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Users can enter dates manually or allow the system to update them automatically, based on formulas.
All date fields associated with Drawings can be formulated.

Additionally, each of these system dates for tracking drawings can be aliased (e.g., “Target Date” can be labeled “Client Deadline”, or just “Target”, to shorten the width of the header.)

Target Date

The date you are intending to get the drawing to your customer/client. As with the other dates, this date can be set to compute automatically based on a formula.

The date the Engineer/Drafter begins work on the drawing. This date can be set manually or set to automatically update when the status of the drawing gets changed (e.g., from Not Started to In Progress).

Date Submitted

The date the drawing is submitted to the customer/client. This date can be set manually or set to automatically update when the status of the drawing gets changed (e.g., from In Progress to In Submitted).

The date you want the drawing back from the customer/client, to provide enough time for revisions and to re-submit the drawings for client approval.

In addition to manually setting this date, you can also allow the system to utilize the Default Days Allowed setting or make use of a formula.

Date Returned

The date the customer/client returns the drawing regardless of whether they marked it ‘Approved’ or otherwise. This date can be set manually or set to automatically update when the status of the drawing gets changed (e.g., from Submitted to Approved or Revision).

User Defined Columns (UDCs):

Offer the flexibility to augment the 23 pre-existing, reserved drawing properties.
This functionality enables you to extend and tailor the database to better suit your specific needs. Create additional columns for:

• Quantities - (Five additional fields available by default)

• Text Field - (10 additional fields available by default)

• Checkbox - (Five additional fields available by default)

• Date - (Four additional Date fields are available by default. See #6 below for more details.

Aliases:

If your company employs abbreviations, acronyms, or other jargon, consider assigning aliases to the names of the 23 database columns provided. This practice ensures that your team members can easily comprehend and recognize the terminology used in your organization.

Starting Rev:

The Drawings form tracks drawings from initiation to completion. Typically, client-submitted drawings return with redlined revisions. The software captures original dates and initiates a new revision, numbering it based on the 'Starting Revision Number' in your settings. Therefore, if the Starting Revision is set to zero (0), your first revision will be “Revision 1”.

Edit Formula:

Each of the built-in drawing dates fields can be set to calculate via a formula that utilizes either one of the built-in drawing dates, or any Project milestone dates that you have set on the Settings->Project tab.

For this example, the Target Date is calculated by adding 15 Work Days to the ‘Project Awarded’ date.

Change Date Calculation Order:

Custom formulas sequentially calculate drawing date fields. The "Change Date Calculation Order" setting empowers you to customize this sequence according to your organization's workflow by easily dragging and dropping the drawing lifecycle dates.

Managing Revisions

1. When a drawing requires revisions to be made, the new tracking record will be set to the status that you select here, from your Status pick list.

2. Choose which Labor Department should be the default department for tracking job costing as it relates to Drawings.

3. This setting allows you to set a global default number of days used to automatically calculate the Date Required Date automatically.

4. What drawing date should be used when a new revision is created? Typically, you’ll set this to the Date Started.