What went out, and to whom.
The drawing register is the oldest record a practice keeps, and the one it most often has to prove. Which revision did the contractor price from? Did the engineer ever have P04? The answer is usually in a spreadsheet, in its third version, kept by whoever was last on the job.
An issue sheet is a promise about the past. It should be the one thing nobody can quietly change.
Every sheet at its current revision
Each job has a drawing log: every sheet at its current revision, grouped by series, with every earlier revision behind it. Add sheets one at a time, or paste the register straight from your spreadsheet, one sheet per line, and see what will be added before you add it.
A new revision suggests its own label in the scheme the sheet already uses (P01 to P02, A to B), and on a preliminary sheet one step takes it to construction, C01, at suitability A. Each revision says what changed, and that note goes onto the issue sheet. Superseded revisions stay on the record with every issue they went out on.
Issued, revised, not issued
The log says where every sheet stands. Issued: the current revision has gone out. Revised: an earlier one went out and this one has not yet, which makes these the sheets for the next issue. Not issued: nothing on the sheet has gone out at all.
Suitability uses the UK annex codes of BS EN ISO 19650, from S0 work in progress to CR as constructed, so a revision says both which version it is and what it is fit for.
Issue sheets that stay as they were
Tick the sheets and issue them, for information, for comment, for planning, for tender, for construction. The draft is numbered IS-001, IS-002 in turn. Say who it goes to (a consultant on the job, the client, a contractor, building control) and in what form: PDF, DWG, IFC, or so many paper copies. If a sheet is revised while the draft waits, the draft says so.
Once issued, an issue sheet is not edited. It prints with its distribution and signature boxes, and the register prints the way practices have always kept it: sheets down the side, one column per issue, its date on three lines, the revision in each cell.
In the small print
- Paste a register from a spreadsheet; a number already on the log is skipped, not doubled
- P01 → C01 with suitability A in one step
- Issue sheets numbered IS-001 in turn; a cancelled one keeps its number
- Distribution by format: P for PDF, D for DWG, H for paper, with copies
- Copy an issue as a new draft to the same people at current revisions
- Drawings linked to deliverables, which the stage gates check
- The register as a PDF on A3 landscape
Questions practices ask
- Does it use ISO 19650 suitability codes?
Yes: S0 to S4, A, B and CR, the UK annex codes of BS EN ISO 19650. The code says what a revision is fit for; its label says which version it is.
- Can an issued drawing or issue sheet be changed afterwards?
No. An issued revision and an issued issue sheet are the record of what went out, so they stay as they were. A revision that has never been issued can be removed.
- Can I bring in an existing drawing register?
Yes. Paste the rows from your spreadsheet: number and title are all that is needed, with scale, size, revision and series if you have them. A header row is skipped.