Review a Submittal

The requestor or the party assigned as the reviewer for a submittal receives notifications whenever a submittal is assigned to them. You receive a submittal for a review in the following scenarios:

• A subcontractor uploads a submittal. You can conduct the initial review and then forward the submittal to another reviewer or the architect/engineer.
• The original assignee has assigned you the submittal for additional review.
• An additional reviewer has submitted their review comments. You can further examine the response and then move the submittal to the next step in the workflow, typically sending it to the architect/engineer review.
• An architect/engineer has reviewed and provided their final response. Depending on their review, you can either approve/reject the submittal or initiate a revision.
• A subcontractor uploads a revised submittal. You can review the response and pass it on to the next reviewer or architect/engineer according to the workflow.

Roles and permissions:
The participants to work on submittals are added at the company level.
Only users with appropriate permissions in the submittal module can view, review, comment, or answer a submittal when their company is delegated as a responder in the workflow.
Only users with 'Manage' permission can 'Route' the submittal to the next step.

To review a submittal

• Login to your project management console
• Click the notification to open the submittal
• Alternatively:
  • Ensure that you are in the management console of the project
  • Click the app launcher  , select 'Documents'
  • Click 'Submittals' on the top, then select 'Boards' on the left

The ' All Submittals' screen shows the project submittals under different stages. The items that are awaiting your response are indicated with the tag 'You' in blue.

• Click on a submittal card to open it.
• Review the details and submittal request description.
• Click the 'Request & Response' tab and assess the request and the responses. 

Note: If the Submittal requires contribution from a stakeholder not included in the Linarc's project directory, you can email the PDF version of the submittal to get their response. Once the response is received, you can incorporate it into the submittal and proceed with your acton. See Email a Submittal to External Stakeholders to learn more.

You can review the submittal response description, photos, files, or plan sheet attachments and perform the following actions:

• Add a review response
• Add Comments to a submittal
• Edit Workflow (Optional - General Contractor Only)
• Dynamically assign the Submittal (Optional)
• Route the submittal to the next step

Add a Review Response

• Click inside the 'Response' text box at the bottom and add your response.

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

Add supporting attachments

• Click the button the top right to add attachments like photos, images, and/or other document files to your response:

• Drag and drop the file to the lower pane
• Alternatively,
  • Click 'Browse'
  • Navigate to the required image file and open
  • Repeat the process to add more images or document

Linked Items - Specify the plan drawings, schedule items, budget items and/or project documents like RFI, submittals, punchlists, etc., that are related to your response. Once added, they will be shown as links on this submittal. Viewers can click the link to access the linked item (Optional)

To add links to other project documents

• Click '+Link item' to attach links to items like Submittals, RFIs, plan sheets, plan markups, scheduled tasks, punchlist items, etc., to the submittal request
• Choose the type of the item from the drop-down at the top

• Select the item to link
• Click 'Add'
• Repeat the process to link more items as required

Notes on Plan drawings and plan markups:

You can link plan drawings with or without markups, or already existing markups to the submittal. The linked plan drawings are also added as image attachments to your response automatically.

Plan drawings with or without markups:

• Choose 'Plans' in the link items drop-down menu
• The plan drawings added for the project are shown:

• To add a plan sheet, select the plan you want to use by clicking the check box on its left and click the 'Add' button
• To create a new markup to illustrate your submittal entry, click 'Add markup' on the left. See Markups for guidance on creating different types of markups on the plan drawing.
• Enter a name for the markup and click 'Ok' to add the newly created markup.
• Repeat the process to add more plan drawings.

Plan markups

• Choose 'Plan Markups' in the link items drop-down menu
• The list of plan markups added to various plan drawings for the project is shown
• Select the markup and click the 'Add button'
• Repeat the process to add more markups
• Once you are done with the attachments and links, your response is saved.

Stamps - If your company has enabled submittal stamping, you can electronically affix a stamp on the submittal, providing a formal endorsement of your review.  See Add Submittal Stamp to learn more.

Add Comments to a Submittal

The participants with comment access to the submittal module can add their comments to a submittal. The comments pane on the right of the 'Submittal' tab shows the comments added by the participants in chronological order.

• Enter your comment in the text box that

• Click 'Save' to share your comments with the other participants.
  • Click the 'Pencil' icon at the right to edit the comment.
  • Click the 'Delete' icon to delete the comment.

Edit Workflow (Optional - General Contractor Only)

The general contractor can make changes to the current step and the following steps in the workflow as required.

• You cannot add or remove steps from the primary workflow. 
• You cannot change the company type assigned to each step in the primary workflow, but you can replace the currently assigned company with another of the same type. For example, if the company type specified in a step is 'Subcontractor,' you can change the company from Company A to Company B in the 'Company Name' column. 
• You can change the number of days allotted for the step as per the primary workflow.

To edit the workflow

• Open the 'Workflow' tab
• Click 'Edit Workflow'
• Click inside the 'Company Name' column of any of the pending steps and choose the company from the drop-down
• Double-click inside the 'Process Days' cell of the respective row and change the value
• Click 'Save' for your changes to take effect

Dynamically assign the Submittal (Optional)

The ad-hoc workflow feature allows you to dynamically assign the submittal to stakeholders on the go, deviating from the primary workflow. This is useful if you need clarification or a review of your responses from them.  Once the parties in the ad-hoc workflow complete their activities, the submittal returns to you and proceeds further as per the primary workflow.

• You can add ad-hoc workflow steps before or after you add your response for the current step

To add ad-hoc workflow steps

• Click the 'Add Steps' button
• Specify the next action, the company name, and the allowed days for the step
• Click 'Add Row' and repeat the process to add more steps 
• Click 'Submit'

The submittal automatically moves to the first step in the ad-hoc workflow. The members from the respective company are notified about the assignment. The workflow of the submittal is also auto-updated with the new steps. You can view the new one under the 'Workflow' tab.

Route the submittal to the next step

Once the details are filled in, you can route the submittal to the responsible party for further processing, depending on the workflow setup.

Reminder: The 'Route' button is available only to the submittal workflow managers of the project.

To forward the submittal to the next step:

• If the submittal is cleared to move to the next step, typically for approval, Click the  button
• If the submittal does not comply with the requirements or the specs and deserves a revision, click the
  button.
• Click the 'Workflow' tab to see the current status and upcoming workflow stages of the submittal.

You can track the activities performed on the submittals from the Activity log pane. See View activity log of workflow items for more guidance.

Tip:
You can chat with the team members and the participants of the submittals at any stage. Click the button on the top right. See Chat and Collaborate for more guidance.