RFI Layouts

Reformatting a question into somebody's preferred RFI form is the least valuable ten minutes in the day. Set the layout once and every RFI you mark as sent comes out on it.

The layout in effect

Open Settings > RFI layout. The page opens with the layout currently in effect and why: your company default, or a customer-approved controlled form. When a controlled form default is set, it takes precedence over the ordinary default, and every issued RFI renders on that exact published revision. Either way, already-issued RFIs keep the layout and data they were issued with, always; changing the layout only changes RFIs issued from now on.

Admins can change the company default and set or clear the controlled form default; everyone can see which layout is in effect.

Built-ins and your library

Three built-in layouts cover the usual range, from a branded header with full request and response controls, to a detailed form with sign-off rows and a document-control footer, to a spare centered layout with the fewest fields. Built-ins are read-only: Clone one into your library to make it yours.

Library layouts open in the editor, where you rearrange fields and narrative sections and preview the result as you go. Long request and response sections continue onto extra pages automatically. You can edit, clone, archive, restore, and delete an unused layout, and set any one as the company default.

What the RFI editor shows

The editor shows a field only when the layout in effect prints it, so nobody fills in a box that never appears on paper. The subject, the request, the recipient and the response due date always show, because they are the record, not the page. An RFI you uploaded has no layout, so it shows every field.

The From card picks who signs. It starts as the personnel record linked to whoever created the RFI, and their name and title print in the From block. When a project fact the layout prints is missing, such as the client job number, the editor names it with Set, which saves it to the project.

A controlled form can carry its own checkboxes and blanks. They appear in a Form fields card, each marked as a default or as this RFI's own edit. Set what a new RFI starts with under Form fields on this page. When an RFI is sent, it keeps the values it was sent with, so a later default change never alters it.

Per-project override

A project can depart from the company default: in the project's settings, pick a specific layout for that project's RFIs, or leave it on Company default to follow whatever the company sets. Two exceptions keep the record honest:

• An RFI you upload from outside never uses a layout; that PDF is kept exactly as it came.
• Under a company controlled form there is no per-project picker, because every RFI on every project issues on the controlled document.

Cloning is cheap and issued RFIs are snapshots, so experiment freely: nothing you change in a layout can alter an RFI that already went out.