Proposal Requests activity center

19 minutes
11 months ago

Proposal Requests Activity Center

AKA Request for Change Proposals, Change Proposal Requests, Request for Change Orders, Change Order Requests, or Request for Proposals.

Use this activity center to create, log, review, and track proposal requests electronically.

Project Center administrators can set which tasks appear here using the Remove Contract Management Item Tasks dialog box.

Proposal Requests

New Proposal Request > Create Proposal Request

Click to open the Create a Proposal Request dialog box to create a new proposal request or to file an expected one.

New Proposal Request > Log a Received Proposal request

Click to open the Log a Received Proposal Request dialog box to log a proposal request that you have received.

Create a Report

Click to open the Create Report dialog box to select the type of proposal request report to create. The report contains the contents of this log.

You can customize which columns appear in reports simply by selecting which columns to show and hide in the activity center. Simply right-click on column headers to add or remove columns. A checkmark indicates the column will appear in the activity center and the report.

Import Spreadsheet

Click to open the Select Spreadsheet dialog box to select a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet containing proposal request data that you can import. The imported proposal requests are placed in the appropriate proposal request log based on the type imported.

View Pending Incoming

This task appears when there are Pending Incoming Proposal Request transfers.

Click to list only Pending Incoming proposal requests.

Selected Proposal Request

The following list shows all available tasks for all proposal request categories, in alphabetical order. The tasks that appear depend on which category you select from.

Close > Close

Click to open the Close Proposal Request dialog box to close the proposal request without providing a response.

Close > Respond and Close

Click to open the Respond to Proposal Request and Close dialog box to file your response to the sender of the proposal request and close it. If the proposal request has files associated with it, the Select Files to Forward for Review dialog box will open first.

Close > Send and Close

Click to open the Send and Close Proposal Request dialog box to send the proposal request to team members and close it. If the proposal request has files associated with it, the Select Files to Forward for Review dialog box will open first.

Create Similar Proposal Request

Click to create a new proposal request based on the one selected. The new one contains most of the information from the original, except for unique identifiers such as the ID. The new one is also automatically related to the original. Supporting documents from the original are included.
If the original has no received actions (such as those is a draft/expected state), the
Create a Proposal Request dialog box opens. If the original has at least one receive action, the new one will be created using the Log a Received Proposal Request dialog box.

If the original contains a receive action with files and/or description of contents entries, the Select Files and Description of Contents dialog box opens first, enabling you to select the items to include in the new copy.

Delete

Click to delete the selected proposal request from Project Center.

You must be a Project Center administrator and have a contract management role to delete proposal requests.

Forward for Review

Click to open the Forward Proposal Request for Review dialog box to forward the proposal request to any contacts who are responsible for reviewing the proposal request and to create a transmittal. If the proposal request has received files or supporting documents associated with it, the Select Files to Forward for Review dialog box will open first so you can select the files to forward.

Modify

Click to open the Modify Proposal Request dialog box to edit the settings for the selected proposal request, including due dates, email message reminder settings, and the description.

Receive

Click to open the Receive Proposal Request dialog box to log the receipt of an expected proposal request.

Receive Pending Incoming

Click to open the Receive Proposal Request dialog box to receive a proposal request from Info Exchange.

Record Reviewer Response

Click to open the Record Reviewer Response for Proposal Request dialog box to record a response received about a proposal request that you forwarded to other contacts. When you receive a response back from a contact, record it using this task to track its progress.

Related Items >

See the Related Items Tasks topic for information.

Reopen

Click to open the Re-Open Proposal Request dialog box to re-open the closed proposal request.

Review Related Action Items

Click to open the Related Action Items activity center to view action items related to the selected item.

Review Related Markup Sessions

This task is available only when you select an item that has related markup sessions.

Click to open the Related Markup Sessions activity center to view information about and preview the related markup sessions.

Send

Click to open the Send Proposal Request dialog box to send the proposal request to other project team members.

Send Email About Proposal Request > To the Sender

Click to open an email message in Microsoft Outlook to send to the contact who originally sent the proposal request. The email message includes information about the proposal request.

Send Email About Proposal Request > To the Recipients

Click to open an email message in Microsoft Outlook to send to the original proposal request recipients as a reminder or with additional information. The email message includes information about the proposal request.

Send Email About Proposal Request > To All Reviewers

Click to open an email message in Microsoft Outlook  to send to the contacts who are currently reviewing the proposal request, as a reminder or with additional information. The email message includes information about the proposal request.

Send Email About Proposal Request > To All Participants

Click to open an email message in Microsoft Outlook to send to all proposal request participants, including the sender, recipients, and reviewers as a reminder or with additional information. The email message includes information about the proposal request.

View Form

Click to open the Proposal Request form to view or print the selected proposal request’s history and details.

Selected Action

See Action Tasks panel. Access the actions by clicking the expand icon in the first column next to each proposal request.

The file tasks apply to files in the Supporting Documents tab. See File Tasks panel.

See Email Tasks panel.

See Related Item Tasks panel.

Proposal Requests

Category drop-down list

The category drop-down list contains filters to display the proposal requests in particular categories. For example, if you want to view overdue proposal requests, select Response Overdue from the list. Only overdue proposal requests will appear in the log. You can also choose to display proposal requests for all project users or only proposal requests on which you are listed as the sender or recipient. Each category is explained below.

Click to toggle between showing proposal requests for all users or only proposal requests you are involved with.

All

Click to display all proposal requests that have been entered for this project.

Pending Incoming

Click to display all proposal requests sent via Info Exchange that need to be received. When a proposal request or proposal request response is logged by a project team member on Info Exchange, it will show up in this category.

Draft

Click to display all proposal requests that are in draft form and have not been sent.

Under Review

Click to display proposal requests that have been received, but responses have not been sent to the proposal request senders.

When a non-expected proposal request is first filed, it is placed in the Under Review category.

Awaiting Action

Click to display proposal requests that have been received, but they:

  • Have not been forwarded for review, or

  • Have been forwarded for review, but a response has not been received, or

  • Have been forwarded for review and all responses have been received, but there has been no response sent to the proposal request sender.

Forwarded for Review

Click to display proposal requests that have been forwarded with a due date for another contact to review that have not been received back yet.

Response Overdue

Click to display proposal requests that have been forwarded but the responses back from the reviewers are overdue.

Expected

Click to display all proposal requests filed as expected.

Expected Resubmission

Click to display expected proposal requests that were created for proposal requests that require the sender to resubmit the proposal request (the action taken on the proposal request was Rejected or Revise and Resubmit).

Late

Click to display expected proposal requests that are late.

All Closed

Click to display proposal requests that have had a response sent to the proposal request sender and there is no further action required.

Filter All Columns

You can filter by any text that appears in any of the columns in the log. For example, if you know the subject (or part of the subject) of the proposal request that you are searching for (or the ID, status, due date, etc.), enter at least part of the text in this field. The proposal requests list updates automatically as you type. For example, if the proposal request you are searching for has the number 30 somewhere in one of the columns, enter 30 in this field. The list will be narrowed down to only proposal requests that have the number 30 somewhere in one of the columns.

Click to toggle between showing and hiding the column filter fields.

Clear

Click to clear all filters.

 

Proposal Requests log

The proposal requests log displays the proposal requests for the category selected above. Click a proposal request for a list of tasks you can perform, which appear in the Tasks panel. Double-click a proposal request to open the Modify Proposal Request dialog box to view the proposal request’s information and settings.

Proposal requests (and actions) are listed in red if the proposal request is overdue or if a review response is overdue.

You can drag and drop or copy and paste email messages from Microsoft Outlook and files from Windows Explorer into the Proposal Requests log to create a new proposal request. This also prevents Microsoft Outlook from opening multiple instances of Project Center.

Columns

Column headers are different for each category. The following list includes all column headers for all proposal request categories. Some categories may not include all headers, and they may not be in the order listed here. If you move and resize columns, they are saved in that position for each category. Column settings are reflected in proposal request reports. Right-click on any column header to list and de-list columns. Click the icons for more filtering options.

ID

The proposal request ID number.

Sender ID

The number the contractor gave to the proposal request.

Subject

The subject of the proposal request.

Initiated By

The contact who requested or authorized the document change.

Reasons

The reason the proposal request was created.

Status

The status of the proposal request (For Review, Expected, Approved, Rejected, Revise and Resubmit, etc.).

Discipline

The discipline associated with the proposal request.

Contract

The contract that the proposal request is associated with.

COP Status

The status of whether or not a change order proposal has been received for the proposal request.

From

The contact the proposal request came from.

Received

The date the proposal request was received.

Last Action

The last completed workflow action for the proposal request. It displays the action and the purpose or type for that item. For example, if a proposal request was received and there was no action required selected for the Action field, the Last Action column would display Received – No Action Required. If you were looking at an entry in the Under Review category that had a Last Action of Received – No Action Required, that indicates that the item needs to be closed using the Close task.

Forwarded To

The contacts the proposal request was forwarded to.

Review Due Back

The date the proposal request is due back from the contacts reviewing if it is not yet received it. It is based on the oldest Forward for Review date.

Due Back From

Any contacts a response to the proposal request is due back from.

Due Date

The date the proposal request is due back to the initiator of the proposal request.

Current Reviewer

The contact who is currently reviewing the proposal request in a sequential workflow.

Total Days

The number of days to process the proposal request. The count starts from the start date, which is either when the item was created or the received date, and ends either now or when it was closed if a closed date was entered. If it is re-opened, it displays the count from when the proposal request was created. It’s based on calendar days (not business days) and does not consider holidays in its calculations.

Expected Date

The date the proposal request is expected (for Expected proposal requests only).

Keywords

Any keywordsIn Project Center, keywords are words you can add to items to use for filtering. When you add keywords, they appear in the Keywords column of the corresponding Project Center activity centers. You can then filter the list of items using the keywords to quickly find the items you are looking for. applied to the proposal request.

If the proposal request has any related items, the icons appear here.

This column is a text version of the icons in the Related Items column. The text will appear in reports.

To

To contact who received the proposal request.

Last Forwarded

The date the proposal request was last forwarded to a reviewer.

Last Reviewed

The date the most recent reviewer returned the proposal request. (The most recent review response date.)

Review Days

The total number of days the proposal request has been in the review cycle for all reviewers.

Internal Notes

Any personal notes added to the submittal. These are also added to the Remarks Summary tab.

Supporting Documents

Any files attached to the proposal request.

Closed Date

The date the proposal request was closed.


 

Remarks Summary tab

Information and remarks about the original proposal request appears here. This tab is not editable.

 

File Summary tab

This tab contains any electronic files that were included with the proposal request. Select a file to display file tasks you can perform, including opening, comparing, sending, and publishing the file. These files are stored in a compressed .ZIP file that is referenced by the proposal request. Each column in this tab is described here.

Name

The name of the file.

If the file is an email message, Project Center creates the file name with the date, a system generated ID, and the subject of the email.

Type

The file’s type.

Workflow

The workflow step (Forwarded, Review Response, etc.) for the file.

Size

The file’s size.

Modified

The date the file was last modified.

ZIP Folder

The full path to the location of the .ZIP file.

Related Items

Any Project Center items related to the file.

 

Description of Contents tab

A description of the contents of each action taken in the proposal request workflow appears here. This information is used to fill in the Contents section of the Transmittal form. You can edit the contents as you move through the proposal request workflow by clicking Modify from the Tasks panel to accurately reflect what is being sent.

In each step (action) of the workflow (Forwarded for Review, Review Response, and Responded and Close), you can fill in the Description of Contents tab with what is sent or received, as shown in the following example.

Workflow

The task that was selected from the Tasks panel (Forwarded – For Review, Received – For Review, etc.).  

From

The originator of the action.

Qty

The quantity of each item received with the proposal request.

Date

The dates individual items were received with the proposal request.  For example, if you have six shop drawings, it may help to track dates on each individual sheet.

Number

The number for each item.

Title

The title of each item.

Revision

The revision number, if applicable.

Scale

The drawing scale, if applicable.

Size

The drawing size, if applicable.

 

Email Log tab

This tab lists all email messages associated with the selected proposal request. When you click File in Project (then choose the Proposal Request option) from the legacy Project Center Add-in for Microsoft Outlook Toolbar, the email message appears here.

You can copy and paste and drag and drop email messages from Microsoft Outlook and Windows Explorer into this tab.

To file a reviewer response, you can drag and drop an email message into this tab, then select the email message and click Log as from the Email Tasks panel and select the Reviewer Response option.

Double-click an email message to open it in Microsoft Outlook. From there, you can reply to or forward the message.

The number in parentheses indicates the number of email messages filed to the proposal request.

Add

Click to open the Add Email Messages dialog box select an email message to add to the current proposal request.

Remove

Click to remove the selected email message from the proposal request.

 

Supporting Documents tab

Use this tab to attach files to the selected proposal request, and to view attached files. For example, if you receive a proposal request and a particular drawing is related to it, you can use this tab to attach the drawing file to the proposal request. Another example is if you receive a file with a proposal request, mark it up, and want to send the marked up file to a reviewer. Also, files sent using the Add to > Proposal Request task are added to this tab.

The number in parentheses indicates the number of files that are attached to the proposal request.

You can copy and paste and drag and drop files from Windows Explorer into this tab.

Set Order

Click to open the Set Document Order dialog box to set the order of the documents.

Add Files > Another Project File

Click open the Add Supporting Documents dialog box to locate and attach a file to the proposal request.

Share with External > Yes

Click to allow the selected files to be shared with external project team members through Info Exchange.

Remove

Click to remove the selected supporting file from the proposal request.

Preview tab

A preview of the selected file appears here.

Related Items tab

This tab lists all related Project Center items for the selected file.

 

This tab lists all related Project Center items for the selected proposal request.

Click to open the Identify an Action Item dialog box to create a new action item and link it to the current proposal request.

Click to open the Send Files to Email Recipients dialog box to send project files via email. Nothing is logged in this tab.

Click to open the Transfer Files to a Newforma Info Exchange Server dialog box to transfer project files via your Newforma Info Exchange Server and link the transfer to the current proposal request.

Click to open the Send Files and Create an Outgoing Transmittal dialog box to send project files via email, file an outgoing transmittal for a file transfer, and link the transfer to the current proposal request.

Click to open the Transfer Files and Create an Outgoing Transmittal dialog box to transfer project files via your Newforma Info Exchange Server, create a new outgoing transmittal for the file transfer, and link the transfer to the current proposal request.

Click to open the Create Contract Management Item dialog box for the type of contract management item you selected to create a new CM item and link it to the current proposal request.

Click to open the Create Web Link dialog box to enter a web link and automatically relate it to the selected Project Center item. After it is created, the Relation Type column will indicate Web Link, and users can double-click on it to open the website.

Relate to >

Click to select an existing project item and establish a relationship between it and the currently selected proposal request. This gives you the ability to link two items that are related together. (For example, a markup session that is related to a proposal request.) Select Another Project Item to open the Select Project Item dialog box to locate an item that is not in the list. When you create a relationship between two items, each item’s icon is added to the other item’s Related Items column and tab.

Share with External

Click and select Yes to allow the selected web link to be shared with external project team members through Info Exchange.

Remove

Click to unlink and remove the selected project item from the Related Items tab.

Removing a related item from the Related Items tab does not remove it from the database.

The Relation Type column  has two icons to indicate the relationship type:

The icon indicates that the relationship was created by a user and can be deleted (such as an action item related to a proposal request).

The icon indicates that the relationship was created by Project Center and cannot be deleted (such as a transmittal or record copy related to a proposal request).

 

Change Log tab

This tab displays a history of the actions taken on the proposal request, including when it was created, modified, who was involved, and any details.

To access this activity center

Click Proposal Requests from the Activities list or from the Project Home activity center.