Files arrive named by someone else
Consultants and subcontractors name files their own way. A revision mistyped in a file name becomes a wrong number in the register, and nobody notices until a crew builds from a sheet that was meant to be replaced.
For document controllers
Document control workflow for document controllers
A document controller keeps one current set: every sheet at its latest revision, a status everyone can read and a record of who was sent what. This page follows a normal week of that job in Fidrel, in order, and says which parts are yours and which belong to the architect, the reviewers and the subcontractors.
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Where a controller’s week goes wrong
The register and the folder disagree
A register kept in a spreadsheet is updated when somebody remembers. The folder holds Rev C, the register says Rev B, and the controller is the one asked which of the two is right.
Nobody can say who holds the old sheet
Once a set is out, the real question is who still has the previous revision. An email thread with twenty recipients cannot answer that, and a printed sheet on a wall never appears in it at all.
What you set once for the project
The project decides how a new revision is numbered when the file name carries none: A, B, C with or without a lettered first issue, a, b, c, 1, 2, 3, 0, 1, 2, or P01, P02, P03 for preliminary issues. A revision that somebody writes, such as C02, is always kept as written. Folders and single documents can be locked to selected people, so a restricted folder stays out of sight of everyone else. Every version keeps its own date, and a file whose number is already in the project is flagged if it would be stored as a second document.
Documents, drawings & models
Which part of the job is yours
Only an administrator or a member who is a document controller can set Approved, Issued for construction or Record (as-built); anyone else is told that the status needs an administrator or a document controller. That makes you the gate between a reviewed sheet and a sheet people may build from. A review is a different thing: the person who starts it closes it with an outcome, and a participant’s approval alone writes no status. A transmittal takes only shared or published revisions, so work in progress cannot go out by mistake, and a set sent for construction contains only approved revisions and construction issues.
A normal week for the controller
Step 1
Monday: take in what arrived
Drag the week’s files onto Upload. Fidrel reads the number, title and revision from each file name and lists every file as New document, New version of its number or Skip, so you correct a row before anything is stored.
Step 2
Tuesday: set the status
Open a document and choose its Status, or select several files and use Change status. Approved, Issued for construction and Record (as-built) are yours to set; add a comment if the change needs one, and the Status history keeps who set what and when.
Step 3
Wednesday: check the register
Open the drawing register, grouped by discipline. Switch between Current revision and All revisions, where earlier sheets read Superseded, and use Overlay or Side by side to see what changed between two PDF revisions before anything is issued.
Step 4
Friday: issue and see who holds what
Choose New transmittal, add the documents, the recipients and a purpose, and issue it. Then open Who holds which revision: it lists the latest revision each recipient was sent, with Sent, Opened and Confirmed, and marks a revision Replaced by a newer one.
What the register does not do
The register is a list kept in step with your folders, and it stops at the edge of Fidrel. A transmittal is locked when you issue it, so a mistake is corrected with a new transmittal rather than an edit. The scale in the register is typed in by people, so it is only as right as the person who typed it. Fidrel does not chase a recipient who has not confirmed receipt: an unconfirmed transmittal stays marked Not confirmed until you follow up yourself.
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For document controllers
Frequently asked questions
Anything else on your mind? We are happy to help.
Talk to usTwo new files with one number in the same upload are flagged with Same number as another file in this upload. A number already in the project makes the file a new version of that document by default, and a new document with a taken number is flagged until you change it.
Yes. The register’s All revisions view lists the earlier ones as Superseded, and the document’s Versions tab keeps each version with its upload date and size, so nothing is overwritten by a new issue.
An administrator or a member who is a document controller. Everyone else can read the status but not set it, which keeps the release of a set in one pair of hands.
Who holds which revision shows each recipient’s latest revision, when it was opened and when it was confirmed, and whether a newer revision has replaced it. A recipient who has not confirmed shows as Not confirmed.
The drawing register exports to Excel, and it also prints from a print-ready page. Both follow the view you have set, current revisions or all of them.