Trackline
A file with many participants
When eight companies take part in the same process and nobody knows whose turn it is.
A simple file has two sides: you and someone. The troublesome ones have eight: the supplier, their subcontractor, the engineer who certifies, the client who approves, the insurer. And the jam is rarely about documents: it is about knowing whose turn it is.
The three roles worth distinguishing
| Role | What they do | What they need to see |
|---|---|---|
| The contributor | Uploads their part | Only what is asked of them |
| The reviewer or approver | Signs off | What was supplied and the criteria |
| The observer | Follows the status | Progress, not files |
Important
Mixing the first and third is the usual mistake: contributor access is granted to someone who only wanted to be kept informed, and documents appear uploaded by people who should not have, in the wrong place.
How to avoid the jam
- 1
Every requested item has a single owner
If two people can supply it, neither does.
- 2
Phases reflect the real order
If the engineer cannot certify until the supplier uploads, the system should say so.
- 3
Chasing goes to whoever is up
Reminding everyone when one is missing is the fastest way to make people stop reading alerts.
- 4
And it is obvious at a glance who is blocking
It is the only question everyone asks in a file like this.
Watch out
Beware long chains. When the person who must supply depends in turn on someone who is not in the file (the subcontractor's subcontractor), the process stalls at a point you cannot see. If that happens twice, that third party needs to become a participant.
When someone changes midway
Worth knowing
Each external participant enters by their link and sees only their part, with no account in your organisation. That is what makes eight parties possible without eight users to administer.
›Can they see each other?
Only if you decide so. By default each sees their own.
›What if two supply the same document?
Keep one and clarify who maintains it; better avoided by assigning a single owner.
›Can approval happen in parts?
Yes, and in long files it is what stops everything waiting on the last item.
A real case
The situation
A commissioning file involves six companies and has been stuck for three weeks.
What you do
- Assigns a single owner to each requested document
- Orders the phases by real dependency
What you get
It emerges the block was a certificate depending on an uninvited third party, resolved in two days.
The situation
Eight companies take part and nobody knows whose turn it is.
What you do
- Assigns each document to its participant
What you get
Each one sees only their part.
The situation
A participant can see another company's documents.
What you do
- Reviews the scope of each link
What you get
Confidentiality does not rest on nobody looking.
The situation
Everyone is chased when one is missing.
What you do
- Chases only whoever has something outstanding
What you get
Those who complied receive no reminders.
The situation
Two participants upload the same document.
What you do
- Makes clear who provides what
What you get
Duplicated work is avoided.
The situation
You want to know who is behind.
What you do
- Checks progress per participant
What you get
The conversation happens with the right party.
This article answers
- process with several suppliers at once
- who must supply what in a file
- file with many parties
- coordinating several companies in one process