Revisions and Approvals
A revision is one version of an estimate. The first revision is made with the estimate. When the estimate must change after a review or a submission, such as for an addendum, you add a revision. The new revision is a copy of the last one, and the earlier revisions stay as they were.
| Menu | Open the workspace of an estimate, then click Revisions. Or click Revisions on the row of the estimate |
| Permission | View all projects and bids to see the revisions. Manage own projects and bids, or Manage all projects and bids, to add revisions, send them for review and record their submission. Approve estimate revisions to approve them or send them back. Submit estimate revisions with blocking issues to submit a revision that still has blocking issues |
| Feature | Estimator Estimates |
What you see depends on your role. If the menu, a button or a setting on this page is missing, ask your administrator to give you the permission listed above or to turn on the feature. Only administrators can turn features on and change site settings.
The states of a revision
| State | What it means | Can it change? |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | You are working on it | Yes |
| In review | A reviewer must approve it or send it back | No |
| Approved | A reviewer approved it; it can be submitted | No |
| Submitted | It was sent with the bid | Never |
| Superseded | A later revision replaced it before it was submitted | Never |
A revision that is not a draft is locked: its lines, breakdown, quotes, recap and settings cannot change. The workspace, the quotes and the recap show it read-only, with a note at the top. If you try to change a locked revision, the page tells you why, and nothing changes.
When a revision locks, the system keeps a content seal of it. The History page of a revision shows whether its content is still the content it was locked with.
Send a revision for review
- On the Revisions page, enter a Comment if you want, such as what changed.
- Click Send for review. The revision locks.
A reviewer with the permission to approve estimate revisions then opens the Revisions page and does one of these:
- Click Approve. The revision can now be submitted.
- Enter the reason in Comment and click Send back to draft. The revision unlocks so that the estimator can change it. The reason is required.
Record the submission
When you send the bid, click Mark as submitted on the Revisions page. A submitted revision never changes again.
The Revisions page shows the checks of the current revision. A revision with blocking issues cannot be marked as submitted, unless a user who may override gives a reason.
If the site does not require approval for this revision, you can mark a draft as submitted without a review. If approval is required, the revision must be approved first.
Add a revision
- On the Revisions page, click Add revision.
- Enter a Label if you want, such as Addendum 2.
- Click Add revision.
The new revision becomes the current revision, and the workspace opens on it. It copies the lines, the breakdown, the quote packages and quotes, the recap settings and the alternates of the last revision. The last revision becomes superseded, unless it was submitted: a submitted revision stays submitted.
See an earlier revision
On the Revisions page, click Open on the row of a revision. The workspace shows that revision, read-only. Click Open the current revision to go back.
Click History on the row of a revision to see each change of its state, with who made it, when, and the comment.
Compare two revisions
- On the Revisions page, click Compare revisions. Or click Compare on the row of a revision to compare it with the revision it was copied from.
- Pick the Earlier revision and the Later revision, and click Compare.
The page shows:
- The selling price, material, labor, hours, material quotes and subcontracts of both revisions, and how much each changed.
- The lines that changed, with each value before and after.
- The lines that were added and the lines that were removed.
Require approval
An administrator decides when revisions need approval, in Settings > Estimates, in the Approval card. This needs the permission to manage the estimate approval and check settings.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Require approval before a revision is submitted | A revision must be approved before it is marked as submitted |
| From a selling price of | Only revisions with this selling price or more need approval. Leave it empty to require approval for every revision |
Workflows
When the Workflows feature is on, the Estimate Revision Changed event starts a workflow each time a revision is added, sent for review, approved, sent back, submitted with or without blocking issues, or superseded. In the event, select the changes that start the workflow, such as Approved; with none selected, every change starts it. Use it, for example, to send an email to the reviewers when a revision is sent for review.