FAQs

Project participants with an active upload notifier are automatically informed by e-mail as soon as new plans and documents have been uploaded. The hourly or daily upload notifications include a download link so that all participants always receive the latest plans without having to log into the project. In addition, selected plans and documents can be sent manually by download link via e-mail to project participants and participants without login (participants without login cannot log into the project and do not receive automatic upload messages). Project administrators can upload plans and documents for participants and change the author, so that e.g. a formwork plan is correctly filed under the role/author ”Structural engineer“ and not under the role of the uploader, who has the role ”Architect“ in the project.

We recommend that you handle the dispatch of tenders in a separate tendering project. Upload the tender documents (texts, plans and other enclosures) as a zip file under Documents and send it to “Participants without login”. Only a few participants have access to the tendering project. Thus, it is not necessary to provide sensitive documents such as bid reviews, contracts, cost tracking, etc. with access permission.

All created projects remain and can be continued. Simply select a PLANFRED subscription plan in the project owner's user account and enter the billing address.

The flexible filter system in PLANFRED ensures that only the most current status of the respective plan appears in the plan list. The current status is therefore immediately visible for each project participant, and user errors can be avoided. On the other hand, Dropbox, etc. work with folder structures, in which case the current plan status of all plans is not apparent at a glance. Tiresome searching represents an unnecessary source of errors. Tracing up and downloads is also completely absent from other systems. PLANFRED traceably documents all interactions. Furthermore, a program needs to be installed by each participant for shared Dropbox, which isn’t required for PLANFRED.

The current plan status is the most recent index can be accessed by all project participants at any time thanks to the clearly laid-out revision system. The time of every up or download is guaranteed to be documented.

Project owners can easily transfer individual projects to participants under Project (top right) and Settings & Backup. If the future owner is not yet a participant in the respective project, they must be invited first.

Once the project transfer has been initiated, the selected participant has the opportunity to accept or reject the project. In both cases, the original owner receives a notification by e-mail.

What happens during a project transfer?

When a project is transferred, all rights (e.g., ownership of data, granting of access rights) and obligations (e.g., payment obligations) are transferred to the new owner. The original owner becomes a project participant with administrator rights.

No, the philosophy of PLANFRED is that all project participants have access to the entire set of plans. Each participant can easily locate the plans that are relevant to them using the search and filter system. With an access system, it would be costly in administration to ensure that the participants have access to all relevant plans. If, for example, a plan folder could only be unlocked for certain roles, then it would happen that a participant would select the wrong plan folder when creating plans, and the plans would then not be available to the people in question.

We recommend creating a continuing execution project after the draft and approval planning and importing all relevant plans and documents into it. The participants can also be transferred from the draft project with one click. Thus one has a cleaned up execution project, into which one can invite the companies.

When creating a continuing execution project, all settings can be taken over from the draft project (click Create new own project and select Apply project settings from another project). The buttons to import plans, documents or participants from another project are located next to the buttons Create new plan, Create new document, Create new participant and are only visible for administrators and project owners.

Yes, access to documents can be restricted to selected participants. Simply select the desired participants under “Access permission” when creating documents. TIP: The access permission can be changed directly in the list by right-clicking.

In the project backup and for administrators, all documents are always available, even with access permission. Therefore we recommend to create a separate project for special sensitive documents like cost tracking, contracts, audits etc. and to invite only a small group of participants.

This feature (document vault) is already available with the Midi package.

Each participant can deactivate or activate their personal upload notifier separately for each project:

1. under “Project” in the “Email Notifier”,

2. in the dedicated participant detail view,

3. or directly in the upload notifier e-mail.

To activate the plan approval feature, the plan approval permission must be switched on for at least one participant (such participants are marked with a blue check mark in the list). In contrast to the plans, the approval of documents can always be requested by all participants even without approval permission.

See the manual S6 Approval/Review of plans and documents This feature (approval system) is already available with the Midi package.

With the backup feature, any project can be downloaded as a locally executable app at the touch of a button. The project backup runs in any web browser, even without the Internet, while retaining the familiar project interface along with its functionality.

How it works:

1. Log into the project

2. Under Project (top right) click on Settings & Backup

3. Click on Download backup

4. Unzip file

5. Click on Open project.html

Yes, if you pay annually, one month is free of charge. In the "User account" (top right) under "Edit plan settings" you can set the payment interval to "annual billing" at any time and thus receive the discount.

Ordering a plan is done online in the user account. First you register with the e-mail address of the project owner who is obliged to pay and then you can immediately create your project(s) in PLANFRED. At the end of the free 30 days, you can select a plan and the payment interval in the user account (top right) and enter the billing data.

Yes, just send an e-mail to vertrieb@planfred.com and we will get the quote to you as soon as possible.

The invoice is sent in advance by e-mail monthly or annually and repeats automatically until cancelled. The payment interval can be changed in the user account at any time.

With a monthly or annual recurring invoice, a subscription is extended by the respective period. Cancellation is possible at any time and becomes effective at the end of the selected payment interval.

All prices are subject to the statutory sales tax. Between Austria and other EU countries, invoicing is VAT-exempt according to the reverse charge system, provided that the invoice recipient is entitled to deduct VAT with a VAT number.

No. The number of users you invite to the project is unlimited and included in all packages at no additional cost.

No, there are no additional costs, because a user creates his project(s) himself, invites the respective participants and adjusts the project settings as needed.

No, because administrators can download a project backup themselves at any time under "Settings & Backup". The entire project is saved as an executable app on the own computer. No installation or Internet connection is required to run the downloaded project backup. After unpacking the zip file, simply click on "Open project" and access all project data with the familiar interface.

At the end of the trial period, a project owner's user account becomes payable. If you want to continue your projects seamlessly, simply order a plan in the user account and thus start billing.

A project owner can also delete his own projects or transfer them to a participant, which will automatically end the trial period and make the user account free again.

Our Maxi and Prime packages include fair use of up to 1 terabyte. If this limit is exceeded for more than 30 days, we reserve the right to charge for an additional package. PLANFRED will inform you in time!

Yes, the trial period can be extended. To do so, please contact our customer support team support@planfred.com.

The password is assigned to your e-mail address. With just one login for PLANFRED, you have access to all of your own projects and the projects that you have been invited to.

The e-mail address itself cannot be changed, but the “Project transfer” function can be used to transfer the user account's projects. We recommend using a non-personalized e-mail address for the assigned office account. This will only be used to create new projects and manage order data.

After the transfer, the original project owner is a participant with administrator rights and can also be deleted if necessary.

See manual S2 Project transfer - change of project owner

Changing e-mail addresses is not possible in PLANFRED due to the traceable documentation of all interactions.

Click on “EDIT USER PROFILE” in “User account” (top right).

Click “CHANGE PASSWORD” in “User account” (top right).

Each participant can send the plans to be printed to their Plotservice via PLANFRED dispatch. If the plotting service has not yet been created as a participant without a login, the e-mail address can be entered directly during dispatch as “Additional recipient”. The order details are entered as text messages and saved as text module(s) for further plot orders. In the “Dispatch” activity, you can see when the plotting service has clicked on the download link in the e-mail. If there are any queries, the reply is sent to the sender's e-mail address.

Plans that have been created more than once and are outdated must be deleted (right-click on the respective plan and select “Delete”) so that only the most recent plan remains in the list view. This plan must then be updated and must not be recreated if changes are made. Ensure that the field for the plan number does not contain an index, status, or date (this can be changed by right-clicking on the plan), as the number remains unchanged for all further plan indexes.

Yes, every created plan can be deleted.. To do this, simply right-click on the relevant plan in the “Plans” tab and select “Delete.” You can also delete multiple plans at once: click on “Edit,” select the plans, click on ‘Edit’ (bottom center), and select “Delete plans.” Deleted plans are moved to the recycle bin and can be restored there at any time. However, irrevocably emptying the recycle bin is not provided for in PLANFRED due to the verifiable documentation.

As a rule, downloading a sent plan or document is allowed for 120 days. A premature deactivation of the link occurs when a participant is deleted.

Yes, if a project participant or a participant without login is deleted, all download links already sent will be deactivated.

The data volume of the email remains minimally small, because the plans are not attached, but linked as a download link.

Select the “Sent” category in the ‘Activities Log’ tab. In the filtered list of activities, you can open the desired plan dispatch by clicking the down arrow (far right) in the relevant row. Here, click on “Resend plans”. In the newly opened window, you can change the plan selection and edit the recipient list. Then enter the subject and message and click on “Send.”

With a click on “Send“ (right above the plan list in the tab “Plans“) a selection list appears. Here the desired plans are marked (by clicking in the boxes to the left of the individual plans). Then click on “Send“ at the bottom of the page, select the recipient (add further recipients if required), compose a message and complete the plan dispatch by clicking on “Send“.

See manual B10 Send multiple plans and/or documents

Yes, folders can be uploaded as zip files. The zip files are created on your own device and can then be uploaded to PLANFRED as usual.

The upload of print (PDF, PLT, etc.) as well as CAD (DWG, etc.) files is intended. The file types are not regulated, but it is recommended to store non-editable plans as print files and editable ones as CAD files.

Click on the plan or document in the “Plans“ or “Documents“ tab. Now click on the “Copy and edit plan“ button in the detail view and activate “Review required of …“ in the edit field that opens. Request review as usual.

See manual S6 Approval/Review of plans and documents

Yes, the index can be edited for all your own plans. To do this, click on the desired plan in the “Plans“ tab. Once in the detailed view of the plan, click on “Copy and edit plan“, correct the index and finally save.

Right-click on the plan in question and click on “Number/Content“ in the selection list. Make the corrections and finish the process by clicking on “Save“.

Right-click on the plan to open a selection list in which “Plan folder“ is clicked. Change the plan folder as desired and “Save“.

In the tab “Plans“ click on the desired plan to get to the detail view. Click on the button “Copy and edit plan“ to open the edit field. Here you can add the missing CAD file or exchange the incorrectly inserted file for the correct one, e.g. by dragging it directly from your own folder or the clipboard into the gray field “PRINT FILE“ or “CAD FILE“. Click on “Save index and return to list“ to complete the process.

No, a participant has access only to the projects to which he has been invited.

All project participants have access to all plans of the project. If you delete a participant or change their permission to “Participant without login”, he no longer has access to the project.

The external e-mail addresses created when sending plans and/or documents are listed in the “Participants” tab under “Participants without login” and can be subsequently invited to the project (under “Edit permission”) or deleted.

New roles can be assigned directly when inviting a participant. To do this, click on the link “+ New participant“ in the “Participants“ tab. To the right of the contact details field, the new role “Building physics“ can be entered in the empty text field and added by clicking on “+“.

Yes, this is possible, provided that the architect is a project administrator. Project owners and administrators can upload documents or plans on behalf of other roles by changing the author (role) so that, the formwork plan uploaded by the architect can be found under the role “structural engineer”. Project participants cannot change their own role when uploading, so that clutter in the project is avoided.

If you click on “+ New project“ in the project list, you can select the desired project as a template in the list under “Project settings“ via the link “Apply project settings from another project“. The adopted project settings can be adjusted after creating the project under “Settings & Backup“.

TIP – Save projects as a template: Create a new project, adjust the settings and save it e.g. as “_TEMPLATE-XY“.

Yes, simply click on the “Import Participants” button in the ‘Participants’ tab and select the project and one or more participants. After clicking on “Next step” adjust the import settings, write a message if necessary, and click on “Import x participants.” PLANFRED will then inform the participants of the project invitation by email. To import participants, you must have administrator rights and at least one other project.

An administrator has the same rights as the project owner. However, he cannot delete the project. He can invite and delete participants, change permissions to review plans and assign administrator rights. Furthermore he has access to “Settings & Backup“. He can edit, update or upload plans and documents of other roles on behalf of other roles (by changing the author) and has access to all documents with restricted access.

The project owner is the person who created the project - project participants are invited. Each user has the right to create his own projects and is therefore the owner of all this data.

The project owner has all administrator rights. He is allowed to invite other participants, delete them and change their permissions. He is allowed to edit or update all plans and documents of other roles and can also upload files on behalf of other roles. In contrast to project administrators, the project owner is the only one who can delete his projects. Access to his projects can never be withdrawn from him as owner.

Project participants have free access to the project and can upload, download and send plans with their project login. They can only log in with their PLANFRED access data to projects to which they have been invited. Each participant can only update or edit data from their own role. A participant has read-only rights to plans and documents of other roles.

See manual S1 The permission system briefly explained

By right-clicking on the participant in the “Participants“ tab, a window will open. If you click on “Edit“ under Permission, another window opens. Now select “Participant without login“. The participant will no longer have access to the project.

Project owners and administrators have the right to delete project participants or participants without login in the “Participants“ tab. This will remove their access to the project and disable all download links in emails. Deletions can be made either in the list view by right-clicking on the participant and selecting “Delete participant“ or in the detail view (click on the participant) where “Delete participant“ is selected. Deleted participants are moved to the recycle bin and can be restored there.

If there are older plan versions, they are displayed in the detailed view of the plan. To get there, click on the relevant plan in the “Plans“ tab. In the lower area of the detailed view, all outdated indices appear under “Index history“.

Yes, simply click on “+ Filter Participant/Role”, select the desired participant, and click on “Show.” Or, in the ‘Participants’ tab in the detailed view of the project participant (or the participant without login), click on “View this participant's activities” (at the very bottom).

The printed/exported plan list corresponds to the list view in the “Plans“ tab. If the list is filtered e.g. by “Roles“, “Plan folders“, “Tags“ or “Approvals“, these settings are transferred to the plan list. With a click on the respective term in the column header the plans can be sorted by e.g. “Number“, “Index“, “Author“, etc. In addition, the plan list can be grouped by roles or plan folders.

By clicking on the “Print” button (top right of the plan list) in the “Plans” tab. Here you can filter the plan list as desired (e.g., by roles or tags). In addition, you can group the list in the “Print the filtered plan list” field (roles, plan folders, or none) and select whether additional information (show index notes, show plan URL) should be printed. Finally, click on “Print” (bottom center) to create a printout of the plan list in your own system.

In the tab “Plans“ it is possible to sort the plan list. By clicking on the respective term in the column header, the plans can be sorted by e.g. “Number”, “Index”, “Author”, etc. Clicking again will sort in the opposite order.

By adding tags, plans or documents can be grouped according to individual criteria and thus filtered. For example, if there are many detailed plans, the search for specific details is simplified by adding tags such as “roof“, “facade“, etc. to the plans.

Thanks to the flexible filter system, this is very easy: select the Role/Plan creator and the desired Plan folder, sort by number, content or “Last upload” … done! Or you can enter one or more terms in the search field, e.g. the plan number, the plan content or tags.

1. Yes, all systems are designed redundant

2. Multiple NodeJS server instances with auto load balancing via https

3. Redundant database servers with auto-failover and complete backup every 12 hours. All database access is provided exclusively via SSL-secured connections

4. File storage on the highly redundant Amazon S3 storage service in the best-quality storage class

1. The computing centres (AWS) are located in Europe and certified according to ISO 27001.

2. Every transfer of data is SSL-encrypted throughout, both from the customer to our servers and all connections internally in our app infrastructure. With PLANFRED, you and your data are safe!

3. PLANFRED runs on the Amazon Cloud and always benefits immediately from the safety measure and upgrades implemented by Amazon AWS.

4. We permanently monitor our systems and constantly update all components to immediately close any security gaps that become known.

PLANFRED is operated using Amazon Cloud (Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Ireland). All data remains in the EU on the state-of-the-art, highly available cloud infrastructure of Amazon (AWS).

Don’t worry; all project data is stored in the PLANFRED cloud. You can access your PLANFRED projects from any computer, but of course only with the correct access data.

Each user is independently responsible for the following safety aspects:

• Use of a secure password

• Secure storage of access data

PLANFRED uses Postmarkapp.com to send all transactional emails. All E-Mails are sent from app@planfred.com using these IP adresses. Use the listed IPs to configure your firewall if necessary.