This article provides information about the Settings/Configuration/Distributions page. Use the Distributions page to configure assignment distributions to create plan review assignments efficiently. The Automated Distributions feature is designed to help agency staff populate assignment suggestions on the Intake page automatically based on the type of project whenever assignment information is not already being passed along by an integrated permitting system. Users can access this feature by navigating to Settings > Configurations > Distributions.
Automated distributions are recommended when EPR is running as a stand alone standalone product or when an integrated partner will not import send plan review assignments using our ConnectAPI.
Configure Project Types for Permitting and Design Review Lists.
Prerequisites:
- Configure Review Types for Permitting and Design Review Lists.
- Configure Groups for Permitting and Design Review Lists.
- Create user accounts for plan reviewers.
- Assign plan review users to Permitting and Design Review groups .
- For each project type, you will need:
- A list of plan review documents that will typically be required, by discipline (review type).
- A list of group members who will typically be assigned to these projects.
Automated Distribution records require:
- A Purpose and Project Type
- One or more Review Types
- One or more Groups
- Optionally, a 'named user', who is a member of the group.
In this article:
| Table of Contents |
|---|
Understanding Automated Distributions
Automated distributions significantly improve the document intake process by triggering which groups and users should receive plan review assignments whenever new plan review documents are uploaded.
At a high level, from the Project Intake page, a plan review document can generate one or many plan review assignments and each assignment is associated to a Group.
Automated distributions can also be configured to check the document filename to see if it matches an expected pattern, or to ignore the document filename altogether.
During the intake process the intake user can choose to confirm the automated distribution suggestions, or make modifications if needed, before actually creating the plan review assignments and notifying those users.
About Review Types
The Review Type lists serve two uses:
...
automatically through API calls.
| Table of Contents |
|---|
...
Understanding Automated Distributions
The Distributions page has two sections, a smaller “Distribution Settings” at the top and a larger “Configure Automated Distributions” section below. Each of these is designed to help regulate how assignments are created and then managed by EPR, except for clients whose integrated permitting system handles assignments.
| Note |
|---|
Whenever an integrated permitting system provides assignment information, automated distribution configured in EPR (if they exist) are ignored. |
...
Distribution Settings
The Distribution Settings control what EPR does with assignments whenever files are received, which includes defining how EPR will treat resubmitted files that previously had an “Approved” or “Canceled” assignment status. Distribution settings are broken out by purpose, so if a client is using both “For Permitting” and “For Design Review” purposes, they can either configure the same or different settings for each.
Below are the default settings for automated distributions:
...
Reset Approved Resubmittals
This toggle controls whether previously “Approved” assignments have their status reset back to “Not Started” (or the equivalent value) whenever EPR receives a resubmittal for that file.
If the toggle is on (toggled to the right), then “Approved” assignments have their status reset to “Not Started.”
Reviewers are then expected to review the resubmittal to provide a new status.
If the toggle is off (toggled to the left), then assignments will keep the “Approved” status when a resubmitted file is received.
This assignment is then ignored moving forward, but staff can choose to review new resubmittals if desired.
| Note |
|---|
Best practices recommend that any time a new version of a plan is resubmitted staff perform a fresh review, regardless if the previous version was approved, but an agency can choose to persist an approved status. |
Automated Distributions
Toggle this setting on (appears green and is toggled to the right) so that distributions trigger for incoming files of the matching Project Type(s) during intake.
| Info |
|---|
If using EPR integrated to a partner system that will be responsible for creating review assignments, this setting should be off (toggled to the left). |
PDF Filename Delimiters
If an agency requires applicants to use prefixes in their filenames in order to route document assignments, applicants will need to include the displayed delimiter value between the prefix and the rest of the file name.
EPR uses underscore ( _ ) as the delimiter value, so filenames that require prefixes should be formatted like “BLDG_RestOfTheFilename.pdf” where “BLDG” is the prefix and “RestOfFilename” is the rest of the filename.
If more than one underscore is used in the filename, EPR will treat the first one as the delimiter.
Filename prefixes have to match the formatting configured within EPR in order to be properly recognized for distribution.
| Info |
|---|
If an agency does not have strict file naming conventions that require prefixes, the filename delimiter can be safely ignored. |
Reset Canceled Resubmittals
This toggle controls whether previously “Canceled” assignments have their status reset back to “Not Started” (or the equivalent value) whenever EPR receives a resubmittal for that file.
If the toggle is on (toggled to the right), then “Canceled” assignments have their status reset to “Not Started.”
Reviewers are then expected to review the resubmittal to provide a new status.
If the toggle is off (toggled to the left), then assignments will keep the “Canceled” status when a resubmitted file is received.
This assignment is then ignored moving forward, but staff can choose to review new resubmittals if desired.
| Note |
|---|
Best practices recommend that any time a new version of a plan is resubmitted staff perform a fresh review, regardless if the previous version was approved, but an agency can choose to persist an approved status. |
...
Automated Distribution Requirements
If a partner permitting system isn’t already sending assignment information to EPR, agency staff will need to create assignments on the Intake tab for any incoming documents. Staff can either create these by inputting assignment information manually or they can rely on pre-configured automated distributions which will display suggested assignments on the Intake page for staff to simply confirm.
| Info |
|---|
Several list items have to be configured before an admin-level user can add a distribution record. These include: Project Types, Groups, any user accounts who will be assigned tasks. If Review Types are going to be used, they also need to be configured ahead of creating a distribution record. |
Purpose
Selecting either “For Permitting” or “For Design Review” as the purpose will determine which lists are used for every other dropdown list when creating a distribution.
Project Type
Each distribution can specify one project type. If the distribution is active, it will be triggered every time a project of that type receives files for review.
Review Types
The Review Type can be used in one of two ways:
If applicants are required to include specific file name prefixes that identify the type of document being submitted, then the Review Type can be used as an extra filter so that only files with the selected prefix(es) will trigger a distribution suggestion.
Matching Review Type requires the first four letters of the filename (before the delimiter) to match an existing Review Type’s abbreviation as written in EPR.
It can also be used as a differentiator when staff have to create multiple assignments for a specific individual within the same Group (or multiple assignments for a Group when no specific reviewer is listed).
For example, a document assigned to the Building department (group) for a structural review
...
and to the Building department (group) for a civil review
...
Groups
Groups serve two uses:
- Automated distributions and plan review assignments must be associated to a Group.
- Plan Reviewers must belong to a group in order to update the group assignment status.
Best Practices for Accepting Plan Sets for plan review distribution
Documents will be approved/rejected by each Group as a whole, with whatever disciplines consist in the file. For this reason, communication to your project owners/architects/contractors, etc. who provide plan review documents should include instructions on how PDF's for plan review should be assembled, based on how you distribute plans to your plan reviewers and the disciplines they can stamp (approve).
For example, some reviewers may approve mechanical, electrical and plumbing plans, so one document that contains of all three disciplines is acceptable.
In this case:
- Create a Review Type called: Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing and set its abbreviation to: MEP.
- Incoming files for these users/project types should be prefixed as: MEP_helpfuldescriptionhere.pdf
Create other Review Type list records for each single discipline or combination of disciplines as needed.
| Info | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
Be sure to provide new customers the Electronic Document Submittal Recommendations report available on the Project Documents Upload page. This report provides important instructions for preparing plan sets in PDF format. See Configuration/Reports to modify the instructions on the Electronic Document Submittal Recommendations report. |
File Naming Requirements for plan review documents
Configuring Distributions based on a file name prefix:
Incoming PDF's that follow file naming requirements provide the ability to create plan review assignments for the appropriate reviewers/groups by matching the leftmost 4 characters in the filename that precede the underscore ( _ ).
Using the three documents below as an example, the Mixed Use workflow record (below) would create two group assignments for the CIVL_Notes.pdf file and two group assignments for the MEP_Landscape.pdf file.
No assignments would be auto-created for the document named Sprinkler Diagram.pdf, because a matching Review Type prefix has not been configured and the filename is missing the underscore character.
...
Configuring Automated Distributions for any plan review document
To create an automated distribution record that ignores the filename prefix, select the 'Any' checkbox. During intake, assuming the filenames include the required underscore character, the selected group assignments will be triggered.
| Info | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
Intake personnel may manually create an assignment during intake if the PDF's do not meet filenaming requirements. |
Distribution Settings
Below are the default settings for automated distributions:
Reset Approved Resubmittals
Best practices dictate that plan reviews should be performed when new versions are provided, even when the prior submittal was approved. However, this rule can be overridden if desired.
Toggle this setting off if previously completed assignments whose status is Approved should not create new assignments when a new submittal/version is received.
Leave this setting on to reset Approved plan review assignments when new versions are uploaded.
Enabling Automated Distributions
Toggle this setting on to enable automated distributions to trigger during document intake.
Turn this setting off if an integrated back office product will be responsible for creating plan review assignments via our Connect API toolkit.
| Info |
|---|
If an integrated back office product will push documents and plan review assignments via our Connect API, enforcing file naming recommendations is not necessary. |
Permitting Reassignments by Reviewer
Toggle this setting on to allow Reviewer’s privileges to hand off a personal (named user) assignment to another Reviewer in the same group.
This privilege may not be acceptable to some clients.
| Info | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
A Reassignment action causes the currently named user to lose ownership of sketches/comments that may exist on the document. The new user inherits ownership of those markups, including edit and delete permissions, based on the configured permission settings. |
Creating Automated Distributions
From the Navigation panel, select Configuration/Distributions.
- Click the + button on the bottom of the page to open the Add/Edit Distribution form.
- Select a Purpose and Project Type from the dropdown lists.
- Choose the Review Type abbreviation(s) if the files will be distributed by discipline or choose ‘Select All’ if the files do not need to be distributed by discipline.
- Optionally, choose the 'Any' checkbox to ignore matching the filename prefix to a Review Type abbreviation.
- Select the Groups who should receive assignments and if desired,
- Select an Assignee as a named user or
- Choose ‘Select All’ when if all Groups should receive assignments.
- Verify that the selections are correct, including the Purpose and Project Type.
- Changing the Purpose/Project Type will not be allowed after the record is saved.
- Click the ‘Confirm’ button to save.
...
can each use a different Review Type value when no specific reviewer is going to be assigned.
...
| Info |
|---|
The Review Type can also be ignored altogether. If an agency is not requiring specific file naming conventions, it’s best to check the box for Any under Review Type. As mentioned by the tooltip, this creates whatever assignments are configured as part of the active distribution regardless of what the file name is. |
...
| Note |
|---|
Selecting Any for the Review Type will trigger the configured distribution for any file processed through Intake, while choosing Select All will only trigger distribution for the specific Review Type values listed (meaning files that don’t have an exact match will not trigger the distribution). |
Groups
Assignments are created per group so that only users belonging to that group can update that assignment’s status. Other users can still markup the assignment if necessary, but they cannot change the status for that specific assignment.
Assignee
Distributions can be created without specifying a user as an assignee and will display “Group” in the Assignee field. If that’s the case, any member of the group can perform the review.
If creating a distribution for a specific user, that user must already be part of the group.
| Info |
|---|
Only active users are listed in the dropdown as options for assignee. |
...
Configure Automated Distributions
To create or update a distribution, go to Settings > Configuration > Distributions in the navigation panel.
Click the
(add) button on the bottom right of the page to open the “Add/Edit Distribution”form.
Make sure that the Active toggle on top is turned on (toggled to the right).
Select a Purpose.
Select the Project Type.
For Review Type:
Check Any to ignore filenames altogether and trigger the assignment(s) for any incoming files to be reviewed.
Most agencies will want to choose this as it is the most flexible option.
Or check Select All to trigger assignment(s) whenever incoming filenames include one of the displayed prefixes.
This option is stricter because it checks for prefixes in filenames.
Or check only the specific Review Type prefixes (abbreviations) which you want to trigger assignment(s) for based on those prefixes being part of the incoming filename.
This is the strictest option.
Select which Group should receive review assignments for the incoming files.
Select specific group(s) or, if all groups should receive assignments, check the option for Select All.
For each group, either:
Leave the Assignee field as “Group” (not assigned to a specific reviewer), or
Select an intended reviewer from the dropdown (other group members can still perform the review, if necessary)
Verify that your choices are correct because the Purpose, Project Type, and Review Type choices cannot be updated after the record is saved.
Click CONFIRM to create the automated distribution.
When distributions are created, they will appear as individual records in the “Configure Automated Distributions” table. Each assignment for each group is listed separately so that it can be edited separately from any others that were created at the same time. You can toggle the automated distribution records from Active to Inactive status while configuring Automated Distributions to prevent them from being triggered until they are ready for use.
| Info |
|---|
Editing an existing Distribution Record
From the Navigation panel, select Configuration/Distributions.
...
Any records created using “Any” as the Review Type choice will display an asterisk ( * ) in the table under the “Prefix” column instead of showing a specific Review Type abbreviation. |
...
Editing an Existing Distribution Record
To edit an existing distribution from the Distributions page:
Click the
(edit pencil icon) in the distribution record to open the
...
“Add/Edit Distribution” pop-up.
You will only be able to edit Group and/or Assignee information.
Check
...
or uncheck additional groups as needed.
Removing a group from the distribution record will prompt a
...
message box
...
Recapping the Rules that Trigger Automated Distributions during Intake
During Intake, automated assignment distributions will trigger if the following conditions are met:
...
asking you to confirm this choice by clicking DELETE.
If you need to change an assignee, click in the field and choose a new user from the dropdown. (The new assignee must still be part of the same group.)
If the distribution is no longer needed, click the Active toggle to turn it off (toggle on the left).
Click CONFIRM to complete.
...
| Note |
|---|
Purpose, Project Type, and Review Type cannot be edited for an existing distribution. If you need to change any of those values, you will need to deactivate the existing distribution and create a new one. |