Ball-in-Court (Responsibility Tracking)
What Ball-in-Court Means
Ball-in-Court is the application’s term for who owes the next action on any given item. At every point in an RFI’s lifecycle there is exactly one party — a person or a company — whose court the ball is in. This eliminates the ambiguity that often plagues email-based communication, where the same message might leave several recipients each assuming someone else will respond.
How Ownership Changes
Ball-in-Court ownership updates automatically when:
- A reply is sent — ownership moves to the person the reply is reassigned to.
- The RFI is manually reassigned without a reply.
- The status is changed in a way that implies a transfer (for example, marking an item as Response Pending may move ownership back to the originator for confirmation).
Visual Indicators
Indicator | Meaning | Suggested Response |
|---|---|---|
🟢 On Track | Within the expected timeframe. | No action required. |
🟠 Due Soon | Approaching the due date. | Prioritise; consider a courtesy reminder if waiting on someone else. |
🔴 Overdue | Past the due date. | Action immediately, send a reminder, or escalate. |
Why It Matters
Ball-in-Court tracking provides three concrete benefits. It prevents items from being overlooked, because every item has a visible owner. It creates clear accountability across teams, which is invaluable when reviewing project performance. And it surfaces delays quickly, allowing project managers to intervene before a small slip becomes a programme issue.