For a general introduction to Comms see the BIMXtra Comms system

Required project permissions

Permissions, setup by the project super user, required for Comms are detailed in:

Comms Views

The Comms user can see and filter at any point is controlled by the View option at the top of the page:

Comms Manager - Shows all Comms where you are the Comms Manager.
My Company - shows Comms where your user company has any involvement. This is the default value.
Me - shows Comms where your user account has any involvement.

All filters, stats, etc, are first filtered according to the option you have set.

Overview

The Project > Comms > Overview page provides summary details of the Comms that have been created on the project.

For the currently visible Comms (according to the Comms View) each type is shown with the totals against their status for that type, expanding the Type then shows totals for each role of the currently visible comms.

Click on any of the totals to open the Comms list page with the appropriate roles / type filters set.

The roles on Comms are:

Originator – The user account that originally raised the Comm.
Recipient - The user account that was first sent the Comm.
Currently assigned – The user account that is currently assigned the Comm. In this way, a Comm always knows who it was originally sent to (recipient) as well as who it is currently assigned to.
CC – Any user accounts who are currently CC'd into the Comms.

Please note the totals for each of the roles may be different to the totals for the Comm Type. This is due to the different roles changing through the process of a Comm and often being counted in several columns simultaneously.

The Complete column shows how many of the open comms are currently overdue.

The report icon provides a .pdf output of your current view.

List

The Project > Comms > List page provides full details of the Comms that have been created on the project. The listing displays the Comms you can currently see with your current filter settings.

Submitted Comms are shown in normal font, with unsubmitted Comms shown in italics when viewing the listing with the 'Me' filter.

All views and filters of the list page are set according to the Comms View option at the top of the page.

Comms List Filters

A full set of filters is shown on the left-hand pane. This can be hidden and expanded with the icons.

Make selections from the drop-down option boxes and click Filter. The list list will be filtered to show the results of the criteria you selected in the main List panel.

The filters work based on an AND principle, so picking 2 or more filters means the results contain ALL the selected options.

Comms Type

Select the Types of Comms to filter and show.

Status

Select the status' of Comms to filter and show.

Set Filter

Set the filter with the current selections and show the results in the main listing panel.

Clear Filter

Clear the filter and show all results in the main listing panel.

Comms List Actions

Across the top of the List panel are various tools and actions for working with Comms.

Search

A keyword search of the Comms listing. You can search any:

Type Ref
User Company Ref
Subject

View Setting

Select the group of Comms to show in the main list panel.

Comms Manager - Shows all Comms where you are the Comms Manager.
My Company - shows Comms where your user company has any involvement.
Me - shows Comms where your user account has any involvement.

Actions

Actions triggered on the current Comms selection.

Add New

Create a new Comm.

Add Bulk Response

Add a response to multiple comms in a single action. Select multiple comms with the

The conditions for bulk responses are that:

Only a single Comm Type can be bulk responded to, and therefore, an error message will be shown if you have more than 1 Comm Type selected.
Bulk responses can only happen to Open Comms.

By default the To and CC fields will be shown blank. If they are not updated, then each comm will have the response added and sent to the existing To and cc users. If either of the To and Cc fields are updated, then every comm will be updated and sent to those users.

Every Comm will have the same Response, including attachments added to it.

List Report

Create a report, either .PDF or .XLS, of the current filtered Comms List view.

Batch Report

Create a .pdf of all the Comms visible in your current selection batched into a single file.

ZipExport

Creates a .zip export of the current selection of comms.

This command is only available to the Comms Type Managers from the Comms Manager view.

Comms must be closed for the ZipExport function to work as it is intended as an archiving facility. Multiple comms can exported in a single action.

Zip Export provides options to build a ZipFile structure that is self-referencing and includes:

All details, responses and documents included in the Comm are included in the zip file folder structure.
A PDF print of the Comm that has links to the documents in the zip file folders. The subject line in the Comm will still refer as a link to the BIMXtra comm itself, but any other file attachments will be links to files in the ZipExport.

In this way, these ZipExports can be distributed to 3rd parties as encapsulated archive records of project comms that can be held and referenced outside of BIMXtra.

The ZipFile structure can be:

A Single Zip file with all Comms printed into the root of the Zip and all file attachments linked in subfolders.
A Single Zip file with each Comm in turn in a self-contained subfolder.
A Single Zip file for each Comm is exported, i.e. multiple Zip files are produced.

For all the ZipExports produced, the Zip file max size can be set. If this size is exceeded a multi-part zip file is produced and all of the parts will be required to correctly unzip them.

The names of the Zip and Comms Print files include the Project No and the Comm Type ref and can be set to optionally include the Comm Subject.

The ZipExport files produced expire after 30 days, after which time they need to be generated again.

Email notifications are also sent out with links to the ZipExport files in the email.

ZipExports can also be produced from Forms.

Options

Options to control page layouts and notifications

Save Layout

Save the current configuration of the table columns, including the Visible columns and column positions.

Table options

Set the table options.

Excel Style Filters - Display the Excel style Column headers filters. Note that these filters work on the current Page listing, and not across all filtered results if that extends past the current page limit.
Freeze table column - The number of columns on the left-hand side of the table to freeze if the table is panned across to the right.
Row Height - The height of each row before any text wrapping that might happen for long values.

Notifications

Opens the Comms digest email settings panel to setup delivery of user Comm digests. Comm digests are an email summary of all Comm actions that have happened since the last digest.

Comms Table Columns

The available listing table columns are as follows:

Select - Select the comm for bulk action with a command. EG Bulk Response.
Favourite - Select the comm as a Comm Favourite.
System Ref - The sequential no. across all Comms on the project. Users may see gaps in this sequence for those Comms they are not involved in. This column is hidden by default. Click on a ref to open that Comm.
Type Ref - The sequential reference number across all Comms of the same Type. The Type ref prefixes the sequence number, e.g. RFI001, COM001, TQ001 etc. Users may see gaps in this sequence for those Comms they are not involved in. Click on a Ref. to open that Comm.
User Company Ref - The sequential reference number across all Comms originated, received or cc'd for a user company. The company reference prefixes the sequence number e.g. CBX001, CBX002. This provides a full list of the Comms that a User Company is involved in i.e. If my company is involved with 50 Comms I will see a list of 1-50 with no breaks in the sequence. Click on a ref to open that Comm.
User Ref - The sequential reference number across all Comms originated, received or cc'd for a user. The user name prefixes the sequence number, e.g. user.name001, user.name002. This provides a full list of the Comms that a user is involved in i.e. If I'm involved with 50 Comms, I will see a list of 1-50 with no breaks in the sequence. Click on a ref to open that Comm.
Subject - This is the subject line entered for the Comm. Click to open that Comm.
View - View the objects connected to the Comm highlighted in the WebGL viewer.
Originating Company - Company name of the user who created the Comm.
Originator - Name of the user who created the Comm.
Recipient Company - User company of the user who first received the Comm.
Recipient - Name of the user who first received the Comm.
Currently Assigned Company - User company of the user who is currently assigned the Comm.
Currently Assigned - Name of the user who is currently assigned the Comm.
Cc Company(s) - User company of the user(s) who has been cc'd into the Comm.
Cc User(s)- Name of the user(s) who have been cc'd into the Comm.
Comms Manager - Name of the Comms Manager for that Comm
Created On - The date and time that the Comm was created.
Updated Date - The date and time of the last update to the Comm.
Updated By - Name of the user who last updated the Comm.
Urgency - A choice of high, medium and low urgency, that determines default due date depending on the Comm type configuration.
Due On - The date that the originator has requested a response by.
Warning - A colour icon to indicate the status of Comms.
Close Out Date - The date the Comm was closed.
Responses - The number of responses that have been added to the Comm.
Status - The current Comm status where: Overdue is a Comm that is open after its due date, Active is a Comm that has not yet reached its due date and Completed is a comm that has been closed.
Close/Reopen - Close or reopen a Comm. Only the Comm originator, a Comm Manager or a Superuser can close or reopen a Comm.
Schedule - The schedule names of the objects that are associated to the Comm. Multiple objects can be connected to a Comm, and these can also be in multiple schedules.
Print - Download a PDF of the Comm.
Activity - Opens the activity log for the Comm detailing public actions that have been undertaken, by whom and when. Note: Private Responses are not shown in Activity logs

Linked Forms

Shows the Construction Forms the Comm is linked to, including the Parent Forms & Child Forms in separate tabs:

Open the form in a separate window

Unlink the selected Form from the Comm

The Linked Forms Tab also enables linking of existing forms:

Select an existing form to link and press to complete the link.

Unlink the selected form

Open the Graphical Viewer to see a map of linked forms:

Linked Models

The Models column shows the number of model files that a Comm is linked to. Click on the count to display a list of models.

The values can be filtered using the Model filter.

Linked Comms

Shows the count of any linked Comms linked to. Click on the count to show a list of models.

Open the Comm in a separate window

The Linked Comms Tab also enables linking of existing Comms:

Select an existing Comm to link and press to complete the link.

Unlink the selected Comm.

Linked Assets

Shows the Design Schedule objects that the Comm is linked to:

Select a schedule to view those objects.

to open a filtered view of the Design Schedule.

Creating Comms via BIMXtra

Create a new Comm with the Add New button at the top of the Comm list page.

The stages of creating a Comm are:

Fill in the details of the Comm as required. Save to continue. Closing a Comm before saving DISCARDS your edits to date. Once you save the Comm you should move on to finally submit it (next step). There is no button to close the Comm at this stage in order to promote the next step of the workflow.
Add any attachments as required. Submit to continue. You can't close a Comm via the UI after saving it without using Submit.
Close to finish.

Cancelled and Submitted Comms

NOTE: If you have managed to close a Comm at this stage, it will not have been submitted, and you will need to re-open it to complete it and trigger its sending. The Comm will appear in your view of the Comms list page in Italics.

The fields defining a Comm are as follows:

Comment Type - The Comm type to create. The dropdown list shows active Comm types defined for the project.
Urgency - High, medium or low. This provides the default due date based on the number of days set for that urgency level in the Comm type.
Due On - Due date/time for the Comm, i.e. the date you require a response by.
Originator - Auto-populated with the company and name of the user creating the comm.
Comms Manager - Auto-populated with the Comms Manager.
Subject - Subject for the Comm. Limited to 50 characters.
Recipient - The user you wish to send the Comm to. Valid recipients are those with nominated receiver role set.
CC - The users to CC into the comm. Valid recipients are those with nominated receiver role set.
Description - Detail description for the Comm. Limited to 2,000 characters.
Attachments - Attach supporting files. Note that you must save the Comm before the buttons are enabled. Choose browse to attach from your PC or link from DMS to link from the BIMXtra DMS.
Save - Saves the Comm details and creates a reference number for the Comm. At this point, the Comm is created, and you can then add attachments or submit. Once a Comm is saved, it can no longer be cancelled.
Submit - Issue the Comm to the recipient and cc lists. This is the trigger to send email notifications.
Cancel - Close the Comm and discard edits.

Email notifications

Once a Comm is submitted, an email notification, including an attached .pdf version of Comm. will be sent to recipients. Any image attachments to the Comm are printed directly into the .pdf, while any non-image Comm attachments will be hyperlinks in the .pdf to the docs held in BIMXtra.

Diary entries

Once a Comm is submitted, a diary entry is placed in My Actions Diary on the project landing page, where the diary entry end time is the Due Time of the Comm.

Responding to Comms via BIMXtra

To respond to a Comm from the web, Click on any of the reference numbers, subject or response columns.

Public Responses are visible to all people who have visibility to the Comm and are supported in all areas and applications of BIMXtra.

Private Responses are only visible to people who have been included in the response and are currently supported on the BIMXtra Comms page. Private responses are not shown in any other applications or areas of BIMXtra.

Public and Private responses are shown together in Chat View, but Private responses are only shown to response participants.

Add Response (Public and Private Views)

Add a new response to the Comm or to multiple comms if selected.

The stages of responding to a Comm are:

Fill in details of the Comm response as required. Set the Recipient and CC users appropriately. A Comm assignment (Recipient) will remain with the 'currently assigned' person until it is specifically sent to someone else. Save to continue.
Add any attachments as required. Submit to continue.
Close to finish.

The fields of a response are:

Recipient - The user to reassign the Comm to and become the currently assigned person. By default, this value will be the 'currently assigned' user, and therefore, it must be redirected during the response by anyone wishing to reassign to another recipient. If the 'currently assigned' user is the person adding the response, then this field will be blank, and they must select the new recipient.
CC - The users Cc'd into the Comm. Note: Adding people to a response makes the whole of the Comm history visible to anybody in their user company.
Due Date - Update the Comm Due Date. Refer to Update Due Date for details.
Comment - Text detail of response. Limited to 2,000 characters.
Attachments - Attach supporting files. Note that you must Save the response before the buttons are enabled. Choose browse to attach from your PC or link from DMS to link from the BIMXtra DMS.
Save - Saves the response details. At this point, you can then add attachments or submit. Once a response is saved, it can no longer be cancelled.
Submit - Issue the response to the recipient and cc lists. This is the trigger to send email notifications.
Cancel - Close the response and discard edits.

Add Response (Chat View)

Add a new Public / Private response to the Comm.