Spec Check

A submittal tied to a spec section can be read against it. The check takes every datasheet on the submittal, the section's text, and the parts the submittal covers, and answers one row per requirement per part.

The section is read once for the requirements a product is accepted or rejected on: identity, ratings that decide fit, and features products differ on. Installer instructions, quality words, drawing defaults, factory tests and a product's internal construction stay out. Each requirement records the kind of product it is about, and a part is judged only on the requirements about what it is, plus the rules the section sets for all its equipment. A list of alternatives, such as voltage classes, is one requirement that a product meets by meeting any one line. A section read before this changed is read again the first time a check runs on it, and the panel says so while it reads.

Run it

The spec check panel sits on the submittal's Checks tab, under the findings table. Run is on the panel's header line, and Run spec check in the More menu beside the title opens the Checks tab and starts it there. It runs only when you press it, and it needs a primary spec section on the submittal, at least one part with a datasheet, and a paid plan. It stays dark during the trial, with the reason beside it, and the same when anything else is missing. When the check cannot pick which requirements are about each part, Run stays dark too, rather than judging parts on requirements that are not about them.

A run reads each datasheet once, even when several parts share it, and judges it for each part. The job row in the panel's header follows the read as it runs, counting datasheets done and rows judged, and rows appear as they land, marked not final until the run settles. Stop closes the open read within about a second and keeps what has been read; the datasheets not yet checked are listed in the run's reason. A very long datasheet is read in part: the pages that name the part or its ratings go first, and the panel says "not fully read" for that document.

What comes back

Each requirement is one row with a glyph and a word.

• Meets. The datasheet states a value that satisfies the requirement. The row carries the value, the line it was found on, and the page.
• Does not meet. The datasheet states a value that fails it, or the manufacturer is not on the section's list. The next action says whether to swap the product or ask the engineer.
• Look at this. It depends on the ordered configuration, or the cited line could not be found on the page. The row says which.
• Not stated. The datasheet does not say. It is counted on its own and never counted as Meets.

The panel opens on Does not meet. Each tally at the top is a filter with its count, so the rows that need you come first and the silent ones stay out of the way.

Rows never do arithmetic. A value in the wrong unit is Look at this, not a verdict.

Section fit

The panel reads the section the picker suggests first for these parts. When that differs from the linked section, the panel says so with Change section and re-run. When the submittal has no section, the record proposes the same one, and linking it starts the check.

Mark a row yourself

Mark any row Meets, Does not meet, or Look at this, with a note. The mark shows as "Marked by you" beside the machine's verdict, and it survives re-runs and revisions of the same part.

In the package

Add a Spec Check Results section in Configure sections and the compiled package prints the latest finished check, one row per requirement under each product's Register name and part number, with your marks in place of the check's verdicts. Until a check finishes and matches the package, the section follows its When empty setting.

When it goes stale

Changing a part, a datasheet, or the primary section marks the last run out of date. The panel's header line says so beside Re-run. Nothing re-runs on its own. Acknowledge on the same line hides the reminder until the check's state changes again.

A Does not meet row usually means an RFI or a product swap: see RFI basics and Choose equipment scope.