The process of reviewing, marking up and processing a digital submittal has been vastly improved in 5.0 with the introduction of markup stamps and some improved workflow. Here is how it works:
1) In the example below, I receive a “digital” submittal consisting of a PDF shop drawing as an attachment to an email and select the option to file it as a New Submittal:
2) After selecting the project and option to log a new submittal, I complete the submittal information dialog and select OK:
3) Notice in the previous dialog, I could have selected the Next Action option to forward the submittal to another team member for them to review. This would allow me to assign them a “Due Back” date and track their progress. However, let’s assume I am going to review this submittal myself by going to the Submittals activity center, selecting the submittal and accessing the equipment plan PDF from the “Received” action in the History tab, as shown below:
4) After double clicking on the PDF, it opens in the Newforma Viewer. I can zoom around to review the drawing, mark it up and save all my markups as views that are then visible within the Markup Sessions activity center. Saved markup views also become bookmarks in any PDF’s you create from this markup, so it’s a good idea to save each markup to make it easy for the contractor or other team members to find them:
5) Once you have added all your comments, you can optionally add a markup stamp. Markup stamps are actually created from AutoCAD blocks using any version of AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT. Here is how you add a stamp:
6) Markup Stamps work very much like AutoCAD blocks in that you can add AutoCAD Attributes to create standard text fields within your markup stamps. And there are a series of “smart” attributes such as Project Number, Submittal ID, etc. that “auto-default” when used within certain workflows. The screen shot below demonstrates this. Since I opened the markup session from a project submittal, the current project is set, the active item defaults to the correct submittal and I am able to select the appropriate Submittal “Action” from my company’s standard drop down list of options:
7) Here is the submittal stamp after I insert it into my markup session. This is just a simple sample stamp that ships with Fifth Edition. As I mentioned above, you can change the graphics, fonts and even add your company logo or scanned signature to your markup stamps using AutoCAD:
8) To send the markup back to the contactor as a PDF response, I select the PDF toolbar button and select the option to Send PDF:
9) Again, the context of the current workflow results in the default action to send the PDF as an attachment to the submittal response:
10) I then type in my comments to the contractor and select “Create Response”:
11) Because the action was “Revise and Resubmit”, I am prompted to create an “Expected Re-submittal”. This will log the expected re-submittal, track it as an open item and notify me if the contractor’s re-submittal is coming due or late:
12) Since I chose “Via Email” as my response method, an Outlook email is composed for me with the submittal transmittal and markup attached as a PDF:
13) Before filing it to the project, I check the PDF by opening it in the Adobe Reader – This is what it will look like to the contractor:
14) Right about now, you might be thinking that the workflow I just demonstrated looks pretty slick for submittals containing just a single drawing or document. If life were only so simple! 
But what if the submittal contains multiple drawings all of which need to be reviewed and marked up as part of a consolidated response to the contractor?
In that case, instead of using Send PDF as I showed above, I would use “Create PDF” to create individual PDF files from each of my markup sessions, as shown below:
15) In doing so, I want to be sure to check the “Add to Project Item” option which ensures that no matter where I save the PDF in the project, it will be “linked” to the correct submittal as a supporting document:
16) I repeat this same process for each drawing or document in the submittal, linking each of my markup session PDF files back to the submittal as a supporting document. When I complete my submittal review process, the Supporting Documents tab of the Submittals Activity Center will display each one of these PDF markups, and I can proceed to create my submittal response:
17) And when I select the “Respond to Sender” task, the first dialog allows me to select any or all of the supporting documents to include in my response:
From here, the process is the same as before. I fill in the submittal response form, the three PDF files are attached, and I process the response with the “Revise and Resubmit” action.
Hopefully this article has given you some insight into how Newforma Project Center Fifth Edition now weaves together elements from Outlook, Submittals, Markup Sessions and Adobe Reader to streamline the digital submittal review process.
Post your own comment
