Trimble Announces Software Data Integration Capabilities for Comprehensive Construction Project Planning, Estimating and Management

SUNNYVALE, Calif., July 31, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) announced today data integration capabilities between a variety of its planning, estimating and management software applications. The new capabilities are designed to boost the ease, accuracy and transparency of conceptual or detailed time- and cost-modeling estimates for general contractors and capital construction project owners. At their core, the five new software versions within Trimble's extensive Trimble Buildings' Design-Build-Operate (DBO) portfolio provide a synchronized way to plan, track, and capture cost and work parameters before, during and after construction projects. 

Now available, the new software versions include:

• WinEst 15.0 -- database-driven software that uses a highly flexible spreadsheet for creating, adjusting and presenting cost estimates.
• Modelogix 3.2 – software for collecting and analyzing past-project data and generating comprehensive cost models for future projects.
• Prolog 9.6.1 – project-management and cost-control software for general contractors (GCs) and construction managers, streamlining project workflows and providing access to information from anywhere.
• Proliance 5.5 Office Application Pack – Microsoft Office extensions for Proliance software, combining capital planning and program and project management capabilities. 
• Vico Office 4.2 – virtual construction software, augmenting 3D models with constructability analysis and coordination, location-based quantity takeoff, 4D (time) scheduling and production control, and 5D (cost) estimating.

"With cost and productivity pressures facing the construction industry today, the ability to generate accurate estimates is vital—as is the need to integrate 3D models to time and cost," said Mark Sawyer, general manager of Trimble Buildings' General Contractor Division. "The updates to a variety of the core solutions in our DBO portfolio can help keep projects on track, on schedule, and within budget." 

Integrated Planning and Budget Cycle Fosters More Accurate Project Estimates

At the earliest planning stage, when an owner proposes a new project and asks for a feasibility budget, the GC can use Modelogix to create a new project, and then push the cost model from Modelogix to WinEst to create a detailed estimate. Once the GC has been awarded the project, the WinEst estimate can be moved to Prolog as the official project budget for tracking and reconciliation of costs throughout the project lifecycle. At the project's close, the reconciled budget can be sent back to Modelogix so that completed project data can be used to generate accurate parameter-driven cost models for future projects of similar scope. This "integrated cycle" can repeat with increasing accuracy over time and across projects as more types of estimates and budgets are created. 

For building owners, the new Office Application Pack in Proliance software delivers similar benefits. Integration enables owners to develop detailed budget estimates directly from WinEst or conceptual budget estimates from Modelogix.  Proliance also provides a new contingency-analysis tool, which uses statistical methods for recommending contingency amounts, based on the project risk profile represented in the Modelogix cost model. This structure provides a powerful way for project and building owners to build a library of detailed and conceptual estimates across a broad project portfolio. 

Integrated 3D, 4D, and 5D for Construction

For GCs and construction management firms working on building information modeling (BIM) projects, new integration between Vico Office 4.2 and Tekla Structures BIM software also improves project accuracy, with Vico Office 4.2 able to address the unique requirements of models generated in Tekla Structures.

With an increasing number of GCs using their own labor force to work with concrete or steel, the new Tekla model activation options in Vico Office 4.2 offer precisely tuned, location-based quantity takeoffs to improve the accuracy of scheduling and estimating created from today's increasingly large and complex models. Tekla Structures users can also take advantage of Tekla's Model Organizer to label model content so it is seamlessly registered as an element type (e.g., walls, slabs, beam profiles, rectangular columns, stairs, etc.) within Vico Office. These element types have specific quantity-calculation parameters, which help drive more precise quantity takeoffs.

"Tekla Structures provides enormous benefits as a modeling platform for GCs and Engineers. Our goal with the new publisher in Vico Office is to harness modeling specificity for construction-caliber quantity takeoffs, which in turn power estimates and schedules," said Jon Fingland, business unit director of Trimble Buildings' General Contractor Division. "This improved workflow from Trimble Buildings is yet one more way we are delivering critical project data when and where our customers need it."

The new versions of WinEst, Modelogix, Prolog, Proliance and Vico Office are available now. Additional information on WinEst, Modelogix, Prolog, Proliance are available at www.meridiansystems.com. Information on Vico Office can be found at www.vicosoftware.com. 

About Trimble Buildings Group

Trimble Buildings, a part of Trimble's Engineering and Construction segment, is a world leader in technology for construction project optimization across the design-build-operate (DBO) lifecycle. With solutions that span the brands of Meridian Systems, Plancal, SketchUp, Tekla, Trade Services, Vico Software and WinEst, Trimble helps the construction industry improve productivity, increase efficiencies and maximize the profitability of projects, from simulation to renovation. Used in over 140 countries around the world and supported by a global dealer and distribution partner network, Trimble technology is a mainstay of the building industry.  

Information on Trimble Buildings' DBO portfolio is available at http://buildings.trimble.com.

About Trimble

Trimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in businesses and government significantly more productive. Solutions are focused on applications requiring positioning or location, including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public safety and mapping. In addition to utilizing positioning technologies such as GPS, lasers and optics, Trimble solutions may include software content specific to the needs of the user. Wireless technologies are utilized to deliver the solution to the user in the field and to ensure communication between the field and the office. Founded in 1978, Trimble is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif. 

For more information, visit www.trimble.com.

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SOURCE Trimble