About change orders

Change Orders (Project Management)

You use the 6-4-1 Change Orders window to manage changes to a prime contract or subcontract. Change orders let you track changes independent of a project’s budget, providing a clear audit trail for pending, approved, and refused changes.

Change orders are closely integrated with subcontracts. When you use the 6-4-1 Change Orders window to create a change order for a subcontract, information is displayed on the 6-7-1 Subcontracts window in the Changes, New Contract, and Remaining columns. This tight integration provides more control over your contracts and your invoicing by providing accessible information.

Depending on the type of change work you need to perform, you can enter change orders that alter the job’s budget, proposal, or subcontracts, or any combination of the three.

The 6-4-1 Change Orders window has two tabs:

• You use the Prime Change Details tab to enter changes to costs that affect the bid amount.
• You use the Budget and Sub Change Details tab to enter cost changes that affect your budgeted costs, such as subcontract changes or work for which you do not want to charge the client.

Prime Change Details tab

The Prime Change Details tab allows you to track changes to a project and segregate changes to the contract (proposal) from changes to your budget (costs).

Prime changes are change orders that alter the job proposal. They let you track changes independent of a project proposal, providing a clear audit trail for pending, approved, and refused changes.

From approved prime changes, you can create receivable invoices and purchase orders. When you select the Create A/R Invoice or Create Purchase Order command on the Options menu, Sage 100 Contractor opens the appropriate window and inserts the relevant information. To complete the invoice or purchase order, you enter the parts and any additional information.

Budget and Sub Change Details tab

Change orders have two components:

• Prime Change Orders
• Budget and Sub Change Orders.

Change orders allow you to track changes to a project and segregate changes to the contract (proposal) from changes to your budget (costs). Depending on the type of change work you need to perform, you can enter change orders that alter the job budget, proposal, or subcontracts, or any combination of the three. Overall, change orders provide a convenient way to manage changes to a contract or subcontract.

Subcontracts work in conjunction with change orders and accounts payable, providing you with better control over change work and billing. You can review billings, approved and open change orders, or a summary of the subcontract information. You can also set up retention for a subcontract. When you create an invoice for the subcontract, the program uses the rate indicated in the subcontract record.

Because the Sub Change Orders window provides for managing changes to a budget or subcontract, you can enter cost changes that affect your budgeted costs (such as subcontract changes) or cost changes that affect work for which you do not want to charge the client.

When changes are approved, Sage 100 Contractor reflects the changes to costs in the contract and job cost reports, but the original budget remains unchanged. From approved change orders, you can create receivable invoices and purchase orders. When you select the Create Invoice or Create Purchase Order command on the Options menu, Sage 100 Contractor opens the appropriate window and inserts the relevant information. To complete the invoice or purchase order, you enter the parts and any additional information.

You can also record which plans and documents you send as attachments with the change order, as well as to whom you route the change orders.

Attachments and Routing

The 6-4-1 Change Orders window also supports Attachments and Routing. You can drag and drop files onto the window to create an attachment that can be emailed to customers or printed. The Routing command allows you to keep track of where and to whom you have sent attachments.

Upgrade checkbox

Another important feature of the 6-4-1 Change Orders window is the Upgrade checkbox. The Upgrade checkbox controls what information is included on 6-1-13-41  Homebuilders reports.