Case Study: Balay Architects, LLC
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Balay Architects, LLC Leverages Mangomind’s Secure Internet File Sharing to Improve Collaboration
with Consultants and Enhance Business Productivity
Challenge:
Balay Architects needs to have external consultants located in remote
offices to always have access to the most current, master drawings and to be able to easily reference
AutoCAD® drawing updates. Sending drawing-file updates by email is inefficient and error prone.
Solution:
Balay Architects uses Mangomind to provide real time electronic access to the master architectural drawing.
Balay posts the master AutoCAD file on the Mangomind Drive and invites their external consultants to share
the Drive where the consultants also post their drawings. When Balay makes changes to the master drawing,
Mangomind automatically synchronizes all of the affected drawings and AutoCAD’s external reference feature
allows for all the drawings to be automatically updated. Balay now has a seamless, electronic mechanism
for efficiently collaborating with their external consultants.
About Balay Architects
Balay Architects has responded to change driven by technological, client, and competitive forces to form
an architectural practice for the Information Age. This Information Age Practice creates value for the
Client by enabling more work to be produced faster, at lower cost, and at a higher level of quality.
Balay Architects is a Midwestern architectural firm that brings together a team of professionals on a
project-by-project basis necessary to complete a project from schematic design phase through construction.
Balay differentiates itself from its competitors by integrating more advanced electronic communication and
technology tools to afford their clients the benefits of an "Information Age Practice."
Using Mangomind as a collaboration tool between its corporate offices and its external consultants,
Balay is able to:
- Improve the productivity of its project teams
- Ensure better quality and accuracy of its project drawings
- Deliver a premium product to its clients
Balay relies upon a tool inherent in AutoCAD to synchronize all of the drawings from their participating,
project consultants. The external reference (x-ref) function in AutoCAD allows a master drawing to be
referenced by many additional drawings. When changes are made to the master architectural plan, the x-ref
function automatically updates other affected plans and can also update the master plan. This powerful
utility is only effective if all of the drawings are accessible on the same local area network. Because
their consultants work in geographically dispersed locations, Balay typically would deliver the AutoCAD
files via an email attachment and instruct the consultants to make the appropriate updates by overwriting
their local copies of the master drawing.
"Using our old methodology, when we needed to make a change to the architectural plan, we needed to
contact all of the consultants and trust them to copy and replace the old drawing with the new one,"
said Michael Balay, partner Balay Architects. "This conventional, Internet method was a project management
nightmare in a world running on Internet time."
One File, One Place
To automate the process, Balay Architects created a Mangomind Drive and invited all of their external,
project consultants to participate. Now Balay only has to change the master architectural plan on the
Mangomind Drive and its consultants’ drawings are automatically updated by the AutoCAD x-ref function and
the Mangomind synchronization.
This is the real power of the Mangomind service: real time access to electronic data, even though our
project team resides in disparate locations. The process reduces the time spent on the change and edit
process, ensures accuracy, and improves our overall project quality and productivity,” continued Balay.
End-to-End File Security
Because Balay relies on external consultants and has several projects working concurrently, file security
is of paramount importance. In addition to end-to-end 128-bit encryption and user authentication protocols,
Mangomind also allows Balay to implement access controls on various files and folders to ensure only the
appropriate people, or groups of people, have access to the appropriate information.
Mangomind’s rigorous security protocols not only protect our architectural plans and files, but also
provide protection for our consultants’ drawings as well," said Balay. "They feel comfortable that only those
who require access have permission to view or work on their files."
Easy-to-set up / Easy-to-use
According to Michael Balay, Mangomind was easy to implement, even for some of their external consultants
who are generally novices with current computer and software technology. Because Mangomind is integrated
into Windows, anyone who runs Windows applications can easily install and work with a Mangomind Drive.
No additional training is required.
Automatic File Updates and Offsite and Offline File Access
Balay uses Mangomind’s advanced synchronization feature to ensure that all the information on the
Mangomind Drive that is cached on their local PCs is always up to date. When Balay or their consultants
are not connected to the Internet, they can continue to work on current files. When they reconnect to
the Internet, their files are automatically synchronized on the Mangomind Drive.
Balay also installs Mangomind’s Portable Identity Profiles on their home PCs so they can continue
to work on files at home, or on portable notebook computers to allow access to current project files while on the road.
"Mangomind’s Portable Identity file allows me to work on a project while at home, and saves me a
trip to the office on weekends or during off hours," said Steve Dickens, IT Wizard and CAD Technician.
"I simply email the Mangomind software to myself, load it onto my PC at home, install Mangomind, and work
just as if I was in the office."
About Balay Architects, LLC
Balay Architects combines the client-centered values of traditional architectural practice with the new technologies of the Information Age. Balay Architects is comprised of its two managing partners and employees and their disparate consultant teams. At the firm level, the management pyramid has been replaced by a flat organization of autonomous firms and consultants brought together on a project-by-project basis. Balay Architects has responded to change driven by technological, client, and competitive forces to form an architectural practice for the Information Age. This Information Age Practice creates value for the Client by enabling more work to be produced faster, at lower cost, and at a higher level of quality.
Their Web site is http://www.balayarchitects.com.
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