Having established the core functionality of Prolog, Meridian Systems aimed to improve usability when it developed Prolog 2008. The latest version of the company’s flagship construction project management software, first previewed at a user conference in April, was officially released on June 4.

This focus on ease of use suggests that the construction software industry is beginning to mature, Sue Watkins, Meridian’s director of marketing, said in a recent interview.

[The construction] industry has very specific work processes and business processes that need to be followed. The early [software] products…focused on that capability. Now companies are changing the way they do business — from spreadsheets and pie charts that are faxed in to a more formal system — and it’s all about ease of use.

One way to make software easier to use is to model it after something users already know. Meridian thus modeled Prolog 2008 after Microsoft Outlook. Gone is the Switchboard-style interface for choosing modules. In its place is the collapsible folder system familiar to Outlook users.

Prolog 2008 also adds drag-and-drop functionality to the key process of adding file attachments to RFIs (requests for information). The concept of drag-and-drop is taken for granted in many types of software, but Watkins deemed it a relatively new concept for construction software.

Other Prolog enhancements include the ability to limit who revises PCOs (purchase change orders), the use of the 3D capabilities of Rasterex 9 for redlining, and support for Master Format 2004 cost codes. (A full list of new features is available in the PDF file What’s new in Prolog 2008.)

Prolog 2008 supports Microsoft SQL Server. On the interoperability front, Primavera software and Microsoft Project management software can be integrated with Prolog 2008, and SDKs (software development kits) are available for integration with Sage Timberline Office and JD Edwards accounting software, Watkins said.

Additional information on Meridian Systems and Prolog is available from ConstructionSoftwareReview.com’s Meridian Prolog software overview and Meridian Prolog user reviews.

*** Editor’s note: If you are a construction software vendor and you have a press release about a new product, send it to me for inclusion in a future article.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 20th, 2008 at 10:38 am and is filed under Construction software new releases. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.