Assign Requests

Requests are assigned to one or more staff members to process. There are two levels of responsibility for a particular request:

• Point of Contact: Each request is assigned a single Point of Contact who is responsible for ensuring that the request is fulfilled. A Point of Contact for a request will close out a request once it's complete and will coordinate the work of any additional departments or staff Helpers. They will receive email notifications for actions on a request as long as they are assigned as the Point of Contact for that request.
• Support Staff: Support staff helps the Point of Contact process a request. Once someone is added as support staff they will receive email updates on the request and can perform actions such as uploading responsive documents.

A Point of Contact will automatically be assigned to every request that is submitted based on the agency and department defaults. Depending on the default settings, Support Staff may also be automatically assigned. Changing the department that a request is assigned to may automatically assign a new Point of Contact and Support Staff.

Assign a Request to One or More Departments

After receiving a request, you can assign it to one or more departments. How Points of Contact and Support Staff are assigned depends on whether the request is being assigned to one or multiple departments:

• If a request is assigned to one department: The default Point of Contact for that department will become the Point of Contact for the request. Any staff in that department who have been set to automatically be added to all department requests will be assigned as Support Staff for the request.
• If a request is assigned to multiple departments: You will have the option to choose which department's default Point of Contact should be the Point of Contact for the request. The Points of Contact for the other departments will be assigned as Support Staff on the request. Any staff in those departments who have been set to automatically be added to all department requests will be assigned as Support Staff for the request.

1. Sign in to your account
2. Click the All Requests tab in the upper-left corner of the Portal Dashboard
   
3. Select the request you want to change the department of
   
4. Navigate to the Staff Assigned section and click the Edit Departments icon (blue pencil) next to Departments
   
5. Select a Department from the drop-down menu
   
6. (Optional) Click the Request Visibility drop-down and select a different visibility
   
7. (Optional) Select a user from the drop-down to change the Point of Contact for the request
   
   
   Note: Only the default Points of Contact for the assigned departments and the Point of Contact for the Organization are listed.
8. Click the Assign Departments button in the lower-right corner of the pop-up window
   

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Unassign a Department From a Request

If a department has completed its work for a request you may want to remove them from that request. When you unassign a department from a request, all support staff and the Point of Contact for that department will be removed from the request.

1. Sign in to your account
2. Click the All Requests tab in the upper-left corner of the Portal Dashboard
   
3. Select the request you want to remove the department from
   
4. Click the Edit Departments icon (blue pencil) next to Departments
   
5. Click the 'x' next to the department you want to unassign
   
6. (Optional) Verify that the new Point of Contact is the one you want
   
   
   Note: Only the default Points of Contact for the assigned departments and the Point of Contact for the Organization are listed.
7. (Optional) Click the Request Visibility drop-down and select a different visibility.
   
8. Click the Assign Departments button in the lower-right corner of the pop-up window
   

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Change the Point of Contact for a Request

Instructions

1. Sign in to your account
2. Click the All Requests tab in the upper-left corner of the Portal Dashboard
   
3. Select the request you want to change the Point of Contact
   
4. Click the Change point of contact icon (blue pencil)
   
5. Enter the new Point of Contact’s email in the Search staff box or select it from the drop-down menu
   
   
   Note: If you want to change the Point of Contact to somebody who is already a Support Staff on the request, you must first remove them as Support Staff before they will appear in the drop-down menu.
6. (Optional) Click the Reassign Tasks checkbox
   
   
   Note: When enabled, this option reassigns the current Point of Contact's tasks to the new point of contact. Disable this option to add the current Point of Contact as support staff and keep the current task assignment.
7. Click the Change contact button in the lower-right of the pop-up
   
8. The new Point of Contact will now appear on the request. An email will also be sent to notify the new Point of Contact that they have been assigned to the request.

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Add Support Staff to a Request

Once someone is added as support staff they will receive email updates on the request and can perform actions such as uploading responsive documents. Every time you add support staff that action will be recorded in a request's history.

1. Sign in to your account
2. Click the All Requests tab in the upper-left corner of the Portal Dashboard
   
3. Select the request you want to add support staff to
   
4. Locate the Staff Assigned section and click the Add Support Staff icon (plus) next to Support Staff
   
5. Enter the name or email of the staff member you would like to add to the request
   
   
   Note: A staff member who is already the Point of Contact for a request can not be added as Support Staff.
6. (Optional) Enter a message that explains why the staff member is being added to the request. This message will be included in a notification email to the staff member.
   
7. Click the Add Staff button in the lower-right of the pop-up window
   

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Remove Support Staff from a Request

Once Support Staff have completed their role for a specific request they may be removed from that request so they don’t continue to receive updates. Support Staff can remove themselves from requests that they are assigned to. Every time a staff member is removed from a request that action will be recorded in a request's history.

1. Sign in to your account
2. Click the All Requests tab in the upper-left corner of the Portal Dashboard
   
3. Select the request you want to add Support Staff to
   
4. Click the Remove Staff icon (trashcan) next to the support staff member
   
5. Click the red Remove button in the lower-right on the Remove Staff pop-up window
   

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Supporting Articles

• Automatically Assign Users to Requests