Summary of Changes

The Summary of Changes, or SoC for short, is a functionality within Document Builder that allows admins and project owners / editors the ability to create a snapshot view of all changes that are pending review within their Project. This feature can be helpful when managing a large team of contributors, checking work / progress, and the addendum process. Let's view the ways in which this feature can be used below!

How the Summary of Changes document works with the Track Changes tool

1. When 'Track changes for Everyone' is turned on, the tool will track the following:
1. Any changes in the sections of your documents not yet accepted: add/edit/delete objects; edit formatting
2. Any/all changes to document structure outside of sections: add/remove documents; change document titles; change section titles
   
   
2. When 'Track Changes for Everyone' is off, the tool will track the following:
1. Any/all changes to document structure outside text editor: add/remove documents; change document titles; change section titles

To reset the changes listed in your Summary of Changes document, accept the changes that have been tracked in your Project.

• Track changes in individual section: open section > track changes > accept all changes; repeat for all sections with track changes
• Changes made to document structure outside text editors: open Project > action center > accept some changes
  

If you see unexpected changes in your SoC document, you may have turned on "Track Changes for Everyone" in the past, which began automatically tracking changes for your Project. To clear these changes, simply click 'Accept Some Changes' in the Action Center as described above, and your SoC document will no longer list these changes.

How to create a summary of changes

On the solicitation dashboard, turn on Track Changes for Everyone.

All changes that are made to the documents will be tracked and shown in sections, documents, and the PDF.

To add a Summary table of changes, navigate to the solicitation details panel and select 'Create Summary of Changes'.

The Summary of Changes document will be inserted at the top of the documents panel. Check this file to review the tracked changes to the Project.

Click on the hyperlinked section in the table to view changes made to that document.

If more changes are made after inserting this document, go to the Summary of Changes document and insert a new summary table. It will summarize all updated changes. Remove the old summary table.

Workflow Considerations

As you are building and contributing to a new Project, you have the option of creating a SoC document to get a snapshot of the most recent changes. Similar to SB templates, you have the option of editing the SoC document to fit your formatting needs.

After you have created your SoC, you have a few options here. Depending on your internal workflows you can:

1. You can create a new SoC weekly, monthly, etc. to track your team's progress / changes, or to archive a list of changes outside of the tool. 
2. You can export the entire Project or just the SoC using the 'Export Solicitation PDF' option located in your action center. More information on exporting can be found here.

You can keep the existing SoC document and simply add a new summary of changes table every time you'd like to track new changes to keep it all in one document.

After a Project has been published, users will often need to go back in to make recommended updates after a review with involved parties. At this pre-addendum stage, the admin/owner/editor may want to create a new SoC document without any of the track changes from the pre-publication stage.

1. To begin, start by archiving your existing SoC document.
2. Next, you will need to accept the previous track changes within your Project.
3. After changes have been accepted, you are starting off on a clean slate and can begin tracking changes for the upcoming addendum.

Reminders:

• Once a SoC document has been created, you will need to archive the old one if your intention is to create a brand new SoC document.
• You can perform bulk actions to accept changes in individual sections and changes made to document structure outside of the text editors.
• You cannot perform one bulk action to accept track changes in all sections.
• Accepting changes will clear your Summary of Changes document. Please note after changes are accepted, you cannot list them again as tracked changes.

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