Introduction

The ‘open submittal workflow’ allows a user (who performs an action on the submittal) to choose the next person in the flow without being guided by any predefined workflow. This means that the creator of the submittal can send the submittal to one user and the recipient can then send the submittal to another user. Additionally, each user has the option to send the submittal with an ‘approved’ or ‘rejected’ status. When the recipient forwards the submittal to another user, he/she hands over the approval and rejection authority to that user.


The submittal closes once the last reviewer sends the submittal back to the original creator of the submittal. The submittal must have an approved status within the due date of the submittal to be closed. The creator can then reassign a submittal once it has been returned to the creator with a rejection status.


Open submittal creation

  • To create a submittal, navigate to the ‘Submittal Dashboard’ screen.
  • Then click on the [Create Submittal] button present on the top right-hand corner.  
  • The ‘Create submittal’ screen appears and it has the ‘open submittal workflow’ attached by default.

Screenshot displaying the open submittal workflow attached before the creation of a new submittal

  • To attach a previously used project workflow or a standard workflow, click the [ ] button.

Screenshot displaying Project workflows and Standard workflows

  • To create a new open workflow, click the [Select workflow] button for the open workflow option.  You will then be asked to submit the following information
    • Submittal Number: Enter any number to identify the Submittal. The value could be alphanumeric with a maximum length of 15-20 characters. These will be unique project-wise.
    • Submittal Name: Name of the submittal. Alpha numeric entries are eligible.
    • Submittal Type:  Type of submittal categories. Pre-populated categories are: Attic/Extra Stock, Bonds, Certificates, LEED, Operations & Maintenance Data, Product Data, Reports, Samples, Shop Drawings, Warranty, and OTHER. Pre-defined submittal types are kept at a Global level (for all accounts – across projects – master list to be used across project), whereas the ‘OTHER’ submittal type are kept at the project level. When the user selects ‘Other’, a textbox appears, and the submittal type has to be manually entered.
    • Due Date: Select date within which the submittal must be approved. Use the calendar as MM/DD/YYYY
    • Custom Fields: Enter suitable information in the custom fields associated with the Submittals (not mandatory). User can create these custom fields in the ‘Submittal Settings’ section. These fields will not appear if user has not created them previously from the submittal settings screen.
  • Once you have populated the information, click [Create] to create the open submittal
  • Alternatively, you can also click on [Create & submit] to create the open submittal workflow and automatically open the submittal modal window.
  • The recently created submittal is displayed on the ‘Submittal dashboard’ screen with the status: OPEN.

Screenshot displaying recently created Submittal with OPEN status


Submitting a submittal to a primary recipient

  • To view the ‘Submittal modal window’, click on the recently created submittal [highlighted in the screenshot above.]

Screenshot displaying the Submittal modal window

  • From this window, you can send the submittal to any user provided that the user is an account user (employee user) or has full access to the project (within which the submittal is created). Note that only one user can be added at a time.
  • To send the submittal to the primary recipient, select the [Contacts] button in the ‘Assigned to’ field. Note that this field is mandatory.
  • You can also assign users to the CC field (optional) – these users will only be able to view the submittal
  • Upload a file to be submitted for approval (mandatory) either from your ‘Project Files’ or your computer. To upload files from your computer, you can also drag and drop files.
  • Enter ‘comments’ (optional)
  • Note that when the creator or CC users view the submittal, all fields will appear disabled except for the ‘Comments’ field. These users can enter comments and download the original file attached with the submittal report.

Screenshot displaying a submittal (after submission) as viewed by creator or any users in ‘CC’:

  • Once you have completed the fields in the ‘Submittal modal window,’ the status of the submittal will change to SUBMITTED.

Screenshot displaying the change is status of the submittal

  • The intended recipient will receive the submittal under the ‘My submittal’ tab of the same project.

Please Note: The recipient of the submittal must be an account user (in that case have full access to the project) or a shared user (to whom the project is shared with full access permission).

  • For the recipient to view the submittal, click on the specific submittal (choose from the row of submittals in ‘My Submittals’ tab.)

Screenshot displaying submittal when viewed by the recipient

  • (Optional step) The recipient has the option to download the submittal document (V1.pdf) {by clicking [Download] on top right-hand corner of the screen}, make changes to that document (on his/her local system) and upload the edited document {either by dragging & dropping the file in the space provided or my clicking [Choose file].}
  • Also note that all fields will appear active after uploading the submittal document. The recipient now has the following options
    • Forward the submittal to another user thereby transferring the approval and rejection authority to another user.
    • Approve (can select 3 separate approval statuses) or reject (can select 3 separate rejection statuses) the submittal and send the submittal back to creator.
    • Approve (can select 3 separate approval statuses) or reject (can select 3 separate rejection statuses) the submittal and then send the submittal to another user or reviewer (secondary recipient)
      • In both cases, the recipient can ‘CC’ users (with viewing capabilities).


Forwarding an open submittal

  • As a recipient, to forward the submittal to another user, click the [Forward] button. The following pop-up box will appear.

Screenshot displaying the Forward Submittal pop-up screen

  • From you Contact list, select the ‘additional reviewers’ and ‘CC’ users (if required)

Please Note: By forwarding the submittal, the recipient is passing approval or rejection permission to the additional reviewers. The current recipient (who is forwarding the submittal) will not be able to approve or reject the submittal any more unless it is send back him/her.


Approving open submittal

  • To approve the submittal, recipient must click the [Approve] button.
  •  The user also has the option to send the submittal to another reviewer or back to the original creator of the submittal.

Screenshot displaying the Approve Submittal window


Please Note: The recipient can make three types of approvals. The options are ‘Approved’, ‘Approved as Noted’ & ‘Custom Status’. If Users’ approval doesn’t fit the default options ‘Approved’ and ‘Approved as Noted,’ they can also choose ‘Custom Status.’ Note that the maximum limit of entering custom status is 20 characters.

  • Once you have chosen an approval status, users can choose Additional Reviewers in the ‘To’ field to send the submittal to the next reviewer.
  • Click [Send] to send the submittal to next reviewer (secondary recipient) with the approved status

Please Note: The recipient can select the Additional Reviewers in the ‘To’ textbox either in the original submittal screen as shown below

Or, the recipient can select the Additional Reviewers in the ‘To’ textbox on the Approve/Reject popup box as shown below,


For both methods, selecting the additional review in one place will automatically populate the selected email in the other ‘To’ textbox.


  • The status of the submittal will not change, it will remain ‘SUBMITTED’ but the recipient cannot make any further changes to the submittal as shown below,

  • The next user can then approve and send the submittal to another user to check, reject or send the submittal to another user. Therefore, the submittal can get forwarded to ‘N’ number of users, until the last user (out of the total no. of reviewers) sends the submittal back to the original submitter. Note that any submission exceeding the due date is not considered.
  • The status of the submittal will remain as SUBMITTED until the last user who receives the submittal sends it back to the creator. When the creator receives the submittal, the status changes to APPROVED, REJECTED or a CUSTOM STATUS.
  • Please Note: To send the submittal back to the original creator with the approved or rejected status, the recipient must leave the Additional Reviewers (Optional) ‘To’ field blank.

For example, assume that the recipient approves the submittal with a custom status of ‘Correct plan’ and sends the submittal to another user or reviewer (secondary recipient). The next review will receive the following email notification:


The secondary recipient can view the submittal sent to him/her under the ‘My submittal’ tab. After opening the submittal, assume that he/she proceeds to approve the submittal by clicking the [Approve] button. The following popup will appear,


Here, the secondary recipient can choose any one of the approval statuses. If he/she chooses the ‘custom approval status’ option, then he/she can either choose the custom status entered by the previous recipient or can enter a new custom status (by clicking the [Add a custom status] link). After this, assume that he/she chooses to send the submittal back to the creator of the submittal by leaving the Additional Reviewers - ‘To’ field blank and clicking the [Send] button. The following popup box appears,


When the submittal is sent back to the creator, the status of the submittal changes to [Approve] {if approval with custom status, the custom status is shown on the Submittal Dashboard screen}. The approved submittal will appear under the creators My submittals tab as shown below,


Please Note: All users in the submittal chain including the creator can view the submittal but can not perform any actions on the submittal because all fields will appear disabled.

Screenshot displaying submittal fields disabled


The submittal will now appear closed with the status of approved.


Rejecting open submittal

  • To reject a submittal, the recipient can click the [Reject] button. This allows the user to send the submittal to another reviewer or back to the original creator.

Screenshot displaying the Reject Submittal window


Please Note: The recipient can reject the submittal in three ways. These are ‘Revise and Resubmit’, ‘Reject’ & ‘Custom Status’. If Users’ rejection doesn’t fit the default options ‘Revise and Resubmit’ and ‘Reject,’ they can also choose ‘Custom Status.’ Note that the maximum limit of entering custom status is 20 characters.

  • After choosing one of the rejection statuses, users can populate the Additional Reviewers - ‘To’ field by selecting a user from their contact list.
  • Click [Send] to forward the submittal to the next user with the rejection status

Please note: The status of the submittal will not change and will remain as SUBMITTED. However, the recipient cannot make any further changes to the submittal as shown below,


  • The next user can then approve and send the submittal to another user to check, reject or send the submittal to another user. Therefore, the submittal can get forwarded to ‘N’ number of users, until the last user (out of the total no. of reviewers) sends the submittal back to the original submitter. Note that any submission exceeding the due date is not considered.
  • The status of the submittal will remain as ‘SUBMITTED’ until the last user who receives the submittal sends it back to the creator. When the creator received the submittal, the status changes to approved or rejected or any custom status.

Please Note: To send the submittal back to the original creator of the submittal with any one of the three approval/rejection status, the recipient will have to leave the Additional Reviewers (Optional) ‘To’ field blank.

For example, assume that the recipient rejects the submittal with a custom status of Incorrect plan. The recipient can now send the submittal to another user or reviewer (secondary recipient). The next reviewer will receive the following email notification,

The secondary recipient can now view the submittal sent to him/her under the ‘My submittal’ tab. After opening the submittal, assume that he/she proceeds to reject the submittal by clicking the [Reject] button. The following popup will appear,

The secondary recipient can now choose one of the three rejection statuses. If he/she chooses custom approval status, then he/she can choose the custom status entered by the primary/previous recipient or can enter a new custom status (by clicking the [Add a custom status] link). After this, assume that he/she chooses to send the submittal back to the creator of the submittal by keeping the Additional Reviewers - ‘To’ field blank before clicking [Send]. The following popup box appears when user clicks the [Send] button,


When the submittal is sent back to the creator, the status of the submittal changes to [Reject] {if rejection with custom status is chosen} on the Submittal Dashboard screen}. All users in the submittal chain (except the creator) will not be able to populate any fields in the submittal (except add comment) after the submittal is submitted back to the creator. This is shown below,

  • To view the rejected submittal, the creator must go to the ‘My submittals’ tab.

Screenshot displaying creator’s My Submittals tab:

  • From this tab, the creator can open the rejected submittal.
  • To reassign the submittal to any of the previous recipients or to any new user, click the [Resubmit] button. As the creator, you can also add comments.

Screenshot displaying rejected submittal (for creator)


Scenarios

The following section outlines different scenarios that a user might encounter.


If a single approver rejects the submittal, the cumulative submittal status will be “Rejected”. For a submittal to be approved, all approvers need to certify the status of the submittal as “Approved” (the last approval status is recorded as the submittal status). Note that higher priority is given to the “Rejected” status than the “Approved” status.


If any given submittal has been sent between multiple users, the last assigned status will be considered the final status of the submittal after it is sent to the submitter.


Example 1 – When a submittal is created, its status is ‘Open’. Once the submittal is submitted, the status changes to ‘Submitted’. In this example, assume that there are 5 reviewers. Reviewer 1 and 3 approve the submittal. Reviewer 2 rejects the submittal. Reviewer 4 and 5 approve the submittal. The status will remain as ‘Submitted’ until the submittal is returned to the creator. At this time, the submittal status will be ‘Rejected.’ This is because, all assignees must approve the submittal for the status to be ‘Approved.’


Example 2 – When a submittal is created, its status is ‘Open’. Once the submittal is submitted, the status changes to ‘Submitted’. In this example, assume that there are 3 reviewers. Reviewer 1 approves the submittal, reviewer 2 approves the submittal and reviewer 3 approves the submittal. The status will remain as ‘Submitted’ until the submittal is returned to the creator. When reviewer 3 returns the submittal to the creator, the status changes to ‘Approved.’


Example 3 – When a submittal is created, its status is ‘Open’. Once the submittal is submitted, the status changes to ‘Submitted’. In this example, assume that there are 3 reviewers. Reviewer 1 marks the submittal ‘Approved with notes’ (this is a custom status). Reviewer 2 marks the submittal approved. Reviewer 3 marks the submittal ‘Revise and Resubmit’ (this is a rejection status). When reviewer 3 returns the submittal to the submitter, the status will be ‘Revise and Resubmit.’ This is because the status submitted by the last reviewer before the submittal was sent to the creator was ‘Revise and Resubmit.’