Download the Document Distribution Matrix Template

In order to configure the document distribution matrix, you must first download the document distribution matrix template. If you have made changes in the portal settings since you last downloaded the template, you should download a fresh copy of the template to make sure the template includes the latest/current purposes, attributes, and participants.

1. Click the Settings icon to open the Settings page.
2. Click the Distribution matrix tab.
3. At the bottom of the page, click the link to Download document distribution matrix template.
4. Save the template to a local folder.

Configure Distribution Rules

To begin configuring distribution rules, open the downloaded document distribution matrix template in Microsoft Excel.

Each row in the template represents a distribution rule. There are two pre-configured example distribution rules for each purpose, which you can re-configure as needed and then use. You can add more rows if you want to configure more distribution rules for any of the purposes. You can also delete any rows (rules) you do not need.

To configure a single distribution rule in the matrix (make these changes all on the same row):

1. In the Package Purpose column, click inside the cell and select the purpose that you want to associate this distribution rule to.

   When you click inside the cell, you get a list of the available purposes in the project (Settings > Purposes).

2. In the Name column, click inside the cell and enter or edit the name of the distribution rule.

   The name can be anything you want. This is the name you will see when you select a distribution rule on the General tab of a transmittal draft.

3. In the Max response period (calendar days) column, click inside the cell and enter the maximum number of days (up to 999) that can be set for a transmittal's acknowledgement and response due dates (default is 14).

   For example, if you enter 25, then when this distribution rule is applied, the person configuring the transmittal can set the acknowledgement and response due dates to be anywhere between 1 and 25 days from the date the transmittal is issued.

4. (Optional) If you want this rule to force all documents in the transmittal to have specific attribute values, then in the Attributes section, click inside the cell of each attribute you want to make a required attribute and enter the specific attribute value that the document must have. If the attribute has predefined values, select one of the predefined values from the list that opens when you click in the cell.

   If you leave a cell blank for a particular attribute, then the rule will not require documents in a transmittal to have a value for that attribute.

   1. In the Recipients section, configure one or more recipient roles that define which project participants will be automatically added as recipients to the transmittal draft, and which reply actions are pre-assigned to them, when this distribution rule is applied to the transmittal draft.

      The document distribution matrix template contains six example roles, which you can configure as needed. You can also add or delete roles as needed.

      To configure a recipient role in a distribution rule (basic):

      Assign one or more participants to the role. In the recipients column of the role you are configuring, click in the recipients cell (above the role name) and enter the email addresses (comma separated) of each project participant that you want to assign to this role. When you download the template, the email addresses of some of the current project participants are automatically added to some of the example roles. You can rearrange these email addresses as needed to configure each role (for example, move email addresses to other roles, or delete email addresses of participants that do not need to be assigned to any role). You can also add email addresses of other current project participants. Each participant can also be included in more than one role. If a mistake is made in this area (for example, an incorrect email address, or no email addresses), you will be notified about it when you try to upload the matrix. Assign reply actions to the role. Click in the cell where the role and distribution rule intersect and select the letter or letter combination that represents what actions you want to assign to this role. Select R to assign both the Acknowledge (ack) and Respond (resp) actions to this role. This is the Responder role. Select IA to assign just the Acknowledge (ack) action to this role. Select I to assign no actions to this role. You can also select 'AR' to configure this role as an additional reviewer role, but that has special considerations and will be discussed later in this section. Because each distribution rule is directly related to a specific purpose, the reply actions that you assign to a role cannot contradict the reply actions in the purpose that is associated to the distribution rule. For example, if a purpose does not allow recipients to respond, then in the distribution rule that is associated to that purpose you cannot configure a role that allows recipients to respond. If a mistake is made in this area, you will be notified about it when you try to upload the matrix. Note: Remove any fake email addresses (company_user@company.com) from the example recipient roles before you upload the matrix. These are just provided to give you an idea of how to configure the Recipients section. Note: If a recipient is a participant in more than one project, you can specify to which project that recipient will receive the transmittal package by adding the project number (inside parentheses) after the recipient's email address. For example: company_user@company.com (Project Number)

      A submittal recipient who is required to respond can send a request to one or more internal participants (additional reviewers) to also respond to selected documents in the submittal. Another way to add these additional reviewers is to configure a distribution rule so that one or more recipients who are required to respond are automatically added to the transmittal draft with their additional reviewers already assigned.

      When the distribution rule is applied to the transmittal draft, a note is added in the Details column (on the Audit Trail tab in ProjectWise Explorer, or on the View History page in the portal), listing which additional reviewers were selected to send responses to which responder. When the transmittal is finally issued, either the responder, or any of their pre-assigned additional reviewers, can acknowledge the submittal. This allows the additional reviewers to begin reviewing and responding to the documents in the submittal without having to wait for their responder to acknowledge it.

      To add additional reviewers in a distribution rule where only one responder is defined:

      Configure the responder role. Assign one participant to a role, then click in the cell where the role and the distribution rule intersect and select R to designate that role as the responder role (the recipient in this role will be assigned the Acknowledge and Respond actions). Configure one or more additional reviewer roles. Assign one or more participants to another role, then click in the cell where the role and the distribution rule intersect and select AR to designate that role as an additional reviewer role (the recipients in this role will also be assigned the Acknowledge and Respond actions). Repeat this step as needed to create more additional reviewer roles. You can have multiple AR roles in a single distribution rule. Tip: A responder role can normally include as many participants as you want, but whenever your distribution rule includes an additional reviewer role, the responder role to which the additional reviewer role is assigned can only contain one participant.

      If your distribution rule includes more than one responder role and you want to add additional reviewers, then you will need to enter custom values (instead of the standard R and AR values) to define which specific additional reviewer role or roles will be assigned to which specific responder role or roles.

      In order to enter a custom value, you need to clear the expected values (which are R, IA, I, AR, or blank) from the cell, by copying an unformatted cell from anywhere else in the spreadsheet, and pasting it over the cell where you want to enter a custom value. Some custom value examples are described below.

      To add additional reviewers in a distribution rule where more than one responder is defined:

      Configure an additional reviewer role. Assign one or more participants to a role. Clear the expected values from the cell where the role and the distribution rule intersect. In the cell where you have cleared the expected values, and enter AR1 to designate this role as the first additional reviewer role in the rule. Repeat these steps as needed to configure more additional reviewer roles (for example, AR2, AR3, AR4, and so on). Configure which additional reviewer roles are assigned to which main responder roles. Assign one participant to a responder role. Clear the expected values from the cell where the role and the distribution rule intersect. In the cell where you have cleared the expected values, enter R(AR1) to assign the AR1 additional reviewer role to this responder role. Repeat these steps as needed to assign more additional reviewer roles (for example, AR2, AR3, AR4, and so on) to other responder roles (for example, R(AR2), R(AR3), R(AR4) and so on). To assign multiple additional reviewer roles to the same responder role, the format is this: R(AR1,AR2,AR3) If there is a responder role in this distribution rule that you do not want to assign additional reviewers to, then just assign the R letter to that role.

      (Optional) To Enter the Default Text That You Want to Appear Next to a Recipient's Name in the Transmittal

      Clear the expected values from the cell where the role and the distribution rule intersect. In the cell where you have cleared the expected values, enter the action letter or letter combination that you want to assign to this role and add +"some default text" (for example, R+"primary responder" or I+"for information only")

      When the distribution rule is applied to the transmittal, the default text will be automatically added to the Comments field on the Recipients tab of the transmittal for all recipients assigned to this role. The person configuring the transmittal draft can keep or change this default text as needed.

   Note: If a recipient is a participant in more than one project, you can now specify to which project that recipient will receive the transmittal package by adding the project number (inside parentheses) after the recipient's email address. For example: company_user@company.com (Project Number)
5. The Comment column (the last column) is for internal use only, and is where you can add a note or comment about the distribution rule, to make it easier for you to identify in the list. These comments are not seen anywhere else but in this spreadsheet.
6. Save and close the document distribution matrix when you are finished making changes to it.

Upload the Configured Document Distribution Matrix

Distribution rules are disabled by default in each project. To enable distribution rules for a project, you need to upload a document distribution matrix in the portal settings.

1. Click the Settings icon to open the Settings page.
2. Click the Distribution matrix tab.
3. Click Upload new and select the matrix you just configured.

Once the matrix is uploaded and validated, distribution rules are enabled for this project.

Validating the Document Distribution Matrix

The contents of the matrix are automatically validated when you upload it.

If you configure the matrix incorrectly, it can invalidate the matrix, and you may or may not be able to upload it.

For example, in these cases, it will still be possible to upload an invalid matrix:

• Adding the email address of someone who is not a project participant will invalidate the matrix, but it can still be uploaded: adding that person as a project participant fixes the matrix.
• Adding a purpose that is not in the purposes list of this project will invalidate the matrix, but it can still be uploaded; adding that purpose to the purposes list fixes the matrix.
• Adding an attribute that is not in the transmittal attributes list of this project will invalidate the matrix, but it can still be uploaded; adding that attribute to the transmittal attributes list fixes the matrix.

However, it will not be possible to upload an invalid matrix if:

• the reply actions set for a role contradicts the reply actions that are set in the purpose that is associated to the rule containing the role. For example, if a purpose does not allow recipients to respond, then you cannot configure a role in the associated rule that allows recipients to respond.
• the same purpose has two distribution rules with the same name
• the $purpose, $name or $responsePeriod column is missing

Email Notifications About Invalid Matrix (after transmittal issue)

If a user assigns an invalid distribution rule to a transmittal draft and then tries to issue the transmittal, the user will receive an error message and will not be able to issue the transmittal until the distribution rule is fixed, or a valid distribution rule is selected instead.

If a user assigns a valid distribution rule to a transmittal draft, but the distribution matrix itself is not valid (because it contains one or more invalid distribution rules), the user will be able to issue the transmittal, and an email notification will be sent to the Deliverables Management administrator once every 24 hours after the transmittal is issued until the distribution matrix is made valid (that is, until all of the invalid distribution rules in the matrix are made valid).

Disabling Distribution Rules

If you ever need to disable distribution rules, remove the matrix from this project.

1. Click the Settings icon to open the Settings page.
2. Click the Distribution matrix tab.
3. Click menu next to the Upload new button and select Remove.