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The Project Web

Tony Zilles

The Bentley Roadmap is a list of suggestions identifying a path of action that companies might take over the next 10 years. The suggestions are aimed at helping engineering companies seize commercial advantages and build technological expertise, while retaining focus on core business and bottom-line returns

When Keith Bentley proposed the "project web" concept as the first step on the Bentley Roadmap in Palm Springs in October 1997, I thought it was a fairly basic suggestion. Creating a web as a starting point to a new project seems a fairly obvious sort of idea. Most professionals have Internet access these days and a homepage is a perfect way to focus the project on a single information source.

Yet when I asked myself, "why don’t you do this with new projects?" I felt a little embarrassed. There was still some distance to move between agreeing with a good idea and making it a reality. Most  readers would accept that a project web is a good idea. Here’s some encouragement to bridge the gap between thinking and doing.

What makes a project web such a great idea?

• To introduce people to a project, just tell them the URL
• 24 hour, 7 day accessibility eliminates problems of time availability, time zones and last minute changes
• A single starting point for a new project groups all the relevant information together
• The definitive source of project information contains (or links to) everything that is relevant and nothing irrelevant
• A universal interface for the entire project community, including client, collaborators and the public
• Eliminates repetition and redundancy of information by linking to information sources
• Forms the foundation for subsequent points of design and information automation

What makes a project web such a great thing to do?

• It’s easy to do
• It’s inexpensive to get started
• You will see fast rewards for your effort
• The "building block" approach to your web, with skill and experience you for further forays into the latest technology, minimizing your risk of error through ignorance and giving you the knowledge to see an opportunity and the confidence to try something new

Since agreeing with the premise that a project webs are good sense, I have set up three for my own projects. This article shares some of knowledge gained along the way.

The project web introduces the project to all parties. It makes information available very economically across a very broad area.

Expertise

Running a project web requires Web expertise at two levels - the technical level of operating a Web server and the publishing level of web authoring and management.

Operating a Web server requires familiarity and reasonable competence with an appropriate operating system (UNIX, Windows NT/95 or MacOS), TCP/IP networking, Internet protocols, services and applications, not to mention outstanding patience with ISPs.

Running your own Web server may be impractical to begin with. Contracting a remote virtual server is the alternative and is an adequate starting point. The ultimate goal is to have your own server however. The control and facility of your own server is well worth the expense and learning curve.

Web publishing and management is becoming easier almost daily. Microsoft FrontPage offers excellent WYSIWYG page editing and Web management facilities.

Web authoring will become as commonplace as word processing in the near future, everyone will do it from their desktop. It is a valuable skill to learn and have in-house. Initially an office might only have one or two skilled people. Aim to get others interested and developing their skills too.

There is a case for an engineering company to outsource web authoring and management. If you have no experience in webpage creation and want a web up and running quickly, then outsource someone to do it for you. When it’s running, get some basic training and have a formal handover, taking control of maintenance and further development yourself. It’s much easier to take over a well-setup web than to create one from thin air. Controlling your web is controlling the presentation of your information. It’s important. Do it within your company.

The Company Server

Registering a domain name just for a project is unnecessary in most cases. If you already have a company web, create a project area off your main web page and provide links to all the projects you are working on.

If confidentiality is important, leave out the links. The URL will stay reasonably private if you reveal it only to people you want to know about it. If the URL is not linked to, and not submitted to a search engine or indexing system, there is little chance of it showing up on a search engine query response page. An added precaution is to place a robots.txt file (see sidebar) in your www root directory disallowing indexing of defined areas or files. Well-behaved spiders will read this file before indexing your site and act accordingly.

If you are running your own Web server on a Windows NT platform, the NT security system is effective at directory and file level and easy to use with Microsoft Internet Information Server. Other Web servers also incorporates access security requiring username and password when appropriate. Password protection of subdirectories and individual file can be set quite easily.

The big advantage to using a company web server is that you can easily add server-level facilities when it becomes appropriate to do so. Such facilities add enormous value to the project web. Applications such as Bentley’s ModelServer Publisher- which enables easy, controlled Web access to design documents, and ModelServer TeamMate - an Internet/intranet document management tool, are two of immediate benefit to engineering organisations. These kinds of applications link your existing information facilities to the Web and are properly located within your full control. WebBoard - a web conferencing application discussed in more detail below, is an example of useful project web facility that is easier and more efficient to implement on your own server.

Keep your Web site structure simple and it will be easy to use and maintain.

The Virtual Server

Countless ISPs offer virtual servers, with a range of excellent server-side facilities. Rates are inexpensive and vary depending on the services that you need. If you intend to use FrontPage to author and manage your Web, select a host which supports Front Page Extensions. This facility is required on the server to enable you to publish your Web with FrontPage.

A virtual server is a good solution for a document-based web with all its information in HTML pages and image files. A sophisticated web that dynamically generates pages from a database, or which interacts with more complex data sources, presents more of a challenge under remote management. Not that it’s impossible, but it is far easier if the Web server is in the same office under the control of a colleague, than in the next state under the control of a total stranger.

A Personal Experience

My project webs have not been based on engineering projects, however, the similarities are sufficient to illustrate the benefits of a project web.

My projects involve a groups of people located at remote corners of the globe. We collaborate on complex problems and ideas. Information is shared through text information describing objectives, constraints and resources and documenting discussion. Information is also shared through graphics that illustrate ideas quickly and clearly.

Information is added to the site as it becomes an important part of the project. Draft proposals are submitted, discussed, re-drafted and posted again on the web. There is no physical distribution of documents (saving paper, distribution cost and time), and web publishing puts an end to a choking email folder on collaborators desktops.

Another way we reduce email and effort is to use a Web-based message conferencing system. Messages are stored in a database on the server, organized under topics or "threads". Messages are entered and accessed through a browser interface. Old messages (project history) are always available and because all the information is stored on the server, it doesn’t take up any room on your machine. The database is automatically archived, easily searched on keywords, and messages are always in order. An "email notify" feature triggers email advising you when new messages have been left in your conferences.

I use WebBoard, which also supports real-time browser-based chat. This has proved a great way to conduct a real-time, online meeting with people located all over the world.

Links to reference sites are added so that everyone can refer to the same sources of wisdom, once again eliminating monster references cc’d to collaborators and then lost in a sea of email.

By posting illustrations on the web, project teams can quickly assess proposals and solutions. Graphic communication is a traditional requirement in engineering disciplines and one that continues to work very well. There are a variety of systems that allow a compact graphic file to be created for fast Web transfer. The appropriate browser plug-in software gives readers display and image control facilities

Applying Web technology to graphics allows them to be extended with embedded links zoom and pan, layer display toggles, animation and redlining, enhancements that extend well beyond the communication power of ink and paper and even existing CAD models.

In a very short time my project webs have cut communication costs, improved project understanding and sped project development all at the same time. I recommend the concept to you and urge you to start creating project webs now.

Originally published in MicroStstation Manager magazine www.micromanagement.com.
Re-published with permission.

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