Consultations

Consultations Permissions 

To create a Consultation, you must have permission.

• In the administration window, select the Document management

• Click the File Cabinet Drawer Roles

• Click New

• In the New File Cabinet Drawer window, enter the mandatory Role Name and Description

• In the Role Permission, select the checkbox of Page-level Consultations and Send/Save Consultations

• Once done, click Save

Consultation Types

• In Request management, select Consultation Types

• In Consultation Types, click New to create new consultation type or select an existing type

The Consultation types are:

• For ATIPXpress: Internal, Cabinet Confidence Confirmation, Third Party, OGD (Other Government Departments), PI Consent

• For FOIAXpress: Internal, External, Third Party

  • To edit the type, click the Consultation type

• Select the mandatory Type from the drop down menu

• Once done, click Save

Create Consultations

To create Consultations, follow these steps: .

• In the request window, select Add/Search/ View/ Documents  

• In Review Log Documents, select a document

• Click Open Documents

• Select a page, and right-click on page

• Click Create Consultation

Step 1: Page Selection

When initiating a consultation, the system prompts you to confirm the pages.

•  All Pages Selection - If multiple folders and files are selected, this option is auto-selected.

•  Page List (comma-separated values) - Enter specific page numbers.

NOTE: Only one page range option may be selected at a time. The selected page range is carried forward to subsequent steps.

• Click Create Consultation to proceed to the next step.

Step 2: Consultation Setup

In the Create Consultation window, select one of the following:

•  Create New Consultation

•  Add to Existing Consultation

• In the Create Consultation window, select Create New Consultation or Add to Existing Consultation

For page-level consultations, the Request ID is displayed in the Package Details section. This field is read-only.
The following fields are displayed as read-only:

•  File Cabinet Name

•  Document Name

•  Section

•  Selected Pages (count) - An Edit action is available to modify the page selection from Step 1.

Step 3: Create New Consultation

• Enter the mandatory Consultation Name and select an Email template from the drop-down menu

NOTE: The consultation name cannot be longer than 255 characters.

• Click the Edit icon next to the email template to customize the Email Template

• Select the Consultation location

• Click Create Consultation Location to create new consultation location

• Enter the details, click Save

• Select the Consultation mode from the drop-down

Consultation Modes include:

• Save in Collaboration: Saves the data for internal collaboration.

• Save and Send via Email: Saves the data and sends it to the selected recipients via email.

• To edit the page information, click Setting icon from the Include Review Object

• You can view the Consultation tab in the left grid

• If you create a consultation and a consultation with the same name already exists, a suggested name appears by adding_copy to the original name.

NOTE: If adding _copy makes the name longer than 255 characters,  an alert appears indicating the consultation name already exists and must be unique.

• If the package already contains a folder or section with the same name,  a new folder is created with a number suffix, such as Folder Name (1), Folder Name (2), and so on.

• By default, the file name uses the Request Tracking Number; for page-level consultations, you can edit the file name. Any special characters are replaced with _.

Customize Email template

You can customize the email template,

• In the consultation window, click the ellipsis menu and click Send

• Under Delivery options, select Send by Email or Save to Local Disk

NOTE:  When you select Send by Email, Dispatch Date is set to the current date and you cannot change it.

1. Send by Email (Via Email/Save)

• By Send by Email, the Dispatch Date will be auto-selected as per the current date, and the user cannot change the date.

• File Name will be auto-generated, but you can change it.

• Select the format option from the drop-down. The options are PDF, Image, and Multi-Page File (TIF)

NOTE: When you send the consultation package via email, the file cabinet drawer folder is removed from the package.

Email Template

• Select email templates from the dropdown  

• Click Edit icon next to the Email Template to Customize Email Template

NOTE: If you edit the subject or body of the email during creation, those edits remain unchanged until you send the consultation email. If you do not make edits, the selected template is sent as-is.

Change the email template after making edits

If you edit the subject or body of an email template and then select a different template, a confirmation message appears.

• Click Cancel to keep the previously selected template and your edits.

• Click Continue to apply the newly selected template and discard your previous edits.

Email Types are User email and User Action Office Email

• Enter the mandatory details

• When you customize the email template, the platform will display the previously stored changes made during creation.  

• Once done, click Save

2. Save to Local Disk:

• On change of method to save to local disk, only file details will be available, and user can change the relevant information along with Dispatch date

• Enter the mandatory file name

• Select the Format from the drop-down list

NOTE: If you edit the subject or body of the email during creation, those edits must be saved and remain unchanged until the consultation email is sent. If you have no edits, the template will be sent as it is.

Update Status

• In the consultation window, click the Ellipsis menu and click Update Status

In the Update Status window, review the following read‑only details:

• Consultation Name

• Review ID

• Consultation Mode (Via Email)

• Current Status

From the Status dropdown, select an appropriate non‑system‑controlled Consultation Review Status. The Status are -  

• Prepared  

• Updated  

• Sent  

• Received  

• Completed  

• Withdrawn

Actions  

To perform bulk actions, select the options from the Action drop-down. The options are

• Delete

Use for Permanently removes the selected consultation package(s) from the consultation grid.

• Withdraw

Use for Revokes previously sent consultation package(s), pulling them back from the recipient(s).

• Actions Log

Displays a history of all actions performed on the selected consultation package(s), including status changes, dates, and comments.

Send Reminder

To Send Reminder,  

• Click Send Reminder

• In Send Reminder window, select By Email or By Print

• Enter the mandatory details

• Once done, click Send

Messages

The Messages action allows you to view collaboration messages for a consultation package that was sent via the Collaboration Portal. This action is only available for consultation packages that meet the following conditions:

• The consultation package was created and sent via Collaboration (not via email).

• The consultation package has a status of Sent.

To view Messages for a consultation package:

• Navigate to the Consultations page from the left panel of the request.

• Select a consultation package where the Consultation Mode is Via Collaboration Portal and the Status is Sent.

• Click the Ellipsis menu or the toolbar, then click Messages.

The Collaboration Messages window displays, showing all messages exchanged for the selected consultation package.

NOTE: The Messages action is not available in the following scenarios:  
The consultation package was created via email (not via Collaboration).
The consultation package was created via Collaboration but has not yet been sent.

Actions Log

The Actions Log allows you to review all actions on consultation packages for tracking and audit purposes.

• Select Actions Log to open the Actions Log window.

• Use the Consultation Name and Review ID dropdowns to filter results.

• Select one or more Review IDs and/or Consultation Names using the checkboxes in the dropdown lists.

• Click Search to display the action logs for the selected Review IDs and Consultation Names.

• Review the log details shown in the grid, including Action ID, Consultation Name, Review ID, status, action date, Completed date, and comments.

NOTE: If a consultation does not have a Review ID or Consultation Name, the corresponding column will appear empty.

Export

To export the consultation, follow these steps:

• Click Export from the grid

• From the Export window, select the Export Option

• Once done, click Export

Refresh

• From the grid and click Refresh

• The window will be refreshed

The grid displays the following columns:

Marked Pages Count (Distinct Page IDs)

In the Review Log Documents grid, the Marked Pages column displays the count of distinct page IDs marked for the document, regardless of how many Program Offices marked them. A page that is marked in more than one Program Office is counted only once.

Calculation Rule

Marked Pages count = COUNT (DISTINCT page IDs marked across all Program Offices for this document)

This rule replaces any prior interpretation that summed per-Program-Office marked-page counts.

Worked Example

Document A has the following marks across two Program Offices:

• Program Office X marks pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

• Program Office Y marks pages 4, 5, 6, 7.

In the Review Log Documents grid, the Marked Pages column for Document A displays 7 - the distinct page IDs are {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}. Pages 4 and 5 are counted once even though two Program Offices marked them.

NOTE: This distinct-IDs rule applies only to the Review Log Documents grid. Inside the Create Consultation pop-up Program Office grid, each row is calculated independently.

Searching Consultations

You can search for consultations using the search box in the upper-right corner of the Consultations grid. The search supports filtering by Review ID and Contact Name.

Consultation Grid

The Consultations tab in the request sidebar displays a grid listing all consultations associated with the request. This grid provides quick access to key consultation details, including both folder-level and page-level consultations.