The new tool to keep design projects moving
A client rejects a product. The comment comes through: “Love the shape, but not the color.” Or “Looking for something similar at a lower price point.”
Until now, that feedback has meant starting the search all over again. Reviewing your Product Library, searching supplier websites, comparing alternatives, and hours spent rebuilding a shortlist before the project can move forward.
Alternative Product Recommendations shortens that process.
When a client rejects a product and leaves feedback, Programa analyzes the original product alongside the comment and surfaces a shortlist of relevant alternatives for you to review. You assess the options, select your preferred alternative to send back to the client, and keep the project moving.
Programa handles the initial research. The specification decision stays with you.
Alternative Product Recommendations will appear in your Pulse feed and within the Approvals tab of your Schedule.
Coming soon to Programa in July 2026.
Transform your specification to visualization workflow
Here’s when to use the new Programa SketchUp extension at different stages of your design process:
1. You’ve started building a new model
Adding 3D product models to your design that actually look like what you’ve specified in your Schedule has never been easier.
Open the extension in SketchUp and select a product from your Product Library. Programa then searches SketchUp’s 3D Warehouse on your behalf to surface the closest available matches.
Choose the model that works best, then simply drag and drop it directly into your design.
2. It’s time to add materials and swatches
Any product image saved in your Product Library can be used as a SketchUp material, including tiles, stone, timber, paint colors, and other patterned surfaces.
Open the three-dot menu on a product, select Add to materials panel, choose the image you’d like to use as the swatch, and apply it directly to faces and components in your model.
3. The project is growing and it’s time to sense check
As projects become more detailed, keeping track of what’s been specified and what’s actually been modeled is essential.
The Programa SketchUp extension makes this easy.
Search for any product in the Programa extension and select Find in model. Programa instantly locates every instance of that product across the entire SketchUp file, helping you review model placements, double-check quantities and identify potential inconsistencies.
Transform your specification to visualization workflow with the Programa SketchUp Extension, available for free in the SketchUp Extension Warehouse.
What’s next for financial tools at Programa
Our upcoming upgrade to our Schedules feature lays the foundation for a new generation of financial tools inside Programa.
The first step is Budgets, giving studios a clearer view of planned spend, actual project costs, and overall project performance as work progresses.
Once a project is underway, you’ll be able to compare budgeted spend against actuals across products and fees, with visibility at both the project and location level. Products already specified in your Schedule will flow directly into the budget view, creating a more connected relationship between specification data and financial oversight.
This is also the beginning of a much bigger investment in financial reporting across Programa.
Beyond budget tracking, we’re developing additional reporting capabilities designed to give studios greater visibility into profitability, project performance, invoicing, payments, and cash flow.
The goal is simple. Less time building spreadsheets. More time understanding how your projects and business are performing.
More to share soon as we move closer to launch.
