Okay, so our job on many projects is to be the host of project files from consultants and to enable them to send files between each other. Most of our consultants have very few IT resources available to them - it’s not their strong point. In the past, we’ve had a nearly wide-open FTP to accomplish this. Obviously, this isn’t desirable anymore.

My question is this - What’s the best way using InfoExchange to enable the free exchange of files between our consultants with the absolute minimal (ideally none) intervention from our staff? In other words - how do we get to the ease and simplicity that FTP allowed us without confusing and frustrating our teams?

Should we setup a SFTP just for this project for this purpose? Can Info Exchange handle this? Thoughts? Questions?

Greg,
Not sure if you’re already a Newforma user, but we’ve been using Newforma for about seven months.  We have only about 5 projects which have used it heavily.  When we got started, I was also concerned that I’d be fielding calls from clients, contractors & consultants with Info Exchange issues & questions.  Happily, Newforma “right out of the box” seems to be extremely user friendly on these points.  I have had NOT ONE call about how to use Info Exchange from outside our office.  We did have some complaints of download times over our DSL line - we’ve since upgraded to T3 - but the ease of use by all the team members exchanging various transfers has been quite seamless.  Plus, you get excellent tracking.  It is so useful, I recommend setting up a general office project so you can send out miscellaneous transfers which are not project related!
Mark

We are newer Newforma users. I’ve got about 5 active projects using it for just CA and we’re considering it for a few more.

We have been trying to use the web-based side of InfoExchange as a clearing house (ala open FTP, Buzzsaw, etc.) to allow our consultants to exchange files. The big problem so far is in trying to make this work, is allowing consultants to freely upload files to each other without someone on our staff approving them.

Greg

Have you explored Info Exchange Folders?

They allow you to have a central shared location for file exchanges. New in Newforma 7 is an option for uploaded files to be sent to all associated team members immediately.

This is meant to streamline the process, bypassing the need for the files to be received and then sent out.

So, external consultants could send files to other consultants directly.

See image.

Sam

Following up - we’re seriously considering a service called ShareFile (http://www.sharefile.com) to facilitate our unique project team (Master Plan focused - not Contract administration.)

The feedback we got back from our team trying to the use the Info Exchange folders was:

1. Too many clicks to get to files.
2. The InfoExchange web Interface not intuitive enough.
3. When the “where do I find that file” question comes up, many of our team members aren’t technical enough to be able to relocate it in InfoExchange without being helped through it every single time.

I’m still not sure the benefits of the InfoExchange folders. I for one find them difficult and unintuitive to use. Perhaps they will be refined in future versions to be a little more transparent and have a better graphical interface?