Make and Review Approvals
Why Approvals Matter
An opening (or, more generally, an issue) is only useful when every involved discipline (Architecture, Structure, MEP, ...) agrees on its size and position. The approval workflow in the ConVoid Manager Stand-Alone is how you record that agreement: each discipline approves, rejects or sets an issue to pending, and you can see at a glance which issues are coordinated and which still need work.
Before approving, make sure you have completed the ConVoid Manager Quick Start, in particular:
You should also be familiar with the meaning of each status, see Drawing Status and Approval Status.
Step 1: Check Your Discipline
Every approval is stored against the discipline currently set in your Profile. If your profile says ARC but you are doing the STR review, your approvals end up in the wrong discipline and overwrite the architect's work.
Open Profile in the top bar and confirm both the Discipline and the Project Language before you click any approval button. The discipline is saved per project, so you only need to set it once for each project you open.
The Manager does not ask which discipline you are approving as. It always uses the discipline from your profile. Always verify this before approving, especially after opening a .cc file from a colleague.
The Project Language affects the names of approval labels stored in BCF and CC exports. Changing it after approvals exist makes labels appear in mixed languages and breaks BCF import/export with partners. Pick a language at the start of the project and keep it.
Step 2: Open the Project
A project in the Manager is a .cc file that contains every model, issue, approval and snapshot. You have two ways to start:
- Open an existing project: use Project → Open and select a
.ccfile you received from a partner or saved earlier. - Start from individual files: use the file management area in the upper left to add
.ifc,.frag,.bcfor.bcfzipfiles. Save the project as.ccvia Project → Save As as soon as you have something worth keeping.
The 3D viewer shows all loaded models. The Issue List on the right shows every issue in the project. Selecting an issue in the list highlights its markup in the 3D view, and clicking a markup in the 3D view selects the row. Double-click a row to navigate the 3D view to that issue.
Enable Auto Save in the project settings so the Manager writes the .cc file every 15 minutes. Without it, an unexpected close can lose hours of review work.
Step 3: Approve, Reject or Set to Pending
There are two equivalent ways to set the approval status of an issue:
- From the 3D viewer: click the issue's markup. A small toolbar appears with the four actions.
- From the chat panel: select the issue in the table, open the chat panel on the right and use the action buttons at the top.
Either way, the action is recorded against the discipline shown in the discipline dropdown at the top of the Issue List, and an automatic comment is added to the chat with the change.
| Icon | Status | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Issue | The markup has not yet received an approval status from the active disciplines. | |
| Approve | Approve one or multiple issues. A label and comment showing your discipline and status are added. | |
| Reject | Reject one or multiple issues. A label and comment showing your discipline and status are added. | |
| Pending | Set one or multiple issues to pending. A label and comment showing your discipline and status are added. | |
| Changelog | Enable Changelog mode to review changes in issue-related elements. Only appears when changes are detected. |
Step 4: Filter the Issue Table by Approval Status
The Issue List has a filter row at the top. Use the Labels column filter to focus on a particular subset:
- Default: issues nobody has decided on yet — your work pile.
- Rejected: issues that need a fix or a discussion.
- Pending: issues waiting for more information.
- Approved: issues that are done. Useful as a final sanity check.
Whatever filter you have active also limits a BCF Export. To send your partner only the rejected items, filter the table to Rejected first, then export.
Step 5: Show Approval Colours on the Markups
The 3D markups colour themselves with the approval status of the disciplines you enable in the discipline dropdown above the Issue List. Tick MEP, STR, ARC (or any combination) to see how each enabled discipline rates the issue. The label on the markup also updates accordingly.
You can cycle the markup display via the toolbox in the 3D viewer:
- Hide Markers: clean view, no markup overlay.
- Show Markers: standard, with the discipline+status label visible.
- Overlay Markers: keeps the markup visible even through walls and floors. Useful when reviewing an MEP layout against a structural model.
Click the markup display button to cycle between modes.
Step 6: Review Approvals from Other Disciplines
After you receive feedback (via a BCF Import or a new CC Import), you want to see what the other discipline decided.
Use the discipline dropdown above the Issue List: enable, for example, STR or ARC to recolour the table and the markups in that discipline's status colours. The chat history of each issue shows the auto-comment that the partner's action created, so you can see the chain of decisions in order.
Step 7: Review Changes via Changelog Mode
When a partner sends you a new model version (a fresh IFC, frag or CC), the Manager can show you exactly which previously reviewed elements changed.
To review a change:
- Select an issue in the Issue Table.
- Right-click and choose Show Changelog.
- The viewer frame turns green, indicating that Changelog Mode is active.
Modified elements are highlighted in orange with a timestamp. Unchanged elements are highlighted in green. You can cycle through the timeline to review specific modifications or all changes.
Click Hide Changelog to exit Changelog Mode.