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Design-Build Solution
New software coordinates project
details into Web-based package
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Centric Connection integrates drawings
and CAD assemblies from remote programs and document
management systems. The software is being used by facilities
owners as well as contractors and designers.
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Centric Software has a new answer to managing the barrage
of information that rains down on construction teams today.
It's called Design-Build Solution and comes with the tools
to handle project information and coordinate site activities.
It includes Centric Connection, an information gatherer that
intelligently mines the company's databases and reports a
bird's-eye view of a construction project. The software's
powerful connector technology also integrates drawings and
CAD assemblies from remote programs and document management
systems.
This "top-down" view is important to construction
executives, says Jim Benjamin, director of AEC business at
San Jose, Calif.-based Centric. "Using the Centric Charter
component of the program, the executive gets a single source
that can answer important questions at a glance," he
says. "Are my projects on time? Are my personnel being
utilized correctly? Are we on budget?"
Using Centric Connection, an executive can maximize project
resources by learning that materials for one project have
been delivered but are not yet being used while a project
down the street is ready for the same materials.
"Then the executive can make better ongoing investment
decisions," Benjamin says.
DeAllen Norris, principal and senior project manager at MacTec
Engineering and Consulting in Alpharetta, Ga., uses the Centric
Projects component of Design-Build Solutions to coordinate
project activities internally and externally with clients
and collaborators.
Centric's software records all project updates in a secure,
Web-based site, accessible only to the team members authorized
to view it.
"One project has people working on it all over the world,"
Norris says. "But all of our reviews and updates are
in one central location. It gives access to documents for
clients and project team members outside the MacTec intranet
system."
Once a team member logs on the site, it records when that
person reviewed the information and any comments he or she
made. It also alerts team members if there is a change in
the site that requires their attention.
"It's cut down on the cost of printing and shipping
and the difficulties in trying to obtain hard copies of the
documents," Norris says.
And having an up-to-the-minute, accurate, centralized place
for all project documents means that when Norris travels,
he has to take only his laptop with him. "I go to meetings
all over the country, and I can just call up the right document
from my computer," he says.
These efficiencies extend to accepting bids from suppliers
too. Benjamin says a general contractor can create a folder
just for electrical subcontractors, for example. "The
GC can post a specification there" Benjamin adds. "He
can then accumulate the bids, evaluate them and notify the
company that got the award."
Centric Software's Design-Build Solution is used by owners
as well as contractors and designers. Benjamin says that Best
Buy is using it to build, upgrade and maintain its stores,
Linens and Things has used it to help reduce its construction
cycles, and Iowa State University is managing 200 projects
with 2,000 users on the Centric suite of software tools.
Centric will help a company develop a business model to realize
its return on investment, Benjamin says. "Depending on
how the company uses the software, the [return on investment]
can be realized in as little as three months, or on the outside,
18 months," he says.
Centric's Design-Build Solution is also easy to use. "There
is no real training involved," Norris says. Software
packages for smaller offices start at $50,000, and pricing
is determined by the number of users.
Centric Software Inc.
50 Las Colinas Lane
San Jose, Calif. 95119-1212
888-537-2639
www.centricsoftware.com
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