Submittals

What is it?

Submittals, also sometimes referred to as Supplier or Vendor Documents, are groupings of documents that illustrate how the construction team plans to build elements of the project. Submittals are made up of things like shop drawings, material and product data and samples. Submittals are usually issued for review and approval per an agreed upon schedule.

Aconex is routinely used for the management of both the Submittals themselves as well as the reviews associated with them. The diagram below depicts the basic steps typically seen in a Submittal process.

Why would you want it?

Keeping track of a project’s submittals reduces the chances of delays, issues and re-work: ensuring that this process runs smoothly and efficiently is a key factor in a project's success.

What does it look like?

Preparing to introduce a Submittals process

Here are some things to consider when looking at introducing a Submittals process:

Are all participants in the process using Aconex?

• Workflows and Submittals require that all participants are Aconex users to provide better efficiency and visibility. Transmittals allow both users and non-users of Aconex to participate in the process.

Do you have an established review procedure for each package once received?

• Both Workflows and Submittals allow seamless initiation of those procedures.

Do you have a defined and agreed upon list of packages and associated dates?

• Both Workflows and Submittals allow you to use this information to do some preparation work in advance and initiate submissions using this information. Workflows accommodate projects where this list hasn’t been completed prior to submission while Submittals works best when this information is available.  

What are the reporting requirements?

• Workflows allow you to track and report on status and response in real-time across all organizations involved.

• Submittals can provide a percentage of completion for a submittal, as long as the details of the submittal are known in advance and the organization viewing it is part of the issuing or receiving organizations.

Does your procedure require wet signatures?

• Both Workflows and Submittals make use of a registered document so wet signatures can be included in the document itself.

What is our recommendation for managing Submittals with Aconex?

Aconex recommends the use of Workflows to manage this process.

Submittals is an optional module that can also be used. It’s very effective at managing this process when you have advance knowledge of the schedule and details of the submittals.

Additional Aconex tools you could use

Clients who use Workflows and Submittals commonly use Templates and Review Sets. Templates provide a quick, repeatable process while Review Sets allow projects to ensure the right review terminology is used for the step of the procedure.