You bring up an interesting point. I am aware of the issue with the AIA anti-trust agreement and the impact this had upon architect's fees. I have wondered many, many times how we are stuck decades later still getting lectures while realtors in every state where I have lived all charge 6% with some minor exceptions. Even standard contract forms have the 6% already filled in. My best guess is they have better lobbyists! :-)
Original Message:
Sent: 01-04-2017 18:48
From: Joel Niemi
Subject: AIA Contract Docs transition to online service.....Again.
Given that virtually every official AIA meeting I've attended recently has started with some restatement of the AIA-Department of Justice Anti-Trust Agreement (I exaggerate, but the reciting is not infrequent), I think that if the AIA did harvest information about fees from data in the cloud, the repercussions would be severe.
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Joel Niemi AIA
Joel Niemi Architect
Snohomish, WA
Original Message:
Sent: 01-03-2017 11:59
From: Rudolph Beuc
Subject: AIA Contract Docs transition to online service.....Again.
Like many, I am a one hoarse shop.
The cost structure and direction AIA contracts are going make them an untenable solution for my business.
I will be looking elsewhere.
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Rudolph Beuc AIA, NCARB, CBO
Architect
R. Beuc Architects
Saint Louis MO
Original Message:
Sent: 12-30-2016 18:15
From: Nea Poole
Subject: AIA Contract Docs transition to online service.....Again.
I read Mr. Nicholson's response when it was posted and could not agree more. It gave me and my partner a lot to think about these past few weeks. The AIA is clearly doing this for reasons other than addressing the needs or wants of the membership. I seriously doubt any member is clamoring to have their most private information spread across the "cloud". Given the one BILLION Yahoo accounts hacked, the DNC hacking, Wikileaks, and any of a number celebrity nude photos made public etc. this is clearly not a move that will make our proprietary information more protected; rather it puts our most sensitive information at risk. It is further discouraging to learn through this conversation chain that the AIA has considered mining our contracts for information once they have access to them.
I have discussed this with my architectural attorney who was as surprised as we are that the AIA is proceeding with this. Unfortunately his opinion is that the AIA contracts are the only ones to go with for full protection at this point so staying off the cloud seems impossible for our company. However, pressure from the membership can change the course of the AIA. This past month I received notice from the Virginia AIA that they are phasing out the dreaded supplemental dues because of the negative feedback they have received. I would suggest that anyone who is opposed to this move let the AIA, local and national, know your feelings and, perhaps more importantly, educate your peers about what is going on. I suspect most member have no idea this is happening or of the implications of this move. As our firm moves forward one change we will make is under Article 11 Compensation section 11.1 of the B101 we will always put "See Attachment A -Fee Proposal" so that we are not sharing our fee structure with the AIA.
Our firm has not come to a final decision but our principals are leaning strongly towards leaving the AIA and no longer paying dues for any employee. As a member of the AIA and small business owner I have long felt ignored by my professional organization so perhaps this loss of memberships will have more impact than anything I could say.
I would be interested to know how others are planning to address this.
Also, thanks for the many responses. I have truly appreciated the thoughts and insights.
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Nea Poole AIA
Principal
Poole & Poole Architecture, LLC
Midlothian VA
Original Message:
Sent: 12-12-2016 19:53
From: Gary Nicholson
Subject: AIA Contract Docs transition to online service.....Again.
Mr. Miller's response to this thread seems to indicate that the member committee most responsible for this action knew very well that there would be numerous objections to going to the cloud-based software. They knew that if polled, a vast majority of users would prefer the desktop version and yet the AIA chose not to heed that preference. It seems abundantly clear that they are not interested in what the members want. They are marketing a product for the purpose of making a profit. They feel there is sufficient market for their product so that we will continue to use the product in spite of its shortcomings, and they are probably right. The alternatives are few and they know they have a captive audience.
If they were interested in pleasing the membership they would have polled them. If they wanted what is best for us, they would make efforts to improve the delivery of the product rather than telling us why what they offer is safe, good enough, and everyone is doing it. I believe the product (contracts and other content) is superior to any out there, but the delivery method is a tremendous problem.
Now the AIA has the perfect solution for THEM. It makes upgrades easier, profits are maximized, data can be mined at will, and we as members can do little or nothing about it. We get an inferior product, pay only slightly "discounted" prices, we make our data available for their use at will, we get a sluggish and buggy platform, but no one really cares about what we want or what are going through. (If we are lucky, they might even offer to sell the mined data back to us... for a price.)
This is exactly the kind of thing the AIA was created to help us with. They should be helping our members with solutions too costly to develop on our own. It takes a large amount of capital to create software solutions, so they know most of us cannot begin to develop our own software. They have the capital, data, legal expertise and the history of trial experience regarding the language of the contracts which most of us do not have. Unfortunately, they also know they can use that information and knowledge base to take advantage of their members financially. It is a despicable move to ignore those who have put you in a position like this - who literally pay their salary - in order to make even more profits out of our desperate need for help... as if the millions we pay annually in dues is not enough. It makes me want to join those who have left the organization altogether. If they will treat their membership this way, what good is it?
I would hope this discussion gives the decision-makers at the AIA reason to reconsider their entire approach to serving their members. I hope they will begin thinking of ways to better serve their members, not take advantage of them. I hope they will begin to see their position as a responsibility to become responsive to the needs of the membership at large. The offering of documents has the potential to meet one of the most basic needs of our membership. The question remains, will they genuinely listen and try to meet the need in the best way, or just do what they want as they milk the membership for additional revenues? So far it seems the later is the disappointing choice they have made.
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Gary Nicholson
Nashville TN
Original Message:
Sent: 11-22-2016 14:09
From: Kevin Miller
Subject: AIA Contract Docs transition to online service.....Again.
First, in the interest of full disclosure, I am a member of the Contract Documents Committee entering the tenth of my required ten year commitment to that endeavor. I also happen to be the current chair. As such, I have seen the desktop software reach maturity and the cloud-based software develop from its earliest conceptualization. I can assure you that all of the concerns I’ve seen voiced in this forum were debated at length by the committee and staff as this project progressed. I will also say that as a practicing architect I completely understand the sentiment against changing perfectly serviceable tools.
That being said, there are numerous sound reasons for the decisions that have been made. First and foremost was to address member needs. The number one complaint with the desktop software is its incompatibility with the Mac OS. Many of our members are Mac users and the inability to run ACD4 in the Mac environment either prevented them from benefiting from the Committee’s work, or forced them to buy a PC just to access that content.
Second, the AIA is certainly not alone in their plans to move their software entirely to the cloud, it’s happening everywhere – Adobe has already been mentioned, add to that list Microsoft Office and many Autodesk products that we as architects regularly use. Consider that many of the most important interactions you conduct already occur in the cloud – your banking, many email services and for some even their accounting systems are all cloud based.
Of course that begs the “if everyone else is jumping off a cliff…” question. Both the Committee as a whole and I individually were initially skeptical about the cloud system as well, but our concerns have been addressed by empowering the online version with some of the most advanced technology for Internet security available today. ACD5 servers and databases reside in private cloud and data centers hosted by the top-tier leader Gartner Magic Quadrants for Cloud enabled Managed Hosting. For added security, they are protecting our confidential information using a 2-factor authentication process powered by SecureAuth. This 2-factor authentication combines standard security credentials, such as username and password, with secondary information specific to you (phone, email) to ensure that access is granted securely and appropriately. Fundamentally, this is the same authentication process that Apple has introduced to protect your Apple ID and credit card information when you buy apps for your iPad.
Keep in mind, your local system is not infallible. I’m aware of many local systems getting infected with ransom-ware and people either paying the price to regain access or losing all of their data. That being said, if I choose, I don’t have to keep any of my contracts stored in the cloud, I can simply download them to my local server and delete the online version.
Also, we were forced to download a new version of the software each time a new document was released, which frankly was a hassle. In the cloud-based version, the docs are always the latest versions.
Have there been some challenges along the way? Of course. Software engineering is challenging under the simplest of circumstances and when there are legitimate security concerns it is even more so. The latency issues that many beta users experienced (myself included) were a directly attributable to addressing those concerns, but I believe those challenges are behind us.
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Kevin Miller AIA
GSBS Architects
Salt Lake City UT
Original Message:
Sent: 11-15-2016 12:13
From: Nea Poole
Subject: AIA Contract Docs transition to online service.....Again.
Does anyone else have trepidation about the AIA transitioning to online contracts docs, again? The first time the software was so buggy that is was a nightmare for months. However, another concern is that this online service will give the AIA access to all firms contracts and stores them on the cloud, which anyone who follows the trials and tribulations of todays starlets and their naked photos knows is hardly a secure method of storage.
When the AIA tried this the first time my attorney was incredulous that the AIA would make such a move, both because of the lack of security but also because this gives the AIA full access to any firm's most sensitive information. He is friends with AIA counsel and called his buddy to discuss and was told indeed this was the case and that, at the time, some Indian based tech firm would now hold all of our contracts in their cloud.
I was forced onto the cloud with my renewal two or so years ago and had ongoing issues with the problem ridden software though toward the end of the first year it was working much more smoothly. When I went to renew I was told that I could renew cloud based or desktop so I happily switched to desktop which was cheaper and more secure. When I asked why both options were back on the table I was told that had always been the case which was certainly not true in my case. When I went back to the desktop I realized that all the contracts I had done on the cloud software the AIA had full access to but I did not which has given me problems as recently as last week and did not endear the AIA or their software to me.
Today I received an email and found to my chagrin that the AIA was once again forcing everyone to the cloud. I don't understand why the AIA is working so hard to fix a problem that did not exist.
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Nea Poole AIA
Principal
Poole & Poole Architecture, LLC
Midlothian VA
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