What can I see and do in the communication overview?

What will you find in this article?

• Customizing the overview: How to adjust the display of columns and filters.

• Managing workpackages and subcontractors: Information on adding and linking data.

• Communication and messages: How to use the inbox and send messages to subcontractors.

• Notes and statuses: Viewing notes and tracking the progress of subcontractors.

• Generating reports: Which reports you can generate from the project.

Summary

The communication overview serves as the central dashboard where you manage your project’s progress and interactions with subcontractors. You can fully customise the view by adjusting filters, sorting options and columns. From this overview, you can send messages, manage statuses and generate various reports.

Prerequisites and Target Audience

This article is intended for work planners and buyers who manage communication with subcontractors within a project in 12Build. You need access to a specific project to open and edit the communication overview.

Customizing the overview

You can customize the communication overview to your liking so that you only see the information that is relevant to you.

1. Open the communication overview within your project.

2. Use the filter options to show or hide specific data.

3. Click the sort functions next to the columns to adjust the order of the list.

4. Select the columns you wish to display in the overview via the table settings.

Manage workpackages and subcontractors

The overview provides direct access to your project’s structure and the associated specialists.

1. Manually add workpackages and subcontractors, or import them from another project or template.

2. Manage work item settings to link budget rules, documents, descriptions, contacts, and schedules

Communication and messages

From the overview, you can communicate directly with the selected subcontractors.

1. Go to the Inbox/Outbox section to view received and sent messages, including reminders.

2. Select one or more subcontractors in the overview.

3. Click the Compose Message button that now appears.

4. Choose the type of message you want to send, such as a Request for Proposal, a message without documents, a thank-you message, or a Request for Proposal. 

Notes and statuses

You can closely track the progress and specific details for each subcontractor.

1. View a subcontractor’s status; it is automatically updated when the subcontractor changes it.

2. Manually update the status or choose to award the contract immediately.

3. View notes by hovering your mouse over the note icon next to the subcontractor’s name. A pop-up with information will open.

4. Click on the subcontractor’s name to open the company profile (1) for project notes, general company notes, and evaluator notes. 

Generate reports

The system offers various options for exporting data from the overview.

1. Navigate to the Reports section.

2. Choose from the available reports, including:

   • Mailing list and document list.

   • Message/document usage overview and document usage matrix.

   • Incoming emails and submitted proposals.

   • Subcontractor certificates and TRAD export.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Question: Why don’t I see the “Create Message” button? Answer: This button only becomes visible after you’ve selected at least one subcontractor in the communication overview using the checkboxes.

Question: How do I know if a note has been added to a subcontractor? Answer: The note icon next to the subcontractor’s name changes color when a note is linked to it.

Troubleshooting

• Symptom: A subcontractor’s status does not change.

  • Cause: The subcontractor has not yet changed the status, or the page has not yet been refreshed.

  • Solution: Refresh the page or manually update the status via the overview.

• Symptom: Certain columns are missing from the screen.

  • Cause: The columns are disabled in the overview’s personal settings.

  • Solution: Click on the column settings and check the desired columns.