Bridging The Technology Gap

Many contractors and subcontractors have found online plan rooms provide an easier way to share information, saving time and printing expenses. More recently, the process can be further expedited by integrating online plan rooms with backoffice software.

As just one example, American Reprographics Co., www.e-arc.com, Walnut Creek, Calif., released a new product—PlanWell DataBridge—to facilitate the exchange of information between its PlanWell Enterprise plan rooms and Prolog software from Meridian Systems, www.meridiansystems.com, Folsom, Calif.

PlanWell Enterprise is an online plan room, giving construction companies the ability to manage construction documents on the Web. Contractors can manage and track plans, order prints, arrange for deliver, and compile a historical record of plans and specs

project information and sync bid packages and contracts. Additionally, Prolog users can maintain the current document set and contacts and easily start projects by using the information from PlanWell Enterprise.

American Reprographics is a Meridian Independent Software Vendor. When developing the PlanWell DataBridge, American Reprographics used Prolog Connect—Meridian’s Web services platform that allows integrations with other software over the Internet.

This is not the first wave of integration between plan rooms and software. In 2007, Bluebeam Software Inc., www.bluebeam.com, Pasadena, Calif., and The Blue Book of Building and Construction, www.thebluebook.com, Jefferson Valley, N.Y., announced the integration of Bluebeam’s software and The Blue Book’s online plan room, offering similar efficiency benefits for construction companies