The document inventory connects the requirement ledger to the material your team actually produces. It should answer simple administrative questions quickly: does the item exist, who owns it, which requirement does it address, and which revision has been checked? A spreadsheet can do this well. A sophisticated platform can do it badly if these questions remain unanswered.
Begin with the scoped requirement list rather than the files already in a shared folder. Otherwise, available documents tend to define the apparent completeness of the application. Give each expected document a record before it is received. Mark an unreceived item as expected or missing only after its applicability has been established.
Separate identity from filename
Assign a stable document identifier and keep the title as a separate field. A title can become more descriptive without creating a new document identity. Record revision, issue date, author, responsible organisation, file location and review status independently. Avoid names such as “final-latest-new” because they encode no reliable sequence or purpose.
An agreed naming convention is useful, but it should follow the project’s needs and the receiving authority’s rules. Do not claim that a home-made convention is required by ISO 19650. That standards series concerns information management using building information modelling; applying it meaningfully requires more than copying a filename pattern. The UK BIM Framework provides public guidance that can help teams understand the underlying management principles.
Drawing record
Identifier, sheet title, revision, scale where relevant, author and linked requirements.
Report record
Author, scope, issue date, assumptions, cited drawings and evidence sections.
Form record
Authority source, edition, completion owner, signature requirement and submission route.
Use distinct document and review states
A file can be received without being reviewed. It can be reviewed with unresolved findings. It can be ready for internal coordination without being ready for issue. Use a short controlled vocabulary so that a busy coordinator can distinguish these states without interpreting coloured cells or personal shorthand.
For example, the document state might be “expected”, “received”, “superseded” or “issued”. A separate review state might be “not checked”, “findings open” or “review complete for stated scope”. The last phrase matters: a completeness check is not the same as a technical design assessment. Record the review purpose and reviewer, not just a green tick.
Make evidence pointers precise
Link each requirement to a document and to a location within it. A page number, section, drawing detail, schedule row or model object reference is more useful than a bare filename. Allow one requirement to have several evidence links and one document to address several requirements. This many-to-many structure avoids duplicating the same report in several folders.
Where models are involved, buildingSMART International’s Industry Foundation Classes, or IFC, provide an open data schema for exchanging built-asset information. An IFC file is not automatically an acceptable permit submission, nor does a populated property prove that the underlying design is correct. Record the required deliverable format and any model-view or export assumptions separately.
| Identifier | Purpose | Requirement link | Review record |
|---|---|---|---|
| A-101 | Proposed ground-floor plan | REQ-011, REQ-021 | R03 / coordination findings open |
| ACC-01 | Access narrative | REQ-021 | R01 / evidence location confirmed |
| FORM-01 | Application form | REQ-001 | Edition and signatures to check |
Check extraction before trusting automation
AI-assisted indexing can suggest titles, detect repeated identifiers and extract revision text from title blocks. Optical character recognition can help with scanned material. Both can misread rotated text, handwritten annotations, decimal marks and visually similar characters. Keep extracted values provisional until a person checks them against the source.
Test any tool on a small, representative batch: a clear drawing, a scanned report and an awkward schedule. Measure practical failures rather than relying on a general accuracy claim. Preserve original files and keep generated summaries in a separate location. A summary should link back to the exact source version, not silently replace it.
Prepare formats without making assumptions
Check whether text is searchable, pages are correctly oriented, references resolve and files open in an ordinary viewer. The PDF Association explains PDF and archival formats such as PDF/A; neither “PDF” nor “PDF/A” should be assumed to satisfy every portal rule. The receiving authority may specify page dimensions, security settings, signatures, maximum sizes or a particular upload structure.
The useful output is a register with visible gaps and accountable owners. Before moving to evidence checks, ask someone unfamiliar with the folder structure to locate a requirement, open its supporting file and identify the reviewed revision. If that task is difficult, improve the inventory before adding more automation.