RFIs and construction risks

An RFI or site issue belongs to a construction project. It records the title, severity, reporting date, reporter’s note, person who raised it and owner. Its status distinguishes Open, Triaged, in progress, Fixed, Verified and Closed. The site manager can work the open list before an unresolved question becomes a task delay. The Site Exception Triage page also brings fixed but unverified issues into the same operational review as overdue tasks and milestones.

A construction risk is a different record. It carries a category, probability, impact, numerical scores, rating, mitigation, identified date, project and owner. It may be Open, Monitoring, Mitigated or Closed. An immediate site question should not be buried in a risk register; a longer exposure needs an owner and mitigation even when no task is blocked today.

• Raise with context. Link each RFI or issue to its project and give the owner enough detail to understand the site decision required.
• Triage from Open. Setting the issue to Open triggers triage. The workflow checks its current status and severity before moving it to Triaged and recording a receipt.
• Keep mitigation visible. Assign risk ownership and review probability, impact and mitigation as the site programme changes.

Agree who raises an issue, who sets severity and who becomes its owner. Define when a request for information should be handled as an RFI rather than a task or a risk. Set a practical review cadence for open and fixed-but-unverified issues. Agree who verifies a fix and what inspection evidence should accompany the decision. The status change after triage needs a human operating convention because the configured automation covers the Open-to-Triaged step.

For risks, define the meaning of Low, Medium and High for probability and impact in the context of the project’s programme. Decide which categories need escalation to the project manager and what constitutes an adequate mitigation. Record the owner and a concrete next action in the mitigation text.

During foundation work, a crew member finds a drawing conflict. They raise a site issue against the project and describe the conflicting location. The site manager sets High severity before the issue is set to Open. That status triggers the workflow, which moves it to Triaged and writes a successful receipt. The manager assigns the design coordinator as owner and follows the question through in progress and Fixed. The quality inspector checks the corrected drawing and records verification before the issue closes.

Now replay the triage step with a second issue that has no severity. The attempt must be blocked and a failed receipt must explain what happened. Replay it with an already Triaged issue; it must not create a second successful transition. If the drawing conflict threatens the programme beyond the immediate question, the project manager opens a separate construction risk with a Schedule category, owner and mitigation. Both records stay linked to the project but answer different questions.

• Open RF is & Site Issues — Raised questions needing severity, owner and initial triage.
• Issues Awaiting Triage — Open issues prepared for the configured transition.
• Leading Construction Risks — Open and monitored exposures with their rating and mitigation owner.

RFI triage and verification follows the issue. Milestone and exception review shows when an issue joins the site delivery discussion.