Overview
Fieldwire Submittals streamline the approval process for material and equipment that will need to be installed on-site. Submittals are centralized and accessible to all individuals on the Project. To gain access to this module, you can schedule a demo with our sales team or you can purchase Business Plus.
Table of Contents
- How to Enable PM on a Project
- Submittal Onboarding
- The Submittal Log Page
- The Submittal Workflow
- Quicker Workflow for Submittals
- Submittals on Mobile
How to Enable PM on a Project
For information on companies and how to enable PM on a project, please see this article.
Project Management Onboarding
If you are accessing the Submittals tab for the first time, you will see a pop-up to help get you started with Project Management in Fieldwire and setting up your “Company” on the project. First, you’ll need to add your company name and click the "Next" button. This will be the same company name for both RFIs and Submittals on the project. However, it is not automatically filled by the “Company” information you put into your profile settings.
Next, you’ll be asked to enter your company code, which will help you and your team stay organized throughout the project.
And, that’s it! In the example shown in these screenshots, we used the company name, ABC, as well as the company code, ABC.
Submittal Permissions Table
Key items to note:
- All permissions assume the user is in the same company as the current assignee unless noted.
- The “*Submitter company” is the company that requests the submittal, receives it in pending review, and takes the “Submit for approval” action.
- Admins can create new submittals when not in a company (neither manager nor contributor), and then move themselves to a company upon assigning a submittal (and will be automatically made manager).
- When a Lead company is set on the project, users in the non-Lead company cannot Respond on behalf, even if they are the ones to submit the Submittal to the Lead company user
- Lead company permissions (only applies when there is a lead company set):
- Submittals that are created and submitted directly for review to the lead company are not visible to users in the lead company other than the assignee after it moves to Pending approval unless they are added as a watcher. e.g.
- User in sub company creates a submittal and submits it for review to user X in the lead company
- User X submits that submittal for approval to user Y in the architect company
- Now, all other users in the lead company will not be able to view the submittal except for user X unless they are explicitly made a watcher.
- Submittals that are created and submitted directly for review to the lead company are not visible to users in the lead company other than the assignee after it moves to Pending approval unless they are added as a watcher. e.g.
How to set a Lead Company
To make sure that all RFIs and Submittals go through your "company" in Fieldwire, you can now set a Lead Company. To get started, you'll first want to go to the project People tab and then click on "Set lead company" for the company that you want to be considered the "lead".
After clicking on "Set lead company", you'll get a pop-up that indicates what the users in the Lead company can do vs users in the "Other companies" that were not designated to be the lead. For example, users in the Lead company can send submittals to or request submittals from any company, whereas users in the "Other companies" can only send submittals to the lead company.
Once you've decided that you do want to set a lead company, you'll need to click on the blue "Set lead company" button. After you click the blue button, you'll see the lead company indicated with a crown icon and "Lead company" next to it.
The Submittal Log Page
Any individual associated with a Company, as either a Manager or Contributor, can access the ‘Submittals’ tab - here, they are able to access each submittal in the project, independent of the ‘Status’.
The headers in this tab provide a high-level overview on the nature, order, subject, and status of the Submittals across the project. More specifically, these headers are defined below:
- #: Added when the submittal moves from Draft to Requested status, and either numbered by company, where Submittals will number sequentially based on the company that provides the submission (the submitting company’s code will be used as the prefix), or by specification, where Submittals will be numbered sequentially with the specification number as the prefix (in this case, if no specification is linked, the submittal number will have no prefix).
- Specification: The specification section is a combination of the specification section number (CSI MasterFormat) and a specification section name.
- Name: The title of the submittal, added when the Submittal is created.
- Status: The current state of the submittal, which dictates what actions are available to the users - can be ‘Draft’, ‘Requested’, ‘Pending review’, ‘Pending approval’, ‘Pending close’, ‘Closed’, and ‘Void’.
- Response: The response chosen by the Assignee when the individual submittal is in the 'Pending approval' status.
- Submission due: Added by the user requesting the submittal. It reflects the date the submitter should send the submittal to the user requesting it.
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Submission received: The date the submittal was transitioned into Pending review if it didn’t go through the submit on behalf flow
- If the submittal did go through the submit on behalf flow, it should match the value entered in the ‘Submission received’ field of the Submit on behalf modal
- Sent for approval: The date the submittal was transitioned into Pending approval.
- Response due: The date the approver should respond by.
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Response received: The date the submittal was transitioned into Pending close if it didn’t go through the respond on behalf flow
- If the submittal did go through the respond on behalf flow, it should match the value entered in the ‘Response received’ field of the Respond on behalf modal
- Response time: The number of days difference between the Sent for approval date and the Response received date.
- Reviewers: Displays the users who have been added as Reviewers on the submittal as well as whether or not they have added their response.
- Current assignee: The current owner of the Submittal’s next actions.
- Reference #: Reference number added in the Submittal 'Details', often used to refer to another party's numbering system if it differs from the Submittal #.
- Type: The type of submittal added in the Submittal 'Details' - can be Shop drawings, Sample, Product data, O&M manual, Warranty, Report, Certificate, Mockup, or Other.
- On-site Date: On-site date added in the Submittal 'Details'.
To add, remove, or sort the columns to your preference:
- Click the cog wheel icon (⚙) next to the column headers
- This opens the list of the submittal columns
- Check (or uncheck) the checkbox next to each column header that's listed
- Click the reorder icon and drag and drop the relevant column to your preferred order that will be displayed on the table
You can reset the default columns and order, by selecting Reset to default:
Note: Updates to the visible columns (and their order) in the table view will persist across your projects, however, they are user specific, and if you make changes to the visible columns or order of them, this will not reflect when another user logs into the same projects.
In addition, you'll notice the various statuses up at the top where you'll be able to easily see how many change orders are on the project in each status as well as keep track of the dollar amount that's been approved.
Exporting Submittals
If you are looking to create a summary of your project's submittals, you can do so by clicking on the Generate report button.
You will then have the option to export your data as a CSV report or a PDF report.
Upon export, your PDF report will include a Summary of all of the Submittals on your project, showing how many you have in each status. Additionally, you will see a table of all of the submittals on your project unless there are filters applied, which will also be indicated on the report.
The columns of the table will be based on whichever columns you have selected in the Web app on the submittals table view. Thus, if you have a custom selection and order of your columns on the submittals view on the Web app, this will be reflected in the PDF report as well.
Your CSV report will include all of your submittal information from your project even if there are empty columns and will look like this:
On the CSV report, you will be able to see several key details from the submittal including, Specification, Submittal number, Revision, Status, and Assignee to name just a few of the columns.
To bulk export your submittals, take the following steps:
- Select the checkbox next to each submittal that you want to export
- Click the Actions dropdown menu
- Select Export submittals
- On the email you received, click the Download submittals button
- This will download a zip folder to your device
- Unzip the file
The submittal pdfs that you now have from your bulk export will include the attachments directly in the PDF exports. This way sharing the complete documentation with relevant stakeholders is easier and quicker.
If you would like to export an individual submittal (including PDF attachments contained in the most recent "block" in the submittal, e.g. submission, review, or approval), you can either click the 3 dots to the right of the submittal line item and choose Download PDF, or you can do so from the "Actions" drop-down within the submittal itself. Any attachments can be found behind the cover pages.
Note: If the combined file size of the PDF export (including appended attachments) exceeds the email file size limit of 20mb, the export will not be included as an attachment. Instead, the email will contain a button to download the PDF.
If you want to request the submission of a Submittal, you can do so right from the Submittal overview page by clicking on the checkbox on the far left of the submittal, clicking on the 'Actions' dropdown menu, and then clicking on 'Request submission'. This will bring up a modal just as if you were within a singular submittal where you can select the Assignee, Watchers, and the Submission due date.
If you want to add, remove, or change any of the submittals responses that appear when approving (or rejecting) a submittal, you can do so by clicking on the 'Manage responses' button.
Searching for and Filtering Submittals
With a long list of submittals, you may need an easier way of locating the ones you're looking for. There are a couple of ways to do so. The first is by utilizing the search bar within the Submittals tab. This search bar is specific for Submittals and will not show any results from other areas of the Fieldwire app. It's configured to search and return results based only on submittal name and number, no other fields or content.
In addition, you can click on the Filters button to reveal several options including:
- My action required: Shows submittals that can also be found under the 'My submittals' tab
- Watching: Filters to show submittals that the logged-in user is watching
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Overdue: Shows Submittals that are in the Pending approval
status that are passed their Due date, which helps with staying up to date with every change in the field - Status: The phase that the Submittals is currently in: Draft, Requested, Pending review, Pending approval, Pending close, Closed, or Void
- Specification: Lists the Specifications that have been linked to the existing submittals
- Type: Filters by the selected Type of the submittal: Shop drawings, Sample, Product data, O&M manual, Warranty, Report, Certificate, Mockup, or Other
- Submitting company: Filters by the companies that have been created within the project
- Assignee: The individual assigned to the Submittal at that given time
- Last updated: The last time the form has been modified
Import Submittals
If you want to import your submittals to your project, you can do so directly the in Submittals tab. You can upload new submittals that will be in Draft status upon upload, or if you have finalized a submittal outside of Fieldwire but still want it in Fieldwire for reference, you can import Closed submittals.
Draft Submittals
To import draft submittals, you may want to actually start with the Specifications tab. In that tab, you have the ability to extract Submittal information directly from your Specifications. For more information on extracting Submittal information, please see this article.
Users can bulk import submittals from these Submittal extractions or from using our CSV import template. The CSV template has 4 columns:
- Specification Section: user should input the number associated with the Specification Section number in the Specifications tab. If the number on the CSV cell matches with a Specification Section number in the Specifications tab, then the two will automatically be linked within Fieldwire.
- Name: text field to name the submittal.
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Type: users can fill in a type supported within Fieldwire. If they match, the type will automatically be filled when imported. Below is a list of supported submittal types:
- Shop drawings
- Sample
- Product data
- O&M manual
- Warranty
- Report
- Certificate
- Mockup
- Other
- Description: text field to describe the submittal.
To ensure the import is successful, you must follow the format of the columns listed above.
When your CSV file is ready for import, do the following:
- Navigate to the Submittals tab
- Click on + Import submittals
- Select the Draft submittals option
- Click Select file or drag and drop your CSV into the box
The files will automatically begin to process.
Closed Submittals
To import Closed submittals, do the following:
- Navigate to the Submittals tab
- Click on + Import submittals
- Select the Closed submittals option
- Click Select files or drag and drop your documents into the box
- Click Upload files
Any file that is accepted as an attachment in an individual submittal will be accepted in this upload modal. For uploading, there is a limit of up to 100 files. If you would like to delete any of the uploaded submittals, simply click on the trash icon next to the submittal you want to delete.
Upon upload, you will be redirected to a new screen to review your uploaded submittals. First you can choose the Submitting company. Then, the Number and File columns will automatically be filled in.
Note: We recommend that you only upload submittals from one company at a time in a single batch import, since you can only assign one submitting company per upload. For example, if numbering by company, you cannot have multiple company prefixes in submittals created from a single batch import. You'd have to separate it into 2 separate imports, 1 for each company.
For the other columns on the table, do the following:
- Specifications: Click into each cell in this column and select the relevant specification you want to link with that particular Closed submittal. This is not a required field.
- Name: This is a free text field so simply enter the name you would like to give the Closed submittal. This is a required field.
- Type: Click into each cell in this column and choose from the different Types we have listed above such as Certificate and Sample. This is not a required field.
- Response: Click into each cell in this column and select the Response, such as Approved, Approved as Noted, etc. that you want to be associated with that Closed submittal. This is a required field.
- Response received: Click into each cell in this column and select the date the Response was received. This is not a required field.
- Reference number: This is a free text field so simply enter a reference number you would like to associate with the Closed submittal. This is not a required field.
Once you have filled out all of the required fields for each submittal, click the Import [number] submittals button. The Closed submittals will now be shown in the Submittals tab of your project.
Note: Imported Closed submittals will be numbered sequentially, based on the file name. In the importer spreadsheet, the files are ordered alphanumerically based on file name, and the numbers are assigned sequentially in ascending order from top to bottom. So the file name is what determines the number assigned to each submittal.
To speed up this data entry process, you can copy and paste your submittal information directly from a spreadsheet. You simply need to ensure that you have the Name and Response columns completed in order to import your Closed submittals.
The Submittal Workflow
Details Panel
In the Details panel, you'll be able to link your Specifications, add a reference number, update the Submittal "Type", add the Lead time and On-site date, as well as add a Description of the Submittal, itself. You can also see any linked Plans.
In regards to the Specification that's linked in the Details panel, there are a few things to note. Only one Specification can be linked to a Submittal, but many Submittals can be linked to one Specification. If a Submittal does not have a Specification linked to it, then any user with access to the Submittal can add one. One the flip side, any admin or the user that created the submittal<>specification link can remove or replace the Specification in the Submittal.
Note: The “Specification” is only linked to the specifications that you have uploaded to the “Specifications” tab. To edit the “Specification”, hover over the linked specification file and click on the gear icon that appears, and click “Remove”.
In addition to the Specification, there are important things to note about the Type, Lead time, On-site date, Description fields and who can edits these. While the Submittal is in 'Draft' status, these fields can be edited by any user that can see the Draft. While the Submittal is in the 'Requested' status, these fields can be edited both by users in the Submittal's Creator's Company or by users in the Submittal's Assignee's Company. This is true as well for Submittals in the 'Pending Review', 'Pending Approval', and 'Pending Close' statuses. Lastly, these fields can be edited by users in the Submittal's Creator's Company when the Submittal is in the 'Closed' status.
The Activity Feed
Throughout the Submittal workflow process, all users will be able to keep track of the status of the Submittal, when information was requested/submitted as well as who requested/submitted that information.
Watchers
In addition to the “Activity” feed, within the “Watchers” tab you’ll be able to add and remove “Watchers” at each step of the workflow. In order to do so, you’ll need to click on “+Watcher” and enter in the name of the person in your project’s Company. You can also remove that Watcher by clicking the “x” that appears by hovering over their name.
If that user is not currently on that project, you have the ability to invite them. However, please note that if the new user you are inviting is not on your Account, you will be charged an additional fee if you do not have the available license(s) to cover that user.
In addition to adding Watchers in the “Activity” feed, you’ll also be able to add/remove Watchers within certain Submittal status pop-up boxes.
Downloading Submittals
Submittals in any status can be downloaded to PDF from the 'Actions' dropdown:
Note: Submittals in draft status will include 'In Progress' values in the submission block.
Note: Submittal PDF reports now include copies of uploaded attachments in the most recent section (Submission, Review, or Approval), instead of only providing links to the attachments.
Create a Submittal
Any user that is a part of a “Company” can create a Submittal. To create a Submittal:
- Navigate to the Submittals tab
- Select + New submittal or click on the hyperlinked Create a submittal text
- Add a Name for the Submittal
- Choose the Type from the dropdown menu
- Search for the relevant Specification section name or number,
- Enter the Description of the Submittal.
- Click Create draft
Of these, only the Name is a required field in order to initially create the Draft. You can still add or edit the Name, Specification, Type, and Description for a Submittal in Draft status.
It is only possible to Delete a submittal while it is in Draft status. To do so:
- Click the Actions dropdown menu button
- Read the pop-up message to ensure this is the action you want to take as this is a permanent action after which you will not be able to retrieve the deleted submittal.
- If you wish to proceed with the deletion, click the red Delete button
Create a Submittal Draft from a Plan
Instead of creating a Submittal Draft from the Submittals tab, you can also create a Submittal directly from a Plan. To do so,
- Click on the hyperlink chain icon in the Markup toolbar
- Choose the option Add Submittal hyperlink
- Add a Name for the Submittal
- Choose the Type from the dropdown menu
- Search for the relevant Specification section name or number
- Enter the Description of the Submittal.
- Click Create draft
As stated above, of these fields, only the Name is required in order to initially create the Draft.
Request Submission
You are able to request submission of a submittal without filling out any of the fields on the submittal. In fact, it is best to not add any attachments if you are going to request submission as those attachments will no longer be on the submittal if you request submission. To change the submittal from Draft status to the Requested status:
-
Fill out the relevant, optional fields on the submittal under the Details panel
- Specification
- Reference number
- Type
- Lead time
- On-site date
- Description
- Click the blue Send dropdown button.
- Select Request Submission
- Enter the Assignee, which is required
- Add Watchers, which is optional
- Choose the Submission due date, which is required
- Enter an optional Message
- Select/deselect the checkbox to enable (or disable) assignee email reminders.
- Click Request
The status of the Submittal will change to Requested, and the Submittal will be sent to the chosen Assignee for review.
An email notification will be sent to the new Assignee directing them to upload their submittal attachment to the submittal:
Once the submission of the submittal has been requested and the submittal has moved into the Requested status, the submitting company can still do a few things on the submittal:
- Click the Actions dropdown menu
- Select Submit on behalf
- This allows Managers in the submitting company to provide a submission on the submittal that they may have received from outside of Fieldwire
- Select Download PDF
- Select Email
- This allows Managers in the submitting company to email the Submittal to users outside of the project
- Submittal PDF reports now include copies of uploaded attachments in the most recent section (Submission, Review, or Approval), instead of only providing links to the attachments.
- This allows Managers in the submitting company to email the Submittal to users outside of the project
- Choose to Void the Submittal
- Select Submit on behalf
- Fill out the fields in the Details panel on the right-hand side of the screen
- Change the Submission due date
- This gives Managers in the submitting company the flexibility to change the date in case a mistake was made on the original request or the date needs to be changed for some unforeseen circumstance.
Submittal Numbering
When the submittal moves from Draft to Requested status, the Submittal number is assigned, which can be numbered by company, where Submittals will number sequentially based on the company that provides the submission. The submitting company’s code will be used as the prefix. Alternatively, you can choose to number by specification, where Submittals will be numbered sequentially with the specification number as the prefix. In this case, if no specification is linked, the submittal number will have no prefix.
The Submittal number format can be managed in the Project settings:
Submit for Review
After the Assignee receives the Submittal, they are prompted to submit the relevant files for review. To do this, the Assignee will need to upload one or more relevant Attachment(s). To do so:
- Click on the blue Add submission dropdown button
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Choose either Attach from Files or + Upload new file
- When attaching existing Files from your project to the Submittal, you can simply click within the search field, and you'll see a list of all of your files currently on the project. You can scroll up and down this list to locate the correct one.
- Add optional Notes.
- Click Submit
- Choose a new Assignee
- Provide an optional Message
- Click Submit on the pop-up
Once the Submittal is sent for review, the new Assignee will receive an email notification, and the Submittal will move to the Pending Review status.
Submit on behalf
After the Submittal has been advanced to the Requested status, any user in the submittal creator’s company can submit information on behalf of the Assignee.
This allows the creator to take over the document and submit on behalf of the user that was asked to respond. In other words, if the requested submission gets sent via email back to the requester, and you need to download it, this allows the creator (or any user in the creator’s company) to upload it to Fieldwire so that the Submittal can be moved on to the next step, Pending Review. When the submittal response is returned, it will be delivered to the original user that it was requested from.
To add an extra layer of transparency in this part of the process, you are required to provide the date when the submission was received.
Submit for Approval
After completing the ‘Draft’, a blue ‘Send’ dropdown button will be available. By clicking the blue dropdown button, you'll see two options, "Request Submission" and "Submit for Approval". This workflow will be going over the 'Submit for approval' option.
To be able to select the Submit for approval option, you must first attach a file to the Submittal. To do so:
- Click on the blue Add submission dropdown button
-
Choose either Attach from Files or + Upload new file
- When attaching existing Files from your project to the Submittal, you can simply click within the search field, and you'll see a list of all of your files currently on the project. You can scroll up and down this list to locate the correct one.
- Add optional Notes.
- Click the blue Send dropdown button
- Select Submit for approval
After selecting ‘Submit for approval’, follow these steps:
- Select either Project user or Email address for the Assign to row
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Choose an Assignee
- Project user provides a dropdown in the Assignee row allowing you to assign the Submittal directly to someone already on the project in Fieldwire
- Email address provides a free text field in the Assignee row allowing you to assign the Submittal to external users not currently on the project
-
Add Reviewers
- This option is available if you chose Project user and your workflow necessitates having several individuals review the Submittal
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Add CC's
- This option is available if you chose Email address and you want other people outside of Fieldwire to receive a copy of the Submittal. Recently used emails will show up in the CC field.
-
- The record of who was CC'd is captured in the Activity Log
- Add Watchers, this is not required to submit the Submittal
- Add the Response due date, this field is required to submit the Submittal
- Add an optional Message
- Click Submit
Note: You can use the "Reviewers" drop-down to assign any individuals who may need to provide responses to the submittal in addition to the Assignee. When a user is designated as a Reviewer, they will automatically become Watchers on the submittal as well (they disappear from the "Watchers" drop-down).
Note: There is a checkbox that you can select/deselect to enable assignee email reminders if you're assigning to a Project User or an Email Address. Once these fields are filled,. The checkbox next to "Email the assignee a copy of the submittal" is a new feature as the system would automatically send an email copy to the Assignee. Now, you have the option to not send an email to the assignee of a Submittal.
If you chose to assign the Submittal to a 'Project user', this will move the Submittal into the 'Pending approval' status, and an email notification will be sent to the new Assignee directing them to approve the submission in Fieldwire.
If you're assigning the Submittal to an "Email address", the assignee will receive an email copy of the Submittal. In the email, they are provided with the name of the Submittal as well as instructions stating that they have been assigned this submittal and to reply to the email with their submittal review, which will send an email to the creator of the Submittal so that the creator can respond on the assignee's behalf.
Note: Only the Lead Company can assign Submittals to email addresses.
Once the Submittal is assigned to the email address, you'll see that the Assignee field in the header is flagged to indicate that the they are an external user. In addition, this email address will appear in the activity feed, in the table, and in any reports created.
Once an external email address is used, you'll be able to select it again when assigning a Submittal to an email address on all other Submittals on the project. This is provide a quicker workflow as well as a built-in validation as well as prevent any duplicates or potential formatting errors.
Once the submittal has been submitted for approval and the submittal has moved into the Pending Approval status, the submitting company can still do a few things on the submittal:
- Click the Actions dropdown menu
- Select Respond on behalf
- This allows Managers in the submitting company to provide a response on the submittal that they may have received from outside of Fieldwire
- Select Download PDF
- Select Email
- This allows Managers in the submitting company to email the Submittal to users outside of the project
- Choose to Void the Submittal
- Choose to Unvoid the Submittal
- The new “unvoid” action allows teams to seamlessly restore voided Submittals to their previous status; preserving data continuity and reducing manual effort.
- Select Respond on behalf
- Click the Reassign button
- Update the Assignee of the submittal
- Managers in the submitter company can reassign submittals which reduces inefficiencies when the original assignee is unavailable.
- Add Reviewers
- Update the Assignee of the submittal
- Change the Response due date
- This gives Managers in the submitting company the flexibility to change the date in case a mistake was made on the original submission or the date needs to be changed for some unforeseen circumstance.
Provide Response (Pending Approval)
If there are no Reviewers designated, when the Submittal moves into ‘Pending Approval’, the Assignee (or individual associated with the Assignee’s company) will need to respond to the Submittal. To provide a response to the Submittal, the assignee will need to choose a response, from the Response drop-down menu:
Here is what the modal looks like if Reviewers were also chosen:
In addition to the response drop-down menu, the Assignee, individuals associated with the Assignee’s company, or Reviewers will need to Approve or Reject the review. To do so, you'll need to click on the blue "Add review" drop-down menu. By clicking on that drop-down menu, you'll see three options: "Review in Fieldwire", "Attach from Files", and "+ Upload new file".
If you are a Managers in the approver's (current Assignee) company, you can reassign submittals by clicking the Reassign button. This reduces inefficiencies when the original assignee is unavailable.
If you select "Review in Fieldwire", the Assignee, individual associated with the Assignee’s company, or Reviewer will be able to review that submittal's attachment(s). During that review process, they'll be able to add markups, download the attachment, etc. Once they are finished, they'll need to click "Save and attach".
The assignee or reviewer can then optionally include ‘Notes’, but must include an attachment, in order to ‘Send’ the Submittal back to the user that submitted it to them or another user in their company.
If Reviewers were also added, but have not yet added their responses, the Assignee will see this warning prior to sending their response:
Independent of the ‘Response’ that is selected, the Submittal will be moved to ‘Pending Close’.
An Email Notification is sent to the Assignee after the status changes.
If the Reviewer realizes that they need to update their Review, Response, or Notes, they can do so as long as the Submittal is still in the "Pending approval" status. To update those fields, the Reviewer will need to:
- Click on the kebab menu (⋮)
- Click Edit response
- By doing so, the Reviewer will be able to edit the text in the Additional responses section
- Click the blue Save button
When a Lead company is set on the project, users in the Lead company can choose to Respond on behalf of the Assignee. After clicking on the Respond on behalf option, you'll need to
- Add Review
- Provide a Response
- Update the date for the Response received
- Provide any additional Notes (optional)
Note: Users who are not in the Lead company will not see this option to Respond on behalf even if they are the ones to submit the Submittal to the Lead company user.
Accept and Close (Pending Close)
After the Submittal moves to ‘Pending close’, the Assignee will need to ‘Close’ the Submittal, which will move the Submittal into a non-editable state. After selecting ‘Close’, the Assignee has the option to send an optional email message to the original creator, the Reviewers, and any additional Watchers they want to include on the “Distribution list”:
All users that have access to the submittal will see all of the responses that were posted. The Assignee and Reviewers will be able to download a PDF copy or email the submittal.
An Email Notification is sent to the Assignee and any Reviewers after the status changes.
Request Resubmission (Requested)
However, if the Assignee does not want to close the Submittal, but instead wants modifications made to the Submittal, they can choose to “Create revision”.
After clicking on “Create revision”, the Assignee will see a pop-up asking them to fill in the “Assignee”, “Watchers”, and “Submission due” fields.
Creating this revision will move the Submittal back into the “Requested” status, and this will be reflected in the Activity feed.
Closed
After the Submittal is closed, an email notification will be sent to the Submitter to view the response and download the attachment. No further action is required, but you can choose to re-open the closed Submittal if necessary.
Unvoid
If a user makes a mistake or for some reason an RFI should no longer be voided and is actually still needed for the project, this gives them the flexibility to move it back out of void status. After voiding a submittal, you can click on actions and you should see the option to unvoid a voided submittal.
Quicker Workflow for Submittals
Draft (Create a Submittal)
Any user that is part of a “Company” can create a Submittal. To create a Submittal, navigate to the Submittals tab, and select “+ New submittal” or click on “Create a submittal”:
Add a “Name” for the Submittal, choose the “Type”, search for the relevant “Specification” section name or number, and enter the ‘Description’ of the Submittal. Of these, only the “Name” is required in order to create the Draft. Users can still add or edit the “Name”, “Section”, “Type”, and “Details” in a Draft Submittal. The ‘Section’ and ‘Type’ of Submittal is required prior to moving to the next stage.
Bulk Request or Delete Draft Submittals
If submittals are in the "Draft" status/still awaiting submission, you can use the checkboxes to select as many as you'd like in order to facilitate a bulk action. Once your submittals are selected, use the "Actions" drop-down to choose "Request submission" or "Delete" for all selected submittals.
Note: If all selected Submittals aren't in a "Draft" status, the "Request submission" and "Delete" options will be greyed out.
Submit for Approval
Once the Submittal has been created and is in Draft status, you can speed up the Submittal process by submitting it for approval. This skips the "Requested" and "Pending review" steps. To do so, you need to click on the blue "Add submission" dropdown button and either attach an existing file on the project or upload a new file from your computer.
Once you have attached or uploaded a file, you need to click on the blue "Send" dropdown button and select "Submit for approval".
After clicking "Submit for approval",
- Select either Project user or Email address for the Assign to row
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Choose an Assignee
- Project user provides a dropdown in the Assignee row allowing you to assign the Submittal directly to someone already on the project in Fieldwire
- Email address provides a free text field in the Assignee row allowing you to assign the Submittal to external users not currently on the project
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Add Reviewers
- This option is available if you chose Project user and your workflow necessitates having several individuals review the Submittal
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Add CC's
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This option is available if you chose Email address and you want other people outside of Fieldwire to receive a copy of the Submittal. Recently used emails will show up in the CC field.
- The record of who was CC'd is captured in the Activity Log
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This option is available if you chose Email address and you want other people outside of Fieldwire to receive a copy of the Submittal. Recently used emails will show up in the CC field.
- Add Watchers, this is not required to submit the Submittal
- Add the Response due date, this field is required to submit the Submittal
- Add an optional Message
- Click Submit
At this point, the Submittal will follow the same workflow as the "Provide Response (Pending Approval)" section above.
Submittals on Mobile
Although most functionality with Submittals is currently limited to the web version of Fieldwire, they can still be viewed on Android and iOS devices.
Android
Open the "Submittals" tab to view any submittals that have been created on the web.
Most items within the submittal will be greyed out, but the "see all history" link is clickable on mobile.
iOS
Open the "Submittals" tab to view any submittals that have been created on the web.
Most items within the submittal will not be clickable, but the "show all history" link is viewable on mobile.
More Information
- Get Started with RFIs in Fieldwire
- Pro and Business Subscriptions: The Features You Get and How To Set Them Up
Submittals Tutorial
Submittals