Use Procore's AI to Draft RFIs and Summarize Submittals

What This Does

Procore Assist uses AI built directly into your Procore project to help draft RFI questions, summarize submittal packages, and surface key project insights, without leaving the platform you already use every day.

Before You Start

• You have an active Procore account with a project set up
• Your Procore plan includes AI features (Procore Helix/Procore Assist, available on most current plans)
• You're a Project Manager or have sufficient permissions in your project
• Time needed: 10 minutes to explore; instant value on first use
• Cost: Included in current Procore subscription plans (check with your Procore rep if you're on an older plan)

Steps

1. Find Procore Assist in your project

In your Procore project, look for the AI or Assist button, typically a sparkle/star icon in the top navigation bar or within specific tool modules (RFIs, Submittals, Photos).

What you should see: An Assist panel opens alongside the current tool. In the RFI tool, you'll see an option to "Draft RFI" or "Summarize." Troubleshooting: If you don't see AI features in your Procore account, contact your Procore Customer Success Manager. Helix features are being rolled out across plans through 2025.

2. Draft an RFI with Procore Assist

Open the RFIs tool in your project. Click Create RFI. In the draft form, look for the Assist button or AI suggestion panel. Describe the issue in plain language in the description field. Procore Assist will suggest a professional question formulation and identify the relevant drawing/spec references from your uploaded documents.

What you type: "Structural column at gridline D-4 on drawings S-201 conflicts with architectural drawing A-501. Need to confirm correct column centerline location."

What you get: A draft RFI question with proper formatting, suggested drawing references, and routing to the appropriate design team member.

3. Use Procore Assist to summarize a submittal package

In the Submittals tool, open any pending submittal. Click Assist or Summarize. Procore will read the attached submittal documents and generate a summary of what was submitted, what action is required, and whether it appears to comply with the spec.

What you get: A 3-5 sentence summary that saves you from reading every page of a 40-page shop drawing package before forwarding to the architect.

4. Use AI photo intelligence for site monitoring

In the Photos tool, upload daily site photos. Procore Assist can analyze groups of photos to summarize visible progress by area, useful for preparing owner photo reports without writing individual captions.

Real Example

Scenario: It's Friday afternoon and you have 8 new submittals in your inbox, all due for routing to the architect. Reviewing them manually would take 2 hours.

What you do: Open each submittal, click Assist, and read the 3-sentence AI summary to confirm it looks complete before routing. Flag any that look incomplete for a closer review.

What you get: 8 submittals reviewed and routed in 25 minutes instead of 2 hours.

Tips

• Use Procore Assist to draft the forwarding email when you receive RFI responses. It can summarize the response and draft the notification to the affected sub in one step.
• Ask your superintendent to use the mobile Procore app with AI features enabled for daily photo reporting. Photos are auto-tagged by location.
• Procore AI features are updated regularly. Check Procore's release notes and Groundbreak conference announcements for new capabilities.

Tool interfaces change. Procore updates its platform regularly. If Assist has moved, look for sparkle/AI icons within RFI, Submittal, and Photos tools.