Project Administration · training guide · draft

How to issue a drawing transmittal

Send an approved drawing set to the client or recipient as a formal transmittal, with the right purpose, delivery method and message, and record it in ProjectWise.

Typical time: about 11 min · Use this when the engineer of record has approved a drawing set for issue in ProjectWise.

Steps

1. 1
   Open the submittal in the Submittals folder in ProjectWise Explorer. · ProjectWise Explorer

   Confirm the engineer of record has approved the set. Never issue drawings that are not approved. About 1 in 9 cases skip this screen, but check anyway.
2. 2
   Open the Drawing Set PDF and review the set. · Bluebeam Revu

   If the set is sealed, get the PE's signature before issuing. This is uncommon, under 1 in 10 cases.
3. 3
   Open the Transmittals area and open the transmittal record for this issue. · ProjectWise Explorer
4. 4
   Set the transmittal purpose: review set, construction set, bid set, or information copy. · ProjectWise Explorer

   Decide from the submittal and the type of drawing set. Information copies are also issued.
5. 5
   Set the delivery method based on the purpose and the recipient. · ProjectWise Explorer

   Decide: DOT sets and bid sets go by client portal. Information copies go by email. For review sets, portal is usual (83%). No rule was given for construction sets, so ask.
6. 6
   Open a new email and attach the approved drawing set. · Microsoft Outlook
7. 7
   Write the message with the transmittal number, project, set contents and purpose. · Microsoft Outlook

   No fixed template exists. Copy details from ProjectWise where you can, and reread the message before sending.
8. 8
   Send the transmittal, then check it is logged in ProjectWise and the client has received it. · ProjectWise Explorer

Watch out for

• Details are retyped from ProjectWise into Outlook in about 40% of cases, so typos in the transmittal number or project name can slip in.
• About 5% of cases need purpose, delivery method or message edited again, so check them before saving.
• Delivery method differs from the usual one for the purpose in roughly 17% of cases, often because of DOT or client requirements, so confirm the recipient's requirement.
• Sealed sets are uncommon, but issuing one without the PE's signature breaks the issue rules.

Faster ways

• Copy the transmittal number, project and purpose from ProjectWise into the email instead of retyping. If text won't copy, ask the team how they handle it.
• Save your own standard message layout (transmittal number, project, contents, purpose) in Outlook so each email only needs the details filled in.
• Ask about a Power Automate flow with a Copilot Studio front end that checks out approved drawings, builds the transmittal and drafts the Outlook email for your review. Stamping in Bluebeam, missing approvals and sealed sets would stay manua

Written by AI from how the team actually did this work (2026-10-19 to 2026-10-23): the most common path, the steps people add or redo, and where errors happen. Review and edit before sharing.