Browse the Help Center
What is an RFI?
A question that needs a formal, tracked answer: the roles, the statuses, and how ball in court keeps it moving.
1 min read
An RFI (Request for Information) is a question that needs a formal, tracked answer. Not a hallway chat, not a message that gets buried: a numbered item with a named owner, a deadline, and a permanent record. Think "confirm rebar spacing at grid C4" when the drawing is ambiguous and the crew is waiting.
Two roles, one question
Every RFI has a Raiser, the person who asked the question, and an Assignee, the person who owes the answer. The raiser cares about getting unblocked; the assignee is accountable for responding. Watchers can follow along without owning anything.
Ball in court: whose move is it?
Ball in court always shows who holds the next move. When you raise an RFI, the ball is with the assignee. When they ask for clarification, it comes back to you. Nobody has to remember whose turn it is, and nothing stalls because both sides thought the other was on it.
An open RFI showing the ball in court banner naming who owes the next response
screenshots/rfis/what-is-an-rfi/rfi-ball-in-court.png
The four statuses
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Open | The question is live and waiting on a response. |
| Answered | The assignee has submitted a response. The raiser reviews it. |
| Closed | The answer did the job. The RFI is done and stays on the record. |
| Void | Raised in error or overtaken by events. Cancelled, but the record is kept. |
RFIs point at real documents
An RFI can reference the exact documents it concerns, straight from the document register. The assignee opens the same drawing and revision you were looking at, so the answer lands on the right sheet, not a guess.
Why formal beats fast
A verbal answer disappears. An RFI keeps the question, the answer, who gave it, and when, so six months later you can prove exactly what was confirmed.
See it on the platform
RFIs and markupWas this page helpful?
Need help? Contact support.
See what shipped in the changelog.
Questions about pricing? Talk to sales.
Something down? Check the platform status.
Found a bug in the product? Report an issue.
Missing something? Request a feature.