An architectural firm of 300-plus employees, Diamond Schmitt thoroughly explored its content management system (CMS) options—which involved installing two other CMS solutions—before landing on the scalable, future-fit AVAIL system in January 2023. AVAIL’s visual user interface, customization options, broad file-type support, and robust Revit integrations made it the firm’s clear winner.
The CMS Assessment Process
Uninstalling a content management system (CMS) and transitioning to a new platform can be daunting. No architectural firm understands that more than Diamond Schmitt. In the last nine years, Diamond Schmitt’s dedicated Digital Practice team has navigated three different platform migrations.
The team always saw the advantage of a CMS, but the first two platforms Diamond Schmitt used were not able to keep up with their expectations and expanding needs. From the previous platform’s analytics, the team could see the firm’s user engagement was low. Additionally, feedback was lackluster from the few who were using it, especially when it came to the platform’s search functionality.
Given how time-consuming and disruptive it had been to train teams to use new platforms, Diamond Schmitt’s Digital Practice team decided to conduct a thorough assessment of the CMS platform options available before choosing their next platform. The team felt compelled to use a systematic approach and established different analysis categories that were important to how they worked, as well as scoring across all the categories.
Through an extensive research and assessment process that involved demos and interviews with the prospective platforms, the CMS solution that Diamond Schmitt ultimately selected was AVAIL. Among the firm’s favorite features were AVAIL’s user interface and search functionality. Explore how the platform earned its high score below.
Winning Marks: Diamond Schmitt’s Favorite AVAIL Features
Diamond Schmitt conducted a thorough test of the market’s content management systems. Here are the analysis categories that earned AVAIL its winning marks.
Easy to adopt overall
Having already shaped a CMS strategy, Diamond Schmitt’s Digital Practice team found it very easy to migrate to AVAIL. The highly customizable interface allowed the Digital Practice team to prepare the Channels and Key Cards in a way that Diamond Schmitt staff was already familiarized with and created an easy transition between platforms.
Visual user interface for designers
Serving a team of architects, the Digital Practice team knew visuals would be important. AVAIL offered the best user interface for the design team’s needs.
Customization options for BIM team
The customization of the user interface that AVAIL offered was a valuable asset. Customizing Channel Cards and filters made it possible to deliver a familiar-looking content library that led Diamond Schmitt to greater adoption overall. The Digital Practice team was also able to tailor AVAIL specifically for Diamond Schmitt’s new workflows involving lean templates.
Broad file-type support
Diamond Schmitt’s team works a great deal in Revit, but the Digital Practice team was looking for a system that offered broader file-type support. Today, Diamond Schmitt leverages AVAIL as an overall one-stop shop for Revit Families, Dynamo scripts, and Grasshopper elements. Additionally, AVAIL was able to easily integrate with the company BIM manuals, standards, and workflow documentation that are delivered through Miro and intranet website.
Revit plugin Project Navigator
AVAIL’s integrated Revit add-in, Project Navigator also earned the CMS high marks with the Diamond Schmitt team. As a companion to Revit’s native Project Browser, AVAIL’s Project Navigator add-in serves as a reminder of the firm’s dedicated library in AVAIL’s CMS. Now, Project Navigator is a natural part of Diamond Schmitt’s designers’ daily workflow.
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AVAIL's Revit plugin Project Navigator makes it easy to search for Revit elements in a project.
Explore more AVAIL for Revit plugins and features.
User engagement
Because it was such an intuitive system, Diamond Schmitt’s content management user engagement increased greatly with AVAIL. Previously there was a very small pool of users engaging with the old system monthly. “With AVAIL, we have 180 people using it on a daily basis,” Director of Digital Practice Victor Lima says.
Clearly, the Digital Practice team’s due diligence in testing CMS platforms paid off. The team looks forward to optimizing Diamond Schmitt’s usage of AVAIL further as they become more comfortable with the platform and AVAIL continues to develop exciting, new features.
Explore all of AVAIL's content management features.
AEC’s Choice for Content Management
AVAIL is proud to be Diamond Schmitt’s preferred content management solution, and we are continually developing features to earn that title with our customers. Palettes, for example, was recently released as a Desktop feature and gives all users the power to curate unique lists of content to streamline workflows from project to project. Additionally, the Related Content feature designed to keep related files together for increased efficiency, is now available in the AVAIL 5.0 Preview Release.
Firms who have already thought through their firm’s content management—like Diamond Schmitt, SMMA, and Cushing Terrell—are the easiest to migrate to AVAIL. Last year, a third of our customers who switched from another CMS were onboarded in about a month’s time.
Ready to switch your team to AVAIL, too? We can help! Book a demo today.
About Diamond Schmitt
Founded in 1975 by architects Jack Diamond and Donald Schmitt, Diamond Schmitt is a global architectural firm headquartered in Toronto, Canada – with additional studios in Vancouver, Calgary, and New York. Known for their transformative, purpose-driven, and highly sustainable buildings, the firm creates innovative design solutions for leading cultural, academic, research, healthcare, and civic spaces worldwide. Diamond Schmitt's visionary designs can be found in more than 50 cities around the world.
ABOUT AVAIL
Founded in 2016 as a solution for architecture and engineering firms to find the information they need faster, AVAIL creates software for the global architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. AVAIL’s content management system (CMS) platform and Revit application tools help designers and engineers take control of their intricate network of files in one visual, streamlined solution. AVAIL’s customers include industry leaders like Gensler, Perkins&Will, IMEG, LEO A DALY, and Populous.
