officer Matt Snider. “Now our projections are accurate to within a few percentage points, even at 120 days out. Timesheets are being submitted in less than half the time they were previously, given the nature of the project progress feedback that Newforma Project Analyzer provides. We’ve recouped tens of thousands of dollars in reimbursable expenses that would have otherwise been overlooked. And our work-in-progress and consultant accrual calculations are dead-on accurate and easy to obtain.”

LMN Architects organizes its 90 employees around project-specific teams assembled to address the specific needs and circumstances of a diverse range of assignments. LMN Information Technology Director Tim Rice said, “We purchased Newforma Project Analyzer so our project managers can make more informed decisions about their projects’ financial and staffing concerns. While our accounting system maintains a great record of past performance, Newforma Project Analyzer helps us combine that knowledge with managing and projecting the future outcome of projects and of the firm as a whole.”

Newforma Chief Executive Officer Ian Howell explained that the new Newforma Project Analyzer product has grown out of customer needs. “We’ve designed our products by listening to AEC professionals as they describe their processes and frustrations, then developing technology that addresses those issues,” Howell said. “In the case of Newforma Project Analyzer, we’ve licensed and adapted technology that one of our Newforma customers, SHW Group in Dallas, had originally developed in-house in response to their frustration with other commercially available solutions. We’ve now turned that technology into a full-featured stand-alone product with supporting technical and end-user documentation, implementation and training services. We are pleased to be able to manage another class of project information for our customers and to make accounting data more useful in day-to-day decision making by project managers and firm principals.”

Newforma Project Analyzer offers the following benefits to users:
• more accurate projections for individual projects and the firm as a whole;
• more timely, better-informed decision making by project managers and firm principals;
• a deeper understanding of the cost and time ramifications of project team decisions;
• greater ability to identify project financial issues in need of correction;
• strengthened ability to train and mentor junior project managers;
• a streamlined billing review process that facilitates timely billing;
• enhanced utilization of existing financial data by project managers and firm executives;
• consolidation of tools and systems, removing redundant data; and
• a more vibrant culture in terms of communication, common language, and shared process in managing all projects.

Unlike other new products released by the company this year, Newforma Project Analyzer does not require Newforma Project Center as a prerequisite. It pulls data from Deltek Vision on a read-only basis; users of Newforma Project Analyzer cannot alter data in Vision. Newforma Project Analyzer currently only works with financial data captured in Deltek Vision versions 5.1 or 6.1.