Can Newforma be accessed from a mobile device?  What are the development plans to allow the increasingly mobile workforce to use this tool while on the go, at meetings and not in the office?

Also, I am told that the next version of Newforma is going towards MS Silverlight (more or less flash) which may present real problems for mobile users.

Are there work arounds that people use effectively?  Something like goto my PC or VPN?

Although I am skeptical of doing heavy lifting on my mobile phone, some of the find and send functions, or associating correspondence with tasks/rfi’s etc… would be phenomenal.

THOUGHTS?

Newforma currently supports filing project email from mobile devices.  In addition, each of our customers have a Newforma InfoExchange server which publishes selected project information that can be accessed by authorized mobile users with ‘good’ browsers (e.g. iPhones, Droids, etc).  We don’t yet have a mobile-optimized version of Newforma InfoExchange, but we are planning for that in a future release.

Remote access to the Newforma client is available today.  VPN, Citrix and Windows Remote Desktop seem to be the most common remote access technologies being used by our customers.

I found a back door trick for filing emails from an Iphone. Apple lets you move messages from your inbox into specific folders listed under “Newforma - Items to File”.  I do not think it works from a Droid though.

>  I do not think it works from a Droid though.

A similar process is available on the Droid too.  And we consider that a feature, not a back door trick

I am just curious what others perceive as needed function remotely?

Do people see a demand for searching?  File Transfer? Etc?

I am wondering what people are commonly using VPN or other portals for.

And if this is in the works, How long until it will be released?

Improved mobile access to project information (including project email and the use of search) is a leading customer request. We are planning improvements so that mobile access to project data on Newforma InfoExchange is as easy as the existing browser access, which is optimized for larger screens.  We have a history of providing a major product release at least annually, and I expect to see significant mobile enhancements in our next major release.  I’m curious to hear what you and others reading this thread view as the most critical mobile access use cases to address!

Your other question is about the use of remote access technologies. Our customers use remote connections when they want to run Newforma Project Center (or other Windows programs) directly, rather than accessing only the subset of project data available on the InfoExchange website. 

There are a variety of scenarios where Newforma users may want remote access.  These include:
(1)  An employee working from their home office
(2)  Users in a small regional or satellite office without their own Newforma Project Center server that are collaborating on a project hosted in another office
(3)  Access from a construction site trailer

We have needs of both type 1 and 3.  While most of our users have adapted to filing their e-mails in Newforma and purging them from their Outlook mailboxes, it has been sometimes awkward when they need to retrieve a filed e-mail and they’re not in the office.  VPN is an option (especially in the type 1 scenario), but “type 3” users usually only have their iphone or droid available and so I now have a few users who maintain project e-mails in Outlook mailboxes for that purpose.  I’ve greatly reduced the Exchange message store, but now I see pressure to expand it again!!

I’ve heard this concern from other customers too.  In Seventh Edition you can make project email available on the InfoExchange website.  This might help reduce the pressure on your MS Exchange message store.  As discussed below, the InfoExchange website isn’t yet optimized for a mobile browser.  However the browsers on iPhones and Droids may be good enough for occasional access.

This is a great post with great information. 

But with devices moving towards ipads and tablets is there an effort to create a Newforma app to allow for distilled if not similar functionality as the client?

I can see this being a big help when out of the office in a meeting or at a jobsite walk.

Mr. Plunkett said; “Newforma currently supports filing project email from mobile devices”.

Can you provide documentation as to how to do that?

Checkout our help page titled “File Project Email From a Smart Phone” at
Seventh Edition Online Help

I tried to put the link to the help topic in here directly, but I couldn’t figure out how to make that link work.  So, you’ll need to search for the page title once you get to our main help page.

Dave

I`m new on your site. But it`s very useful! Thanks.

I see a lot of potential benefits to creating a robust mobile platform that allows mobile users to access project information just as quickly and easily as they could if they were in the office. There really is no good reason to differentiate the needs of the mobile user from the user that is in the office. Whether I’m at a meeting with a client or consultant or on the job-site, there is always a need to access documents such as meeting minutes or field reports specification information or cost estimates. It would be just as handy to be able to create a transfer or create field reports remotely. There are plenty of smart-phone applications currently on the market that allow you to create documents on a mobile device and then remotely sync them back to a server.

Great information! I’ve been looking for something like this for a while now. Thanks!

Check out http://tinyurl.com/4nfv35n to see one of the new products we will be offering shortly to continue our efforts in the mobile area.

Although access to information regardless of location is logical, one cannot ignore the display size of the various devices. The link above shows what we have done to optimize the viewing experience of our Info Exchange website for the smartphone in our upcoming release.

To learn more about our future direction on the mobile platform I encourage all our customers to come to our User Conference in April. We will be unveiling our future direction and products in our Road Ahead session. Visit http://www.nugget2011.com for more information.

Thank you,
Dan Conery
Director, Customer Satisfaction