Deliverables overview [in-depth guide] – Workamajig

This guide covers the process of how to create a new deliverable. A deliverable is an efficient way of sending digital artwork internally for review before sending it to your clients for their comments.

NOTE: If you host your own WebDav file server, then it needs to have an SSL certificate so it can be contacted as an HTTPS address in order for the review screen to display the file.

Basic workflow

Click the link below to download a PowerPoint presentation file of the basic use of deliverables.

Deliverables101.pptx

System setup

Default system preferences

By default, there are 2 steps, internal & client. Here you can tailor some aspects of the built-in process.

Menu > Admin/manager > System setup > Transaction preferences > Deliverables

Send options

Send to everyone at once. If selected, the round will be sent to all approvers at the same time. The first one to make a decision will complete the round.
Everyone must review. If checked, then everyone will have to make a decision in order for the round to be completed.
Send to people in order. If selected, the files are routed to your list of approvers in order, from the top down. By default, it orders the approvers alphabetically. You will need to adjust the order of approvers per deliverable if you prefer a custom list not alphabetically.

NOTE:

There are a total of 4 send configurations, each with a different set of results.

Send to everyone at once - Scenario; the round is sent to several users for review. The first of those users to "make a decision", whatever that decision is, then completes the round. Others may view the round & make comments, but the decision that has been made is final.

Send to everyone at once & everyone must review - Scenario; the round is sent to several users for review. And now everyone has to click on 'make a decision' before the round will be fully complete. But, if at least one user chooses 'please resubmit' for the round, then the round will be rejected overall.

Send to people in order - Scenario; the round is sent to the first user in the list. If that user approves, then it moves to the next person on the list, and so on. But if say the first user chooses 'please resubmit', then the round is complete, and no one after that user in the list will be notified or made aware of the round. So some users may not get a notification until after several rounds of review have been completed.

Send to people in order & everyone must review - Scenario; the round is sent to the first user on the list. Then regardless of whether that user approves or rejects, it notifies the next person on the list, and so on. This means everyone will be made aware of the round, it'll just depend on the timing of when each user clicks on 'make a decision'. Additionally, if at least one user chooses 'please resubmit' for the round, then the round will be rejected overall.

Login required

When checked, the hyperlink in the approver emails that go out will redirect the user to log in with a username & password (unless they are already logged in).
When not checked, the hyperlink in the approver emails that go out will redirect the user based on a token contained in the hyperlink that lets the approver go right to the review screen, even if they do not have a login.

Send reminders

When checked, you have the option of sending daily or hourly email reminders.

Pause

When checked, the round process will halt after the internal review is approved. You then need to go into the deliverable and click on 'send to client'.
When not checked, the approved internal round & files will automatically be sent to the approver(s) in the client setup.
NOTE: If there are no approvers in the client setup, this process will halt.

Project team setup

Enabling advanced features

This allows for the Fix this (task to-dos) feature of platinum deliverables, along with assigning a to-do status.

Transaction preferences > Project

Add new deliverable

Typically, a deliverable will be started by the account manager of the project. However, a deliverable can be started on a campaign, or even from the creatives task card on the project. This process will follow the typical way of a project.

Go to your project

Click the Plus sign next to deliverables

Fill out the form

Review the setup of your new deliverable

Rounds - This is where you start your first round and any thereafter.

To-do's - If you have this feature enabled, then you can monitor the items to fix for this deliverable here.

Summary - This is where you can edit the basic details of the deliverable.

Default approvers & default notify - For advanced users only. This is an override of the project team setup.

Add new round

NOTE: By default, the first step is internal review, which names the rounds as internal review 1, 2, 3, etc. When you move on to the next step of client review, the name of the round is called round 1, 2, 3, etc.

Click the + Plus sign next to rounds

Review the setup of your new round

NOTE: At this point, you can customize the setup for this round/step to be different than the default process.

Click the Plus sign next to files

Choose the type of file(s) to review

Upload new file: You can technically use any file you want, but only images, PDFs, and video files are compatible to review visually. Even then you may need to use specific file types with those genres to get the best results.

Use existing file: Same as above, however, the file has already been uploaded to the Files section of the project before creating the deliverable to review.

Add URL: This requires JS code to be added to your web page so it can be generated in the review screen. Also, the security of the page's site needs to match that of the Workamajig application (i.e. HTTPS).

Add Vimeo video: Copy/paste the URL or code from your browser with the video open (i.e. "https://vimeo.com/113102368" or "113102368").

Add YouTube video: Copy/paste the URL or code from your browser with the video open (i.e. "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGbxmsDFVnE" or "sGbxmsDFVnE").

For more on this, please review the section Supported file types & exceptions.

NOTE: You can click the plus sign to add more files to one round.

One last check

Click 'send for review'

Notice how the page updates, it now says View comments where you clicked send for review.

NOTE: At this point, emails have now been sent to the approvers to review the round.

Reviewing the deliverable

As an approver, you can open the Review page by:

Clicking the hyperlink in the email you receive.
Click on the Notification bell icon at the top of your screen to review your items to approve.

Review the file

Instructions appear in the center of the screen.

NOTE: If there are multiple files to review, then you must choose which file to look at first from the thumbnails at the top.

Compare

If you are on round 2, or on a round on a different deliverable within the same project. You can choose 'compare' from the More menu.

This will then list all the rounds for every deliverable on the same project.

Add Comments and Markup

Click the Plus sign to add a comment

Enter your comments in the text box provided. You can also choose a tool to markup a section of the file that relates to your comment. You can also add an attachment that relates to your comment.

You can also use the tools at the bottom of the review screen to resize the visible file.

Make a decision

Click on the 'make a decision' button to get your final say for the round.

Choose one.

NOTE: You can only make one choice and are there is no way to change this decision once made.

Next steps

Once the round is completed, you can take the next steps.

If approved (or approved with changes)

The next default step is to send the files(s) to the client for review.
Depending on your process (pause after approval or no client approver set), you may see the button for 'send to client'. This is visible at the top of the approved round.

Otherwise, the client round is automatically sent once the internal round is approved.

If rejected

You will then want to create a new round to review the next version of the file(s).

NOTE: You do not need to create another deliverable. Open the existing deliverable and click 'Add round'.

NOTE: Choosing 'same as last round' will retain the process you had customized on the previous round.

Managing comments & fix this

Review others comments

Simply click on their comment to see the markup associated with it.

You can group the comments in different ways for easier viewing.

Fix this

There is the new Fix this button in the comment that you can use to create a to-do for the task to assign someone and track via the To-do board.

This brings up the Follow-up task panel where you can choose 'use an existing task' or 'add a new task'.

In either case, make sure you have someone assigned to that task.

Fixed

Once an item has been addressed you can click 'fixed' on the comment.

Creative's view of their task assigned to-dos

To-do list

By clicking on your assigned task card, you can see the to-do list of that task in the project details panel.

To-do board

Or you can click on the folder icon from the task card and select 'to-dos'.

This will bring up the to-do board for just that task.

From here you can interact with the to-dos by dragging and dropping them into to-do statuses you have set up.

Edit to-dos

With the to-dos itself open, you can interact with its details.

To see the comment & markup that is shown in the Review screen, you can click on 'view markup'.

Any comments added here are conversation pieces that will go to anyone on the email update to list.

Update the status

Depending o the setup of your to-do statuses, you will want to move your to-dos to a 'completed' status, as these will then show as fixed to your project manager.

Monitoring deliverables

NOTE: When there is a current active step for the round, the active step's status is displayed. When there is not an active step (ie. the round is complete) the round's status is displayed.

Today page

From the Project manager > Today page, under Items needing attention, there's is an action item for Daily deliverable status.

Report views

You can also run a report of all deliverables to review their current status, by going to Views > Deliverables from the Project manager > Today page.

Custom report

There is also a custom report dataset called 'deliverable detail' that creates a report with one line per comment.

Managing to-do's

Project to-do board

From the project, you can click on 'to-dos' from the list of items to view the To-do board that shows all the to-dos of that project.

Deliverable to-do list

From the deliverable itself, it has two lists of to-dos, open & closed.

Supported file types & exceptions

Can 'display, comment, & markup'

Files

Images - JPG/BMP/GIF/PNG, etc.
Videos - MP4/FLV. For best results, use the latest "H.264 Codec" and set it to "streaming".
NOTE: MOV file format is not supported.
Audio - MP3/OGA/M4A/AAC/WAV.
PDF - Each page is rendered live for visual reference only, you are not able to edit text. But you can highlight & strike-through the actual rendered text (not flattened text).
HTML - While can upload an HTML file in the review screen, keep in mind that if it references images or other components that are not in the HTML file itself, it can have an effect if viewed again later. Such as image files moving from their original location, thus showing a broken image link in the review screen after it was there during the initial review.

Webpage

URL - The design here is that you have a staging site/path (not your live site) that contains your website page as a whole. You must also include JS code on the page as described when creating this type of review.
NOTES: The site must have a valid SSL certificate to be compatible with any browser. If you use CSS code that resizes the page, then you will need to disable that or not use markup.

Integrations

Vimeo - We connect to Vimeo's API, so no files are stored in your designated WebDAV server. While the comments may not be frame specific, they should be close.
YouTube - We connect to Youtube's API, so no files are stored in your designated WebDAV server. While the comments may not be frame specific, they should be close.

Can 'display & comment, cannot markup'

MS Word/Excel - The viewer for MS files is read-only. As such, only comments are available & no markup. You can instruct users to download the file and upload a revised version with their comments using track changes. Or you can upload a PDF instead to review with full markup tools available.
HTM - Any URL that is added using the URL (instead of being uploaded) that is not a true website with the provided code.

Can 'comment, cannot display or markup'

Any non-supported file relates to "proprietary" files, such as *.psd (Photoshop), *.AI (Illustrator), or similar. You can download the file to open it using the related application on your computer and then upload a version with your changes to the comments. Or use a PDF-rendered version for review for full markup features.
You can download any file that is uploaded, even if it's not viewable on the review screen.
You can upload a file along with your comments.

Additionally, if you are encoding and uploading the actual video file for review, then be sure to stay up to date with web technologies to be sure you are using the latest encoding capabilities.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Supported_media_formats

Keyboard shortcuts

Press "Control, Shift, ?" at the same time to open the Keyboard shortcuts menu. It will show what actions can be performed on that page specifically, and allows you to assign specific pages as shortcuts.

When in the Deliverable review screen, you will see specific commands relating to deliverables.

Additional notes

The Approval check box on deliverables will only show if it is checked on the edit screen and will only be checked through the deliverable approval process. If the approval box is unchecked it will be logged in the system log.
Added an option to the Deliverable board to 'hide approved/completed deliverables'.
Clicking on deliverables from various locations will now take you to the Deliverable board.
Added a to-do count for individual deliverables on the Deliverables tab of the Today-Creative assignment details screen.
You can now change the task and/or status of a deliverable from the Deliverables dash by clicking on the current status or task name.
Added an 'exclude from deliverables' check box to the Other tab of the Task detail panel.
When copying a deliverable all of the to-dos that are not tied to a review round will be copied over and marked as 'open'.

Known Issues

Long URL links in the emails sent out to review can potentially be spammed by your email server settings and software. Your options are to adjust your server/software settings or change the setting in deliverables setup to 'require login'.
In some cases, the browser and/or PDF reader plugin is unable to display certain layers and effects that were made in Adobe InDesign when generated to PDF. In this case, you can still download the original PDF file into an Adobe Reader installed on your computer that can view these elements.
In some cases, when using the PDF text highlight tool, the intended text does not get highlighted, or it highlights the entire page. There are also other anomalies that can occur, such as ???s appearing in place of spaces.
When using the zoom +/- for the viewable area of a PDF file and then using the Text highlight/Strikeout tools, the feature may not work as expected.
There is currently a limit on PDFs to 100 pages MAX and/or 40 MB Max file size.
Printed annotations do not appear in the correct location on the deliverable.
The minimum size of the highlighted circle and outlined circle is 18px.
When trying to move freehand annotations during a new comment or edit comment, it will continue the line instead of moving.
We do not recommend using Edge or IE to view deliverables.
If the PDF does not render properly in Firefox itself (not through WMJ in Firefox), then it will not render properly in WMJ. When designing PDFs, users should have this in mind.
After saving the comment, the time may jump backward/forward up to 0.5 secs, causing the comment/annotation to appear on the incorrect frame.
In order to use annotations with the URL feature, the following MUST apply to the website:
- Basic CSS
- No transformations
- No hover effects
- Nothing is hidden beyond the edges of the page
- No Javascript effects
- No Flash
- No text that “reflows” as the page changes size
- Preferably a fixed width
- No “responsive” designs
- If a webpage contains any of the above, can still use with Deliverables, just will not
  be able to use annotations (comments only).
If you feel a PDF file is not rendering properly, please view it standalone in the browser first. Then let us know if there is a difference. Else let your designer know to compensate for the browser viewed on.
Office Live (Word) is not compatible with iOS devices.

Browsers

Edge
- When 'always load review items at actual size' is not checked, markup lines may
  show thicker than normal - UNFIXABLE
- When printing, extra blank first page - UNFIXABLE
Internet Explorer
- After clicking 'show all markup', annotation numbers don’t appear until the
  mouse moves over the deliverable - UNFIXABLE
- The ruler doesn’t show px measurement until stopped drawing - UNFIXABLE
- Signature lines in a PDF will have a white background - UNFIXABLE
- Some websites may appear “shaky” when scrolling - UNFIXABLE
- When 'always load review items at actual size' is not checked, markup lines may
  show thicker than normal - UNFIXABLE
- When printing, extra blank first page - UNFIXABLE
Safari
- If a video has a blank frame at the end, and add a comment at that point, then all
  comments added may not show video when clicking on them, but will show
  annotations

Resources

Deliverables board [guide]

Deliverable types [in-depth guide]

Deliverable status [in-depth guide]

Project manager > To-do board [guide]

Mail settings [in-depth guide]

Articles in this section