job & product tracking database

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Author Message Robert E. Woodburn Senior Member Username: bob_woodburn Post Number: 17 Registered: 11-2010 Posted on Friday, November 30, 2012 - 06:03 pm:    Does anyone know of a readily-available database system for tracking products specified and used on all the jobs in an office? I'd like to know if there is a concise way to list and track office standard or "Basis of Design" products, and other products used, so I can easily search for what was specified and/or used on various past jobs. If no such system is available, I may look into using MS Access to set one up, but I'd have to learn at least the basics of Access; I have the 2003 version on my computer. Karen L. Zaterman, CCS, LEED-AP, SCIP Senior Member Username: kittiz Post Number: 103 Registered: 10-2005 Posted on Sunday, December 02, 2012 - 05:40 am:    If you were using BSD SpecLink you could tag the paragraphs with the data, but I don't know whether the report you later generate returns the text in the paragraph or just identifies what sequence (line number/location) that is tagged. Then the data could be imported into another program, say Access or even Excel. Sorry I am no longer at M&N so I have no way of testing the idea out. Karen L. Zaterman, CSI, CCS, SCIP-Affil, LEED AP BD+C Robert E. Woodburn Senior Member Username: bob_woodburn Post Number: 21 Registered: 11-2010 Posted on Wednesday, January 02, 2013 - 01:35 pm:    I just noticed the mention by Chris Grimm & Colin of Newforma project information management (PIM) software in another 4specs.com thread (http://www.newforma.com/). Is anyone familiar enough with it to comment on whether it would be useful in preparing specifications, and/or in comparing the sections used, and the products specified/used, among various projects? John Bunzick, CCS, CCCA, LEED AP Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 1472 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Wednesday, January 02, 2013 - 02:49 pm:    I had wanted to try to do this my whole career. I wanted to track what was specified as well as what was submitted. I never found any software to do it, and felt part of the problem was going to be maintaining it. I ended up deciding that the one thing I could do was put some information into our office master about what was specified on important projects. This was less than ideal because others in the office never thought to look there, and for some sections I felt that a degree of explanation was crucial to knowing what was used and why and the spec did not seem the place for that. Since I wasn't normally involved in submittals, tracking that would require even greater effort. A submittal tracking system was later instituted in my office, but particular information about manufacturer and model was not always collected, or accurate. Anne Whitacre, FCSI CCS Senior Member Username: awhitacre Post Number: 1290 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Wednesday, January 02, 2013 - 02:58 pm:    I agree with John. I can easily (well, with some effort, actually) find out what was specified for a project, but becuase we don't ever get conformed specs at the end of the job, its anyone's guess what was actually installed. I can count a few times when the project manager said "specify what we did on XXX job"... and when I get to XXX job it says "match Architect's sample". (now that was a useful exercise, wasn't it? and somehow the lack of information becomes my fault) What I don't understand is why the project teams don't understand that closing the loop on products is important for our subsequent projects. Lynn Javoroski FCSI CCS LEEDŽ AP SCIP Affiliate Senior Member Username: lynn_javoroski Post Number: 1595 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Wednesday, January 02, 2013 - 03:04 pm:    We are beginning to compile a reference database for specific clients within our project database. (we use this to convey information between our offices; the designers input product, manufacturer, color, model, attach pdfs and pictures, add notes, etc., mark it ready for review and the spec writer gets an email notification) It's useful and we are trying to expand its usefulness to maintaining standards and eventually to help set up families for BIM. But we created it in-house. And I don't know enough about how to explain it to anyone. Robert E. Woodburn Senior Member Username: bob_woodburn Post Number: 22 Registered: 11-2010 Posted on Wednesday, January 02, 2013 - 04:31 pm:    Thanks to everyone for your input; there seems to be some interest in this (some, like mine, going back years...). Lynn, do you know what software your firm is using for your database? After my initial post, Colin Gilboy suggested using FileMaker Pro 12 to build this from scratch (instead of MS Access, which was already on my computer, but apparently much harder to learn and use). I'm still considering that, but fear I could spend a lot of time duplicating something that's already part of software available now in the market. And I'm still exploring what I could do with it, such as tracking hours per section and per project, issuances per job, etc. Lynn Javoroski FCSI CCS LEEDŽ AP SCIP Affiliate Senior Member Username: lynn_javoroski Post Number: 1597 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Wednesday, January 02, 2013 - 04:41 pm:    Well, it's web-based (accessed through our intranet page). And it was developed by our Application Developer. But that doesn't really answer your question, does it? I just tried calling the 2 people here who could give me a quick answer and they are not available currently. I'll try to find out.