RFI in SKYSITE can be created at project level and can be annotated on a document i.e. at Viewer level.
If no RFIs have been created yet then the following screen appears under the My RFI tab once you navigate inside the RFI dashboard screen.
You can click on [Create RFI] button at the middle of the above screen to create a new RFI. Otherwise, click on [Create RFI] button present on the top right-hand corner of the screen.
Below is described the procedure to create RFIs at Project level:
RFIs are created by clicking the [Create RFI] button [highlighted by the red rectangle in the screenshot below] present at the top-right hand corner of the RFI Dashboard screen. This is shown in the screenshot below,
The following operations can be performed from this screen:
1. Sort: The RFIs listed in row form can be sorted by Create Date only in Ascending/Descending order.
2. Export: Clicking this button will download the RFI list (row-wise) into your system in CSV format. The following data fields will be exported:
RFI Number, Status, Created By, Created date, Due date, Question, Answer, Response date, Assigned To, Copied To ("Separated by comma), "Custom attributes".
3. Create RFI: Clicking this button opens up the Create RFI pop-up box through which user can enter the RFI details.
This is shown in the screenshot below:
The fields present on the left-hand side of the pop-up box are described below:
Field Description:
Field Name | Field Description |
To (Mandatory Field) | The email id of users, to whom the RFI query is to be sent for answering, is selected from an exclusive user list. All employee users of the account who have full access to the project and all users to whom the project is shared with full access (accepted share) can be assigned a RFI for answering & resolution. Users who do not have access to the project or shared users with read-only access cannot be assigned a RFI. The user list will only bring up employee users (full access to account) and shared users with whom the project under which the RFI is being created is shared with full access. Hence, user email ID selected in this text box is the user to whom the RFI is assigned for resolution and is designated as the 'Primary Recipient'. Only one email ID can be selected as 'Primary Recipient' for an RFI and only the 'Primary Recipient' can respond to the query or give answer to the query. The Primary Recipient can forward the RFI to another user only (Project Member or shared user with full access) for viewing and entering comments. Only a single user can be selected in the TO text box |
CC | The email id of user(s), to whom a carbon copy of the RFI query is sent for viewing, is selected from the Contact list. Multiple users can be selected as 'Recipient' in the CC list. These users can only view the RFI and enter comments but will not be able to forward the RFI query to any other user. |
RFI Subject (Mandatory Field) | The subject on which the request for information is sought. |
RFI Discipline | The branch of the construction industry which falls under the purview of the request. E.g. Civil, Structural, etc. Once user types the RFI discipline, the application will prompt you with all the disciplines starting with the entered alphabet through a drop-down. You can select the appropriate discipline from the drop-down. The disciplines prompted by the application are fetched from the disciplines entered as attributes during the time of document upload. Example: If you enter the alphabet ‘C’ in the Discipline text box, then the application will fetch all the discipline names existing in the application starting with the alphabet ‘C’ in a drop-down. Now, you can select the appropriate discipline from the drop-down. |
Sheet No. | The sheet number (sheet name) of the document on/for which the RFI is embedded or associated with. Once you type the sheet number, if the typed sheet number matches with any sheet existing in the same project, then the application will prompt you with all the sheet numbers starting with the entered number, through a drop-down. This drop-down will list all the sheet names beginning with the entered numerical(s) as well as alphabets. The application will let you choose from among the sheet numbers of all the documents present within the Project under which the RFI is being created. You can select the appropriate sheet number from the drop-down. Multiple sheet numbers may be selected. If a document has multiple revised versions then application will provide the option to select those revised versions as well. Example: Say, the project has 3 documents and the sheet number of these documents are 105, 106 & 107. Also, the document 107 has 1 revised version. Then if you type‘1’, then the sheet numbers to appear on the drop-down for user selection will be105, 106, 107-1, 107-2. If you enter any random number like ‘3’, then no suggestion will appear for user selection. |
Specification Section | This code is the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI)'s Master Format specifying the standard for organizing specifications and other written information for commercial and institutional building projects in the U.S. and Canada. This code can be of 5 or 6 or 8 digits. You can enter this code directly. No validation will be performed by the application on this code, only user input is saved. |
Building, Level, Section, Room(each separate and Custom fields – created from RFI Settings) | The total number of custom fields displayed here is decided from the Settings section and a maximum of 5 fields can be there. Alphanumeric characters can be entered within these fields. |
Potential Cost Impact | Ticking this checkbox means that the RFI query will have a potential impact on project cost. E.g. - Project cost may increase if new materials are purchased according to the RFI. |
Potential Schedule Impact | Ticking this checkbox means that the RFI query will have a potential impact on project schedule. E.g. - Project may get delayed if query goes unanswered. |
Question (Mandatory Field) | The creator of the RFI can enter his/her queries within this text box. |
Note: The RFI needs to be responded within a certain number of days. The number of days within which the RFI is required to be responded to is entered in the Settings section.
Screenshot displaying the Sheet Number selection options:
Once you select one sheet, the count of sheet number will increase to 1 [highlighted in the screenshot below] and you can proceed to associate more sheets with the RFI. This is shown below,
Attachments on RFI:
Attach from local system
The files to be attached are chosen from your local system by first clicking the [Add Attachment] button. After clicking this button, the file upload section under the Upload file tab appears. In this section, upload files by clicking either the [Choose files] button to select and choose files for upload from the local computer drive or by dragging & dropping files directly from local computer drive in the space provided.
The following screenshot displays a file selected and chosen from the local system ready for upload [highlighted with red rectangle] along with the attachment count [highlighted with green rectangle]:
Uploading of this file as an attachment to the RFI will be completed once the RFI creation is completed.
Attaching files from Project:
You can attach files from project. For example, if the punch is being created inside the project P-1 then all the documents/photos present inside the Project P-1 will be available for attachment to that particular punch. This is shown in the screenshot below,
You need to click on the respective folder and then select the checkbox beside the documents for selection as an attachment with the punch. This is shown in the screenshot below,
As soon as you select the document, the document is attached with the punch [highlighted with red rectangle] and the attachment count also increases by one [highlighted with green rectangle]. In the screenshot above, the count is 2 because a file from local system is already attached with the punch item previously.
Note: Click the [Back] 
button to move back to the 'Folder view' screen of the project. You can also search for files for attachment inside the project.
All existing attachments can be viewed by clicking the Attachments drop-down (the number of current attachments is also mentioned). This is shown in the screenshot below,
Note: External files of image type (E.g. – JPEG, TIFF etc.) attached to the RFI from your local system will be uploaded into the default Gallery folder at Project root level.
All existing attachments can be viewed by clicking the Attachments drop-down [highlighted by the red rectangle in the screenshot below]. RFI creation is complete only after all attachments are uploaded. Existing attachments can be removed and also opened from this drop down. The number of already attached files can also be viewed by clicking the Attachments link.
Note: Attachment can also be associated with RFIs from the comments section as well, after the creation of RFI till the RFI is closed, voided or rejected.
Saving RFI
After entering all the relevant information, you need to click on the [Create RFI] button to send the email notification to recipient email ID selected in the TO textbox and also to those users’ email ID in the CC list. The concerned users can open their email and click on the link to be directed to the log-in page of the SKYSITE. The users can then log-in to SKYSITE and view as well as perform other operations on the respective RFI at the RFI List Screen.
The saved RFI is displayed in the RFI Dashboard screen (Status: OPEN) [RFI highlighted by the red rectangle],
The Creator will view the newly created RFI under the My RFI tab as well as the All RFI tab as shown in screenshot above.
Also, clicking on [Save as Draft] button will only save the RFI information in the application but will not send the RFI to the assigned user. While creating a draft RFI the TO field (where the assigned user email ID is entered) can be left blank and only the Subject & Question field will have to be populated. Draft RFI will not have RFI number generated. When user later sends the RFI to the intended recipients, then only RFI number will be generated and assigned as per the number entered in the Settings of the RFI.
Note: The Draft RFI will be saved as Private by default (per user) i.e. only the creator of the RFI can view and edit the Draft RFI information.
After creating/saving the RFI, the RFI information will be visible on the RFI Dashboard screen. Individual RFIs are displayed row-wise on the RFI Dashboard screen.