Overview
On every construction project there are changes that impact the original scope, cost, and schedule. To capture those changes, contractors utilize Change Orders that describes what has changed and the associated cost/schedule impact of that change. There can be anywhere from dozens to thousands of Change Orders on a project, and it is vital to the contractor’s financial health and reporting to ensure they are managing them correctly.
The Change Orders module is the newest addition to Fieldwire's suite of Project Management tools, and it integrates with other Fieldwire features, allowing you to have a single source of truth for agreed scope changes, faster data gather from relevant parties/stakeholders, faster approval process, etc.
In order to acquire this feature on your account, you can schedule a demo with our sales team or you can purchase it with Business Plus. If you are already on Business Plus, Change Orders will be automatically added to your Account.
Note: Change Orders are only available on the web version of Fieldwire at this time.
Table of Contents
- How to Enable PM on a Project
- The Change Order Workflow
- The Change Orders Tab
- Create a Change Order
- Request Cost
- Submit for Approval
- Send Rejection
- Create Revision
- Send Approval
How to Enable PM on a Project
For information on companies and how to enable PM on a project, please see this article: How to Enable PM and Manage Companies on a Project.
User Permissions for Change Orders
Manager |
Contributor |
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Project Management Onboarding
If you are accessing the Change Orders (or any Project Management) tab for the first time, you will see a pop-up to help get you started with Project Management in Fieldwire and setting up your “Company” on the project. First, you’ll need to add your company name and click the "Next" button. This will be the same company name for all PM modules on the project. However, it is not automatically filled by the “Company” information you put into your profile settings. (For more information about profile settings, check out this article: Q&A: How do I update my email address and other profile information?)
Next, you’ll be asked to enter your company code, which will help you and your team stay organized throughout the project.
And, that’s it! In the example shown in these screenshots, we used the company name, ABC, as well as the company code, ABC.
How to set a Lead Company
To make sure that all RFIs, Submittals, and Change Orders go through your "company" in Fieldwire, you can now set a Lead Company. To get started, you'll first want to go to the project People tab and then click on "Set lead company" for the company that you want to be considered the "lead".
After clicking on "Set lead company", you'll get a pop-up that indicates what the users in the Lead company can do vs users in the "Other companies" that were not designated to be the lead. For example, users in the Lead company can send submittals to or request submittals from any company, whereas users in the "Other companies" can only send submittals to the lead company.
Once you've decided that you do want to set a lead company, you'll need to click on the blue "Set lead company" button. After you click the blue button, you'll see the lead company indicated with a crown icon and "Lead company" next to it.
The Change Order Workflow
A Change Order can adopt different ‘statuses’, depending on the stage the Change Order is in. Since all Change Orders follow the same flow for progression, review the table below for an explanation of the different statuses a Change Order will adopt:
Change Order Status |
Definition |
Draft |
A Change Order is in the ‘Draft’ status when it is first created. To create a Draft Change Order, you must have the Manager permission within PM access. While the Change Order is in the ‘Draft’ state, you can add details and cost information. When the change order is ready, it can either be submitted for approval or requested. |
Requested |
If requested (the status transitions from Draft to Requested), the new assignee can then add cost information to the change order and submit it back to the user who requested it from them, transitioning the status from Requested to Pending approval. |
Pending Approval |
In the Pending approval status, the new assignee can either approve or reject the change order, sending it back to the user that submitted it to them. This will transition the status to either Approved or Rejected respectively. |
Rejected |
If Rejected, the user who submitted it for approval is the new assignee and they have the option to create a revision of the change order if they want to modify the cost details and resubmit. |
Pending Revision |
Once a revision is created, the status transitions from Rejected to Pending revision. If a revision is created, the user has the option to copy over the last version’s cost information and backup documents, so they can build off of the previous revision or start from scratch. Once the change order is ready to resubmit, Managers can submit for approval again transitioning it from Pending revision to Pending approval. The Pending approval workflow recommences with the new revision. |
Approved |
If Approved, there is no further action to be taken on the change order. |
Watchers
Within the “Watchers” tab you’ll be able to add and remove “Watchers” at each step of the workflow. In order to do so, you’ll need to click on “+ Add watcher” and click on the name of the person/persons that you'd like to add. You can also remove that Watcher by clicking the “x” that appears by hovering over their name.
If that user is not currently on that project, you have the ability to invite them. However, please note that if the new user you are inviting is not on your Account, you will be charged an additional fee if you do not have the available license(s) to cover that user.
In addition to adding Watchers in the 'Details' section, you’ll also be able to add/remove Watchers within most Change Order status pop-up boxes.
The Change Orders Tab
Any individual associated with a Company, as either a Manager or Contributor, can access the ‘Change Orders’ tab - here, they are able to access each change in the project, independent of the ‘Status’.
The headers in this tab provide a high-level overview on the #, Name, Status, Due Date, Total cost, and Assignee of the Change Orders across the project. More specifically, these headers are defined below:
- #: The 'Company Code' is assigned by the company the change order is being requested from and added when the change order moves from Draft to the Requested or Pending approval statuses.
- Name: The title of the change order, added when the change order is created.
- Status: The current state of the change order, which dictates what actions are available to the users - can be ‘Draft’, ‘Requested’, ‘Pending review’, ‘Pending approval’, ‘Pending close’, ‘Closed’, and ‘Void’.
- Due date: Added by the user requesting the change order. It reflects the date the submitter should send the change order to the user requesting it.
- Total Cost: The total cost captured in the change order.
- Assignee: The current owner of the Change Order's next actions.
In addition, you'll notice the various statuses up at the top where you'll be able to easily see how many change orders are on the project in each status as well as keep track of the dollar amount that's been approved.
Change Order Presets
To help accelerate the change order creation process, you can set preset costs that are often reused when creating a change order. These preset costs can be set for Materials, Labor, Equipment, Subcontractor, Other, and Cost markups. These match the 6 sections that you can fill out during the change order creation process. All users with Admin as their Field Permission can set and edit the presets in the modal.
To start creating presets, click on the "Manage cost presets" button in the upper right-hand corner. This will bring up a new pop-up where you'll be able to create new presets for the 6 different sections mentioned above. In the pop-up, you'll also how many presets you've already created for that particular section. When you're ready to create your preset, click on the relevant section and then click, "Add [section] preset". Here you will have 3 fields where you can enter information: "Name", "Unit type", and "Unit cost [currency]". Notice that the only required field to create a preset is "Name", the "Unit type" field is a dropdown where you have several options to select from, and the currency shown in the "Unit cost" field changes depending on which currency you have selected in the Project Settings.
Note: Once a preset is deleted, it cannot be recovered.
Note: As is mentioned on the pop-up, Presets will be visible to all project users when creating change orders.
For the "Unit type" dropdown, you'll see the same types that are listed when filling out the change order, itself.
When creating Cost markup presets, you'll notice different options than the other 5 sections: "Name", "Applied section", "Percentage (%)", "Apply by default". The Applied section field refers to the other 5 sections of the change order as well as options for "Subtotal" and "Subtotal + Markups". For this particular section, you can also choose whether or not to apply these cost markups as default. Toggling it on means that particular line of markup will be automatically added to all of the change orders upon creation. Toggling it off means that it will not be added by default, but you can easily add it to your change order under the cost markup section on the change order, itself.
Once you're done creating your presets, you're all set and ready to go in creating your change orders. Below is a short video of a change order created with presets:
Create a Change Order
To create a Change Order Draft, you must have the Manager permission within PM access. To create a new Change Order, navigate to the Change orders tab, select “+New change order”, then enter the name of your change order. You can add a description of your change order if you'd like, though it is not mandatory. Once you're ready to create the change order, click "Create draft".
Note: The "Name" of the Change Order can be adjusted later on - click on the pencil by the Name in the 'Draft' Change Order.
A new change order draft is created. On a change order, there are no required fields, but when a Draft change order has been created, details and cost information can be added to it. The change order is split up into 3 areas: header on top, "Details" on the right, and "Cost" information on the left.
Cost information is further split up by the cost sections on top (Materials, Labor, Equipment, Subcontractor), Cost markups, Cost summary, Backup documents, and Notes.
The primary difference between the cost sections is the Unit types that are available. For instance, under the "Materials" section, in the "UNIT TYPE" dropdown, you can select, "Each", "Linear feet", "Square feet", "Square yards", etc. Whereas under the "Labor" and "Equipment" sections, in the "UNIT TYPE" dropdown, you can select, "Hours", "Days", "Weeks", etc.
Additionally, the cost sections can be marked up independently or together in the cost markups. A final markup can also be applied to the change order which is essentially a markup on top of a markup, most commonly used for a bond, insurance, etc.
Request Cost
When the change order is ready, a blue ‘Send’ dropdown button will be available. By clicking the blue dropdown button, you'll see two options, "Request cost" and "Submit for approval". This workflow will be going over the 'Request cost' option. After selecting ‘Request cost’, enter the “Assignee”, add “Watchers” and the “Due date”, and an optional “Email Message”. Once this information is filled out, click the blue "Request" button.
This will move the change order into the 'Requested' status, and an email notification will be sent to the new Assignee directing them to add their costs and submit the change order in Fieldwire.
Submit for Approval
Once the change order is in the 'Requested' status, the new assignee can then add cost information to the change order and submit it back to the user who requested it from them. To do so, the assignee will click the blue "Submit" button. Next, they'll be prompted to enter the “Assignee”, add “Watchers” and the “Due date”, as well as an optional “Email Message”. Once this information is filled out, click the blue "Submit" button, which will transition the status from Requested to Pending approval.
Send Rejection
In the 'Pending approval' status, the new assignee can either Approve or Reject the change order, sending it back to the user that submitted it to them. This will transition the status to either Approved or Rejected respectively.
If "Reject" is chosen, you'll receive a pop-up that asks you to confirm that you do want to send the rejection to the submitter.
Also, as indicated in the messaging in the pop-up, if you decide to reject the change order, Fieldwire will allow the submitter to create a revision.
Create Revision
To create a revision, the assignee simply has to click on the "Create revision" button and then choose the "Assignee", "Watchers", and select the "Due date". If a revision is created, the user has the option to copy over the last version’s cost information and backup documents with the checkboxes as shown in the screenshot below, so they can build off of the previous revision or start from scratch. Once a revision is created, the status transitions from Rejected to Pending revision.
In the Pending revision status, a new revision of the cost table allows the user to edit the content, as well as add more Backup documents and add more Notes before they resubmit. Notice in the screenshot below that "rev. 1" is next to "Cost" to indicate that this is the 1st revision.
In addition, past revisions can be seen beneath the current revision in case you want to reference past responses or submissions.
Once the change order is ready to resubmit, Managers can submit for approval again transitioning it from Pending revision to Pending approval. The Pending approval workflow recommences with the new revision.
Send Approval
Once again, in the 'Pending approval' status, the new assignee can either Approve or Reject the change order.
If the new assignee clicks 'Approve', they will see one more pop-up to confirm their action. By clicking the blue "Send" button, the status of the change order will be changed to "Approved", the change order process is complete, and no further action can be taken on the change order.