Key Industry Leaders Adopt McGraw-Hill Construction / Dodge Project Document Manager, Enabling Print to Digital Transformation of Construction Industry

NEW YORK, March 7 /PRNewswire/ -- McGraw-Hill Construction (MHC), part of The McGraw-Hill Companies , today announced the recently launched Project Document Manager (PDM), co-developed with its partner ReproMAX, has been adopted by several key industry leaders, such as Skanska USA Building, Austin Commercial, and Hill International. PDM is the first service to provide full document control over the entire lifecycle of a project that is integrated with MHC's Project Network and Dodge project news, plans, and specs; interoperable with leading project management software; and seamlessly connected to ReproMAX and its national network of local on-demand printing and digital providers.

PDM will be highlighted at the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) annual national convention and ConExpo (MHC booth # N1200), on March 10-15, 2008, in Las Vegas, NV.

As a powerful software application, PDM provides the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) community with the ability to control all project intelligence, construction documents and project management functions on a single, secure platform. Users can manage the complete workflow process -- design, bidding, project management, project closing, and even operations -- from PDM's intuitive interface. With PDM, construction documents are available online and easily shared or routed to ReproMAX local printing outlets for printing and shipping. Whether a firm still relies on paper or has adopted a paperless process, PDM makes critical daily tasks easier to manage and control.

"Construction is a team-sport, and with Project Document Manager, it's going to be easier to share critical information with the members of that team," said Norbert W. Young, Jr., president, McGraw-Hill Construction. "Our AEC customers have told us that they could run their projects much more efficiently if they had a document management system that made it easier to manage, view, track and share the construction documents for a project from beginning to end. That's what we created and are very proud to be driving the transformation of the industry toward digital design and construction."

PDM's flexible "open architecture" makes it compatible with project management tools that AEC firms use today, enabling easy integration with current business processes and practices. Since fully digital and mixed digital/print environments are both supported, PDM offers the additional benefit of setting the stage for significant Green improvements across the industry.

"Project Document Manager provides immeasurable long term value to the AEC community -- enabling connectivity of business systems and interoperability throughout the project lifecycle," said Rick Bosworth, president, ReproMAX. "The level of business efficiency and flexibility associated with PDM's digital and print capabilities is unprecedented. No matter what the work environment, PDM will provide increased productivity and savings."

What some current PDM customers are saying:

When Skanska USA Building Inc., a leading international and local provider of construction, pre-construction consulting, general contracting and design- build services, wanted a solution easily accessible to subcontractors and capable of managing, tracking and reviewing subcontractors' qualifications responses, they turned to PDM. According to Kevin Hutchinson, senior vice president of IT at Skanska, "We wanted a solution that would simplify the entire bidding process, which as a result would encourage our subcontractors to bid on our projects. PDM provided us that solution. The new pre-qualification processes helped Skanska increase accuracy, reduce the number of pre-qualifications to review, created a single and central information repository, and increased the number of bidders per project."

Austin Commercial, a leading national and international commercial contractor, was in search of a document management solution that could seamlessly integrate into its existing project management system. The goal was to reduce the time, money and effort spent assembling and distributing construction related documents. "Austin Commercial has established a reputation for delivering projects on time and under budget. As an employee- owned company we are all responsible for increasing efficiency and lowering operating costs throughout our organization," said Fred Cardenas, project administrator.

Hill International, a leading global construction manager, needed integration of applications (interoperability). "We are always looking for ways to improve communication and collaboration in project management," said David L. Richter, president and COO of Hill International. "McGraw-Hill Construction's project information management solution will help us maximize project lifecycle communication and minimize our clients' risk." Shaun Pressley, project controls engineer, added, "Through the use of McGraw-Hill Construction's project database, combined with PDM and further integrated with our existing project management tools, we were able to integrate everything on a collaborative scale. The ROI is clear and helps us differentiate our services with owner relationships as well as mitigate potentially costly risks throughout a project."

For more information on this new product, please call 1-866-239-4261. About McGraw-Hill Construction

McGraw-Hill Construction connects people, projects and products across the design and construction industry. For more than a century, the company has remained North America's leading provider of construction project information, plans and specifications, product information, industry news, and industry trends and forecasts. In print and online, The Company offers a variety of tools, applications, and resources that easily integrate with its customers' workflows. Backed by the power of Dodge, Sweets (http://www.sweets.com/), Architectural Record (http://www.architecturalrecord.com/), Engineering News-Record (http://www.enr.com/), GreenSource (http://www.greensourcemag.com/) and 11 regional publications, McGraw-Hill Construction serves more than one million customers within the $4.6 trillion global construction community. To learn more, visit http://www.construction.com/ or booth N1200 at AGC/ConExpo.

About The McGraw-Hill Companies

Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies is a leading global information services provider meeting worldwide needs in the financial services, education and business information markets through leading brands including Standard & Poor's, McGraw-Hill Education, BusinessWeek and J.D. Power and Associates. The Corporation has more than 280 offices in 40 countries. Sales in 2007 were $6.8 billion. Additional information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/.