Supplemental Instructions activity center

19 minutes
11 months ago

Supplemental Instructions Activity Center

Use this activity center to create, log, review, and track supplemental instructions electronically.

Project Center administrators can set which tasks appear here using the Remove Contract Management Item Tasks dialog box.

Supplemental Instructions

New Supplemental Instruction> Create Supplemental Instruction

Click to open the Create Supplemental Instruction dialog box to create a new supplemental instruction or to file an expected one.

New Supplemental Instruction > Log a Received Supplemental Instruction

Click to open the Log a Received Supplemental Instruction dialog box to log a supplemental instruction that you have received.

Create a Report

Click to open the Create Report dialog box to select the type of supplemental instruction report to create. The report contains the contents of this log.

You can customize which columns appear in reports simply by selecting which columns to show and hide in the activity center. Simply right-click on column headers to add or remove columns. A checkmark indicates the column will appear in the activity center and the report.

Import Spreadsheet

Click to open the Select Spreadsheet dialog box to select a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet containing supplemental instruction data that you can import. The imported supplemental instructions are placed in the appropriate supplemental instruction log based on the type imported.

View Pending Incoming

This task appears when there are Pending Incoming Supplemental Instruction transfers.

Click to list only Pending Incoming supplemental instructions.

Selected Supplemental Instruction

The following list shows all available tasks for all supplemental instruction categories, in alphabetical order. The tasks that appear depend on which category you select from.

Close > Close

Click to open the Close Supplemental Instruction dialog box to close the supplemental instruction without providing a response.

Close > Respond and Close

Click to open the Respond to Supplemental Instruction and Close dialog box to file your response to the sender of the supplemental instruction and close it. If the supplemental instruction has files associated with it, the Select Files to Send dialog box will open first.

Close > Send and Close

Click to open the Send and Close Supplemental Instruction dialog box to send the supplemental instruction to team members and close it. If the supplemental instruction has files associated with it, the Select Files to Send dialog box will open first.

Create Similar Supplemental Instruction

Click to create a new supplemental instruction based on the one selected. The new one contains most of the information from the original, except for unique identifiers such as the ID. The new one is also automatically related to the original. Supporting documents from the original are included.
If the original has no received actions (such as those is a draft/expected state), the
Create a Supplemental Instruction dialog box opens. If the original has at least one receive action, the new one will be created using the Log a Received Supplemental Instruction dialog box.

If the original contains a receive action with files and/or description of contents entries, the Select Files and Description of Contents dialog box opens first, enabling you to select the items to include in the new copy.

Delete

Click to delete the selected supplemental instruction from Project Center.

You must be a Project Center administrator and have a contract management role to delete supplemental instructions.

Forward for Review

Click to open the Forward Supplemental Instruction for Review dialog box to forward the supplemental instruction to any contacts who are responsible for reviewing the supplemental instruction and to create a transmittal. If the supplemental instruction has received files or supporting documents associated with it, the Select Files to Forward for Review dialog box will open first so you can select the files to forward.

Modify

Click to open the Modify Supplemental Instruction dialog box to edit the settings for the selected supplemental instruction, including due dates, email message reminder settings, and the description.

Receive

Click to open the Receive Supplemental Instruction dialog box to log the receipt of an expected supplemental instruction.

Receive Pending Incoming

Click to open the Receive Supplemental Instruction dialog box to receive a supplemental instruction from Info Exchange.

Record Reviewer Response

Click to open the Record Reviewer Response for Supplemental Instruction dialog box to record a response received about a supplemental instruction that you forwarded to other contacts. When you receive a response back from a contact, record it using this task to track its progress.

Related Items >

See the Related Items Tasks topic for information.

Reopen

Click to open the Re-Open Supplemental Instruction dialog box to re-open the closed supplemental instruction.

Review Related Action Items

Click to open the Related Action Items activity center to view action items related to the selected item.

Review Related Markup Sessions

This task is available only when you select an item that has related markup sessions.

Click to open the Related Markup Sessions activity center to view information about and preview the related markup sessions.

Send

Click to open the Send Supplemental Instruction dialog box to send the supplemental instruction to other project team members.

Send Email About Supplemental Instruction > To the Sender

Click to open an email message in Microsoft Outlook to send to the contact who originally sent the supplemental instruction. The email message includes information about the supplemental instruction.

Send Email About Supplemental Instruction > To the Recipients

Click to open an email message in Microsoft Outlook to send to the original supplemental instruction recipients as a reminder or with additional information. The email message includes information about the supplemental instruction.

Send Email About Supplemental Instruction > To All Reviewers

Click to open an email message in Microsoft Outlook  to send to the contacts who are currently reviewing the supplemental instruction, as a reminder or with additional information. The email message includes information about the supplemental instruction.

Send Email About Supplemental Instruction > To All Participants

Click to open an email message in Microsoft Outlook to send to all supplemental instruction participants, including the sender, recipients, and reviewers as a reminder or with additional information. The email message includes information about the supplemental instruction.

View Form

Click to open the Supplemental Instruction form to view or print the selected supplemental instruction’s history and details.

Selected Action

See Action Tasks panel. Access the actions by clicking the expand icon in the first column next to each submittal.

The file tasks apply to files in the Supporting Documents tab. See File Tasks panel.

See Email Tasks panel.

See Related Item Tasks panel.

Supplemental Instructions

Category drop-down list

The category drop-down list contains filters to display the supplemental instructions in particular categories. For example, if you want to view overdue supplemental instructions, select Response Overdue from the list. Only overdue supplemental instructions will appear in the log. You can also choose to display supplemental instructions for all project users or only supplemental instructions on which you are listed as the sender or recipient. Each category is explained below.

Click to toggle between showing supplemental instructions for all users or only supplemental instructions you are involved with.

All

Click to display all supplemental instructions that have been entered for this project.

Pending Incoming

Click to display all supplemental instructions sent via Info Exchange that need to be received. When a supplemental instruction or supplemental instruction response is logged by a project team member on Info Exchange, it will show up in this category.

Draft

Click to display all supplemental instructions that are in draft form and have not been sent.

Under Review

Click to display supplemental instructions that have been received, but responses have not been sent to the supplemental instruction senders.

When a non-expected supplemental instruction is first filed, it is placed in the Under Review category.

Awaiting Action

Click to display supplemental instructions that have been received, but they:

  • Have not been forwarded for review, or

  • Have been forwarded for review, but a response has not been received, or

  • Have been forwarded for review and all responses have been received, but there has been no response sent to the supplemental instruction sender.

Forwarded for Review

Click to display supplemental instructions that have been forwarded with a due date for another contact to review that have not been received back yet.

Response Overdue

Click to display supplemental instructions that have been forwarded but the responses back from the reviewers are overdue.

Expected

Click to display all supplemental instructions filed as expected.

Expected Resubmission

Click to display expected supplemental instructions that were created for supplemental instructions that require the sender to resubmit the supplemental instruction (the action taken on the supplemental instruction was Rejected or Revise and Resubmit).

Late

Click to display expected supplemental instructions that are late.

All Closed

Click to display supplemental instructions that have had a response sent to the supplemental instruction sender and there is no further action required.

Filter All Columns

You can filter by any text that appears in any of the columns in the log. For example, if you know the subject (or part of the subject) of the supplemental instruction that you are searching for (or the ID, status, due date, etc.), enter at least part of the text in this field. The supplemental instructions list updates automatically as you type. For example, if the supplemental instruction you are searching for has the number 30 somewhere in one of the columns, enter 30 in this field. The list will be narrowed down to only supplemental instructions that have the number 30 somewhere in one of the columns.

Click to toggle between showing and hiding the column filter fields.

Clear

Click to clear all filters.

 

Supplemental Instructions log

The supplemental instructions log displays the supplemental instructions for the category selected above. Click a supplemental instruction for a list of tasks you can perform, which appear in the Tasks panel. Double-click a supplemental instruction to open the Modify Supplemental instruction dialog box to view the supplemental instruction’s information and settings.

Supplemental instructions (and actions) are listed in red if the supplemental instruction is overdue or if a review response is overdue.

You can drag and drop or copy and paste email messages from Microsoft Outlook and files from Windows Explorer into the Supplemental Instructions log to create a new supplemental instruction. This also prevents Microsoft Outlook from opening multiple instances of Project Center.

Columns

Column headers are different for each category. The following list includes all column headers for all supplemental instruction categories. Some categories may not include all headers, and they may not be in the order listed here. If you move and resize columns, they are saved in that position for each category. Column settings are reflected in supplemental instruction reports. Right-click on any column header to list and de-list columns. Click the icons for more filtering options.

ID

The supplemental instruction ID number.

Subject

The subject of the supplemental instruction.

Initiated By

The contact who requested or authorized the document change.

Reasons

The reasons the supplemental instruction was created.

Status

The status of the supplemental instruction (For Review, Expected, Approved, Rejected, Revise and Resubmit, etc.).

Discipline

Any disciplines applied to the supplemental instruction.

From

The contact the supplemental instruction came from.

Received

The date the supplemental instruction was received.

Last Action

The last completed workflow action for the supplemental instruction. It displays the action and the purpose or type for that item. For example, if a supplemental instruction was received and there was no action required selected for the Action field, the Last Action column would display Received – No Action Required. If you were looking at an entry in the Under Review category that had a Last Action of Received – No Action Required, that indicates that the item needs to be closed using the Close task.

Contract

The contract the supplemental instruction is associated with.

Forwarded To

The contacts the supplemental instruction was forwarded to.

Last Forwarded

The date the supplemental instruction was last forwarded to a reviewer.

Last Reviewed

The date the most recent reviewer returned the supplemental instruction. (The most recent review response date.)

Review Days

The total number of days the supplemental instruction has been in the review cycle for all reviewers.

Review Due Back

The date the supplemental instruction is due back from the contacts reviewing it if it is not yet received. It is based on the oldest Forward for Review date.

Due Back From

Any contacts a response to the supplemental instruction is due back from.

Current Reviewer

The contact who is currently reviewing the supplemental instruction in a sequential workflow.

Due Date

The date the supplemental instruction is due back to the initiator of the supplemental instruction.

Total Days

The number of days to process the supplemental instruction. The count starts from the start date, which is either when the item was created or the received date, and ends either now or when it was closed if a closed date was entered. If it is re-opened, it displays the count from when the supplemental instruction was created. It’s based on calendar days (not business days) and does not consider holidays in its calculations.

Expected Date

The date the supplemental instruction is expected (for Expected supplemental instructions only).

Keywords

Any keywordsIn Project Center, keywords are words you can add to items to use for filtering. When you add keywords, they appear in the Keywords column of the corresponding Project Center activity centers. You can then filter the list of items using the keywords to quickly find the items you are looking for. applied to the supplemental instruction.

If the supplemental instruction has any related items, the icons appear here.

This column is a text version of the icons in the Related Items column. The text will appear in reports.

To

To contact who received the supplemental instruction.

Sender ID

The number the contractor gave to the supplemental instruction.

Internal Notes

Any personal notes added to the submittal. These are also added to the Remarks Summary tab.

Supporting Documents

Any files attached to the supplemental instruction.

Closed Date

The date the supplemental instruction was closed.


Remarks Summary tab

Information and remarks about the original supplemental instruction appears here. This tab is not editable.

 

Description of Contents tab

A description of the contents of each action taken in the supplemental instruction workflow appears here. This information is used to fill in the Contents section of the Transmittal form. You can edit the contents as you move through the supplemental instruction workflow by clicking Modify from the Tasks panel to accurately reflect what is being sent.

In each step (action) of the workflow (Forwarded for Review, Review Response, and Responded and Close), you can fill in the Description of Contents tab with what is sent or received, as shown in the following example.

Workflow

The task that was selected from the Tasks panel (Forwarded – For Review, Received – For Review, etc.).  

From

The originator of the action.

Qty

The quantity of each item received with the supplemental instruction.

Date

The dates individual items were received with the supplemental instruction.  For example, if you have six shop drawings, it may help to track dates on each individual sheet.

Number

The number for each item.

Title

The title of each item.

Revision

The revision number, if applicable.

Scale

The drawing scale, if applicable.

Size

The drawing size, if applicable.

 

File Summary tab

This tab contains any electronic files that were included with the supplemental instruction. Select a file to display file tasks you can perform, including opening, comparing, sending, and publishing the file. These files are stored in a compressed .ZIP file that is referenced by the supplemental instruction. Each column in this tab is described here.

Name

The name of the file.

If the file is an email message, Project Center creates the file name with the date, a system generated ID, and the subject of the email.

Type

The file’s type.

Workflow

The workflow step (Forwarded, Review Response, etc.) for the file.

Size

The file’s size.

Modified

The date the file was last modified.

ZIP Folder

The full path to the location of the .ZIP file.

Related Items

Any Project Center items related to the file.

 

Email Log tab

This tab lists all email messages associated with the selected supplemental instruction. When you click File in Project (then choose the Supplemental Instruction option) from the legacy Project Center Add-in for Microsoft Outlook Toolbar, the email message appears here.

You can copy and paste and drag and drop email messages from Microsoft Outlook and Windows Explorer into this tab.

To file a reviewer response, you can drag and drop an email message into this tab, then select the email message and click Log as from the Email Tasks panel and select the Reviewer Response option.

Double-click an email message to open it in Microsoft Outlook. From there, you can reply to or forward the message.

The number in parentheses indicates the number of email messages filed to the supplemental instruction.

Add

Click to open the Add Email Messages dialog box select an email message to add to the current supplemental instruction.

Remove

Click to remove the selected email message from the supplemental instruction.

 

Supporting Documents tab

Use this tab to attach files to the selected supplemental instruction, and to view attached files. For example, if you receive a supplemental instruction and a particular drawing is related to it, you can use this tab to attach the drawing file to the supplemental instruction. Another example is if you receive a file with a supplemental instruction, mark it up, and want to send the marked up file to a reviewer. Also, files sent using the Add to > Supplemental Instruction task are added to this tab.

The number in parentheses indicates the number of files that are attached to the supplemental instruction.

You can copy and paste and drag and drop files from Windows Explorer into this tab.

Set Order

Click to open the Set Document Order dialog box to set the order of the documents.

Add Files > Another Project File

Click open the Add Supporting Documents dialog box to locate and attach a file to the supplemental instruction.

Share with External > Yes

Click to allow the selected files to be shared with external project team members through Info Exchange.

Remove

Click to remove the selected supporting file from the supplemental instruction.

Preview tab

A preview of the selected file appears here.

Related Items tab

This tab lists all related Project Center items for the selected file.

 

This tab lists all related Project Center items for the selected supplemental instruction.

Click to open the Identify an Action Item dialog box to create a new action item and link it to the current supplemental instruction.

Click to open the Send Files to Email Recipients dialog box to send project files via email. Nothing is logged in this tab.

Click to open the Transfer Files to a Newforma Info Exchange Server dialog box to transfer project files via your Newforma Info Exchange Server and link the transfer to the current supplemental instruction.

Click to open the Send Files and Create an Outgoing Transmittal dialog box to send project files via email, file an outgoing transmittal for a file transfer, and link the transfer to the current supplemental instruction.

Click to open the Transfer Files and Create an Outgoing Transmittal dialog box to transfer project files via your Newforma Info Exchange Server, create a new outgoing transmittal for the file transfer, and link the transfer to the current supplemental instruction.

Click to open the Create Contract Management Item dialog box for the type of contract management item you selected to create a new CM item and link it to the current supplemental instruction.

Click to open the Create Web Link dialog box to enter a web link and automatically relate it to the selected Project Center item. After it is created, the Relation Type column will indicate Web Link, and users can double-click on it to open the website.

Relate to >

Click to select an existing project item and establish a relationship between it and the currently selected supplemental instruction. This gives you the ability to link two items that are related together. (For example, a markup session that is related to a supplemental instruction.) Select Another Project Item to open the Select Project Item dialog box to locate an item that is not in the list. When you create a relationship between two items, each item’s icon is added to the other item’s Related Items column and tab.

Share with External

Click and select Yes to allow the selected web link to be shared with external project team members through Info Exchange.

Remove

Click to unlink and remove the selected project item from the Related Items tab.

Removing a related item from the Related Items tab does not remove it from the database.

The Relation Type column  has two icons to indicate the relationship type:

The icon indicates that the relationship was created by a user and can be deleted (such as an action item related to a supplemental instruction).

The icon indicates that the relationship was created by Project Center and cannot be deleted (such as a transmittal or record copy related to a supplemental instruction).

 

Change Log tab

This tab displays a history of the actions taken on the supplemental instruction, including when it was created, modified, who was involved, and any details.

To access this activity center

Click Supplemental Instructions from the Activities list or from the Project Home activity center.