Most small and mid-sized builders share document control across project engineers and administrators. Here is what the job covers and when to get help.
Updated 1 November 2026.
Not always. On most small and mid-sized projects, document control is shared between project engineers, contract administrators and site staff, and there is no dedicated person. That works while the volume is low and the process is written down. It starts to fail when issues pile up, revisions overlap and nobody owns the register.
Document control means keeping the project record accurate. In practice, someone has to do six jobs.
Register: keep one list of every drawing and document with its current revision and status.
Issue: send documents to the right people under a transmittal, with the reason for issue.
Receive: log what comes in from consultants and subcontractors, and check it against the register.
Supersede: mark old revisions as superseded so nobody builds from them.
Chase: follow up missing acknowledgements and overdue submittals.
Close out: assemble the record for handover and, if a dispute arises, pull what was sent to whom and when.
You can usually share the role when a small number of people issue documents, the drawing set changes slowly, and the register is kept in one place that everyone uses. The rule that makes it work is simple: nobody issues a drawing except from the register.
Warning signs are more than one version of the register in circulation, subcontractors asking which revision is current, acknowledgements nobody chases, and time spent rebuilding what was sent when a dispute arises.
The fix isn't always a hire. Software that logs issues and receipts can take most of the clerical load, and one person can then own the process part-time.
Tracta is built for teams where project engineers and contract administrators run document control alongside their job. The register is built from the title blocks of your uploaded PDF drawings, so nobody retypes it, and each transmittal records the exact revisions sent and when each recipient viewed and acknowledged it.
They keep the project record: the drawing register, issues and receipts, superseded revisions and the handover record.
Yes, on many projects they do it alongside their other work. It works best when one person owns the register and every issue goes out from it.
Typically, multiple versions of the register, subcontractors working from old revisions, and no reliable record of what was sent when a dispute arises.
It replaces much of the clerical work, such as building the register and logging issues and receipts. Someone still has to own the process and check that it is followed.
A drawing register lists every drawing with its current revision and status. Here is what to record, how to label revisions and how to keep it accurate.
Eight alternatives to Aconex for builders, with what each suits, how it is priced and where it falls short, including Procore, Autodesk and Tracta.
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