Why review PDF documents the hard way, when you can Bluebeam Revu them?

Who hasn’t experienced the tedium of printing out PDF documents, passing them to colleagues to manually mark up, then scanning them back in?

In a digital world, and increasingly digitised industries, such tasks are obstacles to efficiency and productivity, rather than aids to them.

By their very nature of being manual tasks, these ‘traditional’ steps in the review process are also where the likelihood of errors creeping in is at its highest. At the very point where it should be non-existent.

Bluebeam Revu – which offers both desktop and cloud solutions – removes inefficiencies from the review process. It also provides a platform for collaboration (documents can be accessed on any device from anywhere) that replaces risk with certainty, manual with digital, and wasted time with heightened productivity.

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In this blog I explore the genuine collaboration that Bluebeam Revu makes possible and why it’s a step change software solution you may well wish to consider. Just like your competitors are probably already doing, or have already done.

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Why workflows sometimes don’t flow
Essential stages in developing a project can often involve branching off from the main thrust of what you’re doing to print out drawings/documents/pdfs and pass them onto other people for their input; then going on pause while you await their responses and spending time reevaluating the document to incorporate any changes.

Essential processes – soliciting the input and verification of specialist project contributors, gaining approvals, seeking quality assurance and so on – nearly always become hindrances to forward momentum when they’re undertaken manually.

When this happens, the work doesn’t so much flow, as trickle off in various directions.
A workflow turns into just ‘work’; in fact, it can turn into hard work.

It’s like asking an aircraft pilot to leave the cockpit and go back down the aisle and make sure everyone has their seatbelts on. Not something you’d expect.

Yet many companies expect designers, architects, engineers, surveyors, to take care of the flow of a document in a manual way. It’s an approach often so embedded in how projects are managed that those same highly qualified and talented individuals simply assimilate it into how they do things.

Bluebeam Revu liberates these experts, accelerates these processes, and keeps the workflow flowing; enabling expert people to do expert things – like allowing the pilot to fly the plane; focused, efficient, and smart.

The benefits of Bluebeam Revu
Bluebeam Revu is flexible. It integrates with the most commonly deployed software solutions in AEC and Manufacturing. For example, in addition to the Autodesk solutions suite, Bluebeam integrates with Procore, Dalux, Viewpoint and numerous others that may perform critical stages in your overall workflows.

• Better collaboration
  Bluebeam's desktop and cloud solutions for collaboration are based on open standards. This means you can access your documents and data on any web or iOS device – on or off the construction site.
• Bluebeam University
  This feature comes along with your product licence and offers a wide selection of assets to help you explore the solution benefits to the fullest.
• Faster project completion
  Users can mark and measure with other team members in real-time; now more waiting, no more frustration, no more delays.
• Reduced risk
  Because everything is digitised, the chances or errors occurring are minimised. You can also use Bluebeam for risk assessments.
• Improved ROI
  All of which adds up to a better return on your investment; in people, software, and your future success.
  
  

How Symetri makes Bluebeam adoption easy
At Symetri, we accompany customers along the Bluebeam Revu adoption journey to help your users gain quick familiarity with how to transition from their previous manual processes to the digitised document management processes which Bluebeam enables.

• Consultancy: Is Bluebeam right for you?
  Our consultants can help you understand where Bluebeam will benefit your processes and users most. We’ll evaluate where hold-ups may have been causing delays – sometimes causing problems that customers may have been unaware they even had, due to the ‘embedded’ nature of processes they had long been using. We also offer demos in Bluebeam so you can see the benefits yourself, at first hand.
  
  
• Onboarding/Training/upskilling
  We can bring your users very quickly into the Bluebeam world, enabling them to find their way intuitively around the deep functionality the software offers (which I will be explaining further in my next blog).
  
  

Most of all we will guide them through the transformative benefits of having one single source of the truth; direct from their computer with no need to wander round the office looking for other people to do their bit.

• Easy licensing
  Software licensing can lead to complications; your experience perhaps already attests to this. It’s just a whole lot less complicated when you run it through Symetri; given both our deep experience in licensing arrangements, combined with the licensing optimisation we make possible with our software licence monitoring tool, CQFlexMon; no over- or under-licensing, just precision between what you use, who uses it at what level of frequency, and how you use it.
  
  
• Close-at-hand user support
  As one of Ireland’s leading Bluebeam partners, we bring the benefit that we are in the same time zone as our customers (Bluebeam support is based in the U.S.). When you need us, we’ll be here.
  
  

This is an important consideration from the support perspective, given that if any slippage arises when you come to delving into the functionality of the software, you will invariably not have the luxury of time on your side to resolve the issue. Our phone support offers quick resolutions to your problems to avoid you losing any time.

Security
A final word on security. Bluebeam is SOC 2 Type 1 certified, so you can securely access local AWS servers, meet data residency requirements, and collaborate with team members anywhere in the world. You can also enable single sign-on (SSO) for your entire team and gain full administrative control over who can see what.

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As mentioned, I’ll be discussing the full extent of Bluebeam Revu benefits in my next blog but, in the meantime, if you want to look at Bluebeam, you’ll find it here. Also, please feel free to get in touch with us directly. 

Author

Sean O’Dwyer

Sean is AEC Division Manager at Symetri – Ireland’s leading software provider. Sean has worked in the Irish Construction Industry for over 25 years, with experience in Civil and Structural Engineering. He has extensive experience in the fields of BIM, Lean Construction and implementing new workflows, ISO 19650 and BIM certification. A respected digital innovator in his field who specialises in integrating new digital tools and workflows to enhance client capabilities.