Vendor Change Orders
On your contracts, you may need to manage and track contract changes between you and the vendor (subcontractor or supplier) to account for unforeseen changes that come up during the execution of the project. In the system, these are called vendor change orders or VCOs, and on each contract record within the software, you can add VCO records to keep track of these changes.
Vendor Change Order (VCO) Creation
You add VCOs by opening a contract’s record and selecting the Vendor Change Order Log tab.
The Vendor Change Order Log tab lists all the VCOs for your contract. You can add new VCOs by clicking the Add button. To open an existing VCO, click on the hyperlinked VCO ID. The Unassigned Change items field shows the sum of any issue, PCO and CCO pricing items for the vendor contract that have not been association to a VCO. The Remaining to buy field shows how much money is left in the unawarded value of the bid package. The Totals row at the bottom of the Vendor CO amount column shows the total of all vendor change orders for a contract.
The Vendor change order record contains a header and two tabs of information to track your change order.
Field/Section | Function | |
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1 |
VCO total |
The total cost for the change order agreed upon between you and the vendor. |
2 |
Remaining amount to allocate |
The remaining change order cost not covered by the line items on the VCO. The value of this field must be zero +/- 0.00999 to start workflow, submit, publish, or execute the VCO. The +/- 0.00999 accounts for differences in decimal precision. |
3 |
Delay days due to issue |
Documents how long of a delay the change order causes. |
4 |
Responsible party |
Tracks who is responsible for the next step in processing the VCO. Options include (e.g., client, vendor/sub, your company name). These options are defined by your administrative team. With the correct permissions, you can change the responsible party. |
5 |
Vendor CO status |
Tracks what step the VCO is on in the change order approval process. While the options on the drop-down list are company-specific, examples include:
With the correct permissions you can change the status. |
6 | Approval status | Displays the status of the VCO approval. |
7 |
Contract totals icon |
Displays a slide out panel that contains a breakdown of your contract’s totals. |
8 | Add supporting document | Lets you create a new supporting document or add a supporting document from the Supporting document list or InEight Document. |
9 |
Notes icon |
Opens a slide out panel for entering notes related to the contract. |
10 |
Cancel, Save and Start Approval, and Save buttons |
Select to cancel, Save and start Approvals or save the VCO. |
The following steps walk you through adding a vendor change order to your contract.
Add a Vendor Change Order
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From the Contract > Contracts page, click a contract ID or description to open a contract.
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Click on the Vendor Change Order Log tab.
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Click the Add icon to add a vendor change order.
The Vendor change order details page opens.
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Fill out the vendor change order information.
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In the banner at the top of the page, select the Responsible party from the drop-down list, and then enter Draft for the Vendor CO status.
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Click Save.
The Vendor change order record contains three tabs for entering the VCO details: Details, Line Items and Supporting Documents.
Details tab
Use the Details tab to enter vendor change order details, terms, associated change items, and back charges.
Field/Section | Function | |
---|---|---|
1 |
Vendor change order details |
Where you can enter basic information about the VCO, including Vendor change order number, Description, Vendor change order amount, Effective Date, Change order type, and Scope of change. |
2 | Vendor change order terms | Where you can enter terms about the VCO, including vendor change order inclusions, exclusions, and warranty. You can also configure ten custom terms in Organization > Settings > Contract custom labels. |
3 |
Associated change items |
Where you can add issues or existing change items to the section, indicating the issue status, value type, contributed value, PCO name, and CCO name. You can also add an existing issue. If the issue has multiple pricing items, a line for each pricing item is added. The Contributed value column shows the amount of each pricing item. Contract converts the contributed value from the project currency to the contract currency. |
4 |
Back charges |
Enables you to add a back charge to VCO. Any back charges associated with the VCO from the Back charges detail page are displayed here automatically. |
Schedule of values tab
The Schedule of values tab contains schedule of value items from the contract-level Schedule of values page. You can use the schedule items in the vendor change order to provide detail that is not provided by line items. You can also push values from schedule items to the Line items tab or pull schedule item values into the Line items tab.
The vendor change order Schedule of values tab format is similar to the contract Schedule of values tab. It contains the following sections:
Section | Description |
---|---|
Current schedule line value | The line value in its current state in the contract schedule of values. |
Change order adjustment | Detailed information about the change order for the scheduled item. |
Total revised value | The total revised value of the schedule item. As you make changes to a schedule item through a vendor change order, the total revised value reflects the value after the change order is executed. |
See Schedule of Values Tab for more information about the schedule of values.
Add new schedule items
You can add a new schedule item to the vendor change order schedule of values when the item does not already exist on the contract-level schedule of values.
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From the vendor change order Schedule of Values page, click the Add icon, and then select Add new schedule item. The Add Schedule item slide-out panel opens.
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Enter the schedule item information, and then click Add.
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The schedule item is added to the VCO schedule of values with a schedule ID of New.
The schedule item can be edited as needed. After the VCO is executed and published, Contract assigns a Schedule item ID and adds it to the Contract Schedule of values register.
Add an existing schedule item
You can add a schedule item that already exists in the contract-level schedule of values to the vendor change order schedule of values.
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From the vendor change order Schedule of Values page, click the Add icon, and then select Add existing schedule item. The Add Schedule item dialog box opens with a list of schedule of value items from the contract-level schedule of values.
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Select one or more items, and then click Add. The items are added to the schedule.
You can update the Quantity or Value columns in the Change order adjustment section. When you update the Quantity column, the value in the Value column is automatically adjusted, and vice versa. If you want to include the items in the vendor change order, you must push them to the line items tab.
You can also add a schedule of value item from the Vendor change order Line items register. Any line item type except the Limit line item type can be copied. After the line items are copied, the schedule of value items are automatically associated to the line items. To copy a line item from the Line items register to the schedule of values, select the line item, and then expand the Copy icon. You can then select To schedule of values. A notification shows that the line item has been added to the schedule of values.
The following columns are copied with the line item:
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Contract line item ID
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Description
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UoM
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Quantity
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Unit price
The Hide in Plan/Progress field in the schedule of values defaults to Yes. You must manually fill in the remaining fields. The line item is automatically associated to the schedule of values.
Any deleted line items are copied, but they do not have a line item ID.
Push schedule items to the Line items tab
Push schedule items to the Line items tab when you want them to be included in the vendor change order.
Contract pushes only the line items that are associated to the Contract schedule of values. If there are schedule items that are not associated to the Contract schedule of values, you must execute and publish the vendor change order. The Push to line items button is enabled if any of the schedule items have a Contract line item ID. When the Contract line item ID is blank for all items, the Push to line items button is disabled, and you cannot push items to the Line items tab.
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From the Vendor change order Schedule of values page, click Push to line items.
A warning message indicates that the push updates the Line Items tab with values from the schedule items. If the associated line item has a zero unit price, the message indicates that the adjustment quantity and unit price cannot be calculated and asks if you want to proceed.
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Click Yes to push the schedule items to the line items tab. Any value or line item that was added to the Line Items tab is removed. Contract then pushes only the line items that are associated to the Contract schedule of values and calculates the line item values. If the line item has a zero unit value, no values are calculated for the Change order adjustments section of the vendor change order. You can add them manually.
On the Line items page, the total values are shown in the Net price column in the This submission section. If there are multiple schedule items tied to the line item, Contract adds them together to populate the Net price column.
Line items tab
Vendor change order line items show how you are going to apply the amount you indicated in the VCO to the contract. Under the VCO’s Line Items tab, you indicate what line items in the contract pertain to this change order.
The Line items tab lets you manage the line items for a vendor change order. The Line items tab is described below.
Field/Section | Function | |
---|---|---|
1 |
Line item details |
This section of the register contains the Line item ID, Description, UoM, WBS, GL account, and Product category. You can scroll to view all the columns. |
2 |
Current line value |
For line items that already exist, containing their original quantities and pricing. |
3 |
Change order adjustments |
Displays the adjusted quantities and pricing you add to existing line items or define on newly added line items. |
4 |
Total revised line value |
The total of the Current line values and Change order adjustments added together. |
5 |
Remaining amount to allocate |
As you total up your line items, their total amounts subtract from the VCO total to give you the remaining amount that needs to be allocated. |
6 | Pull from schedule items | Lets you pull items from the Schedule of values page to update the line items. |
When a line item has been revised but not published, a Revised line item icon shows in the Line item ID column for that line item. The icon lets you quickly see that changes have been made to the line item, and you can decide if you want to proceed with the VCO or payment form.
Line items register
The Vendor change order line items register lists all line items for the vendor change order. Arrows in the column headers let you collapse or expand the section. Multiple sections can be collapsed. The first section, which includes the Line item ID, Description, UoM, and Cost center, cannot be collapsed. You can click the double arrow in the first section to collapse the rest of the sections.
The bottom of the grid shows the total number of items and the total number of selected items. To see only the selected items, click View selected. Click Clear selection to deselect all items.
You can rearrange the columns within a section using the Column Selector Builder. To open the Column Selector Builder, click the Manage columns icon. The Available columns section shows all columns that are available for each section. To add a selection or column, select it, and then move it to the Selected Columns section. To remove a section or column, select it, and then move it to the Available columns section. Click Save to apply the changes. You can also rearrange sections from the Column Selector Builder dialog box. To move a section, select it, and then use the arrows to move the section up or down. You cannot add columns to the first section in the grid. You cannot move columns between sections.
You can search for specific available or selected columns. For example, you could search for value Price, and the search results show all columns called Unit Price and Net Price in all sections.
Vendor change order line items
On your VCOs, you can indicate the line item breakdown of the agreed upon change order amount in one of the following ways:
- Add line items that already exist on the contract and alter them
- Copy line items from the VCO Line items page
- Create new line items to document the change
You must publish the contract before you can bring line items into the VCO or create a new line item from a VCO.
Executing a vendor change order will update the contract line items, contract total, and the ERP system purchase order
Enter Line Items into a Vendor Change Order
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Click the Line Items tab in the Vendor Change Order.
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Click the Add line item icon, and then select Add existing line item or Add new line item. If you have a master agreement in place for the contract, you can select From master agreement. For this step by step, select Add existing line item.
The Add existing line item dialog box opens.
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Select a line item.
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Click Add. The line item is added to your vendor change order
You can also add a line by copying an existing line. To copy a line in the Line items register, select the line and then click the Copy icon. Select Line item to copy to the register. You can select which sections you want to copy. You can then edit the line item is needed. The copied line item ID is New. A line item ID is assigned after the VCO is executed.
Pull schedule items into the Line items page
After you update the quantities for a submission in the Schedule of values tab, you can pull the items from the schedule of values to update the line items page.
Considerations: The Pull from schedule items button is enabled if any of the schedule items have a Contract line item ID. When the line item ID is blank on all schedule of value items, the Pull from schedule items button is disabled, and you cannot pull items from the schedule of values.
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From the Line items tab, click Pull from schedule items. A warning message indicates that values in the line items will be overwritten. If the associated line item has a unit price of zero, the message indicates that the adjustment quantity and unit price cannot be calculated and asks if you want to proceed.
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Click Yes. The values from the Schedule of values page overwrite the values on the Line items page. If there are no values on the Schedule of values page, Contract sets the quantity and net price to 0.00. Any value or line item that is not associated to schedule items is removed. If the line item has a unit value of zero, no values are calculated for the Change order adjustments section of the vendor change order. You can add them manually.
Import and export line items
A convenient way to add line items is to import them using a line items template. You can also export line items for reviewing and updating offline. You can import or export from the vendor change order Line items tab.
Import line items
Contract provides an import template that you can use to enter line items in bulk. From a vendor change order, go to the Line items tab, and then click the Import data from template icon.
The Import data from template opens, and you can click Import template to download the template. InEight updates the template frequently to match the updates to Contract, so it is recommended to download a new template each time you plan to import.
The first page of the template contains the instructions for the templates. The guidelines describe the information on the import template, exporting with data, and how to update or add more information to the existing data. The Template page is where you enter you line items. The columns are color coded to indicate which columns are system generated, required data, optional data, and ignored data. You can complete the required areas for the line items. After you complete the spreadsheet, save it and drag it onto the dialog box, and then click Import to import the line items into contract.
Contract validates the dates based on the person who imports the data. If the dates do not match the preferences of that person, Contract generates an error in the import history and removes the date.
Do not change the name of the spreadsheet tabs.
After importing, you receive an email message listing status, the total line items, the total imported, and number of errors. If the status is pending, click the Review data link to see the line items that have completed and those with errors. You can correct the lines with errors from the Import history grid, select them, and then click Import to continue with the import process. The import is reprocessed, and Contract sends you an email message when the import is completed. The VCO line items tab shows the lines that were imported with the Line item ID New.
Export line items
The export function lets you export line items with data. If there are no line items in the VCO but there are line items for the contract, the export template lists all lines tied to the contract. If you add a line to the VCO and you export with data again, it only pulls the line that you added. The line does not have a line item ID.