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From mark-up to practice management
By Lee Anne Smith

Users can click on any section of the online Green Matrix to get design guidelines for incorporating sustainable principles into buildings.

Green Matrix
Ratcliff Architecture
www.greenmatrix.net
Windows and Mac

Once available only on CD-ROM, the Green Matrix Web site is an interactive tool that provides a template for the application and analysis of using LEED criteria in building design. Developed by a green-building design team at Ratcliff Architecture in Emeryville, California, the Web site features a matrix that cross-references the sustainability topics addressed by LEED, such as water conservation and energy efficiency, with project phases, such as master planning, schematic design, and design development. Users can click on any section of the matrix to receive an outline of recommendations for design. Cross-referencing “site sustainability” with “design development,” for example, yields an outline providing information on the use of composting systems.

With BillQuick 2004, firms can tailor invoices for billing and record keeping.

BillQuick 2004
BQE Software
www.bqe.com
Windows only

BillQuick 2004 is a time-billing and project-management package designed for small- to medium-size professional service firms. It provides a library of invoice types that can be customized for billing and maintenance of project and financial records. Fees, hourly charges, and other budget information can be scheduled directly within BillQuick for specific projects, allowing billing statements to be tailored according to individual clientele rates and contracts. Users can synchronize between BillQuick record and QuickBooks banking information to reconcile financial statements. Time-sheet forms can also be set up within the software so that employees can enter hours worked on each project in as few as two keystrokes but are prevented from accessing confidential information like hourly rates.

Gehry Technologies commercializes its first package, Digital Projec..

Digital Project
Gehry Technologies
www.gehrytechnologies.com
Windows only

The software gurus at Gehry Partners have taken their CATIA expertise and turned it into a high-end suite of software applications tailored to manage the entire life cycle of design and construction projects. Digital Project combines a powerful 3D software engine—with parametric tools for applying, tracking, and processing intelligent models of building systems—and the ability to manage data needed to enable digital manufacturing methods. It interfaces with common data-translation standards, including DXF, and allows users to extract 2D documents from 3D models.

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