Joining the Trimble Family
It has been just over a week following the Trimble announcement, and Jon and I want to thank all of you for your kind emails, texts and phone calls!
We started this business 23 years ago with the vision of changing the construction industry to improve capital project execution making construction faster, less expensive and more reliable. We were determined to help organizations like yours improve project outcomes.
The Trimble acquisition helps us realize this vision. Trimble has deep roots in the construction industry and shares a similar vision. e-Builder + Trimble will connect owners and contractors helping to accelerate construction project management adoption in the industry.
Your continued success means everything to us. We built our business around the success of your capital programs and that mission will not change. In addition, the teams you work with today will be the teams you will be working with moving forward; and that includes me, Jon and the entire executive team.
Now, we have some other exciting news; welcome to the new “Edge Newsletter!” In an effort to maximize our communications to you, Edge and the monthly release notes are now one. In addition, Edge will now include product updates and messages from our development team, the tip of the month, webinar/event invitations and much more!
We hope you enjoy it!
All the best,
Ron Antevy
CEO & President, e-Builder
Tip of the Month
Updating Project Fields Across Multiple Projects
By: Robin Elliott, Customer Success Manager
Did you know you can make updates such as changing the status or target date for multiple projects at once? e-Builder allows you to update project fields and custom fields across up 50 projects at once with just a few clicks.
Applying Bulk Edit
- Access Bulk Edit from Administration Tools > Projects > Manage Projects, or by clicking the Projects tab to access the Projects page, or My Settings > Membership > Projects.
- Select the Projects to be updated by clicking the checkbox next to the project and click the Bulk Edit button. Note you may select up to 50 projects at a time.
- Select the Fields to be updated utilizing the Available fields filter or typing the name of the field in the input box.
- Update the value of each field individually if the values are different or click Apply to All if the same field value applies across projects.
- Click Save. A confirmation message will appear when updates are successful or a warning if one of the entries is invalid.
February Maintenance Notes
The February Maintenance Release went into effect yesterday, February 15, 2018. CLICK HERE to view a copy of the release notes.
These release notes include issues that have been resolved. Please contact e-Builder Client Support at (888) 288-5717 with any questions.
Tech Talk
The Making of e-Builder Mobile
In December we launched the new e-Builder Mobile Application for iPhones and iPads. With a completely new User Experience (UI) we also leveraged Swift; Apple's new programming language. An application like e-Builder, with very detailed business data and workflows, benefits from the powerful features of Swift.
For this project we also followed best practices and processes used by top technology companies. These include: Behavior Driven 
Development, Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment pipelines, automated testing and delivery with 90% code coverage. This allows us to get new features to you faster.
The development lifecycle of any e-Builder Mobile feature starts with a conceptual design session, which includes Designers, Engineers, Product Management, and Testers discussing the application’s vision. The vision is validated through current system evaluation, prototyping, user research, user testing and user feedback. User feedback drives many of our design decisions. If you are among the clients sharing your thoughts with us, thank you very much, you played a big part in the new application; your input is an intrinsic part of our process.
After the conceptual design is validated, our designers work their magic to bring those concepts to life and work with the team to outline feature requirements. Once the solution is finalized, the engineers start developing the new feature.
When the code for the feature is completed we execute various automated tests to ensure that the new feature is working as designed. The first test focuses on the core functional requirements of the feature. For example: Was that comment really added to the workflow? Was that file really saved?
The next test is the snapshot. We take an image of every screen in the application at different resolutions and save them. Then we compare them against with the application after any change is made. This allows us to automatically detect unexpected changes in the interface.
User interface testing is next; this is like having an invisible robot use the app to make sure everything is working correctly. The combination of these three tests ensures that code can be automatically verified at the push of a button.
Lastly, when the feature is ready and integrated with all the other existing features of e-Builder Mobile, all the tests for the features are run again to make sure everything is still shiny and tidy. Then we publish the new version to the Apple App store; and in case you were wondering, this process is automated too. This is called a Continuous Integration and Delivery pipeline and allows us to constantly update and enhance your e-Builder Mobile Application!
WEBINAR: University of Maryland Medical Center
Going Beyond Design Beyond Design & Construction: How to Collaborate with Contractors, Designers & Speciality Contractors
Many owners struggle with creating a folder structure that is accessible to contractors and designers. Documents shared via email and FTP sitesjeopardize standardization and end up in several different locations.
Join e-Builder client, University of Maryland Medical Center, on Tuesday, February 27th at 2:00 PM EST, as they discuss the keys to establishing collaboration on design build projects with consultants, engineers, contractors and PR firms.
Key Points:
- The necessity to collaborate
- How to work in a cross functional environment
- Communicating – how much, how often and to whom
- Engaging and using communication technology
