This page describes recommended best practices for importing submittals to Procore. Click here to view tutorials, videos, and more about the project's Submittals tool.
The workflow section enables the Submittals tool's notification and Ball In Court (BIC) tracking components. Workflows provide the benefit of automated workflow progression and action or overdue notifications.
This feature allows users with 'Admin' level permissions to select multiple submittal items in bulk and apply a new workflow or pre-created workflow template. To apply a workflow in bulk, all submittal items must be in the 'Draft' status and have no previously applied workflow.
Important! If your project has Dynamic Submittal Plan enabled, each submittal must have a Final Due Date populated, which also sets the Submit By Date. If a Final Due Date is not populated, the bulk action will fail.
Bulk applying workflows saves time by adding the same workflow to multiple submittals simultaneously. You can use this feature with workflow templates to save time.
We recommend using Submittal Packages since you can also bulk apply workflows via Submittal Package Bulk Edit. The main benefit of this option is that you can also initiate workflow emails in bulk as part of the process instead of requiring separate actions to send each submittal item separately. See Bulk Edit Submittals in a Package.
You can also bulk apply workflows from the list view if you opt not to use Submittal Packages. See Use Bulk Actions to Apply a Workflow in the Submittals Tool. Unlike bulk applying workflows via Submittal Package, this option requires you to send emails for each item individually. See Use Bulk Actions > Apply Workflow in the Submittals Tool.
No notifications are sent when the workflow is applied since the items are still in the 'Draft' status. To complete this process, you must edit each submittal item, update the status, and click Update & Send Emails. If you click Update instead, no emails (besides overdue notifications when any due dates pass) are sent.
If you need to replace an approver, submitter, or reviewer on multiple submittals, users with 'Admin' level permissions on the project's Submittals tool can do so in the Submittals Tool Configuration Settings. See Configure Settings: Submittals Tool.
Users with 'Admin' level permissions might need to revert Ball In Court on a submittal back to a previous workflow step in scenarios such as:
A workflow user forgets to upload an attachment or uploads the incorrect attachment to their response.
A workflow user provided the incorrect response.
The submittal was routed to incorrect approvers.
A Submittal Manager can revert Ball In Court to a previous step at any time. For an automated experience based on specific responses, we recommend enabling the 'Reject Workflow' setting.
See Configure Settings: Enable Reject Workflows.
Using this functionality to manage submittal revisions is not recommended. When you revert to a previous workflow step and enter new data, the system overwrites previously recorded data—dates (Sent, Returned, and Due dates), comments, responses, and attachments. The changes are documented in the item’s change history but are not immediately obvious. Additionally, reporting in Procore only displays the most current data, so you cannot get a true sense of actual Ball In Court durations if you shift the workflow back instead of creating submittal revisions.
See Change the Ball in Court on a Submittal for additional information and instructions.
The 'Create Revision' functionality creates a copy of the original item's details (under a revision number), excluding any previously entered data within the workflow. The system copies the workflow steps but restarts the order from step one so you can request a new submission from the Submitter role. This functionality ensures all historical data is maintained within the original submittal item while allowing new data to be added to the revision.
We recommend you immediately create a revision when necessary after you close and distribute the original submittal item. This communicates the rejected information to the Submitter on the original submittal and provides a new item for them to submit under. See Create a Submittal Revision. See Create a Submittal Revision.