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

Status Resulting State
Approved terminal
Canceled terminal
Rejected terminal
Awaiting_Review non-terminal
Pending_Approval non-terminal
Sent_for_Revision non-terminal

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, select Send, and select an action in the Workflow Actions list to determine the next step in the workflow. Select 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.
  1. Go to your Project tab, and switch to User mode.
  2. In the left Navigator, select Change Management, and then select Change Order.
  3. On the Change Order page, select Create. Refer to the tables below to complete the form. You can select Save at any time to save a draft version of the form. Draft versions are stored under Drafts.
  4. To add attachments, go to the Attachments tab, and select Attach Files"".
  5. After completing the form, select Send.
  6. On the Workflow Action Details tab, select who should receive this BP.
    • If permitted, you can add users to the CC list. These users will receive a notification about this BP but are not assigned a task.
    • If permitted, you can select lists of members in the Contact List section. These members also receive a notification about this BP 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.
  7. Select Send.
  8. In the Notification window, review the content, and select 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 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 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

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 50 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.