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AutoManager Meridian
participates at the renewal
of the European White House
The Berlaymont Building and its
The Berlaymont building’s dimensions are impres- sive, its technical design is bold: a huge structure hanging on steel braces. The Berlaymont building was originally built for European Commissioners, their cabinets and other linked services - all togeth- er about 2,700 officials. It became, by its bulk, shape and specific nature, the symbol of Europe in Brussels. The first European officials entered the building in 1967 but by 1991, the Berlaymont onlyhoused part of the Commission. Other services had Evaluating Their
moved to nearby buildings because many occupants felt it was less and less suited to their needs: they The Berlaymont 2000 team includes 100 people complained about the small size of the offices, the from many different departments: architecture, wasted space, the outdated air conditioning, and stability, engineering HVAC, cost control, calcula- above all the lack of daylight. The Berlaymont tion and coordination. In order to synchronise needed a complete overhaul, including the removal executive decisions, AutoCAD and calculation pro- grams are used. The Berlaymont team soonrealised that with so many people involved there The Renewal
would be a huge number of files that would be At the initiative of Minister André Flahaut and generated during the renovation. As a result, it was European Commissioner Erkki Liikanen, the renova- essential that they have a strong document man- tion project of the Berlaymont was launched in agement system. Moreover, because of time 1995 and the removal of the asbestos began. The restrictions, they needed to be able to count on S.A. "Berlaymont 2000" - which had acquired a software that would ensure the highest productivi- long lease of 99 years on the building - became the ty available. Their old document management sys- Contracting Authority for the renovation project. In tem (WorkCenter) was not Y2K compliant, so they 1996, under the leadership of Professor Henri needed a new solution. Following a market inquiry Vander Eycken, "Berlaymont 2000" put together a conducted in the Autumn of 1999, in which they team of about 70 people: architects, engineers and evaluated Motiva, SmarTeam and AutoManager administrative staff. The architects Pierre Meridian, the Berlaymont managers opted for AM- Meridian from CycoSoftware. At thetime, the softwarewas not yet availableto the public butCyco chose 25 com-panies throughoutthe world for arestricted releaseprogram of version1.0 of the software.
In cooperation withthe Berlaymont team,Cyco determined thatAutoManagerMeridian would bean excellent solutionfor both this renova-tion and any futureneeds of the project. EXCITECH COMPUTERS LIMITED | DESIGN PRODUCTIVITY JOURNAL The Implementation
software incorporated a logical structure to manage The first step was to transfer the actual database all the plans they create. AM-Meridian has a logical of 30,000 plans to the new software, which was and easy to understand interface because it appears accomplished without losing a single plan. Next, as another drive in the user's directory. Because the AutoManager Meridian was installed in every tree structure remains the same, all members of the department. Finally, all project documentation was team can work together because they are assured stored on the same server. Martin Opdebeeck, IT- that the latest version of the file is always available Manager at Berlaymont 2000, remarked: "The results have surmounted all expectations. Theinstallation worked extremely well in a minimum of Powerful Versioning, X-ref
Management
For those in charge of the Berlaymont project, it is of primary importance to keep track of the multi- ple versions of documents. Prior to the introduction of AM-Meridian, only the last five versions were stored in the archives. Because of AM-Meridian's powerful and easily customised versioning system, it is even possible to go back into the history of proj- ects and review decisions made in the past. This makes it possible to look at the status of any proj- ect at any moment in time. If a set of documents belongs to a project, users can go back to a "Baseline" to see the status of documents and how they relate to each other. Baselines are a way in which you can set a "flag in the sand" to mark curve is reduced and users learn very quickly how to important phases in the life of a project. The architects working for Berlaymont have spe- cific requirements. They often reuse plans, so con- The Main Advantages: Security and
stant updates and X-ref management are particu- Simplicity
larly important. The powerful X-ref management of All the CAD/CAM documents for the Berlaymont AutoManager Meridian and its unique approach to project are now managed with AM-Meridian. Users the concept of workflow made the architects more soon recognised the fundamental advantage of the productive. With AutoManager Meridian, the archi- software - no documents disappear anymore! Prior tectural plan is always in the background and to using AM-Meridian, designers often checked out thanks to the easy management of X-refs, coordi- documents for revisions and forgot to check in the new version. The file stayed on their hard drive where there was always a risk of them forgetting Benefits to the IT Department
they had it or not saving the changes. Thanks to The IT Managers especially appreciate that AM- the simple implementation of AM-Meridian, expen- Meridian is easily integrated into their existing sys- sive mistakes like that are avoided. AM-Meridian tems. It merges seamlessly into the OS (operating offers excellent security based on the Windows NT system). Any user who is logged on is automatically operating system. All documents are now stored on logged into AM-Meridian. The software is also com- the server and are not removed from the database.
In no time at all productivity increased. There was no longer any need for one person to manage files Great Results, Continuing Progress
in the database and the purchase price of the soft- The Berlaymont 2000 managers are very satisfied that productivity has increased. Philippe Weill, Controller at Berlaymont 2000: "We are very con- security of files but it's also very simple to use.
AM-Meridian works in the background without Meridian. It helped us to make fast progress in the any special effort from the user. The architects renewal of the Berlaymont building. I'm sure that noted that while working in AutoCAD, the soft- AM-Meridian will have a lot of success in Europe ware works without them noticing that it's there.
One user confirmed that the product is, indeed, The progress never stops. Soon the outside suppli- transparent: "I do not see AM-Meridian, but since ers will be included in the renewal process and will be I have it my documents are managed without allowed access to certain documents via the Internet.
Internally, a workflow for the aggregation of the planswill be defined and will further facilitate the work. By Enormous Time Saver
the time the project is complete there will be about One of the most valued features of AutoManager 400,000 files associated with the renovation. With Meridian is its speed. Designers also like the the help of AutoManager Meridian that figure is ‘compare’ feature that makes it possible for the user manageable. This is strong document management to visually compare different versions of the same software that is ready for new challenges throughout AutoCAD drawings to see what has changed. It was the European Community and anywhere else.
also important to the Berlaymont team that the EXCITECH COMPUTERS LIMITED | DESIGN PRODUCTIVITY JOURNAL

Source: http://www.excitech.co.uk/dpj/AEC/Vol1_6_pdf/47-48_Cyco_Case_Study.pdf