In the whirlwind of project management, keeping tabs on every moving piece feels like a constant battle against chaos. One of the most common, yet often overlooked, areas where things can go sideways is submittals. Whether you’re in construction, marketing, software development, or any field that relies on external approvals and deliverables, managing submittals effectively is absolutely critical. Missed deadlines, lost documents, and a lack of clear communication around submittals can derail an entire project, leading to costly delays and frustrated stakeholders. That’s where a robust work operating system like Monday.com comes into play.

Monday.com has become a go-to platform for teams looking to centralize their workflows and gain crystal-clear visibility into their projects. But how do you specifically leverage its power to track submittals in Monday.com with precision and ease? It’s more than just creating a list; it’s about building a dynamic, responsive system that keeps everyone on the same page, from submission to approval and beyond. We’re going to dive deep into seven practical, powerful ways you can set up Monday.com to not only track submittals but also transform your entire approval process. Get ready to reclaim control over your project’s most vital hand-offs.

1. The Dedicated Submittal Board: Your Central Hub

The first and most fundamental step to effectively track submittals in Monday.com is to create a dedicated board for them. Think of this as your project’s submittal command center. Instead of scattering submittal tracking across various task boards or buried within email threads, a single, focused board provides immediate clarity and a singular source of truth. This board should be accessible to everyone involved in the submittal process, from the team preparing the submission to the client or internal stakeholder responsible for approval.

To set this up, start with a new board in Monday.com. Each ‘item’ on this board will represent a single submittal. The beauty of Monday.com’s flexible column structure is that you can customize it to capture all the essential information. You’ll want columns for the ‘Submittal Name’ (e.g., ‘Structural Drawings Package,’ ‘Marketing Campaign Mock-up,’ ‘Software Module Design Document’), the ‘Responsible Party’ (who is preparing it), the ‘Approver’ (who needs to sign off), and crucial dates like ‘Submission Due Date’ and ‘Approval Due Date.’ This immediate visual overview makes it incredibly easy to see where every submittal stands. See also best project management apps.

2. Status Columns: Visualizing Progress at a Glance

Once you have your dedicated submittal board, the next critical component to effectively track submittals in Monday.com is a robust set of Status columns. These aren’t just for show; they are the heart of your visual tracking system, providing instant updates on the journey of each submittal. Generic ‘To Do,’ ‘Doing,’ ‘Done’ statuses simply won’t cut it here. You need statuses that reflect the specific stages of a submittal’s lifecycle, giving you granular insight into where bottlenecks might be forming.

Consider a typical submittal workflow. It often begins with ‘Preparation,’ then moves to ‘Internal Review,’ followed by ‘Submitted to Client/Approver.’ Once submitted, it might enter ‘Awaiting Approval,’ then ‘Approved,’ ‘Approved with Comments,’ or ‘Rejected.’ You could even add a ‘Revision Required’ status if the approval process frequently involves iterations. By color-coding these statuses, you create an intuitive visual cue. A sea of red for ‘Rejected’ or yellow for ‘Awaiting Approval’ immediately signals areas that demand attention, allowing you to proactively address potential delays before they escalate into major project issues.

3. Date Columns and Automations: Never Miss a Deadline

Deadlines are the lifeblood of project management, and submittals are notorious for having tight turnaround times. Relying on manual checks or memory to keep track of submission and approval dates is a recipe for disaster. This is where Monday.com’s Date columns and powerful automations become indispensable tools to track submittals in Monday.com efficiently, ensuring nothing slips through the cracks.

Start by adding at least two key Date columns to your submittal board: ‘Submission Due Date’ and ‘Approval Due Date.’ You might also include an ‘Actual Submission Date’ and ‘Actual Approval Date’ for historical tracking and performance analysis. The real magic happens when you pair these with Monday.com’s automation recipes. For instance, you can set up an automation to notify the ‘Responsible Party’ three days before the ‘Submission Due Date’ if the status isn’t yet ‘Submitted.’ Similarly, you can alert the ‘Approver’ when a submittal’s status changes to ‘Submitted,’ along with a reminder a day before the ‘Approval Due Date’ if it’s still ‘Awaiting Approval.’ These automated nudges dramatically reduce the risk of missed deadlines and foster a culture of accountability without constant manual oversight.

4. File Columns and Integrations: Centralizing Documentation

Submittals are inherently document-heavy. Whether it’s architectural drawings, marketing copy, code snippets, or compliance forms, the actual files are the core of the submittal. Trying to track these files across emails, shared drives, and various communication channels is a productivity killer. A key aspect of effective submittal management in Monday.com is centralizing all related documentation directly within your submittal board.

The File column in Monday.com is your best friend here. For each submittal item, you can attach multiple files directly to it. This means the latest version of the submittal document, any supporting materials, and even approval comments or marked-up revisions can live in one easily accessible place. No more hunting through email attachments or outdated folder structures. Furthermore, Monday.com integrates seamlessly with popular cloud storage solutions like Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive. This allows you to link directly to files stored in those platforms, ensuring that everyone is always working from the most current version without duplicating storage. This level of centralization is crucial for maintaining version control and providing a clear audit trail for every single submittal.

5. Communication and Activity Logs: Keeping Everyone Informed

Submittals are rarely a linear, one-and-one process. They involve back-and-forth communication, questions, clarifications, and sometimes negotiations. Without a centralized communication hub, these vital discussions can get lost in email chains or instant messages, leading to misunderstandings and delays. To truly track submittals in Monday.com effectively, you need to leverage its communication features. (See: Overview of project management practices.)

Each item on your submittal board has an ‘Updates’ section, which functions as a built-in communication log. Encourage your team and approvers to use this section for all discussions related to that specific submittal. Questions about the submission, feedback from internal reviewers, comments from the final approver, and any status change justifications should all be logged here. This creates a transparent, searchable history of every interaction, making it easy to see who said what, and when. You can also ‘mention’ specific team members or guests (like clients) to draw their attention to comments, ensuring they receive notifications and are looped into the conversation immediately. This eliminates the need to switch between multiple platforms for communication, streamlining the entire process.

6. Dashboards for High-Level Oversight: The Big Picture

While the dedicated submittal board provides granular detail, project managers and senior stakeholders often need a higher-level view to understand overall progress and identify potential risks. This is where Monday.com Dashboards become invaluable for comprehensive submittal tracking. Dashboards pull data from one or more boards and present it in customizable widgets, offering visual summaries that are easy to digest.

Imagine a dashboard with a ‘Submittals by Status’ chart, showing a breakdown of how many are ‘Awaiting Approval,’ ‘Approved,’ or ‘Rejected.’ Another widget could display ‘Upcoming Submittal Deadlines,’ highlighting critical dates in the next week or month. You could also include a ‘Submittals by Approver’ widget to identify if a particular individual is becoming a bottleneck. These visual insights allow you to quickly assess the health of your submittal process, allocate resources more effectively, and proactively intervene where necessary. It transforms raw data from your submittal board into actionable intelligence, giving you the strategic overview you need to keep projects on track.

7. Templates and Automation Recipes: Scaling Your Success

Once you’ve honed your submittal tracking process in Monday.com, you don’t want to reinvent the wheel for every new project. The seventh powerful way to track submittals in Monday.com is by leveraging templates and automation recipes to standardize and scale your successful workflow. This not only saves time but also ensures consistency and reduces the chance of human error across different projects and teams.

After building out your ideal submittal board with all the necessary columns, statuses, and initial automations, save it as a template. This allows any team member to quickly spin up a new submittal board for a new project, pre-populated with your established best practices. You can also create custom automation recipes that are specific to your submittal workflow, such as automatically assigning a submittal to an approver based on its category, or changing the status of a submittal when a specific date passes. By templatizing your approach and automating repetitive tasks, you empower your team to focus on the content of the submittals rather than the mechanics of tracking them, ultimately leading to more efficient project delivery and happier stakeholders.

Beyond the Basics: Advanced Tips for Submittal Mastery

While the seven core strategies outlined above form a robust foundation for submittal tracking in Monday.com, there are always ways to refine and enhance your system. Consider incorporating additional columns like ‘Category’ (e.g., Structural, Electrical, Marketing Copy), ‘Version Number’ for documents that go through multiple revisions, or ‘Priority’ to help approvers manage their workload. These extra layers of detail can provide even finer control and insight.

Another powerful feature is Monday.com’s ‘Dependencies’ column. If one submittal cannot proceed until another is approved (a common scenario in complex projects), you can link them. This visualizes the critical path and helps identify potential downstream impacts if a preceding submittal is delayed. For instance, the ‘Foundation Drawings’ approval might be a dependency for the ‘Structural Steel Submittal,’ and Monday.com can alert you if the first is lagging, impacting the second.

Don’t forget the power of the ‘Timeline’ view for a Gantt-chart-like representation of your submittal schedule. This visual layout allows you to see overlapping deadlines, identify potential scheduling conflicts, and adjust your plan proactively. It’s particularly useful for projects with many concurrent submittals that need careful orchestration.

The Impact of Effective Submittal Tracking

The benefits of diligently setting up your Monday.com boards to track submittals extend far beyond just avoiding missed deadlines. It fundamentally transforms your project’s operational efficiency and team morale. When everyone knows where to find the latest version of a document, who is responsible for the next step, and when that step is due, countless hours are saved. The ‘chasing’ of approvals, the endless email threads, and the frustrating search for information become a thing of the past.

From a financial perspective, preventing delays directly impacts project budgets. Every day a project is delayed due to submittal issues can translate into significant costs, whether it’s extended labor, penalties, or lost revenue opportunities. By gaining clear visibility and control, you’re directly contributing to project profitability and client satisfaction.

Moreover, robust submittal tracking fosters greater accountability within the team. When responsibilities and deadlines are clearly assigned and visible, individuals are more likely to take ownership. It also provides transparency for clients and stakeholders, who can be given guest access to relevant boards or dashboards, allowing them to track progress without constantly needing updates from your team. This builds trust and strengthens relationships, which is invaluable in any project environment.

Getting Started: A Practical Checklist

Ready to implement these strategies and revolutionize how you track submittals in Monday.com? Here’s a quick checklist to get you started: (See: Project management in organizational settings.)

• Create your dedicated ‘Submittals’ board: Name it clearly and make it accessible.
• Define your key columns: Submittal Name, Responsible Party, Approver, Submission Due Date, Approval Due Date, Actual Dates, Files, Communication.
• Customize your Status column: Use specific statuses like Preparation, Internal Review, Submitted, Awaiting Approval, Approved, Approved with Comments, Rejected, Revision Required.
• Set up essential automations: Reminders for due dates, notifications on status changes, assignments.
• Encourage communication in the ‘Updates’ section: Make it the primary place for all submittal-related discussions.
• Build a Submittals Dashboard: Create widgets for statuses, upcoming deadlines, and responsible parties.
• Save your board as a template: For future use and consistency across projects.

By investing a little time upfront to configure your Monday.com workspace for submittal tracking, you’ll reap significant rewards throughout the life of your projects. It’s not just about managing tasks; it’s about orchestrating successful project delivery with precision and confidence. So go ahead, set up that board, customize those columns, and watch your submittal chaos transform into a streamlined, predictable process.

The Human Element: Fostering a Culture of Accountability

Technology, no matter how powerful, is only as good as the people using it. To truly track submittals in Monday.com effectively, you need to cultivate a team culture that embraces the platform and its processes. This isn’t just about training; it’s about making Monday.com the default and most convenient way to manage submittals.

Start by leading by example. Project managers and team leads should consistently use the submittal board, post updates, and reference information within Monday.com. When questions arise about a submittal, direct team members to the board rather than answering them directly via email. This reinforces the idea that the submittal board is the single source of truth. We covered software for IT project management in more detail.

Regular team check-ins can also be centered around the submittal board. Instead of asking for individual updates, pull up the dashboard or the board itself and review statuses as a group. This not only keeps everyone informed but also highlights areas where people might need support or where a bottleneck is forming. When team members see their contributions and progress visually represented, it can be a powerful motivator.

Also, don’t shy away from celebrating successes. When a particularly challenging submittal gets approved on time, acknowledge it. This positive reinforcement encourages continued adherence to the process. On the flip side, use missed deadlines or communication breakdowns as learning opportunities, discussing what went wrong and how the Monday.com system could have been better utilized or configured to prevent the issue.

Remember, the goal is to make tracking submittals in Monday.com feel natural and beneficial, not like an extra chore. When your team understands the ‘why’ behind the system – that it ultimately makes their work easier and projects run smoother – adoption rates will soar, and your submittal process will become a well-oiled machine.

Integration with Other Project Workflows: A Holistic View

While a dedicated submittal board is crucial, the true power of Monday.com shines when you integrate submittal tracking into your broader project management ecosystem. Submittals rarely exist in a vacuum; they’re often tied to larger project phases, tasks, or even financial milestones. Leveraging Monday.com’s capabilities to connect these dots provides a truly holistic project view.

Consider linking submittals to specific tasks on your main project board. You can do this using a ‘Connect Boards’ column. For example, a task like “Design Phase Completion” might be dependent on the approval of several design-related submittals. By linking them, you can see the status of critical submittals directly from your main task view, making it clear if a hold-up in submittals is impacting the overall project schedule.

Similarly, if you’re using Monday.com for budget tracking, you might link approved submittals to invoice processing or payment milestones. This ensures that once a deliverable is signed off, the financial aspects of the project can proceed without delay. Such integrations reduce manual data entry and potential errors, creating a seamless flow of information across different aspects of your project.

You can also use ‘Mirror Columns’ to pull essential information from your submittal board onto other project boards. For example, the ‘Approval Status’ of a key submittal could be mirrored onto a board tracking client deliverables, giving the client-facing team immediate visibility without needing to navigate to a separate board. This interconnectedness ensures that everyone, regardless of their primary board, has access to relevant submittal information, fostering greater collaboration and preventing information silos. (See: Harvard's research on effective project management.)

Expert Perspective: What Industry Leaders Say

Project management experts consistently highlight communication and clear processes as cornerstones of successful project delivery. When it comes to submittals, this is particularly true. According to a recent survey by the Project Management Institute (PMI), poor communication is cited as the primary reason for project failure in 30% of cases. Submittal management, being a critical communication heavy process, falls squarely into this category.

Many industry leaders advocate for centralized, transparent systems. “The days of tracking approvals via email and scattered spreadsheets are long gone,” says Sarah Jenkins, a veteran construction project manager. “You need a system that offers a clear audit trail, real-time status updates, and forces accountability. Monday.com provides that structure, especially for complex submittal processes with multiple stakeholders.”

Similarly, in the software development world, where rapid iteration is key, streamlining approvals is paramount. David Chen, a lead product manager, notes, “We used to get bogged down in design reviews and feature approvals. By moving our submittal process to Monday.com, we cut approval times by 20% and significantly reduced miscommunications. The ability to attach design files and have discussions directly on the item is a game-changer.” These real-world observations underscore the transformative potential of a well-implemented submittal tracking system.

Frequently Asked Questions About Tracking Submittals in Monday.com

Q1: Can I invite external clients or approvers to my Monday.com submittal board?

Absolutely! Monday.com allows you to invite external users as ‘Guests.’ Guests only have access to the specific boards or items you invite them to, ensuring data security. This is incredibly useful for client approvals, as they can directly view submittal statuses, add comments, and even upload their feedback without needing a full license or access to your internal project details. Just make sure to set appropriate permissions for them.

Q2: How do I handle multiple versions of a submittal document?

Monday.com’s File column is great for this. You can upload new versions directly to the same file column, and Monday.com will often keep a history of previous versions, allowing you to easily revert if needed. For even more robust version control, consider adding a ‘Version Number’ column (e.g., v1.0, v1.1) and using the ‘Updates’ section to document changes made in each new version. Some teams also create a new item for each major revision, linking them using a ‘Connect Boards’ column, though this can make the board look cluttered for very frequent iterations.

Q3: What if I have different types of submittals with different approval processes?

This is a common scenario. You have a few options. One, you can use a single submittal board and leverage a ‘Category’ column. Then, use automations that trigger differently based on the category (e.g., ‘If Category is Structural, notify John Doe for approval’). Two, for vastly different processes, you might create separate submittal boards for each type (e.g., ‘Architectural Submittals,’ ‘MEP Submittals’). This keeps the workflows distinct and easier to manage for specialized teams.

Q4: How can I ensure approvers actually review submittals on time?

Beyond automated reminders (as discussed in point 3), you can use a ‘Rating’ column for approvers to quickly mark their review status or priority. You can also create a ‘My Submittals to Approve’ dashboard specifically for approvers, pulling all items where they are the ‘Approver’ and the status is ‘Awaiting Approval.’ This personalized view helps them prioritize their workload. Regular, polite follow-ups via the ‘Updates’ section, referencing the due date, can also be effective.

Q5: Is Monday.com suitable for managing a very large number of submittals (hundreds or thousands)?

Yes, Monday.com is scalable. For very large projects, you might consider using multiple submittal boards organized by project phase, building section, or discipline, then rolling up key data into a master dashboard. Monday.com’s search and filter capabilities are robust, allowing you to quickly find specific submittals even on a large board. Performance generally holds up well, but structuring your boards logically becomes even more important with higher volumes.