AFR Are your teams led by principals who are making decisions how to use these computer tools to get the job done?

Dom There is an enormous trust from our Principals that the Project Architect and designers can make the 'appropriate' decisions on 'how best use the computer' or the latest software.

AFR How are other members from other teams learning these tools?

David The IT department provides training seminars every summer, focusing mostly on graphic design and productivity applications. We offer training seminars every time we get new software in so that the staff can see new features or learn a new program. Other than that we have a standard protocol of training during orientation for new employees. The new employees learn VectorWorks, the MacOS system, and any other technical skills they need to do their job.

AFR Do you have an Intranet here to distribute learning and other things?

David Yes we do. Right now it's in the initial stages. It's more for dispensing information that employees need, such as notices, announcements, etc.. We don't have a forum or any type of user interactivity yet but I've been looking into that. We used to have a quarterly paper newsletter and that has now become the Intranet news area.

AFR What programs do you use for the calendar on the Intranet?

David The calendar really isn't dynamic so it's unable to be updated by everyone. It's more of a static page. I use Adobe GoLive for a lot of the Web page design elements and I'm beginning to use FileMaker Pro as the database to tie into the Web components.

AFR And what about making that calendar dynamic?

Continued at below left.

AFR Let's talk about laptops in the architectural process. I see a lot of iBooks floating around here.

Jim I use the iBooks constantly. The nature of architecture means there is a lot of overtime. I go home at a reasonable hour, have dinner, a life...then open up an iBook to do a few hours of work. This makes it feel like you aren't living here as much. I used to only use a laptop for paper work. Now I use it for design tasks in VectorWorks.

Dom I use it to catch-up on project management and scheduling tasks and the various daily typing of meeting minutes. I also spend time developing and helping out with graphic layouts as well as helping with the production work.

AFR What types of laptops does this office use?

David We use iBooks and G3 PowerBooks. We have four (4) loaner iBooks; about 15 people use laptops on a daily basis. These people do construction administration work mostly

AFR Does your construction administration staff do work in the field on iBooks?

David Absolutely.

AFR What type of programs are these people using in the field?

Jim FileMaker Pro and some Microsoft Office.

AFR When you get people coming from the PC side—having experience with Autocad and the Windows world—how do they adjust to this big Mac-based firm?

David It comes down to training. During the training I try and relate the two programs, Windows to the Mac OS. If someone is computer literate and they know all the concepts behind CAD and operating systems...then they can pick it up pretty quickly. The Mac is very easy to learn.

Jim I have found that people pick up VectorWorks a lot faster than they used to. I don't know if there are a lot more similarities [between VectorWorks and Autocad] or what, but people who start on my team pick up VectorWorks within a few days.

Dom It really depends on the individual. We have had some designers that had years of experience with Autocad and pick up VectorWorks very fast, and have had a few that philosophically resisted because it is a new tool that they feel is not going to give them the same results.

David It seems to be more of a question of attitude now when before it was about technical difficulties or platform incompatibilities.

David I've started using Lasso with FileMaker Pro to set up a more dynamic calendar system that would eventually allow people to update their specific areas. However just recently, I've considered going with an entirely different system for the Intranet.

AFR Are you using FileMaker Pro with office contacts, construction administration and sharing information?

David We use FileMaker Pro for timesheets, all our standard forms, and CA [construction administration]. Most are just simple forms that don't relate to any other forms. I'm currently on a team to redesign how the FileMaker forms work in construction administration and the rest of the firm. With about twenty forms just for construction administration alone, a lot of information has to be entered in multiple times. It's a three phase project that is focusing on making a five-year-old system more efficient. We're using FileMaker Pro because it's able to handle the requirements we have.

AFR It's a very big challenge most firms have and I think FileMaker is a key solution.

Continued top right column - >

AFR Autocad has finally caught up with VectorWorks on some levels. Are you finding that these people from Autocad are picking up the Mac OS operating system as easily too?

David I think there are a lot of similarities between Macs and Windows now in terms of how files are stored, and the user interface, so when it comes to networking and common tasks they are similar. We make it easy for people to log onto the network so they don't have to go deep into the OS.

AFR Do you keep your files centrally stored or are they stored on individual machines?

David All files are stored on a central file server. Everyone has a documents folder on their local desktop to store work files, but most people open files directly from the server these days.

AFR Are you using a Mac server?

David Yes. We have a 566 MHz G4 server running AppleShare IP.

AFR With over 100 employees are you getting good performance with just one G4 server?

David Yes. AppleShare IP is relatively powerful and a stable file sharing system. The speed of the server, storage and network enables us to handle many active users at once.

AFR Do you back up your server every night?