Blog
8 Key Pieces Of Information Your VDR Should Have (Vendor Document Requirements List)
The Vendor Document Requirements (VDR) is the very important information your customer will supply at the beginning of your project.…
Unlike generic engineering document management tools, DocBoss is designed specifically for the needs of suppliers submitting documentation to engineering firms. Our mission is to help you work smarter and get paid faster.
The Problem
Manual document control? It’s a constant struggle for suppliers.
Trying to meet customer-specific requirements manually—whether for 10 docs or 1,000—is like trying to get a toddler dressed in winter gear. It takes 10 times longer than it should, everyone’s frustrated, and you’re still not sure it’s done right. It’s time somebody (us!) changed that.
Endless, time-consuming tasks
Spending hours wrangling cover sheets, submittals, and SDIs? Repetitive tasks and nitpicky submittal requirements slow everything down, leaving you little time for anything else.
Rejections and
costly delays
Even the tiniest mistake can turn into a rejected document, resubmission, and a whole lot of delays. With so many documents, it’s all too easy for things to slip through the cracks.
Ever-changing requirements
Customers and orders have unique requirements. If you can’t easily customize each project to meet exact customer needs, your users will work outside the system—and you’ll be right back where you started.
Payment
holdbacks
Payments are delayed until your databook is approved. Small errors can trigger holdbacks, stalling your cash flow.
YOUR SOLUTION
DocBoss is your secret
weapon for automating document control
Automate the tedious tasks that slow you down, and rest assured documents are consistent, accurate, and completed on time. From defining the initial vendor document list to formatting submittals and compiling databooks, DocBoss does everything you wish you didn’t have to.
Create the list of required documents
Leverage your equipment data to auto-populate a perfectly complete document list every time (yes, you can upload the list manually too).
Submit accurate documentation
No one can proof read a long tag list (without going cross-eyed). Ensure accurate meta data on every submission, without Adobe or Excel.
Track every
document
DocBoss does your tracking in the background while you make your submittals. For SDI reports, simply click to generate in your customers’ format.
Complete final databooks
Goodbye holdbacks. Generate your final databook/record book with a single click.
Comparison: DocBoss vs Everything Else
DocBoss is the only document control system that helps process equipment suppliers manage the complex submittal requirements of EPCs. Unlike EDMS solutions, CAD, or Sharepoint, we simplify and automate your uniquely complex documentation workflows, so you can complete more projects faster.
 |
EDMS |
CAD/Design
|
Sharepoint |
|
Making and Receiving Submittals |
||||
| Track submittals (including due and return dates) to customers, suppliers, and 3rd parties |  |
|
||
| Apply different coversheets based on submittal target (ie; customer, supplier, internal, 3rd party, etc) | |
|||
| Package multiple documents into one file for submittal (ie; instrument data sheets) | |
|
||
| Auto-unpack on return to manage issues with all documents | |
|||
| Add stamps with card-related data, tags, and numbers on outgoing documents | |
SOME | |
|
| Bulk upload and bulk assignment of files to placeholders and cards using file names or document numbers | |
|
||
| Use the embedded viewer to preview and compare files during assignment + apply optional stamp templates) |
|
|
||
| Ignore uploaded file names (ie; auto-rename files on submittal with doc number, etc.) | |
|
|
EDMS |
CAD/Design
|
Sharepoint |
|
Databooks and Compilations |
||||
| Choose which doc codes to include in the book and define sections and subsections | |
|||
| Create many types of books for one project (ie; manufacturer’s record book, dispatch dossier, quality manual, technical dossier, etc.) | |
|||
| Easily create one book per order, tag, plant, or area | |
|||
| Auto-generate section title pages, bookmarks, and hyperlinks | |
|||
| Set pattern for table-of-contents and bookmarks (ie; Doc Number, Rev, Title, Tag) | |
|||
| Include or remove document coversheets on final databook | |
|||
| Add placeholder pages for ‘N/A’ or ‘included-in-doc’ codes | |
|||
| Create quality packages from MTRs in library and construction router | |
|
EDMS |
CAD/Design
|
Sharepoint |
|
Formatting and Tracking |
||||
| Allow customer specific document codes (A01, A02 etc) | |
|
||
| If using customer codes, allow mapping to internal codes for project reporting. | |
|||
| Apply customer statuses on document return (1/2/3/4 or A/B/C/D etc) | |
|||
| Use (and auto-populate) customer supplied templates for cover sheets, transmittals, document lists, stamps | |
|||
| Configure transmittal numbering patterns based on customer requirements (T-001, TRANS-001, PO123-T-001) | |
|||
| Automate document numbering for customer and internal numbers | |
|
||
| Copy projects for repeat jobs | |
|
||
| Track multiple numbers per document (user, customer, end user, supplier etc) | |
|
|
EDMS |
CAD/Design
|
Sharepoint |
|
Reporting |
||||
| Track due dates, and expected return dates | |
SOME | |
|
| Dashboard showing all projects for each user, and key performance indicators | |
|||
| Dashboard for all open actions for each user | |
|
|
|
| Run expediting reports across multiple projects | |
|
||
| Generate SDI (supplier document index) using customer supplied excel templates | |
|||
| Show full submittal history in the SDI | |
|
||
| Quickly review full history of all submissions of the document (actual file sent, metadata, status etc) | |
|
|
EDMS |
CAD/Design
|
Sharepoint |
|
Manage and Create Cards |
||||
| Build placeholder for all expected documents | |
|
||
| Generate document list by combining doc code and equipment list | |
|||
| Upload document list from excel | |
|
||
| Manage different translations as separate documents, but link together | |
|||
| Manage the PDF record, comment pages, and native files as one “document” | |
UNSURE | ||
| Link equipment (tags) to every card. Auto-update when project changes. | |
|||
| Support tagging hierarchy (major and minor equipment tags). Auto-update changes. | |
|||
| Ensure at least one doc code is linked to every card | |
|
||
| Allow user to break large PDFs into components and submit separately | |
|||
| Add custom fields and data types | |
|
|
|
| Checkin and checkout of native design files | |
|
||
| Version control of native design files | |
|
|
|
EDMS |
CAD/Design
|
Sharepoint |
|
Workflow – Card Lifecycle |
||||
| Use issue purposes (i.e. IFA/IFC/As-built) to build complex workflows | |
|
||
| Change issue purpose based on document status (ie; code 1) | |
|||
| Manage all documents (Design, Vendor, Quality) | |
|
|
|
EDMS |
CAD/Design
|
Sharepoint |
|
Workflow – Internal |
||||
| Perform in-system squad check or prepare internal submittal | |
|
|
|
| Review and status vendor documents. Ensure acceptance before issuing to customer | |
SOME | ||
| Route received documents to other users for input and review | |
|
|
|
| Track timelines, and receive reports based on completion/outstanding items | |
|
||
| Block submittals until review complete | |
|
||
| Apply simple markups in viewer | |
|
|
DOCBOSS |
EDMS |
CAD/Design
|
Sharepoint |
|
Making and Receiving Submittals |
||||
| Track submittals (including due and return dates) to customers, suppliers, and 3rd parties | |
|
||
| Apply different coversheets based on submittal target (ie; customer, supplier, internal, 3rd party, etc) | |
|||
| Package multiple documents into one file for submittal (ie; instrument data sheets) | |
|
||
| Auto-unpack on return to manage issues with all documents | |
|||
| Add stamps with card-related data, tags, and numbers on outgoing documents | |
SOME | |
|
| Bulk upload and bulk assignment of files to placeholders and cards using file names or document numbers | |
|
||
| Use the embedded viewer to preview and compare files during assignment + apply optional stamp templates) |
|
|
||
| Ignore uploaded file names (ie; auto-rename files on submittal with doc number, etc.) | |
|
DOCBOSS |
EDMS |
CAD/Design
|
Sharepoint |
|
Databooks and Compilations |
||||
| Choose which doc codes to include in the book and define sections and subsections | |
|||
| Create many types of books for one project (ie; manufacturer’s record book, dispatch dossier, quality manual, technical dossier, etc.) | |
|||
| Easily create one book per order, tag, plant, or area | |
|||
| Auto-generate section title pages, bookmarks, and hyperlinks | |
|||
| Set pattern for table-of-contents and bookmarks (ie; Doc Number, Rev, Title, Tag) | |
|||
| Include or remove document coversheets on final databook | |
|||
| Add placeholder pages for ‘N/A’ or ‘included-in-doc’ codes | |
|||
| Create quality packages from MTRs in library and construction router | |
DOCBOSS |
EDMS |
CAD/Design
|
Sharepoint |
|
Formatting and Tracking |
||||
| Allow customer specific document codes (A01, A02 etc) | |
|
||
| If using customer codes, allow mapping to internal codes for project reporting. | |
|||
| Apply customer statuses on document return (1/2/3/4 or A/B/C/D etc) | |
|||
| Use (and auto-populate) customer supplied templates for cover sheets, transmittals, document lists, stamps | |
|||
| Configure transmittal numbering patterns based on customer requirements (T-001, TRANS-001, PO123-T-001) | |
|||
| Automate document numbering for customer and internal numbers | |
|
||
| Copy projects for repeat jobs | |
|
||
| Track multiple numbers per document (user, customer, end user, supplier etc) | |
|
DOCBOSS |
EDMS |
CAD/Design
|
Sharepoint |
|
Reporting |
||||
| Track due dates, and expected return dates | |
SOME | |
|
| Dashboard showing all projects for each user, and key performance indicators | |
|||
| Dashboard for all open actions for each user | |
|
|
|
| Run expediting reports across multiple projects | |
|
||
| Generate SDI (supplier document index) using customer supplied excel templates | |
|||
| Show full submittal history in the SDI | |
|
||
| Quickly review full history of all submissions of the document (actual file sent, metadata, status etc) | |
|
DOCBOSS |
EDMS |
CAD/Design
|
Sharepoint |
|
Manage and Create Cards |
||||
| Build placeholder for all expected documents | |
|
||
| Generate document list by combining doc code and equipment list | |
|||
| Upload document list from excel | |
|
||
| Manage different translations as separate documents, but link together | |
|||
| Manage the PDF record, comment pages, and native files as one “document” | |
UNSURE | ||
| Link equipment (tags) to every card. Auto-update when project changes. | |
|||
| Support tagging hierarchy (major and minor equipment tags). Auto-update changes. | |
|||
| Ensure at least one doc code is linked to every card | |
|
||
| Allow user to break large PDFs into components and submit separately | |
|||
| Add custom fields and data types | |
|
|
|
| Checkin and checkout of native design files | |
|
||
| Version control of native design files | |
|
|
DOCBOSS |
EDMS |
CAD/Design
|
Sharepoint |
|
Workflow – Card Lifecycle |
||||
| Use issue purposes (i.e. IFA/IFC/As-built) to build complex workflows | |
|
||
| Change issue purpose based on document status (ie; code 1) | |
|||
| Manage all documents (Design, Vendor, Quality) | |
|
|
DOCBOSS |
EDMS |
CAD/Design
|
Sharepoint |
|
Workflow – Internal |
||||
| Perform in-system squad check or prepare internal submittal | |
|
|
|
| Review and status vendor documents. Ensure acceptance before issuing to customer | |
SOME | ||
| Route received documents to other users for input, review | |
|
|
|
| Track timelines, and receive reports based on completion/outstanding items | |
|
||
| Block submittals until review complete | |
|
||
| Apply simple markups in viewer | |
|
|
How Thermon Slashed the Opportunity Cost of Poor Visibility
“DocBoss is an opportunity cost-saver and a risk-reduction solution that frees up our people to focus on higher impact work.”
Kathryn Nikkanen
Senior Technical Advisor, Thermon
Check out these resources
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See how DocBoss automates document control for suppliers like you
Book a quick demo to see just how much time you can save with DocBoss.