This article contains helpful tips to guide you as you prepare documentation for your WELL achievement. You can also check out our Excelling in your WELL documentation review webcast for additional guidance (free WELL forum account required).

Confirm the required verification method

All WELL features have required verification methods. This information can be found on the "Verification" tab in the WELL digital standard for your rating or underneath each feature requirement in the project's scorecard.

Utilize Letter of Assurance (LoA) templates

Simply download available templates directly from your project scorecard or the Resource Library. Then, fill out the required fields with project-specific information and upload these documents to the project’s WELL account.

Be sure to download the templates that match the addenda version that you registered under. To determine which addenda applies to your project, simply open the Scorecard tab in your WELL account dashboard, then reference the "applicable version" text as shown below.

Make sure all applicable boxes are marked by the professional completing the LoA, including all boxes that require initials or signatures. Failing to correctly initial or sign LoAs could result in your document not passing review.

Reference sample documentation

Sample documents are available for select WELL Certification, WELL Health-Safety Rating and WELL Performance Rating features. Sample documents for the WELL Equity Rating will be available at a later date. If you have a registered WELL project, you can find these documents in your WELL account:

• 1. Open your project's Scorecard.
  2. Click the applicable feature.
  3. Scroll down to the feature's Resources section and click the Sample Documentation link as shown below.

  

  Sample documentation is also available on your project's Support tab.

• 1. Open your project's Support tab.
  2. Scroll down to the Documentation Prep section.
  3. Click the Sample Documentation link.

• Through the Support tab

  1. Open your project's Support tab.
  2. Scroll down to the Technical Tools section.
  3. Click the Sample Documentation link.

  Through the Scorecard tab (Health-Safety Rating only)

  1. Open your project's Scorecard.
  2. Click the applicable feature.
  3. Scroll down to the feature's Resources section and click the Sample Documentation link as shown below.

Utilize existing documents

While documentation should be WELL-specific, you don’t need to start from scratch.

You can often submit existing design, operations and policy documents for review. This should involve highlighting certain sections, clearly labeling where WELL criteria are addressed or adding specific language to demonstrate that specific WELL requirements have been met. If you are submitting a longer, multi-page document, please be sure to clearly label and/or highlight which excerpts relate to specific WELL criteria. This will help the WELL Reviewer quickly and seamlessly find where your project demonstrates compliance with WELL. For more information on how to label and/or highlight your documents, please refer to the WELL Documentation Annotation Guide.

For added clarity, try adding a key or legend to existing design drawings to indicate that specific colors or symbols are intended to reference WELL requirements.

In order to assess the caliber and quality of existing documents, project administrators may choose to reach out to the architect, cleaning staff, facility manager, food service vendor and/or human resources professional for existing protocols, time logs, policy documents, manuals, architectural drawings or manufacturer specification sheets.

Create new templates for team members to fill out as needed

If documents require input from a specific team member, it is helpful to specifically outline WELL requirements in a document and indicate where the team member should insert project-specific information. This will help ensure that all WELL requirements are addressed, even if a team member is less familiar with WELL.

For example, WELL v2 Feature L07: Visual Balance requires a professional narrative that describes strategies for enhancing visual comfort in spaces. Projects are required to take into consideration at least three of the four components referenced in Option 1: Parameters for visual balance OR all of the components referenced in Option 2: Design for visual balance. If requesting input from a lighting consultant, it is helpful to copy and paste all four components of the option the project is pursuing into a document, and leave blank spaces or multiple text boxes to indicate where the lighting designer can elaborate on how this strategy has been implemented.

If needed, translate documents to English

This section does not apply to WELL at scale subscribers located in mainland China - see Reviews for locations in mainland China for more information.

At this time, the WELL Reviewers are English-speaking only. Thus, it is critical that all relevant documentation for feature requirements is translated to English. Your team can either translate documents, such as HR manuals and emergency plans, in full or choose to selectively translate excerpts that outline the specific WELL criteria. If you pursue the latter, ensure that all feature criteria are addressed.

It is acceptable to submit a translated LOA. When doing so, provide the translations on the original LOA for the WELL Reviewer's reference during their review or include a note on the LOA that confirms that the translations are accurate.

A few reminders

Your documentation should include the following:

• Clear headings or notations about which features, parts and requirements are contained in the documents
• Annotations within the document that identify exactly where a requirement can be validated by a WELL Reviewer
• Indications of use of any WELL Crosswalks, WELL Skybridge tools, alternative adherence paths or equivalencies you are using in lieu of the requirements written for your applicable addenda version
• Documentation must be provided in a file format currently supported by WELL Online: .doc/.docx, .pdf, most standard image formats (.jpg, .jpeg, .png, etc.), or .xls/.xslx. If a project team submits documentation that is not in one of these file formats, the part will not be reviewed.
  • .zip files are allowed for v2 pilot and v2 projects for the "Performance Test" document type
  • 3D image files and file formats used by CAD software (.dwg, .dwx, etc.), are not supported.

(WELL at scale only) Save your documents using our file naming convention

While not required, this nomenclature can help your team to streamline your documentation efforts:

• If the document is shareable across multiple locations:
  • File name convention - FEATURENAMEPARTDOCUMENTTYPEShareable, for example - A02Part1PolicyShareable
• If the document is location-specific (Individual-scale):
  • File name convention - FEATURENAMEPARTDOCUMENTTYPELOCATIONNAME (location name must match what is in WELL Online)
• If a document is Intent-stage, Intent should be added to the file name.
  • File name convention -FEATURENAMEPARTDOCUMENTTYPEShareableIntent, i.e. - A02Part1PolicyShareableIntent