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 using Settings & Backup. If the future owner is not yet part of the project, he must be invited before.

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?

In the case of a project transfer, all rights (eg. data ownership, assigning access rights) and obligations (eg. payment obligation) are transferred to the new owner. The original owner remains for the time being 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. in the header area below the upload display,

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 S7 Approval 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. Settings & Backup (top right)

3. Click on Download backup

4. Unzip file

5. Click on Projekt öffnen.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 to use an unpersonalized e-mail address for the commissioned office account. This will be used only for creating new projects and managing the commissioned data.

Procedure project transfer / change of commissioned account:

1. Create the future owner (new email address) as a participant in all projects (recommendation: name only “-” and role e.g. “Account”)

2. Log in to Planfred with the e-mail address of the future owner and commission them (in the top right corner of the User account under edit plan settings select the plan and payment interval and enter the billing address)

3. Log in as project owner to each own project and transfer it:

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

   2. Now Transfer project to, select new project owner and Initiate project transfer

4. A project transfer is complete once the future owner has confirmed acceptance in Planfred (request is automatically sent via e-mail)

5. Once all projects are transferred: In the user account of the original project owner, edit plan settings selection to: FREE

Don't worry, there are no additional costs - we have all the data and still only charge for one account!

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

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

Click “change user data” in “user account” (top right).

Click “change password” in “user account” (top right).

Plans that have been created more than once and are outdated must be deleted (click on the respective plan and then on the “Delete plan” button below) so that only the most recent plan is available in the list view. This plan must then be updated and must not be created again in the event of changes. Make sure that the field for the plan number does not contain an index or date (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, click on the relevant plan in the “Plans” tab (or right-click “Open in new window”) to access the detailed view and click on the “Delete plan” button at the bottom. Deleted plans are moved to the recycle bin and can be restored there at any time. However, irrevocable emptying of the recycle bin is not provided for in Planfred due to the demonstrable 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.

In the “Activities“ tab, select the “Sending“ category in the top line on the right. In the now filtered list of activities, you can open the desired plan dispatch by clicking the down arrow (far right) in the relevant line. After clicking on “These plans send/download“, Planfred automatically switches to the “Plans“ tab, where the sent plans (marked with a check mark) are displayed. With a click on “Send x plans to …“ (x stands for the number of plans) the participants are displayed. The plans can now be sent as usual: Select participants, compose message, 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 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 “This index requires approval by …“ in the edit field that opens. Request approval as usual.

See manual S6 Freigabe von Plänen und Dokumenten

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 “Edit 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 “Edit 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 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 “Create 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 “+ Create 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 from other project“ link when creating new participants (in the “Participants“ tab) and select the project and one or more participants. After clicking on “Next step“ you adjust the import settings, write a message if necessary and click on “Import participants“. The participants are then informed by Planfred via email about the project invitation. Prerequisites for the import are 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 approval permissions 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 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“.

No, this filter function is not yet possible. But in the detailed view of the project participant (or the participant without login) the respective activities are displayed pre-filtered. To get to the detailed view of the respective participant, click on him in the “Participants“ tab.

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 “List print/export“ button (right above the plan list) in the “Plans“ tab. Here you can filter the plan list as you wish (e.g. by roles or tags). In addition, you can group the list (roles, plan folders or none) in the “Print or export the filtered plan list“ field and select whether additional information (show comment, show plan URL) should also be printed. Finally, click on “Print“ and create the 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 author 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.