Accessing the Collaboration Portal

As a Collaboration Portal user, you will receive an email when your account is created, allowing you to log in to the portal. An example log in screen is shown below:

To access the portal, provide your email address (the one associated with the portal, where you received the initial email) as well as your password, then click Sign In. After signing in, the Collaboration Dashboard appears as shown below:

Collaboration Dashboard  

• The dashboard will show the total number of tasks in both the Task Summary and Message Summary sections.

• In the Task Summary, you can select an Assigning Office. Once selected, the chart and task counts will be updated based on that office.

• Click a category in Task Summary to open a filtered list of tasks that match the selected category. The same behavior applies to the Message Summary.

The main areas of the Dashboard are described in the following table:

Task list updates

A new column named Task Assign To appears in the task list after the Task By column.

• Task Assign To shows the Program Office the task is assigned to.

• Task By shows the Action Office that created the task.

Sort tasks by Task Assign To

You can sort tasks by the Task Assign To column.

• Click the Task Assign To column header to sort the list.

• Click the header again to switch between ascending and descending order.

The next sections provide steps to complete Request for Documents Tasks, Consultation Tasks, and Sending Messages Using the Portal.

If you have credentials, you can view all tasks created by an Action Office and assigned to one or more Program Offices. This includes tasks in Consultation, Request for Documents, and Completed Tasks.  

You can view the full list of tasks by clicking More under each task category.

Categories- Consultation, Request for Documents, and Completed Tasks.

Request for Document Tasks

Responding to a Request for Documents Task

After you log in to the Collaboration Portal, there are a few indicators that a new request is waiting for you. New tasks arrive in your Task Summary, as an unread message in your Message Summary, and in your Request for Document Tasks list.

1. In this example, we’ll double click the request listed in the Request for Documents Task list.  

2. When you access a request for the first time, a pop up appears letting you know that confirmation of receipt has been sent to the person who sent you the RFD:

3. Click OK to dismiss the message and view the task. The Tasks tab appears as shown below:

4. This includes all the information provided by the user who sent the RFD. This is also the screen where you’ll take action to respond to this request. These actions are described below:

5. You can now opt to Accept or Reject this request. Click Change Status to mark this request as Accepted or Rejected:

NOTE: There are also options to select Need Additional Info, In Process, and Cost Estimate Sent.

6. If for whatever reason you cannot fulfill the request, select Rejected, otherwise select Accepted. Provide Notes (required regardless of the status you select), then click Save. In this example we will accept the request.

7. Use the tools available to collaborate and fulfill this request. This includes Sending Messages Using the Portal.

Completing a Request for Documents Task

When you’ve gathered all responsive documents to fulfill a RFD and are ready to complete the task, use the Submit Completed Task feature. Follow the steps below to submit a completed task.

1. In the Collaboration Portal, open the Request For Document Task that you are ready to complete.

2. On the Tasks tab, click Submit Completed Task:

3. After clicking Submit Completed Task, the Task Id screen appears as shown below.  

4. On this screen, provide the Subject and Body for the message that accompanies the completed Request.

5. In the Attachments field, use the Select button to upload documents to include with the completed request, or you can select attachments from this task to include in the response package.

6. There are also options to Click Here to Review Your Submission? And Click Here to View Submit Instructions.

7. When you’re ready to submit click Submit Task. A pop up message appears as shown below:

8. Click OK to dismiss the message. The Tasks tab refreshes, with the Status updated to Submitted. Additionally, the options to Change Status and Submit Completed Task are no longer available.

Consultation Tasks

Responding to a Consultation Task

Consultation Tasks arrive in the Consultation Tasks list on your Collaboration Portal Home tab.  

1. When you receive a new Consultation Task, it appears in the list as shown below. Double click the new Consultation Task to open it.

2. A pop-up appears informing that the sender has been notified that you opened the task. Click OK to dismiss this message.  

3. The Tasks tab appears with the new task details. First, click Messages to view the message sent with this consultation:

4. Click View Message to view the message details:

5. Review the details of the consultation request, then click Close.

6. The Status of the message updates to Read. Click Back to return to the Task Details.  

7. You can now opt to Accept or Reject this request. Click Change Status to mark this request as Accepted or Rejected:

NOTE: There are also options to select Need Additional Info, In Process, and Cost Estimate Sent.

8. If for whatever reason you cannot fulfill the request, select Rejected, otherwise select Accepted. Provide Notes (required regardless of the status you select), then click Save. In this example we will accept the request.

9. The status updates to Accepted. Next, click Download Records. This allows you to access the materials provided for your review.

10. A pop up appears confirming that you’d like to download the records for review. Click OK to continue:

11. The download automatically begins. You can now conduct offline review of the materials. Once your review is complete, follow the steps in the Completing a Consultation Task section to complete the task.

Completing a Consultation Task

When you’ve completed the offline consultation review assigned to you in the Collaboration Portal, follow the steps below to submit the completed task.

1. In the Collaboration Portal, open the Collaboration Task that you are ready to complete.

2. On the Task tab, click Submit Completed Task:

3. After clicking Submit Completed Task, the Task Id screen appears as shown below.  

4. On this screen, provide the Subject and Body for the message that accompanies the completed Consultation Task.

5. In the Attachments field, use the Select button to upload the reviewed documents to be included with the completed request.

6. There are also options to Click Here to Review Your Submission? and Click Here to View Submit Instructions.

7. When you’re ready to submit click Submit Task. A pop up message appears as shown below:

8. Click OK to dismiss the message. The Tasks tab refreshes, with the Status updated to Submitted. Additionally, the options to Change Status and Submit Completed Task are no longer available.

Sending Messages Using the Portal

You can use the Collaboration Portal to communicate with the requester, share attachments, or update the status of the request. Follow the steps below to use the Messages feature:

1. Open a Task, either an RFD or a Consultation. The process is the same for both. From the Tasks tab, click Messages:

2. The Messages screen includes a (A) list of all messages received for this task (click Outbox to see any sent messages), as well as (B) Actions you can take:

3. You can select a message from the list and click to View Message, click Reply to reply to the selected message, or toggle the Read status for the selected message by clicking Mark as Read or Mark as Unread.

4. You can also send a message to the requester. Click New to send a new message. The New Message screen appears as shown below:

5. First enter a (A) Subject, fill in the message (B) Body, and add any (C) Attachments if needed. While you can attach documents, you should provide all responsive documents as part of the request completion process. See the Complete a Request Details section for steps to provide responsive documents.

6. When you’re ready, click (D) Send Message to send the message to the requester in AX. The message appears in the Outbox, and after processing, is viewable by clicking your Sent messages:

NOTE: If an error occurs when sending a message, it appears under the Failed messages.

Using Attachments in Tasks

Completing tasks assigned to you will require adding attachments to messages and task submissions. Regardless of how you access the Attachments function, the steps are the same. Follow the example below to use Attachments.

1. Open any Task. On the Tasks tab, click View/Add Attachments:

2. The Attachments screen appears. Included here are a (A) Task Attachments list with all current attachments (if any), as well as space to (B) Add Attachments:

3. To add an attachment to the Task, first click Select. This opens an explorer window to locate the attachment you’d like to add. Locate the record(s) and click Open.  

4. In the Attachments window, the selected files are listed under the Add Attachments field.

When all attachments are listed, click Attach File.

5. The selected file is added to the Task Attachments list. You can also click the X next to any attachment to remove it from the Task:

NOTE: You can only delete records you’ve attached to this task.

6. A similar Attachments interface also appears when using the Submit Completed Task function:

7. Here you can click Select to add new attachments to the submission, or select existing attachments added through the View/Add Attachments interface.

Notes Log

Both Requests for Documents and Consultation Tasks include a Notes Log to document actions taken on these tasks. You can access the Notes Log from within a Task by click the Notes Log as shown in the following example:

The Notes Log appears as shown below. This screen includes a (A) Notes Log with the actions taken in filling this request. There are also several (B) Actions you can take on the log.

You can take actions on notes by selecting a note from the (A) Log and selecting an (B) Action. These are described below: