Aconex Procedure Guide
Shop Drawing Review
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This procedure guide provides information about how Aconex can be best used in to manage the
process. It does contain recommendations, but a project may choose to use alternative methods.
Aconex are able to further provide consultancy and professional services to assist project teams
and organisations to tailor their specific processes and procedures to the Aconex system.
Document No:
ASD-PRO-EN-303
Revision:
1407
Status:
For Use
Confidential and Proprietary to Aconex
Aconex Procedure Guide – Shop Drawing Review
Recommendation
This procedure guide looks at Shop Drawing (SD) review. There are four sections:
 Recommendation
 Roles and Responsibilities
 Process Flow Diagram
 Aconex configuration requirements
The main challenge with SD review is in the volume of documents that need to be managed and in the
management of the review process of itself. The coordination of the comments to be returned to the
consultants and the parallel nature of those reviews needs to be setup correctly.
Options
The two options for managing SD reviews in Aconex both are via the Documents module, one uses
registered documents and transmittals the other utilises Workflows to manage the reviews. Both are
viable, but the Workflow module is preferred.
Using Document Transmittals
Whilst it is possible to use the registered documents and transmittals to create and manager SD reviews,
there are a number of considerations that need to be taken into account:
 Often the review will be carried out outside of or separate from Aconex, with other organisations
and or processes along with different documentation or reports.
 Each SD review will go through a predefined review and approval process by the same parties
within fixed times.
 The teams responding to the SD reviews may be submitting a separate recommendation or report
document rather than commenting on the documents directly.
For project teams this is a complex high volume, time critical process and using transmittals with
attachments where time frames and recipients can be set on an ad-hoc basis for each transmittal rather
than going through a pre-defined workflow can prove to be difficult.
Aconex Recommendation
Aconex recommends using the Document module with Workflows for SD reviews, Workflows is an easy
association for the project team to make as a SD review is normally submitted pre-defined template that
requires a formal assessment and report. The main benefits in using the Workflow module are:
 The SD review and its related attachments are automatically tracked.
 It’s easy to track the location of the SD reviews, along with their actions and status’
 Saved searches allow for easy tracking of all SD reviews that remain unanswered and overdue
What this gives you
The workflow module provides powerful reporting capabilities and these are essential where any metrics
or KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are used to measure efficiency, e.g. reporting on overdue SD
reviews or ones that are stuck in a particular review process. All these can be easily configured as saved
searches (reports) within the workflow register.
How?
Typically, a team or organisation will use pre-defined business process for submitting SD reviews. The
SDs are registered and then placed in a pre-defined business process workflow which provides an easy
way to maintain consistency for SD review content. Often the documents themselves are not directly
commented on, rather a detailed comments sheet is used, and these are then registered and attached as
supplementary files to the workflow.
ASD-PRO-EN-303 (Rev: 1407)
Confidential and Proprietary to Aconex
2
Aconex Procedure Guide – Shop Drawing Review
Roles and Responsibilities
The following table outlines the main roles and responsibilities of those involved in this process. The table
shows all the roles that could be involved in the process, but the extent of their involvement would depend
on the nature of the project, its delivery method and contract type.
Procedure Name:
Shop Drawing Review
Purpose:
To provide a formal communication mechanism for submitting Shop Drawing Review requests that
require a formal response.
Application:
For all Shop Drawing Reviews initiated by the Sub-Contractors. Vendors and Head Contractor.
Roles and
Responsibilities:
Sub-Contractor (SC)
 Take action on instructions issued by HC.
Head Contractor (HC)
 Manage and co-ordinate SD reviews of documents submitted by
Design Consultants and issue comments.
Project Manager (PM)
 Carry out SD review in coordination with the cost consultant and
return comments to LC.
Review Team
 Review SD documents and return comments to PM.
Cost Consultant (CC)
 Review all SD documents, issued and make necessary forecasts
to project budget
Client (CL)
 Review SD documents and consultant comments where
necessary and return comments to PM.
Date of Procedure:
Jul-2012
Document No:
ASD-PRO-EN-303
Revision:
0
Status:
For Use
ASD-PRO-EN-303 (Rev: 1407)
 Submit SD review to HC
Confidential and Proprietary to Aconex
3
Aconex Procedure Guide – Shop Drawing Review
Process Flow Diagram
The following diagram illustrates how the process works in Aconex. It is not the only method and project
teams may use a Shop Drawing Review of this process depending on the contract and delivery method.
For example, there may Project Manager and Client involvement.
SHOP DRAWING REVIEW – ACONEX PROCESS
SUB
CONTRACTOR
HEAD CONTRACTOR
REVIEW TEAM
COST
CONSULTANT
Receive
documents for
review and
comment
Receive
documents for
review and
comment
Review
attachments
Review
attachments
Review
attachments
Prepare
comments on
documents
Return comments
to Lead
Consultant
Return comments
to Lead
Consultant
PROJECT MANAGER
CLIENT
Start
Receive/Issue
Shop Drawings for
review
Prepare Shop
Drawings and
submit
Return submission
for action
No
OK?
Yes
Transmit
Documents for
review and
comment
Receive
documents for
review and
comment
Forward
Documents to
review team
Coordinate
comments for
return
Receive
comments from
PM
Receive
commented
documents
Issue comments
to Design Sub
contractor
Yes
Subcontractor
documents?
Return comments
for update
No
Comments
OK?
Return comments
to HC
No
Client Input
Req’d
Issue comment to
Client for review
Receive
documents for
review and
comment
No
Take appropriate
action
Review comments
End
Take appropriate
action
Review
attachments
Receive
comments from
Client
Return comments
End
ASD-PRO-EN-303 (Rev: 1407)
Confidential and Proprietary to Aconex
4
Aconex Procedure Guide – Shop Drawing Review
Aconex Configuration Requirements
The following table outlines the recommended project configuration and assigned roles to execute the
Shop Drawing Review procedure in Aconex.
Project Documents
The following Project Document types are required on the project:
Module:
Project Document
Key settings:
Document Type
Who is to use
Shop Drawing
Sub-contractor
 Initiating queries to HC for assessment.
Head Contractor
 Initiating queries to project manager for
assessment.
Optional settings:
Use
 Create relevant distribution groups in each organisation in accordance with relevant distribution
matrix.
Project Workflows
The following Project Document workflows are recommended on the project:
Module:
Document Workflow
Key settings:
Workflow Type
Who is to use
SD review Workflow
Project Manager
 Initiating Document review and comment by
Consultants.
Client SD Review
Project Manager
 Initiating Document review and comment by
Client
Optional settings:
Use
 Create relevant distribution groups in each organisation in accordance with relevant distribution
matrix.
 Create template Workflow details for Consultant and Client reviews.
 Activate mail approver if senior/supervisor approvals are required as part of document control or QA
procedures.
Considerations and Further Recommendations
The Shop Drawing review prepared by the consultants to provide the findings of their review to the Lead
Consultant will often be submitted using a pre-defined project or organisation template (e.g. Word/Excel
Template) attached as a supplementary file to the workflow rather than comment directly on the Shop
Drawing itself.
ASD-PRO-EN-303 (Rev: 1407)
Confidential and Proprietary to Aconex
5