NOVEMBER 2010
Getting clarity
Newforma customers play a major role in defining our product. Since the earliest days of the company, we’ve asked how our project information management (PIM) solutions can help you deliver high quality, code-compliant, energy-efficient projects, on time and within budget. This edition of the Newformant newsletter offers more opportunities to exchange information, whether it’s attending our first global Newforma User Group gathering or by participating in forum discussions.
–Patrick Gillam, editor
HEADLINES
SHAREPOINT AND NEWFORMA
Clarify their differing roles in your firm
Microsoft SharePoint is a useful platform for a company intranet, but Newforma customers who’ve investigated SharePoint’s capabilities agree that it’s not a PIM solution. Why not? For a detailed discussion of the complementary roles of SharePoint and Newforma Project Center, visit this page, where you can download a new positioning paper and access customer thoughts on the matter.
NEWFORMA USER GROUP
Plan to attend a gathering in May, 2011
The inaugural gathering of Newforma users from across the globe is being planned for May, 2011, in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Thanks to all of you who helped determine the month and location for this event by responding to our user survey and/or providing feedback via The Newforma Network discussion group at LinkedIn. We’re working on the exact dates and venue, which we will be announcing soon.
DIGITAL LIBRARY MANAGEMENT
Send us your DLM requirements
Since the earliest days of Newforma, customers have been asking for a solution to manage ever-growing volumes of images. To meet that need, we're developing a Newforma® Digital Library Management (DLM) add-on product module for release in the second half of 2011. (Our interim solution, to partner with digital asset management provider Axomic, ends in December.) If you are interested in telling us your DLM requirements, sharing your business development work process, describing shortcomings of your existing digital asset management solution, or registering to be a part of the product validation process for our new DLM product, please email us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
HOW-TO RESOURCES
Find comprehensive learning resources online
Newforma offers two kinds of video tutorials: “Take 5” basic tutorials, which run two to five minutes, and “Newforma Nugget” webinar recordings for advanced users, which run 30 to 60 minutes. We’ve compiled our complete collection of both categories at a new web page called “How-To Resources” on our corporate website. (We also link to How-To Resources from the user community website, newformant.com.) We hope you’ll invest some time in viewing these recordings. Doing so will save many hours of project information management time in your daily work!
USER COMMUNITY WEBSITE IMPROVEMENTS
Google local search has been added to newformant.com
Improved and expanded search capabilities make it easier to find exactly what you’re looking for through the user community website, newformant.com. Newly implemented Google local search capabilities allow you to access aggregated results from three different sources: newformant.com user discussion forums, newformant.com informational posts, and the Newforma knowledgebase. The next time you’re wondering how to solve a problem or enrich your experience with Newforma Project Center, find answers using the “Search Newformant.com” box at www.newformant.com.
TWEETS FOR THE NEWFORMA USER COMMUNITY
Follow Newforma Support and Services on Twitter
We recommend you follow the Newforma Support and Services teams on Twitter. Tweets include updates to the Newforma knowledgebase, new training and non-urgent updates to the software. (Note that this Twitter feed is different from the general news and announcements tweeted via the username “Newforma.”) Follow Newformant on Twitter here.
NEWFORMA ADMINISTRATORS
Discover new resources
We’ve done a little housekeeping behind the administrator log-in page of newforma.com. “Services” and “Reporting” have their own pages, and we’ve added two webinar recordings, “Moving projects” and “Seventh Edition upgrade considerations.” Of course, you’ll still find information on all of the ways to get in touch with Newforma Support.
THE POWER OF STORIES
Tell us yours!
One of the best ways to gain more from Newforma Project Center is to learn from each other’s successes, discoveries, experiences and failures, and there’s no better way to do this than by sharing stories. (If you need convincing, we highly recommend “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die,” by Chip Heath and Dan Heath.) Whether your story appears in an industry publication, a news release, a blog post or simply as a topic on the discussion forum, we’re happy to help you write, edit or place it. Please contribute your story here.
| 
