MAUMEE, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 17, 2003

ProjectVillage(TM) announced today the final release of its new web-based plan room product. Fully integrated with other ProjectVillage applications, the plan room can be used as a powerful addition to project management or as a stand alone solution.

The ProjectVillage plan room reduces the cost of printing and shipping bid documents while reducing the cost of communicating addendums and late breaking changes before bid day.

The plan room brings together three organizations in the pre-bid process: hosts, bidders and reprographers. A host creates a project in the plan room and uploads all of the documents. After completing a free registration, bidders can view documents online, download documents or order hardcopy sets online from a reprographer. In any case, what gets printed is only what needs to get printed. This reduces printing costs. Shipping is also reduced because reprographers are local to bidders. A reprographer from anywhere can be set up in the plan room in minutes for no charge.

The plan room is available to all project participants anytime, anywhere. Hosts can run a plan holders report at anytime for a list of bidders that have accessed documents. When addendums are released, plan holders can be notified instantly via email or fax with a few mouse clicks, reducing the administrative costs associated with tracking and communicating with bidders.

According to Mark Bostleman, president of ProjectVillage, integration with project management is key, "The biggest downside for plan room-only applications is that they are departmental, niche solutions. To reduce double entry, training costs, administration and fragmentation of information, organizations are seeking integration, not separation, between applications from department to department. With our plan room, documents, bid lists and bid invitations flow seamlessly from pre-construction to construction."

While the plan room application can be used without the project management application, the two are completely integrated. Users have only one username and password to log in to both applications. When a project is created in one application, it is immediately available in the other. Double entry is eliminated for common data such as projects, companies, contacts, phone numbers, users, drawings, specifications, etc. Administration time is reduced since project setup and security are managed in one place.

ProjectVillage, based in Maumee, OH and founded in 2000, develops web-based workflow and document management applications for the construction industry. For more information, visit www.projectvillage.com or contact Steve Timofeev at (419) 724-7106.