Email a Change Order to External Stakeholders

The built-in email feature allows you to forward change orders to stakeholders or external collaborators at any stage for their review and input, even if they’re not listed in the project directory. This functionality is valuable for gathering feedback from individuals who may need to evaluate items, contribute to estimate submissions, approvals, and other workflow stages. Once feedback is received, you can easily update the item and continue with its original workflow. Additionally, this feature is ideal for sharing finalized change orders with any desired recipients. 

Background:
By default, Linarc routes change orders for estimate submission, approval, and other actions only to stakeholders listed in the project directory. This ensures that project members can access, review, and act on items directly from their Linarc consoles, enhancing communication and decision-making within the platform.
However, the construction team may also need to involve external stakeholders, such as vendors and specialty contractors, who are not yet registered in Linarc. Since these parties cannot be added to the project directory until their registration is complete, the built-in email feature allows you to request their input, approval, or endorsement of a change order as needed. This ensures that essential contributors outside the platform can participate in the review process seamlessly.

• The module can generate a PDF version of the CO at any stage of the process, incorporating all questions, responses, and attachments up to the current point.
• You can also configure a custom splash page for the PDF file
• The internal email feature allows you to compose and send emails with the change order conveniently attached as a PDF file, facilitating efficient and organized communication with stakeholders. 
• You can include guest users as recipients and CC other relevant stakeholders to ensure everyone stays informed.
• Linarc sends the email with your email address as the 'From' address
• Any reply sent by the guest user and other respondents will be received at your email address.

Prerequisite: The external users to whom you want to send the CO must have been added as guest users to the project from the project setup module. See Add Guest Users to a Project to learn more.

The process involves two steps:

• Step 1 - Generate and download the PDF file
• Step 2 - Send the email with the PDF file attachment

Step 1 - Generate and download the PDF file

Note on Cover Page: 
The system supports adding a custom splash page to the PDF generated for the change order. You can create a personalized cover page as a one-page PDF file named 'cover_page.pdf.' This file should be attached to the description, ensuring your CO is presented with a professional, branded cover.

To create and download the PDF version

• Open the CO if not already done. To do so:
  • Open the project management console
  • Click the app launcher icon  in the top-right and select 'Finance'
  • Click 'Change Order' on the top, then choose 'Boards'
  • Click on the CO card
• Click the 'PDF' button

The 'Downloads' pane displays a list of any previously generated PDF files for the CO, providing quick access to past versions for reference or review. 

• Click 'Generate'

The system compiles the PDF version of the CO, including all description, estimates, and attachments included till the current point in time. The process takes around 30 seconds. 

• Reopen the 'Downloads' pane by clicking the 'PDF' button.

The recently created PDF file is shown at the top of the list if there are multiple items.

• Click  to open the file on a new browser tab.
• Click  to download it.

• Download and save the file on your device

Step 2 - Send the email with the PDF file attachment

• Click the 'Email' tab of the CO screen

The left pane shows the list of previously sent emails with their status for the change order, if any.

• Click 'Compose' in the left pane to start drafting your email

From - Prepopulated with your email address. Any replies given by the recipient will be received at this email address only.

To - Select the guest user to whom you want to send the change order.

Reminder: 
Before sending the CO, ensure that the recipients have already been added as guest users to the project. If they haven't, you can easily add them by navigating to the 'Project' > 'My Team' > 'Guests' screen. See Add Guest Users to a Project to learn more.

• Click inside the 'To' field

• Select the recipient(s) by clicking their serial number, then click 'OK'

CC - Enter the email address of the individuals to whom the copies of this mail are sent

Subject - Prepopulated with the change order number and the subject. You can edit this field if required. 

Message: 

• Enter your message in the text box.
• Use the tools on the top to format your text and add emojis, insert hyperlinks, tables, etc.

Attachments:

• Click on the top right
• You can attach files from your local computer and/or photos from the project image feeds. 

• Click 'Browse' and navigate to the pdf file of the change order stored on your device

• Alternatively, drag and drop the pdf file into the 'Attachments' dialog

• You can also add more attachments if needed.

Note: 
You can attach files of size not more than 50MB. If the PDF file of the change order or the other attachments exceeds this size, save the file on cloud storage and add the link to the email message.

• Click 'Image Feeds' on the left and choose the photo(s) from the right pane to attach project images

• Click 'Send' on the top right