The comment loses its place
The sheet says door to riser cupboard, level 3. The designer finds three such doors on the drawing and answers the wrong one.
Design review
A design review comment sheet built from the drawing itself
A design review comment sheet is the table in which reviewers list their comments on a set of drawings and the design team records a response to each. It works until the comments outgrow it: a reference to grid C4 on level 2 is only as good as the reader’s patience, and the response column fills up with see e-mail. Fidrel keeps each comment where it was made, on the drawing, and builds the sheet from those markups whenever you need one.
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Why comment sheets fall apart
Responses scattered across inboxes
Whoever has the spreadsheet open fills in the response column, two people overwrite each other, and the latest answer sits in somebody’s e-mail.
Nobody knows what is still open
After three rounds the sheet holds sixty rows, and the only way to see which comments are closed is to read every response from the top.
The columns a comment sheet needs
A workable comment sheet carries a reference number for each comment, the drawing number and revision it refers to, where on the drawing it applies, the comment itself, who made it and when, who is to act and by when, the response, and a status that says whether the item is closed. Many teams add a code for the kind of comment, such as a query, an error or a request for further information, so that the design team can sort the sheet before answering.
Reviews, RFIs & issues
Fidrel’s review report as the comment sheet
In a Fidrel review the report is generated from the markups and goals in the review, in number order, with one row each: No., Type, File, Page, Text, Status, Assignee, Due, Created by and Created. It follows whatever filter is set, so you can export only open items, only your own, a single file or one assignee’s items. The File column names the file of the exact revision the markup was drawn on, so a comment cannot drift to another issue of the drawing.
Running a review that produces its own comment sheet
Step 1
Start the review
Choose Start review and give it a title, instructions, a deadline and participants. Review an existing document at its latest revision, the latest files in a folder, or files uploaded straight into the review.
Step 2
Comment on the drawing
Each reviewer marks up the drawing with clouds, arrows, pins or text. Every markup is numbered in turn and carries its own thread, where the design team’s answer is written.
Step 3
Answer and close each comment
Set each markup to In progress and then Resolved, or to Rejected when the comment is not accepted. Give a markup an assignee and a due date to make plain who must act and by when.
Step 4
Decide and export
Each participant approves the document or requests changes. Close the round with an outcome, then download the review report as an Excel workbook or as a PDF.
Approving with comments
Each participant gives a decision on the document, approve or request changes, and approval waits while action goals are still open. The person who started the review closes it with one of three outcomes: Approved; Approved with comments, which means the comments are taken into the next revision; or Not approved, which needs a reason. The outcome is shown to every participant and can be written to the reviewed revisions’ status.
When the next revision arrives mid-review
A review stays on the revision it was started on and says so when a newer version is uploaded. While it is open, the person who started it or an administrator can move the open markups and goals onto the latest revision. The originals remain on the earlier revision with their history, so the record still shows what was said about which issue.
What the review report leaves out
Replies in a markup’s thread are not in the report; it carries each markup’s own comment, status, assignee and due date. The report is produced on demand and not stored as a dated record, so download it after each round if you need one per round. Markups cannot be drawn on Word, Excel or PowerPoint files; a review of those takes written comments or goals in the list, or a PDF of the file. Participants and assignees must be members of the project.
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A table listing reviewers’ comments on design drawings, each with a reference, the drawing and revision concerned, the design team’s response and a status, so that every comment can be followed through to a close.
Yes. The review report downloads as an Excel workbook with one row per markup or goal, or as a PDF with Fidrel’s document head.
It gives the file and the page. The markup itself stays on the drawing, so opening the review shows exactly where each numbered comment was made.
The person who started it, or a project administrator. Closing records the outcome, Approved, Approved with comments or Not approved, with the date and their name.
Yes. Participants receive a notification in Fidrel and an e-mail when the review starts and when someone comments, so nobody has to keep checking the sheet.
They take part as members of the project with access to the material. Fidrel warns you when a chosen participant cannot see the files or has view-only access.