Answer an RFI

Depending on the creator and the context of an RFI, any stakeholder can assign any company responsible for answering it in its workflow. In a typical RFI workflow, an RFI is assigned to the design team, namely the architect or the engineering firms, for an authoritative response.

This article explains how a GC/SC or the party assigned as the responder to an RFI can provide their answers and forward the same to the next step as per the workflow.

• Any user in a company with access to the RFI module can view and respond to an RFI routed to their company
• RFIs created by the foreman of the GC and the parties other than the GC staff are first routed to the GC for initial review. They can review the questions and have two options:
  • Answer the questions by themselves and close the RFI
  • Set a workflow sequence and forward the RFI for further processing, typically to the Architect for their answer. See Setup a workflow for an RFI to know more
• The RFIs that are awaiting your response are indicated with the tag 'You' in blue in the 'RFI' > 'Boards' interface. This includes:
  • RFIs forwarded to you by the creator.
  • RFIs delegated to you by the workflow.
• You can assess the questions and provide your responses. You can also attach: 
  • Any supporting items like drawings, photos, documents, etc.
  • Links to other project documents and items like Plan drawings, other RFIs, Submittals, Scheduled tasks, Change Orders, etc. The linked plan sheets are also added as image attachments to the response.
• You have the option to dynamically assign the RFI to other stakeholders by adding ad-hoc workflow steps, overriding the primary workflow. This is useful if you need clarification or a review of your responses from them.  Once the parties in the ad-hoc workflow complete their activities, the RFI returns to you and proceeds further as per the primary workflow.
• At any stage of an RFI, you can add your comments to the questions and responses given by other stakeholders.

Roles and permissions:
1. All project team members with 'Respond,' 'Review,' or 'Maintain' permission or above for the RFI module can answer an RFI when their company is delegated as a 'Responder' in the workflow.
2. Only users with 'Manage' permission can 'Route' the RFI to the next step.

Tip:
You can chat with the team members and the participants of the RFI. Click the button on the top right. See Chat and collaborate on RFIs for more guidance.

Respond to an RFI

You will get a notification once an RFI is assigned to you. 

• Click the notification to open the RFI
• Alternatively:
  • Open the project management console
  • Click the app launcher icon  in the top-right and select 'Documents'
  • Click 'RFI' on the top, then choose 'Boards' from the left
  • The ' All RFI' screen shows the project RFIsunder different stages. The items that are awaiting your action are indicated with the tag 'You' in blue.
  • Click on the RFI card
• Review the details.
• Click the 'Q & A' tab.

From this screen, you can:

• Answer the question
• Add your comments
• Edit the workflow to change the reviewers and the allowed days for the following steps (Optional - General Contractor Only)
• Dynamically assign the RFI to a stakeholder, overriding the primary workflow if you need more clarifications or review by adding more workflow steps (Optional)

• Once you are done with the review, click to forward the RFI to the next party in the workflow for their action

Note: If the RFI requires contribution from a stakeholder not included in the Linarc's project directory, you can email the PDF version of the RFI to get their response. Once the response is received, you can incorporate it into the RFI and proceed with your acton. See Email an RFI to External Stakeholders to learn more.

Answer the question

The 'Q&A' tab shows the question and comments.

Attachments:

• Click on the thumbnail to open it.
• Hover your mouse over an attachment for the following options:
  • Click to open it on a new browser tab.
  • Click to download it to your device.
  • Click to remove it from the question.

Add your answer

• Click inside the text box to enter your response.

• Enter your response in the text box.
• Use the tools on the top to format your text and add emojis, insert hyperlinks, tables, etc.
• You can add:
  • Links to other items
  • Supporting attachments

Add Links to other project documents (Optional)

• Click '+Link Item' to attach links to items like Submittals, RFIs, plan sheets, plan markups, scheduled tasks, punchlist items, etc., to the question.
• Choose the type of the item from the drop-down at the top.

• Select the item to link.
• Click 'Add'.
• Repeat the process to link more items as required.

Notes on Plan drawings and plan markups:

You can link plan drawings with or without markups, or already existing markups to the answer. The linked plan drawings are also added as image attachments to the question automatically. 

Plan drawings with or without markups:

• Choose 'Plans' in the link items drop down menu.
• The plan drawings added for the project are shown:

• To add a plan sheet, select the plan you want to use by clicking the check box on its left and click the 'Add' button.
• To create a new markup to illustrate your change order click 'Add markup' on the left. See Markups for guidance on creating different types of markups on the plan drawing.
• Enter a name for the markup and click 'Ok' to add the newly created markup to the change order.
• Repeat the process to add more plan drawings.

Plan markups

• Choose 'Plan Markups' in the link items drop down menu.
• The list of plan markups added to various plan drawings for the project are shown.
• Select the markup and click the 'Add button'.
• Repeat the process to add more markups.

Add Supporting Attachments

• Click on the top right to add attachments like photos, images, and/or other document files to your response:

• Drag and drop the file to the lower pane.
• Alternatively,
  • Click 'Browse'
  • Navigate to the required image file and open.
  • Repeat the process to add more images or documents.
• Once you are done with the attachments and links, your response is saved automatically.

• Click inside the text box to edit your response at any time. Once you have routed an RFI, you cannot edit the answer. 
• Click the 'Delete' icon at the right end to remove the response and add a new one.

Note: You cannot edit or remove an answer once the RFI is routed.

• Click 'Route' at the top to forward the RFI to the next step as per the designated workflow if you are happy with the flow. To route the RFI to a different party, add ad-hoc steps to do so.

Add your comments

The comments pane on the right of the 'Q&A' tab shows the comments added by the participants of the RFI in chronological order.  

• Enter your comment in the text box at the bottom and click 'Save'.

Your comment is saved.

• Click the 'Pencil' icon at the right to edit the comment.
• Click the 'Delete' icon to delete the comment at any time during the life cycle of the RFI.

See Add Comments in Project Documents to learn more.

Edit Workflow (Optional - General Contractor Only)

The general contractor can make changes to the current step and the following steps in the workflow as required.

• You cannot add or remove steps from the primary workflow. 
• You cannot change the company type assigned to each step in the primary workflow, but you can replace the currently assigned company with another of the same type. For example, if the company type specified in a step is 'Subcontractor,' you can change the company from Company A to Company B in the 'Company Name' column. 
• You can change the number of days allotted for the step as per the primary workflow.

To edit the workflow

• Open the 'Workflow' tab.
• Click 'Edit Workflow'.
• Click inside the 'Company Name' column of any of the pending steps and choose the company from the drop-down.
• Double-click inside the 'Process Days' cell of the respective row and change the value.
• Click 'Save' for your changes to take effect.

See Edit workflow of an RFI to learn more.

Dynamically assign the RFI (Optional)

The ad-hoc workflow feature allows you to dynamically assign the RFI to stakeholders on the go, deviating from the primary workflow. This is useful if you need clarification or a review of your responses from them.  Once the parties in the ad-hoc workflow complete their activities, the RFI returns to you and proceeds further as per the primary workflow.

• You can add ad-hoc workflow steps before or after you add your response for the current step

To add ad-hoc workflow steps

• Click the 'Add Workflow Steps' button
• Specify the next action, the company name, and the allowed days for the step
• Click 'Add Row' and repeat the process to add more steps
• Click 'Submit'

The RFI automatically moves to the first step in the ad-hoc workflow. The members from the respective company are notified about the assignment. The workflow of the RFI is also auto-updated with the new steps. You can view the new one under the 'Workflow' tab.

 See Assign RFI manually to learn more.

• Once you are done with the answers, click and confirm your action to forward the RFI to the next party in the workflow.