Change Order Business Process
Use the Change Order business process to manage a change to a commitment with a vendor (Contract) and track key information about the change, such as the reason and amount.
Characteristics
This is a Project-level business process with a workflow, provided in the system template.
Record Statuses
Approved | terminal status |
|---|---|
Canceled | terminal status |
Rejected | terminal status |
Awaiting_Review | non-terminal status |
Pending_Approval | non-terminal status |
Sent_for_Revision | non-terminal status |
Workflow
The default workflow for the Change Order business process is set up in a certain way; however, it may be used differently by your organization. Typically, a user with the necessary permissions can create the record and either move it directly to the end step or send it to others for review or approval. The recipients in the second step can approve or reject the record or send it on to others.
Related Processes
The Change Order business process might create the following business processes: Not applicable
The Change Order business process might be created by the following business processes: Change Request
Creating a Change Order Record
Create a Change Order record by navigating to Change Management / Change Order on the Project/Shell tab, or from the Tasks log on the Home tab or relevant Project/Shell tab. Act on an existing Change Order task that has been assigned to you from the Tasks log.
Complete the Change Order form and attach related documents, if needed. After completing the form, click Send and select an action in the Workflow Actions list to determine the next step in the workflow. Click Send to route the form to the next assignee.
Note: You must enter a value in all required fields (*) before you can save the form.
- Go to your Project tab and switch to User mode.
- In the left Navigator, select Change Management, and then select Change Order.
- On the Change Order page, click Create. Refer to the tables below to complete the form. You can click Save at any time to save a draft version of the form. Draft versions are stored under Drafts.
- To add attachments, click Attach Files
on the Attachments tab. - After completing the form, click Send.
- On the Workflow Action Details tab, select who should receive this Change Order.
- If permitted, you can add users to the CC list. These users will receive a notification about this Change Order but are not assigned a task.
- If permitted, you can adjust task due dates for all users, or set individual task due dates for each assignee.
- Click Send.
- In the Notification window, review the content and click OK.
The record moves to the next step in the workflow.
Completing the Change Order Form
Key Information
Key information about this Change Order is provided below.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Title | Required | Enter a title. |
Reference Commit | Required | Select the reference commitment (Contract, PO) for this transaction |
Change Reason | Editable | The reason for this change |
Amount | Read-Only | This field displays the amount. |
Effective Date | Required | Enter the date this record takes effect. |
Due Date | Editable | Target completion date for this record. A default duration has been set by your administrator but can be overridden here for this record. |
Description
Enter the description or scope of this Change Order. This information might appear in any formal printouts of this Change Order.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Short Description | Editable | Enter a description of 250 characters or fewer. |
Detailed Description | Editable | The detailed information about the short-description field. The field size can be expanded. The business processes selected for auto-creation will copy this detailed description to the destination business process. |
Change Order Details
Details about the Change Order should be entered below.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Change Order # (Manual) | Editable | If not using the automatically numbered change orders, tracks a change order number here. |
Vendor Change Order # | Editable | The vendor-specific change order number |
Schedule Impact (Days) | Editable | If available, provide an estimate for the number of additional days added by this change order. |
Revised Contract Completion Date | Editable | The new completion date of the Contract if this Change Order is approved |
Change Order Version | Editable | This field is optional. If a previous change order has been rejected or canceled, an incremented version can be tracked in this field. |
Financial Summary
The information below gives you a full snapshot of the Contract and the impact of this Change Order.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
A. Original Commitment | Read-Only | The amount of the original contract |
B. Previously Approved Change Orders | Read-Only | The total amount of all previously approved change orders |
C. Amount Previous to this Change Order (A+B) | Read-Only | The revised amount of this contract, not including the current (or any pending) change orders |
D. Current Request | Read-Only | The amount of this change order |
Current CO % Increase (D / C) | Read-Only | The current change order amount increase, in percent, compared to the previous change order amount |
E. Revised Contract Amount (C + D) | Read-Only | The revised contract amount upon approval of this change order |
Total % Change Increase ((B+D)/A) | Read-Only | The percent increase of all change orders against the original contract amount |
Reference Contract Details
Details about the referenced contract are entered below.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Contract Number | Read-Only | The unique number for the contract, which might come from a corporate financial system |
Vendor Name | Read-Only | The name or nickname for this vendor. This field must be unique to each vendor. This name will be the primary way this company is identified in the system. |
Contract Type | Read-Only | The type of contract |
Original Contract Completion Date | Read-Only | The target completion date of the original contract, prior to any change orders |
Revised Contract Completion Date | Read-Only | The latest contract-completion date, based on all approved change orders |
Work Retainage % | Read-Only | The percentage retained for work or services. The default value is set in the project setting. Can be changed at the Contract level or Contract line-item level. |
Stored Materials Retainage % | Read-Only | The percentage retained on stored materials. The default value is a project setting. Can be changed at the Contract or Contract line item level. |
Vendor Information
Details of the Vendor for this Contract. If the Vendor has Unifier Essentials users, be sure to select them here so that they can see the contract.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Legal Vendor Name | Read-Only | Lists the legal vendor name if the vendor name is different from the vendor full legal business name, the vendor has a name longer than 50 characters, or both. |
Vendor ID | Read-Only | If Unifier Essentials is integrated with an external system, this field contains the ID that corresponds to the vendor in the external system. Populates based on the selected Vendor. If not integrated with an external system, leave blank. |
Vendor a Unifier User? | Required | Indicates whether or not the vendor should be CCed when the contract is approved. CCing the vendor allows the vendor to see the contract, with some restrictions, as well as to access the contract when creating Change Orders, Payment Applications, or other business processes. |
Vendor User | Editable | Indicates whether the vendor is a user in the system |
Vendor Contact First Name | Editable | Enter the first name of the main vendor contact. |
Vendor Contact Last Name | Editable | Enter the last name of the main vendor contact. |
Vendor Contact Phone | Editable | Enter the phone number of the main vendor contact. |
Contact Email | Editable | Enter the email of the main vendor contact. |
Record Information
System information about this record
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Record Number | Read-Only | System-assigned record number |
Status | Read-Only | Record status for a workflow BP record is based on the workflow action preceding the current workflow step. |
Creator | Read-Only | Creator of this record |
Creation Date | Read-Only | Date that the record was created |
Record Last Update Date | Read-Only | Date that the record was last updated |
Business Process Record URL | Read-Only | A shareable link to this record, for anyone with the necessary permissions |
Project Number | Read-Only | Unique Project Number |
Project Name | Read-Only | Name of the project |
Unit Cost Information
Information on the cost per unit for this record. The Unit of Measure and Unit Quantity values are set to the project values by default.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Unit of Measure | Editable | Enter the Unit of Measure used for the Unit Quantity and Cost Per Unit amounts. |
Unit Quantity | Editable | Unit quantity to be used to calculate the Cost Per Unit for this record |
Cost per Unit | Read-Only | Total cost divided by the unit quantity for this record |
Related Activity/Milestone
Schedule information of the selected activity/milestone
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Activity/Milestone | Editable | Select the activity or milestone that should be used to track the planned and actual dates in this record. |
Activity Name | Read-Only | The name of the selected activity/milestone from Project Schedule |
Planned Start | Read-Only | The planned start date from the selected activity/milestone |
Planned Finish | Read-Only | The planned finish date from the selected activity/milestone |
Actual Start | Read-Only | The actual start date for the project from the schedule activity/milestone |
Actual Finish | Read-Only | The actual finish date from the selected activity/milestone |
Additional Information
The Change Order Additional Information block is reserved for future use by your organization.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Change Order Date Picker UDF 1 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Change Order Date Picker UDF 2 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Change Order Decimal UDF 1 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Change Order Decimal UDF 2 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Change Order Date Only Picker UDF 1 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Change Order Date Only Picker UDF 2 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Change Order Currency Amount UDF 1 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Change Order Currency Amount UDF 2 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Change Order Picker UDF 1 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Change Order Picker UDF 2 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Additional Notes
The Change Order Additional Notes block is reserved for future use by your organization.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Change Order Text 255 UDF 1 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Change Order Text 255 UDF 2 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Change Order Text 255 UDF 3 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Change Order Text 255 UDF 4 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Change Order Long Text UDF 1 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Change Order Long Text UDF 2 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Currency
If the currency of this Change Order is different from the project currency, specify it here.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Transaction Currency | Editable | If there are multiple currencies defined, use this field to specify a currency other than the project currency. |
Rate in Project Currency | Read-Only | Exchange rate that will be used to calculate the Project Currency Amount. This will be set after the record is saved, submitted, or sent forward in the workflow. After it is set for a record, it cannot be changed. |
Project Currency Amount | Read-Only | This field shows the amount of the transaction, according to the project currency. |
Consolidating Line Items
Change Order line items can be consolidated from the following business processes:
- Budget Change
- Budget Transfer
- Change Order
- Change Request
- Contract
- Estimate
- Forecast
- Initial Budget
- Invoice
- Issue
- Journal Entry
- PO Amendment
- Purchase Order
- Risk
- Work Release
Completing the Line Items tab
General
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Cost Code | Required | Enter a cost code. |
Code Name | Read-Only | Populates the code name of the selected cost code |
Reference | Editable | Use this field to change an existing line in the Schedule of Values (SOV). After the record is approved, the line item will be updated to include the change made by this line item. If blank, a new line in the SOV will be created upon approval. |
Originating Change Request | Read-Only | If this line item was consolidated from a change request, it will be displayed here. If your environment is configured to allow inclusion of previously consolidated line items and you are creating a second Change Order because the first one was canceled or rejected, this field includes the consolidated line items from the first Change Order. Only Change Requests that reference the same Contract will be available for line item consolidation. |
Scheduled Value | Read-Only | The scheduled value of the referenced line item |
Originating Potential Change Order | Read-Only | If this line item was consolidated from a Potential Change Order, it will be displayed here. Only Potential Change Orders that reference the same Contract will be available for line item consolidation. |
Commits Remaining Balance | Read-Only | The remaining balance for the referenced SOV line item |
Change Order Details
Enter the cost for this line item as a lump sum or a unit rate.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Item Quantity | Editable | Enter the item quantity. |
Unit of Measure | Editable | The default unit of measure used for any line items that are added to this record |
Item Unit Cost | Editable | Enter the item unit cost. |
Amount | Read-Only | This field displays amount. |
Description
Enter a description for this Change Order line item.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Short Description | Required | Enter a description of 250 characters or fewer. |
Detailed Line Item Description | Editable | Enter additional detailed information about the line item description field. |
Retainage
By default, the retainage is set at the Contract level. If you want to override the percentages for any line items, you can do so here.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Work Retainage % | Editable | The percentage retained for work or services. The default value is a project setting. Can be changed at the Contract level or Contract line-item level. |
Stored Materials Retainage % | Editable | The percentage retained on stored materials. The default value is a project setting. Can be changed at the Contract level or Contract line-item level. |
Additional Information
Enter additional information specific to this Change Order line item.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Spend Category | Editable | Select a spend category. |
Work Package | Editable | Select the Work Package that this item will roll up to. |
Contract Line Item UDF PD 1 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Contract Line Item UDF Text 255 1 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Contract Line Item UDF CA 1 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Contract Line Item UDF DA 1 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Last Published Monday, April 14, 2025