Adapting QC to Keep Pace

with Industry Initiatives

December 2015
Allen Preger
Co-Founder,VP of Global Strategy
Newforma

Quality Control Programs

Goals, QC Best Practices and Typical Challenges

Goals

Common QC Procedures
(Best Practices)

Typical QC Program Challenges

Guarantee engineering
excellence

Independent, peer review of all

design and engineering work

Not adopted across the business

(Too much work)

Reduce the chance of

mistakes

Formal tracking of Submittal,

Inspection, Punch List and other
construction related work

No way to pro-actively monitor

QC compliance of active projects

Avoid causing
construction delays

Not adaptable to faster pace of

todays projects (BIM, Cloud,
Mobile, IPD, Lean, etc.)

Document lessons learned and

adapt QC procedures for
continual improvement

Retain clear, transparent audit

trails of
QC procedures for all projects

Scalable across the

business
Adaptable to lessons
learned

QC Under Water

How we got there

BIM / IPD / Lean
Input from ALL design and construction stakeholders
Construct virtually before breaking ground

(Much) more collaboration in, around and outside the model(s)

Rapid iterations to Optimize design, construction and operating
Eliminate Waste, Streamline Construction, Reduce Operating Costs

BIM by Government Mandate

Lower Costs

33%
Reduction in cost of construction and
whole life operating cost of built
assets

Lower Emissions

50%
Reduction in greenhouse gas
emissions from the built environment

Faster Delivery

Improved Exports

50%

50%

Time from inception to

completion of new-build and
refurbished assets

Reduction in trade gap between export and

import of construction products and
materials

What no one likes to talk about

An Explosion of Data and Correspondence

Evidence

>100,000
emails

2015

Largest project:
2005

100
GB

20 Fenchurch Street, London, England

6.5
TB

The Symptoms
Im drowning in
information; but dying of
thirst (for knowledge)

BIM, Cloud and Mobile have been

great, but the fragmentation of
project data these days has increased
our exposure to RISK.

The speed of digital information

creation and sharing is burying our QMS
(Quality Management System)

QC Under Water

I need Google for my Project!

Email
And not just mine!

Work in Progress
Drawings, Models, PDF, DOC, XLS, etc.

The Current, Issued Version

CDs, Specs, Meeting Minutes, RFIs, Submittals,
Change Orders, Field Reports, Punch Lists,
etc.

Access and Act on it from anywhere

the Office
my Phone
my iPad
the Web

Navigate the Information Silos

Balance Performance, With Quality

Performance
More Iterations Faster
Realtime Collaboration
Virtual Construction

BIM
Mobile
Cloud
IPD
Lean
Drones
Wearables
etc.

Quality

Reputation

QC Procedures (ISO9001)
Document Control
Contract Administration

CASE STUDIES:
QUALITY CONTROL @ VELOCITY

Deal with Information

Overload
Digital project information has exploded beyond the
capabilities of ordinary mortals to manage it.

Why It Matters

Causes

Solution

Information growing faster than

ability to manage
Information management taking
20%+ of engineers time
Less time for engineering or
checking quality of work
Risk of working from or
sharing incorrect version
information
Better discovery can prevent
or diffuse claims

More stakeholders collaborating earlier in the

process (a characteristic of BIM)
Moores Law project size doubling every 18
months
Information fragmentation increasing:
Email inboxes and PST files
Network project folders
Mobile devices
Cloud storage (Box, Dropbox)
EDMS (ProjectWise, SharePoint)
RFIs, submittals, punch lists in Excel
Manual QC procedures/3-ring binders

Google for my Project

Project Email solution
Integrated mobile apps
Cloud storage integration
Search/support legacy project
data (CAD, spreadsheets...)
View, mark up, compare all
common graphic files (DWG,
DGN, TIF, PDF, etc.)

Managing Information
Overload
The amount of information exchanged
has skyrocketed.Weve realized the huge
advantage of finding info quickly and
replying with confidence.

Goals
Handle the exponential growth in BIM,
email, and other project data.
Respond more quickly in order provide
better, more responsive client service
Build on knowledge of past projects.

Results
Confidence in quality of information has
risen.
Communication and responsiveness among
the projects design team members has
improved.
Now able to mine historic project
knowledge, even projects completed prior
to Newforma
More responsive service has raised client
satisfaction.
20 Fenchurch Street; London, England

Managing Information
Overload
We can find answers to questions
quickly even emails or drawings
generated by others and often
while the client is still on the
phone.

Challenges
Clients and team members expect prompt answers to
questions.
People used to spend up to 20% of their time just
looking for information

Solution
Newforma Project Center software for project
information management

Results
Our team can search any projects emails, specs or
drawings
Like Google, the system returns all files containing the
matching term within
Even emails or information the searcher was not a
party to
Project managers and engineers can now locate
answers to questions while still on the phone.
New Balance C3 Building, Boston, MA

Quality Control
Design documents need to be peer-reviewed by
qualified engineers before they go out the door.

Why It Matters

Causes

Solution

QC review by qualified peers

will prevent problems by
ensuring work is done
correctly.

BIM generates larger amounts of

information to be checked.

Action Items to plan, execute and

document review of project deliverables:
Notifications ensure engineers have
adequate time for quality review.
Reminders substantially reduce risk of
delay.
Electronic markup eliminates printing,
scanning and paper pushing.
Compare focuses effort by automatically
flagging changes from previous revision.
An irrefutable audit trail, so critical to
demonstrating ISO 9001 compliance, is a
by-product of the process.

Schedule compression leaves

less time for these vital
quality checking procedures.
Errors & omissions lead to
claims & litigation.
The companys reputation
stands at risk.

Realizing BIMs potential requires

rapid iterations/prototyping to
optimize design, reduce cost, etc.
Quality at risk when volume of
project information overwhelms
existing quality check procedures.
Existing, legacy QC procedures still
largely based on paper forms and
check lists.

Adapting Critical Quality

Control Procedures
Newforma has allowed us to adapt our
ISO 9001 procedures to meet the
requirements and pace of collaborative
BIM projects.

Challenges
ISO 9001 procedures require review and verification of
work quality by qualified engineers not directly involved
in the work.
Existing paper-based procedures were overrun, often bypassed, due to size, increased revisions on BIM projects.

Results
QC action items, created in Newforma as part of
standard project setup, replaced QC binders, forms and
check lists.
Fully electronic procedures include group markup
features to streamline review cycles.
Notifications remind team members of approaching QC
reviews and deadlines.
QC information logged to streamline future audits.

One World Trade Center, New York City

Adapting Critical Quality

Control Procedures
Newforma provides simple and efficient
tools to assign and document projectspecific quality control plans and
reviews.

Challenges
Schedule compression and the growth of digital project
information diverted time and focus from established
QC procedures.
With engineers in 25 offices, existing manual
procedures could not scale.

Results

Rosebud Sioux Rural Water System, Rosebud, SD

Juneau International Airport, Juneau, AK

Project Managers plan and adapt project quality plans

using pre-defined templates
Links to Supporting Documents, QC Forms and
Checklists simplify the process, enable adoption
Email reminders ensure engineers have adequate time
to complete QC reviews
The fully electronic procedures have scaled much easier
than their legacy counterparts

Adapting Document Control to

keep pace with BIM
Goals
Weve slashed hours, and in some cases
days, from the time it takes to publish, QA
and issue large drawing set revisions from
Revit.

Improve legacy, spreadsheet-based QA process to keep

pace with volume, speed and iterations of BIM projects.
Simplify process of finding the most current version of a
particular sheet.
Enable mobile access to currently issued drawing set.

Results
Drawing revision management process is simple and
automated.
Process does not impose changes to the Revit process.
It takes less than a minute to go from publishing an updated
drawing set in Revit and having it available to the team.
Updating hundreds of sheets across multiple models takes
mere minutes, eliminating days of delay and effort.

Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, Madison

Sharing And Coordinating

WIP Information
Delays in sharing work-in-progress result in team
members working from different versions of info.

Why It Matters

Causes

Solution

Project quality relies on

everyone working from the
same, current, coordinated
information.

WIP datasets are growing exponentially

with BIM.

Shared Folders:
Schedule the publishing of complete
WIP datasets to extended team
members.
Automatically sends notifications with
1-click download.
Sends reminders when recipients dont
download.
External partners can drag & drop
their updates to shared folder using a
browser.
External partner updates can be
automatically synthesized into your
Shared Folder.

The frequency of iteration

and manual upload and
download procedures
result in delayed
assimilation of revised info.
Scheduling pressures result
in team members working
from different versions of
documents.

Each design iteration requires team

members to upload their updates, then
download and synthesize updates from
others into their production
environment.
Design iterations are more frequent now
with BIM and lean methods of project
delivery.
Scheduling pressures and admin delays
can result in team members working
from different versions of documents.

Sharing And Coordinating

WIP Information
Collaboration with our external
partners is now completely hassle-free.

Goals
Streamline the distribution and collection of large
amounts of information with external clients and
partners.
Gather, synthesize and publish project information
from multiple external parties with greater
efficiency.

Juneau International Airport, Juneau, AK

Diversion Dam and Pump Station, Butte-Silver Bow, Montana

Results
Coordination of distributed engineering
information with external parties is now drag-anddrop simple.
Notifications, reminders and activity logs provide
transparency and accountability.
Transmittal logs linked to record copies mitigate
the risk of future disputes or claims.

Integrated Collaboration With

Design Team Partners
Supporting integrated project delivery (IPD)

Why It Matters

Causes

Solution

Owners demand open,

transparent collaboration
that:

AECO process are traditionally

fragmented by discipline.

N2N enables two or more project partners to

seamlessly exchange information between their
systems:
RFIs and submittals
Shared Folders (models, specs, drawings, etc.)
File Transmittals
Results:
No upload/download to 3rd party Cloud site.
Eliminates delays and mistakes in transmission of
information
Data is transferred DIRECT, company to company
Promotes shared transparency, accountability and
TRUST.
Easy, plug n play setup makes engineer easier to
do business with.

integrates people, systems,

business structures and
practices
to optimize project results,
increase value to the owner,
reduce waste and mazimize
efficiency.

Collaboration between
disciplines is traditionally linear
and administratively
burdensome.
Processes are subject to
contractual arrangements
designed to protect each
stakeholders exposure to
liability.

Direct connections to other Newforma shops

strengthens collaboration, which is vital given the
pace of design iteration on BIM projects.

Challenges
Sharing models and related design files was
extremely time-consuming
Time wasted working with outdated info

Solution
N2N: Newforma-to-Newforma direct
connections

Results
No time wasted uploading or downloading files
and large models
Everyone is always working from the most
current information.
Audit trails that link to record copy files
provide transparency and accountability

New Balance C3 Building, Boston, MA

Direct, Newforma-to-Newforma connections cut

about 30% from the time it takes to receive, log
and respond to RFIs and submittals.

Challenges
RFI and Submittal processing wasted too
much time
Data re-entry at each end of a transfer
caused errors and conflicting logs

Solution
N2N: Direct Newforma-to-Newforma
connections

Results

Assembly Row Block 6, Somerville, Mass.

RFIs and Submittals flow automatically and

accurately between companys logs
Overall processing time has been cut about
30%
Consistent logs promote transparency,
eliminate chances for conflict

Construction Delays
Delays in processing submittals and requests
for information threaten construction
schedules.

Why It Matters

Causes

Solution

Litigation: Contractors and

clients will come after
engineers for compensation

Pressure to expedite submittal and

RFI review and response
10 days historically, but now 5, 2,
often same day requests
Technically complex projects
generate more submittals.
Still require uncompromising
quality control.
Paper-based markup review
procedures still persist.

Contract administration automation:

Eliminates manual logging and routing of
RFI and submittal workflow.
Electronic markup eliminates printing,
scanning and paper pushing.
Notifications ensure engineers have
adequate time for quality review.
Reminders substantially reduce risk of
delay.
Searchable, transparent audit trail quickly
resolves disputes and avoids claims.

Reputation:Your brand suffers

Repeat Business and Partner
referrals

Eliminating Construction
Delays
One of the major risks associated with a
construction project is delay of project
completion. Newforma shortens response
times and creates a concise record that is hard
to dispute, thereby mitigating risk.
Patrick McAleese, PE
Senior Vice President, Building Systems
WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff

Challenge
Clients now expect same day RFI responses and
submittals within a week
Mitigate risk of a late response that pins the cost of a
project delay on the Engineer

Solution
Newforma software for Construction Administration

Results
Electronic distribution and review of RFIs and
submittals compresses response times
Able to meet increasingly more stringent turnaround
requirements.
Concise, searchable record of every RFI and
submittal quickly resolves claims

Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York

Punch List / Closeout

Delays
Delays in compiling and sharing punch list and
inspection reports with construction team

Why It Matters

Causes

Solution

It can take 2-5 days for

engineers to share punch list
and other field reports with
construction team.
Manual steps can introduce
errors
Claims: If delays or result, the
contractor or client will come
after the engineer for
compensation.
Reputation:The companys
brand suffers.

Field capture done with notebooks,

cameras and annotated drawing
sets
Punch list and inspection reports
could not be completed until
engineers returned to the office
Technically complex projects
require uncompromising quality
control.

Mobile apps automatically sync latest

drawings, specs and project contacts
Engineers use apps to capture and assign
punch items while on site
Punch list reports can be finalized and
distributed to construction team as soon as
engineer completes site visit.
Construction team and other partners can
use free apps or web interface to access
drawings or punch lists and notify engineers
when they have completed their work.
Searchable, transparent audit trail quickly
resolves disputes and avoids claims.

We now spend less time producing field reports

that are more accurate. This mitigates the risk of
mistakes and delays during construction.

Challenges
Punch Lists could not be finalized and
distributed until engineers returned to the
office
Delays in communication to contractors
was impacting the schedule

Solution
Newforma Mobile Apps to capture, finalize
and distribute punch lists and other reports

Results
Now using iPads and phones to capture,
finalize and distribute punch lists
Integration of the app with software used at
the desk eliminates data entry
Construction team notified as soon as
engineer completes site visit
New Balance C3 Building Under Construction, Boston, MA

Avoiding Closeout Delays

Integrated apps save time and
improve the quality of information.

Goals
Enable engineers to capture and process electronic
information onsite.
Create more efficient communication of field issues
with contractors.
Integrate apps in the field with project records back
at the office.

Results
Communication with construction team is more
efficient.
More responsive service reduces the possibility of
construction delays and increases client satisfaction.
Less time is spent capturing and processing field
reports, finding project email, or contacting team
members.

Avoiding Closeout Delays

Goals
We can now automatically generate a
hyperlinked project handover package and
transmit it electronically to the client it to
the client.

Eliminate administration, delays and omissions in

client handover of project information.
Improve professionalism and organization of
handover materials to enhance client satisfaction,
ensure repeat business.

Results
Project handover package used to take weeks to
assemble, now assembled in minutes.
Bookmarked, organized project handover is easier
for engineers to review, QA and edit
Less onerous process ensures the handovers are
completed in a timely manner
A more professional and useful project handover
package means clients are more likely to hire the
engineer on future projects
Water Treatment Plant, Falls Creek, OK

Balance Performance, With Quality

Performance
More Iterations Faster
Realtime Collaboration
Virtual Construction

Quality

Reputation

QC Procedures (ISO9001)
Document Control
CA / Field Inspections

Summary: Keys to Adapting QC Procedures to Industry

Initiatives
Manage the input explosion

Correspondence (i.e. email)

Model and drawing revisions
Field capture and reporting
RFIs, Submittals, Change Orders, etc.

Cover the Information Silos

Project Folders on the Network

Email Inboxes
The Cloud
Mobile Devices

Modernize your legacy QC Procedures

THANK YOU