Newforma

Virtualization of Newforma Project Center servers

2008-03-17T17:05:15Z

In a separate thread someone asked about deploying Newforma servers in a virtual environment. We get questions on this topic all the time. We also get a lot of support calls from customers that have performance related problems as a result of running in virtual environments. I’m only aware of a couple of customers that have successfully deployed the Newforma Project Center server in a production environment. So, I thought a poll on this topic might be appropriate. If you have had success, please respond to this topic. I’m sure many people would love to learn your secrets!

Note, the Newforma Info Exchange server works well in virtual environments. Its performance demands are typically modest.

File Transfer and Submittal Link & “File Downloaded” Tab

2012-01-26T19:05:24Z

Just wondering if anyone had figured out if there is a way to link a Submittal and an Info Exchange file transfer (In most cases a Submittal sent to a reviewer) to where you can see if the receiver has downloaded it from the Submittals Activities Tab.

I have them set as related items already and I’ve looked but been unable to find any location that might have some way of showing this information.

Would be a great tool so we don’t have to keep bouncing back and forth between the File Transfer & Submittal Pages. Would be great if it could be put under workflow or related items. Thought maybe I could be overlooking it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Timeline Reporting

2012-02-02T12:00:39Z

Is there a way to create a report of multiple timelines? I was hoping to run a report each week showing all upcoming items.

Any ideas on how this could be done?

Printing meeting minutes - not agenda

2012-01-27T13:35:13Z

I am trying to print my meeting minutes, but Newforma continually prints the agenda without my minutes notes. Any thoughts?

Adobe reader opening when selecting a pdf from Project Files

2011-11-29T01:40:53Z

When I am in Project Files, if I single click on a pdf it launches adobe reader in a new window instead of displaying it in the viewer. If I close adobe reader, The newforma preview pane remains saying ‘Generating Preview…’

My Newforma Options, File Associations have pdf set to Newforma Viewer and the File Tasks menu shows ‘Open with Newforma Viewer’ in bold as the default.

How can I get it to ignore adobe reader unless I specifically select it from the tasks menu?

Thanks
Marshall

Which Revit Parameters can be modified?

2012-01-13T19:51:05Z

Hello, the help documentation is very vague as to what revit parameters may be mapped to a Newforma extended property. I know there is some logic as to which Revit parameters may be accessed but I am unclear as to what that logic is. Could someone at Newforma clear that confusion up for me? It appears that all Revit objects (I’ve tried schedules and sheets) can be linked to a Newforma Element, but many of the parameters that are associated with these objects are not accessible when trying to map them to an extended property. Why not open up all available Revit parameters? I thought Newforma was giving me a bi-directional data manipulation tool like Ideate BIMLink (which is awesome by the way) but instead we get a clumsy tool with very limited functionality. Maybe I’m trying to make it do something it wasn’t intended to do or maybe it’s just still in it’s infancy, but either way it’s not ready for the big leagues yet. Its a great concept in theory but for now I guess I’ll still be using BIMLink for data manipulation. Bummer dude…

Newforma Revit Add-in - Action Item => Identify for Element ?

2012-01-17T14:49:34Z

Is it possible to create an action item for an element in a linked model? As an architect, I need to coordinate all models together and it would be nice if I could do this so a consulting engineer can go directly to the element via the element ID and check out the issues.

Change Field Values

2012-01-16T13:25:13Z

Does anyone know if it is possible to change infoexchange status, or infoexchange permission set (on an external contact) through using the “Change Field Value” option? I think I tried this in the past and it didn’t work.

Punchlist App Project List

2012-01-24T11:23:28Z

Good morning,

We have been testing the Punch list application and found that the download function only allows three projects listed at a time and it includes projects that do not have Punch-list setup for NIX in the project settings.

Doesn’t seem to be an ability to scroll for more and I’m not sure how to get the projects we need on. Am I missing something?

Since we’re limited to a list of three, I assume the only way would be to remove items from My Projects in Newforma down to below 3 in order for the project you want to appear in the list.

Anyone else have suggestions?

Thank you,
Matthias

Managing security within a project - some holes?

2012-01-18T20:25:08Z

My requirement is for some users on projects (which may or may not be confidential projects) to be able to transfer files which are confidential within the scope of the project. Such as a project principle might want to transfer or receive materials that include billing or other sensitive information, to specific client/team members. Also we would want to maintain this data within the project as it pertains specifically to the project.

There seems to be no way to accomplish this with the current set of functions in 8th edition:
• I can protect the directory and files from access and search via windows security.
• Non privileged users cannot transfer the files because windows security prevents access
• The outside recipients can be restricted using permission sets.
But:
• Once a file is transferred, either out or in, the transmittal, submittal, those related records allow access to the files to anyone on the project or who has access to the project, REGARDLESS of the security on the file where it was stored or how the file was received.
• Restricting access by eliminating access to a function like info exchange does not provide enough granularity – we have users who need to use a function, but shouldn’t necessarily see all the data associated with that function.

That means there is no way to transfer the subset of project information which is sensitive, without moving it outside the project, or limiting who has access to the project (which is not really feasible as almost every project has some mix of user levels)?

So I would say that there is a big gap in security that needs to be addressed. And it needs a centralized interface, as security related configuration is set separately in several places. Groups or Roles would be a possible mechanism for managing security. A way to assess or test who has access to what is also needed. Currently you can only assess the overall security if you go to these individual settings.

What’s bad right now is that users don’t necessarily know that information has moved from secured to unsecured, unless they specifically know about this weakness. Ususually its discovered after the fact

I saw some discussion of this from 2008, but I guess it didn’t go very far?

Right now I can only see solving this with a separate project, made confidential to restrict user access, then move the sensitive info to that location. That’s painful. Any other ideas?