Beyond Design

New release of Autodesk Constructware

With the release of the 2013 versions of the Autodesk products, there is also a new release of the Autodesk^® Constructware^® product. For those of you not familiar with Constructware^®, it's a web-based project management software that enables construction firms and owners to standardize and optimize business processes in order to deliver projects more efficiently.

London Blackfriars station, courtesy of Network Rail and Jacobs®

Constructware connects people, information, and processes to help streamline operations, manage change, and optimize execution in the field. Greater project transparency and accountability improve insight across projects of all sizes.

Gain more accurate near time cost visibility with the ability to exchange project data with accounting systems. And the configurable web-based software as a service (SaaS) platform can help to reduce costs associated with implementing and managing an IT infrastructure.

This release contains the following exciting changes to Constructware:

• Project Wizard – Ability to copy project level information: You can now copy project level information, such as Attributes or Routes, when creating a new project. With the 2013 release, a user creating a new project can copy the following information from an existing project in Step 2 of the Project Wizard: General Information, Attributes, Routing, View Options, Exhibits
  • Renaming Modules: With the 2013 release, the ability to rename modules has been added to the following modules.
    • Document Management
      • Architectural Supplemental Instructions (ASIs)
      • Design Review
      • Permits
    • Cost Management
      • Request for Change Order
      • Request for Quote
    • Risk Management
      • Safety Record
• Issues Module – Creation of Issues via API:  In a previous release, Constructware added the ability to exchange files within the File Director module via the WebDAV API (application programming interface) and an API for the RFI module.  Continuing this theme of enabling integration between desktop, mobile, or other applications, the Issues module now has been enabled with an API.
• Issues Module – Creation of Attached Files: As mentioned in the previous section, Constructware has added the ability to attach a file to an Issue via the API. The ability to quickly add an attached file has also been added to the standard user interface within Constructware. An attached file can only associated or attached to a singular document and cannot reside anywhere else within the application. Previously if a user wanted to add a file to an Issue they would have uploaded the file into File Director or the Documents modules as a supporting document.

Let us know if you want to hear more about Constructware, or what you think of the new updates by leaving a comment below.

I've never seen so many iPads in one place

At the end of last week I got back from the Construction MobileIT 2011 Conference in London in the UK, it was a great one day discussion about how mobile devices can be best used in the construction industry. With fascinating insights from Transport for London about how BIM models are helping with Emergency Service planning on London Underground after the 7/7 terrorist bombings in 2005, discussions about the safety of putting data in the cloud, using QR codes in versioning of drawings, use of point cloud technology by surveyors across the life cycle of a building project and whether social media has a place in construction for resolving RFI's.

It's a growing area revolutionized by the iPhone, iPad and App Store by Apple, but there's Android and Windows platforms amongst others in the marketplace and more rugged tablets designed for field use on construction sites. We've heard of people who use their tablets to remotely connect to their work machine to view their Revit and Navisworks models, but more and more developers are using our APIs to create apps such as CadFaster to let you view and markup Revit models on your iPad and Vela Systems to bring data from the field back into your information model.

With the mobile applications we already offer such as the newly released Constructware Field app to help manage projects from the field, Buzzsaw for managing files, AutoCAD WS for editing files and Bluestreak to help collaboration, there's a growing list of apps to help with your workflow and no doubt there'll be more to come in the future.

We just have one question for you, if you could take one app into the field with you tomorrow to help with your day to day work, what would it be?

Subscribe to this blog, RSS feed

To any of you who have subscribed to the RSS feed of our blog, you may have not noticed anything coming through. This was due to a small change we made a couple of weeks ago.

You will now need to subscribe to this feed

http://feeds.feedburner.com/beyond-design

Apologies for any inconvenience.

Here’s a couple of great posts you may have missed

1.21 Gigawatts, 1.21 Gigawatts! Great Scott!!
Creating Smooth Animations

Welcome to Beyond Design

Over the past 29 years, Autodesk has become recognized as a leading 2D and 3D design software provider, but less known for how it goes beyond design, especially within the construction industry. The knowledge and insight that is held by construction professionals and engineers can be used to make better design decisions, which will ultimately benefit all phases of a project, from design, through pre-construction services, fabrication, project execution, operations and maintenance, even renovation or demolition.

The intention of this blog is to show how BIM design data can be utilized and repurposed throughout a project lifecycle, by providing insight into Virtual Design and Construction workflows and the use of Autodesk Construction solutions. By giving you the information and tools to better manage projects, increase productivity, improve workflows and influence the design, we want to empower you to get the most out of products you use every day.

We will focus on the functionality, workflows and interoperability between Autodesk Construction solutions, including Navisworks, Revit, Quantity Takeoff, Constructware, Buzzsaw, Vault, and AutoCAD based products.

Over the next few weeks and months we'll be acquainting you with the 2012 releases of the Autodesk Construction products, with suggestions of use for the new features, as well as hints, tips and tricks on how to make use of existing functionality. But overall, we want to hear from you - the people that rely on these tools every day - we’d like you to share your stories and your tricks; we’d like to hear your suggestions for topics that you’d like to know more about; and most of all we want to hear your feedback.

Welcome to 'Beyond Design' and we hope to hear from you soon.