Document Versioning & Approvals

Overview

To get started with the Document Management feature and to learn about managing files and folders, please read: Document Management.

This article is about document versioning and approvals. The Document Management approval workflow allows you to request approvals of single or multiple files from one or multiple reviewers. Covering this process in PlanRadar helps to have reliable documentation and ensure that everyone is working with the right versions of documents.

Document versioning

For each file it is possible to store multiple versions in PlanRadar. Each file has a name which can be changed and for each version metadata is maintained including:

• Version index
• Original filename
• Creator
• Creation date
• Size

Versioning is only available for files in All files (it is not available for files in Documents by layers).

Current version

For each file there is a current version, which is the file version that is opened when the file is clicked or downloaded. Metadata in the files list and in the file details tab is always referring to the current version.

The current version is the

• latest approved version, if there is any approved version, otherwise it is the
• most recent version.

Upload a new file version

There is no restriction on file types between different versions (i.e. it is possible to upload a Word file and then update the file with a PDF file).

When using approvals, a new version has to be approved in order to become the new current version as defined above. This way it is possible to upload a new version while the team can still work with the latest approved version without getting distracted.

There are three ways to upload a new file version:

View and download previous file versions

Access the full version history to view or download previous versions of a file.

1. Click More
2. Click File details
3. Click Versions
4. Version number
5. Indication of the current version
6. Click More to Download a previous version

Delete a specific file version

Access the version history as shown above and click More to Delete a specific version.

It’s not possible to delete the “current version” (as defined above) and it’s not possible to delete a version which is pending approval.

File operations and versioning

When moving a file to another folder, into trash or when restoring it from trash, the whole file with all its versions is moved.

When a file with versions is deleted permanently from trash, all its versions are deleted as well. Instead of deleting the whole file, it is also possible to delete a specific file version.

When duplicating a file with versions only the current version is used for the new file ignoring any other version.

File approvals

File approvals are always requested for specific versions of files and as part of an approval request. An approval request has one or more items to review, one or more reviewers, a subject, an optional message and a due date. This way it is possible to request approval for multiple files at once.

Create an approval request

While an approval is pending for a version of a file, it is not possible to request approval for another version of the same file at the same time.

There are four ways to create an approval request (continue reading below on how to fill and send the approval request):

Fill and send an approval request

1. Click Add reviewers
2. Optional: Adjust the subject
3. Optional: Enter a message
4. Click date icon to set a due date
5. Click Send request

The following items cannot be added to approval requests:

• Files already pending approval for another version
• Folders
• Files under Documents by layers
• There is a limit of max. 100 items per approval request.

Reviewers will get notifications about new approval requests and reminders for due dates three days in advance.

Once sent, the approval request cannot be modified. It can only be cancelled (see next section).

Cancel an approval request after sending

If an approval request becomes obsolete after sending, it is possible to cancel it. It will still show up with status "Cancelled".

1. Click Approval requests
2. Click on the approval request in the list to open it
3. Click Cancel request
   
4. Type "Cancel" to confirm
5. Click Cancel request
   

Reviewers will get notifications about the cancellation. No reviewer can respond anymore to remaining files but the responses sent so far are kept.

All items that have already been approved by all users keep their Approved state. Similarly, items that have been rejected by at least one user keep their Rejected state. The approval status of all other files will fall back to the previous one.

Delete an approval request

Delete an approval request to permanently remove it from the list of approval requests.

1. Click Approval requests
2. Click More
3. Click Delete
   
   
4. Type "Delete" to confirm
5. Click Delete request
   

Review approval requests

As a reviewer you can review and approve or reject items of an approval request.

View approval requests

You can find all approval requests in Document Management under the section Approval Requests. Their status is one of the following:

• Pending: still waiting for all reviewers to provide their feedback
• Complete: all reviewers have approved or rejected
• Cancelled: approval request got cancelled

Approval status of files

The approval status of a file has one of the following states:

• None (-): no approval has been requested for the file
• Pending: approval is pending
• Approved: version got approved
• Rejected: version got rejected

If a file version is pending approval, the status is determined in the following way:

• If all reviewers approved, the status is Approved.
• If one reviewer rejected, the status is Rejected. However, other reviewers can still send their feedback.

The version number and approval status are shown in the file details tab for the current version and also in the Versions tab for all versions of a file. You can also see the version and approval status for the current version in the file list.

If a file is approved (e.g. V1 is approved and the current version) and then a newer version is pending approval (e.g. V2) it is indicated besides the approval status in the file list (e.g. current version showing as V1 and approval status as "Approved (V2 pending)").

If the version or approval status columns are not visible in the file list, click the file table's gear icon and ensure that you have configured the table to show these columns.

Remember, in the file list and file details the status is shown for the current version as defined above. Hence, status Rejected will only show there if no approved version exists yet.

File operations and approvals

Moving and renaming files pending approval is allowed. However, it is not possible to move
a file to trash if it is pending approval. Duplicating is allowed; the new file will have no association with the pending approval.

Permissions

Subcontractors may act as reviewers in approval requests and, therefore, access files as part of approval requests.

Watchers can view all approval requests, but they cannot cancel or delete them.

Approval Request access can be controlled with specific role permissions to define which in-house users can view, create, edit or delete approval requests in their projects in Documents.

• Create: user can create approval requests

• View: user can view either all or only approval requests he is involved in

• Edit: user can edit (i.e. cancel) all or only approval requests created by himself

• Delete: user can delete all or only approval requests created by himself

Grant Approval Request permissions to a role:

1. Click User Management
2. Click Roles
3. Click + Create role (or click on an existing role to edit it)
   
4. Scroll down to Approval requests
5. Select the checkboxes Create, View, Edit and/or Delete to grant those permissions
6. View/Edit/Delete will apply to All approval requests by default
7. Or can be limited to Only approval requests where user is involved
8. Click Save