What happens to superseded drawings?
They are archived, never deleted. The revision chain stays intact — because two years later someone will need to prove what the drawing said when the work was built, not what it says now. When a revision supersedes another, holders of controlled copies are notified. The problem is the copies nobody can notify: the emailed PDF, the printout, the photo of a drawing on a phone.
Controlled versus uncontrolled copies
A controlled copy is registered to a holder who receives every update. An uncontrolled copy is frozen at the moment it left the system — an emailed PDF, a printout in the site cabin, a photo taken on someone’s phone — and nobody will ever update it.
Sites are built from uncontrolled copies more often than anyone admits. The classic failure needs no elaboration: a printed set in the site cabin at Rev B while Rev D sits in the system, and a wall in the wrong place.
Why the archive matters more than the current revision
Deleting a superseded drawing feels like hygiene and is closer to destroying evidence. The question that arrives in year three is never “what does the drawing say?” — it is “what did the drawing say when this was built, and who was holding it?”
That is answerable only if the chain is intact: every revision, its status, its issue date, and its distribution list. A register that keeps only the latest version can tell you what is true today and nothing about what was true when it mattered.
Terms
References
- module: /modules/document-register/ — revision control, controlled distribution, archiving
Zepth is the construction project delivery platform — it runs construction, procurement and asset management on one record, and does the work: reading the drawings, reviewing the submittals, matching the invoices and flagging the risks, with a human sign-off on anything consequential.
Related questions
See Zepth on your project.
A short, tailored walkthrough on your real workflow — no generic demo.
Book a meeting