This article provides information about using the project Comments page. Open a project record by selecting the right arrow icon, and select the COMMENTS tab or, select Comments from the menu on the Plan Review page
Prerequisites:
- A Project must already exist.
- The user must be a member of the Project or have Global Access permissions to the project.
- To add comments:
- The user must belong to at least one Group.
- The user's Role must be granted view and add permissions to Project Comment-Details
A Comment record requires:
- A Project.
- A Group.
- A Disposition.
- Content (comment text).
In this article:
Configured permissions enforce which user roles may view, add, edit and delete comments.
Opening the Project Comments page
Option 1: Open a Project record and select COMMENTS.
Option 2: From the Plan Review page, open the menu on the upper left corner and choose Comments.
Overview of the Comments page
The Comments page indexes all comments that exist for a single project across all groups and users, all plan review documents and all document submittals, including any standard comments inserted from the Standard Comment Library.
Comments may added to the project from here that are not associated to plan review documents.
Several filtering options are provided to view, manage and export comment records.
For example, the screen shot below shows comments with filtered for an OPEN disposition. Note that each comment record displays the Reviewer's name, the Group and optionally, a Review Type.
For information about each of the list filters, see Permitting and Design Review List Types.
Inserting Comments
Follow these steps to insert comments. These comments will not be associated to a plan review document but can be included in a Correction Report or for exporting.
| Steps | Instructions |
|---|---|
| Click on 'Comment As' to choose the appropriate Group that your new comment will be associated to. The Group cannot be changed after the comment record has been saved. (Comment As is for inserting new comments, not to filter the comment records.) |
 | Select the Add a new Comment icon to open the New Comment form to create one new comment. Complete the form and select the Save button (required). |
 | Optionally, select the Insert Standard comments icon to open the Insert Standard Comments page. Choose one or many standard comments to insert into the project Comments page. The comments will be inserted using the Group displayed under 'COMMENT AS' shown at the top of the page. |
Search, Filter and Sorting Comments
Use the left panel of the Comments page to search and filter comment records in the project.
Using search
Enter full or partial keywords in the search field. Records with matching comment content will be returned.
Applied filters and/or date ranges will also affect the search results.
Comments flagged by the author (creator) as 'Private' are visible to the author and Administrator's only.
Applying optional filters
Several filtering options are provided.
| Filters | Description |
|---|---|
| Start and End Dates | Use the start and end dates to find comments updated within the date range. |
| Responses | Filter comments by Responses enabled or disabled. |
| Documents | Filter comments contained in specific plan review documents associated to the project. |
| Reviewers | Filter comments created by specific users in the project. |
| Group | Filter comments by groups. |
| Comment Disposition | Filter comments by disposition. Choose an OPEN Disposition prior to generating Correction reports. |
| Impact | Filter comments by Impact. |
| Review Type | Filter comments by Review Type/Discipline. |
| Category | Filter comments by Category. |
| Subcategory | Filter comments by Subcategory. |
The filter names that appear here may not reflect your particular configuration if 'custom' names have been applied to the List name in the Configuration/Lists page.
Sorting comments
In addition to filtering, comments can be sorted in ascending or descending order.
Exporting Comments
Generating a Correction Report
Preparing a Correction Report requires these steps:
- Set a filter on the Comment Dispostion to include open comments. Closed comments should be excluded from Correction Reports.
- Optionally, choose one or more Groups to include in the report.
- Select the Checkbox at the upper left corner of the page, as shown below.
- Only selected comment records will be included in the export report.
- Choose the EXPORT Report option at the upper right corner of the page, as shown below.
- The Export form will open.
5. From the Export form, select the appropriate Template.
6. Choose PDF.
7. Check on 'Add as an attachment' to save the report into the project for return to the applicant.
a. Leave the box unchecked to open the report for viewing/downloading.
8. Select CONFIRM.
All selected comments will be included in the report.
Best Practices for Permitting Agencies
Correction reports should include only comments whose disposition is open (unresolved) because the marked up plans returned to the customer will include only open comments.
Preparing Correction Reports and Plan Review Deliverables
Correction reports should be created when all plan review assignments have been completed prior to packaging reviewed documents for return to the customer.
See Preparing Document Deliverables for instructions.
Generating Correction Reports for specific Groups
Some agencies may prefer to generate separate Correction reports filtered by Group, to return to the customer prior to all assignments being completed.
In this case, be sure to modify the Printer Render settings when preparing your deliverable package to choose the same Group(s).
Receiving corrected documents for the next submittal
In a situation where the customer has provided a new submittal that is uploaded and processed through intake, the following will occur:
- Comments and sketches created in prior submittals will be carried forward to the latest submittal. Users will no longer be allowed to mark up the prior submittal.
- Previously created plan review assignments will be pointed to the latest submittal so the reviewers may continue their work using the latest submittal.
- Plan review assignments that were unfinished will be reset to a 'Not Started' status.
- Plan review assignments that were finished will be reset to a 'Not Started' status.
- Plan review assignments that were Approved in the prior submittal may also be reset to a 'Not Started' status to trigger a review on the latest submittal, depending on configured settings.
- See 'Reset Approved Assignments' for instructions.
Exporting Comments to a CSV file
Repeat steps 1-3 above.
Choose EXPORT TO CSV FILE
Save the comments.csv file to the appropriate local/network location.
Opening the Comment Detail form
Select the pencil icon to open the Comment Detail form.
For instructions on creating comments, see: Adding a Comment record.
Jump to the Document Review page
Comment records that were added to plan review documents on the Review page will display the document name and page number, as shown below.
Select the arrow icon to open the Plan Review page in a new tab.
Advanced Features
Performing Batch Actions
Several batch action features are available for managing comment records.
- Select all comment records or choose the specific comments you wish to modify.
- Choose the desired batch action:
- Set Disposition: Change the comment disposition for the selected comment records.
- Set Flag: Toggle the comment Flag on or off
- Copy as New: Duplicate selected comments.
Depending on how permissions have been configured by your site administrator, your ability to modify comment records will be granted for your own comments, your group(s) comments or all comments in the project.
About Comment Flags
The comment record flag is provided as a means to communicate with external users, called Contributors to request feedback, etc. about the comment.
Comments not flagged do not require attention and will not generate an email alerting Contributors to login to the application.
In most situations, plan review project for permitting purposes will not utilize comment flags or comment responses.
For more information see The Contributor Role Explained.
About Comment Responses
When the Enable Response feature is on, the reviewer is inviting responses from project Contributors. If the Enable Response feature is off, the Comment record can be viewed, but not responded to.
For instructions on creating comments, see: Adding a Comment record.
Deleting Comments
Comments are managed by the comment Disposition to allow plan reviewers to indicate when a comment has been addressed (resolved).
An event log record is created each time a disposition is changed, who it was changed by.
Additionally, the comment's event log captures changes to each field in the comment record, including who changed it and when it was changed.
Deleted comments will not appear on any deliverables, exported files or correction reports.
Deleting comments should be performed only in very specific situations. For example, when a comment was created in error.
- Use the checkboxes to select the comment(s) you wish to delete.
- Select the ellipsis on the upper right corner of the page, as shown below
- Choose Delete.
Configured permissions control whether your user role may delete project comments. Comments that have been deleted cannot be restored without assistance from e-PlanSoft.
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