FAQ — Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to the most common questions, grouped by topic. If your question isn't here, search the rest of the knowledge base or email support@orkstra.com.
1. Getting started
Q1. What is ORKSTRA?
ORKSTRA is a construction ERP for contractors operating in the UAE, KSA, and Egypt. It unifies project management, BOQ, IPC, variations, quality, HSE, document control, and AI insights into one bilingual (Arabic + English) platform.
Q2. Who is ORKSTRA for?
General contractors, sub-contractors, MEP contractors, and consultants who run multiple projects and need a single source of truth for cost, quality, safety, and document control. Tenant sizes from 5 to 5,000 seats.
Q3. Is there a free trial?
Yes — 30 days on the Professional plan, no credit card required. Sign up at orkstra.com/signup.
Q4. How long does onboarding take?
Most pilot tenants are productive within one week (see Tenant setup). Full enterprise rollouts with SSO, integrations, and 100+ users typically take 4-8 weeks.
Q5. Do you have a sandbox tenant?
Yes — request via support@orkstra.com. Sandbox tenants are pre-seeded with sample data and are useful for training.
Q6. What language is the UI in?
English and Arabic. Each user picks their preference. Arabic renders RTL with the Cairo typeface.
Q7. How do I get training?
- This knowledge base — search across every page.
- Video tutorials — five sites covering PM, Finance, HSE, QA/QC, Admin workflows.
- In-app tour on first login.
- Premium plan includes live onboarding sessions.
2. Billing & plans
Q8. What's the difference between Starter, Professional, Premium, Enterprise?
Seats, storage, modules, support level. See Billing for the full matrix.
Q9. How are seats counted?
A seat is a user who logged in at least once in the past 30 days. Nightly recount.
Q10. Can I pay annually for a discount?
Yes — annual prepay gets 15-20% off depending on plan.
Q11. Do you accept bank transfer?
Yes, and for some tenants it's the only available method while Stripe brand setup is pending. UAE / KSA IBANs on the invoice.
Q12. How do I cancel?
Admin → Billing → Cancel. Cancellation takes effect at end of current term; you keep access until then.
Q13. Do you offer non-profit / education discounts?
Yes — email billing@orkstra.com with proof of status.
3. Tenants & users
Q14. Can my firm have multiple companies under one tenant?
Yes — one tenant, multiple companies (legal entities). See Admin & Tenants.
Q15. Can a user belong to multiple tenants?
Yes — one ORKSTRA account can be a member of multiple tenants (e.g., contractor's account also invited to consultant's tenant). The tenant switcher appears in the top bar.
Q16. How do I remove a user?
Deactivate (reversible) preserves audit log. Delete soft-deletes after a leaver workflow. Hard delete happens 90 days later unless on legal hold.
Q17. Can I bulk invite users?
Yes — Admin → Users → Bulk import Excel template.
Q18. Does ORKSTRA support SSO?
SAML 2.0 and OIDC. Setup is in User management.
Q19. Can a user have different roles on different companies?
Yes — roles are per (user, company). A PM on Company A can be an inspector on Company B without permission leaks.
Q20. What happens to a leaver's owned data?
The leaver workflow reassigns open approvals, projects, and documents to a successor before deactivation. The audit log preserves history forever.
4. Modules
Q21. Can I turn modules on / off?
Premium and Enterprise can hide modules per role. Starter and Professional get the full set.
Q22. Can I customize the BOQ template?
Yes — pick a template at BOQ creation or build your own. The Smart Importer also accepts custom Excel layouts.
Q23. How does IPC calculate cumulative quantity?
From completed inspections. You can manually override per line (with a written justification that's audit-logged).
Q24. Can I have multiple BOQ revisions in flight?
Only one open revision at a time. Past revisions are locked and immutable.
Q25. Does the AI Chatbot work without an API key?
For tenants without Claude credentials, the chatbot falls back to rule-based responses for quick actions only — free-form conversation requires the AI provider configured.
Q26. How accurate is the AI Cost Estimation?
On UAE benchmarks, low-mid-high band typically captures actual cost within ±10%. Accuracy improves as your tenant adds historical projects.
Q27. Can I export my BOQ to my client's template?
Yes — BOQ export to Excel preserves structure. For client-specific layouts, the Reports custom builder can generate any format.
Q28. Does HSE support paper permits?
The mobile app supports offline permit issue and sign-out. Sync resumes when network returns.
Q29. Are NCRs locked once closed?
Yes — closure is final. Re-opening requires admin action and is audit-logged.
Q30. How long does DMS keep old revisions?
Forever, by default. Tenants can configure auto-supersedure rules.
Q31. Can multiple users edit the same BOQ at once?
Yes — concurrent edit with last-writer-wins per cell and a real-time presence indicator.
Q32. Is there a CRM module?
Not directly — the Tenders module covers pre-award sales/bid pipeline. For full CRM (leads, contacts, deals), use the partner integration with HubSpot or Salesforce.
5. Mobile
Q33. Is there a mobile app?
Yes — Capacitor-wrapped iOS + Android app. Optimized for site-based workflows (inspections, NCRs, HSE, photo uploads).
Q34. Does the mobile app work offline?
Yes — inspections, NCRs, observations, and photos can be captured offline; sync happens when network returns.
Q35. Can I sign documents on the mobile app?
Yes — touch / pen signature capture is supported for inspection completion, NCR closure, and permit issuing.
Q36. Which versions of iOS / Android?
iOS 15+ and Android 9+. See System requirements.
Q37. How big is offline storage?
Default 500 MB per user. Configurable up to 2 GB.
6. Integrations
Q38. Can I sync with QuickBooks / Xero?
Yes — pre-built integrations. See Integrations.
Q39. Can I push data to Power BI?
Yes — DirectQuery connector for Power BI.
Q40. How do I get notifications in Slack / Teams?
Pre-built Slack and Teams integrations. Pipe specific events to specific channels.
Q41. Is there a Zapier integration?
Yes — listed in the Zapier app directory. Triggers on common events, actions for record creation.
Q42. Can I build a custom integration?
Absolutely — the REST API exposes everything. See Developer guide.
Q43. How do I get an API key?
Admin → API → Tokens → New token. Tenant admin permission required.
7. Security & compliance
Q44. Is ORKSTRA SOC 2 certified?
SOC 2 Type II is in progress, targeting completion 2026 Q4.
Q45. Where is my data hosted?
Primary region: UAE (Neon Postgres). Warm standby in EU. Enterprise plans can request multi-region active-active.
Q46. Is data encrypted at rest?
Yes — AES-256. Premium tier adds field-level Fernet encryption for sensitive columns.
Q47. Can I enforce MFA for all users?
Premium tier supports per-role MFA enforcement. See RBAC Premium + AI.
Q48. How long do you keep audit logs?
7 years default. Configurable down to 1 year or up to indefinite for legal hold.
Q49. Are you PDPL compliant?
Yes — UAE PDPL compliant data handling. Subjects can request access / deletion via privacy@orkstra.com.
Q50. Do you offer pen test reports?
Annual third-party pen test. Enterprise customers can access the report summary under NDA.
8. Troubleshooting
Q51. I can't log in — keeps saying "incorrect password".
After 5 fails the account locks for 15 minutes. Use Forgot password to reset. If you've forgotten which email you used, an admin can confirm.
Q52. The site is slow.
Check status.orkstra.com. If green, the issue may be your network — most slowdowns are corporate proxy / firewall related.
Q53. I clicked Submit but nothing happened.
Most often a permission gap — submit may have a different permission than view/edit. Check with your admin.
Q54. My IPC certificate PDF won't open.
Pop-up blocker. Allow-list app.orkstra.com.
Q55. I deleted something by accident.
Soft-delete is recoverable within 90 days. Admin → Audit → Restore.
Q56. The Arabic UI is showing some English strings.
Open a ticket — the missing translation will be added in the next release. Workaround: switch to English temporarily.
Still stuck? Email support@orkstra.com with:
- Your tenant ID.
- A screenshot.
- The
X-Request-IDfrom the network tab (if you're technical).
We typically respond within 4 hours on business days.