Change Orders Activity Center
Use this activity center to create, log, review, and track change orders electronically. You can use it to:
● Enter COs into the log either by:
● Creating the COs if you originate them;
● Logging a received CO if it was sent to you.
● Manage the CO log:
● Sort the log by due date, received date, total days, etc.;
● Quickly see which COs require attention;
● Create CO reports.
● Forward a CO to project team members or other contacts;
● Record feedback to COs;
● Track the final CO by linking to the file in the Supporting Documents tab;
● Generate the CO form conforming to your existing practice;
● Receive automatic reminders for CO reviews that are nearing their due date;
● Send CO information to team members at any time during the cycle;
● Associate email messages and supporting documents with a CO (similar to submittals);
● Sort and track COs by discipline and keywords.
COs have an Email Log for tracking email messages. Use it to view related email and file email messages sent among team members about the COs.
Change orders are a part of contract management.
The Contracts activity center must be available in the project for change orders to be enabled.
1 Project Center administrators can set which tasks appear here using the Remove Contract Management Item Tasks dialog box. Change Orders● New Change Order > Create Change Order Click to open the Create a Change Order dialog box to create a new change order or to file an expected one. ● New Change Order > Log a Received Change Order Click to open the Log a Received Change Order dialog box to log a change order that you have received. ● Create a Report Click to open the Create a Report dialog box to select the type of change order report to create. The report contains the contents of this log. 1 You can customize which columns appear in reports simply by selecting which columns to show and hide in the activity center. Simply right-click on column headers to add or remove columns. A checkmark indicates the column will appear in the activity center and the report. ● Import Spreadsheet Click to open the Select Spreadsheet dialog box to select a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet containing change order data that you can import. The imported change orders are placed in the appropriate change order log based on the type imported. ● View Pending Items 1 This task appears only when there are Pending Review Response change orders. Click to list only Pending Review Response change orders. Selected Change OrderThe following list shows all available tasks for all change order categories, in alphabetical order. The tasks that appear depend on which category you select from. ● Close > Close Click to open the Close Change Order dialog box to close the change order without providing a response. ● Close > Respond and Close Click to open the Respond to Change Order and Close dialog box. If the change order has files associated with it, the Select Files to Send dialog box will open first. ● Close > Send and Close Click to open the Send and Close Change Order dialog box to send the change order to team members and close it. If the change order has files associated with it, the Select Files to Send dialog box will open first. ● Create Similar Change Order Click to create a new change order based
on the one selected. The new one contains most of the information
from the original, except for unique identifiers such as the ID.
The new one is also automatically related
to the original. Supporting documents
from the original are included. 1 If the original contains a receive action with files and/or description of contents entries, the Select Files and Description of Contents dialog box opens first, enabling you to select the items to include in the new copy. ● Delete Click to delete the selected change order from Project Center. 1 You must be a Project Center administrator and have a contract management role to delete change orders. ● Forward Click to open the Forward Change Order dialog box to forward the change order to any contacts who are responsible for reviewing the change order and to create a transmittal. If the change order has received files or supporting documents associated with it, the Select Files to Forward for Review dialog box will open first so you can select the files to forward. ● Link Change Order File Click to open the Select File to Link to a Change Order File dialog box to locate and select a file to link to the currently open change order. ● Modify Click to open the Modify Change Order dialog box to edit the settings for the selected change order, including estimated amount and time, and the description. ● Open Change Order File Click to open the file linked to the change order. The file opens in its native application. ● Receive Click to open the Receive Change Order dialog box to log the receipt of an expected change order. ● Receive Pending Review Response Click to open the Record Reviewer Response for Change Order dialog box to record a response received about a change order via Info Exchange. ● Record Reviewer Response Click to open the Record Reviewer Response for Change Order dialog box to record a response received about a change order that you forwarded to other contacts. When you receive a response back from a contact, record it using this task to track its progress. ● Reopen Click to open the Reopen Change Order dialog box to re-open the closed change order. ● Review Related Action Items 1 This task is available only when you select an item that has related action items. Click to open the Related Action Items activity center to view action items related to the selected item. ● Review Related Markup Sessions 1 This task is available only when you select an item that has related markup sessions. Click to open the Related Markup Sessions activity center to view information about and preview the related markup sessions. ● Send Click to open the Send Change Order dialog box to send the change order to other project team members. ● Send Email About Change Order > To the Sender Click to open an email message in Microsoft Outlook to send to the contact who originally sent the change order. The email message includes information about the change order. ● Send Email About Change Order > To the Recipients Click to open an email message in Microsoft Outlook to send to the original change order recipients as a reminder or with additional information. The email message includes information about the change order. ● Send Email About Change Order > To All Reviewers Click to open an email message in Microsoft Outlook to send to the contacts who are currently reviewing the change order, as a reminder or with additional information. The email message includes information about the change order. ● Send Email About Change Order > To All Participants Click to open an email message in Microsoft Outlook to send to all change order participants, including the sender, recipients, and reviewers as a reminder or with additional information. The email message includes information about the change order. ● View Form Click to open the Change Order form to print or send the actual change order document. Selected ActionSee Action Tasks panel. Access the actions by clicking the expand icon in the first column next to each change order. The file tasks apply to files in the Supporting Documents tab. See File Tasks panel. See Email Tasks panel. |
Change OrdersCategory drop-down listThe category drop-down list contains filters to display the change orders in particular categories. For example, if you want to view overdue change orders, select Response Overdue from the list. Only overdue change orders will appear in the log. You can also choose to display change orders for all project users or only change orders on which you are listed as the sender or recipient. Each category is explained below. Click to toggle between showing change orders for all users or only change orders you are involved with. AllClick to display all change orders that have been entered for this project. Pending IncomingClick to display all change orders sent via Info Exchange that need to be received. When a change order or change order response is logged by a project team member on Info Exchange, it will show up in this category. DraftClick to display all change orders that are in draft form and have not been sent. Under ReviewClick to display change orders that have been received, but responses have not been sent to the change order senders. 1 When a non-expected change order is first filed, it is placed in the Under Review category. Awaiting ActionClick to display change orders that have been received, but they:
Forwarded for ReviewClick to display change orders that have been forwarded with a due date for another contact to review that have not been received back yet. Response OverdueClick to display change orders that have been forwarded but the responses back from the reviewers are overdue. OverdueClick to display all change orders that are overdue. ExpectedClick to display all change orders filed as expected. Expected ResubmissionClick to display expected change orders that were created for change orders that require the sender to resubmit the change order (the action taken on the change order was Rejected or Revise and Resubmit). LateClick to display expected change orders that are late. All ClosedClick to display change orders that have had a response sent to the change order sender and there is no further action required. Filter All ColumnsYou can filter by any text that appears in any of the columns in the log. For example, if you know the subject (or part of the subject) of the change order that you are searching for (or the ID, status, due date, etc.), enter at least part of the text in this field. The change orders list updates automatically as you type. For example, if the change order you are searching for has the number 30 somewhere in one of the columns, enter 30 in this field. The list will be narrowed down to only change orders that have the number 30 somewhere in one of the columns. Click to toggle between showing and hiding the column filter fields. ClearClick to clear all filters. Group ByYou can group the change orders by any column. Click the Group By drop-down list and select the column you want to use to group the change orders. To clear the grouping , select <none>.
Change Orders logThe change orders log displays the change orders for the category selected above. Click a change order for a list of tasks you can perform, which appear in the Tasks panel. Double-click a change order to open the Modify Change Order dialog box to view the change order's information and settings. 1 Change orders (and actions) are listed in red if the change order is overdue or if a review response is overdue. 1 You can drag and drop or copy and paste email messages from Microsoft Outlook and files from Windows Explorer into the Change Orders log to create a new change order. This also prevents Microsoft Outlook from opening multiple instances of Project Center. ColumnsColumn headers are different for each category. The following list includes all column headers for all change order categories. Some categories may not include all headers, and they may not be in the order listed here. If you move and resize columns, they are saved in that position for each category. Column settings are reflected in change order reports. Right-click on any column header to list and de-list columns. Click the icons for more filtering options. IDThe change order ID number. Sender IDThe ID number for the contact who sent the change order. SubjectThe subject of the change order. Approved AmountThe approved dollar amount of the change order, either + or -. Approved DaysThe approved number of days for the change order, either + or -. Estimated AmountEstimated dollar amount of the change order, either + or -. Estimated DaysEstimated number of days for the change order, either + or -. 1 If this project contains any potential change orders, the Estimated fields are invalid. Due DateThe date the change order is due back to the initiator of the change order. Date ExecutedThe date the change order was signed off on and agreed to. Change Order DateThe date the change order was issued to the subcontractor StatusThe status of the change order (Draft, Expected, Open, Closed). To ContactThe contact the change order is going to. To CompanyThe company the change order is going to. From ContactThe contact the change order came from. From CompanyThe company the change order came from. Initiated ByThe contact who requested or authorized the document change. ReasonsThe reasons the change order was created. ResponsibleThe party responsible for the change resulting in the change order. DisciplineAny disciplines applied to the change order. ContractThe contract the change order is associated with. Contract TypeThe Contract Type value of the contract the change order is associated with. Related ItemsIf the change order has any related items, the icons appear here. Related Project ItemsThis column is a text version of the icons in the Related Items column. The text will appear in reports. KeywordsAny keywords applied to the change order. Supporting DocumentsAny files attached to the change order. FromThe contact the change order came from. ReceivedThe date the change order was received by the contact the change order was sent to. Last ActionThe last completed workflow action for the change order. It displays the action and the purpose or type for that item. For example, if a change order was received and there was no action required selected for the Action field, the Last Action column would display Received – No Action Required. If you were looking at an entry in the Under Review category that had a Last Action of Received – No Action Required, that indicates that the item needs to be closed using the Close task. Forwarded ToThe contacts the change order was forwarded to. Last ForwardedThe date the change order was last forwarded to a reviewer. Last ReviewedThe date the most recent reviewer returned the change order. (The most recent review response date.) Review DaysThe total number of days the change order has been in the review cycle for all reviewers. Review Due BackThe date the change order is due back from the contacts reviewing it, if it is not yet received. It is based on the oldest Forward for Review date. Due Back FromAny contacts a response to the change order is due back from. Current ReviewerThe contact who is currently reviewing the change order in a sequential workflow. Total DaysThe number of days to process the change order. The count starts from the start date, which is either when the item was created or the received date, and ends either now or when it was closed if a closed date was entered. If it is re-opened, it displays the count from when the change order was created. It is based on calendar days (not business days) and does not consider holidays in its calculations. Expected DateThe date the change order or a resubmitted change order is expected (for Expected change orders only). Internal NotesAny personal notes added to the change order. These are also added to the Remarks Summary tab. Closed DateThe date the change order was closed.
ActionsThe actions drop-down displays a history of the actions taken on the selected change order, including when it was received, forwarded, closed, etc. Every action represents a communication between a sender and recipients and is linked to a transmittal, which you can print out. You can undo individual actions to revert the change order to its prior state. Selecting an action displays tasks you can perform on it, including displaying its transmittal form, modifying the action, or sending an email about the action. Double-click an action to open the Transmittal form to view the transmittal form for the change order action. An example of the action history is shown here: TypeThe type of action performed. Each type can have multiple actions, which you can add, as described next. ActionThe action taken. DateThe date of the action. FromWho performed the action. ToThe recipient of the action taken. Due DateThe due date is either the change order due date or the forward for review due date – depending on the action taken. RemarksAny remarks entered about the action taken. ViaHow the action was sent. 1 To delete a transmittal that is associated with a change order action, select the change order, then delete the corresponding action. 1 Actions are listed in red if the change order is overdue or if a review response is overdue. 1 See Modify Action in the Selected Action panel topic for an explanation of how modifying an action works. Files related to the actionThe Files Sent tab contains any electronic files that were included with the selected change order action. Select a file to display file tasks you can perform, including opening, comparing, sending, and publishing the file.
Refer to the Create a Change Order dialog box for information about these tabs. The tabs that are not available in that dialog box or have additional features are explained here: File Summary tabThis tab contains any electronic files that were included with the change order. Select a file to display file tasks you can perform, including opening, comparing, sending, and publishing the file. These files are stored in a compressed .ZIP file that is referenced by the change order. Each column in this tab is described here. NameThe name of the file. 1 If the file is an email message, Project Center creates the file name with the date, a system generated ID, and the subject of the email. TypeThe file's type. WorkflowThe workflow step (Forwarded, Review Response, etc.) for the file. SizeThe file's size. ModifiedThe date the file was last modified. Zip FolderThe full path to the location of the .ZIP file. Related ItemsAny Project center items related to the file.
Related Items tabThis tab lists all related Project Center items for the selected change order. Create Related > Action ItemClick to open the Identify an Action Item dialog box to create a new action item and link it to the current change order. Create Related > Transfer > Via Info ExchangeClick to open the Transfer Files to a Newforma Info Exchange Server dialog box to transfer project files via your Newforma Info Exchange Server and link the transfer to the current change order. Create Related > Transfer > Via EmailClick to open the Send Files to Email Recipients dialog box to send project files via email. Nothing is logged in this tab. Create Related > Transmittal > Via Info ExchangeClick to open the Transfer Files and Create an Outgoing Transmittal dialog box to transfer project files via your Newforma Info Exchange Server, create a new outgoing transmittal for the file transfer, and link the transfer to the current change order. Create Related > Transmittal > Via EmailClick to open the Send Files and Create an Outgoing Transmittal dialog box to send project files via email, file an outgoing transmittal for a file transfer, and link the transfer to the current change order. Create Related > Contract Management > Contract Management ItemClick to open the Create Contract Management Item dialog box for the type of contract management item you selected to create a new contract management item and link it to the current change order. Relate to >Click to select an existing project item and establish a relationship between it and the currently selected change order. This gives you the ability to link two items that are related together (For example, a markup session that is related to a change order). Select Another Project Item to open the Select Project Item dialog box to locate an item that is not in the list. When you create a relationship between two items, each item's icon is added to the other item's Related Items column and tab. Share with External > YesClick to allow the selected item to be shared with external project team members through Info Exchange. RemoveClick to unlink and remove the selected project item from the Related Items tab. 1 Removing a related item from the Related Items tab does not remove it from the database. The Relation Type column has two icons to indicate the relationship type: ● The icon indicates that the relationship was created by a user and can be deleted (such as an action item related to a change order). ● The icon indicates that the relationship was created by Project Center and cannot be deleted (such as a transmittal or record copy related to a change order). |
To access this activity center
Click Change Orders from the Activities list or from the Project Home activity center.