Single-Tier Change Management: Locking Commitments

If internal cost commitment tracking is configured in the system and the change order workflow is configured for a particular project, after the purchases on the project have been agreed on with vendors and entered into the system, you can lock the commitments for the project.

When you decide to prevent users from directly creating new commitments for the project, you select the project on the Projects (PM301000) form and click Lock Commitments on the More menu. Until you unlock the commitments for the project, you can process new purchases for the project only with change orders.

If commitments are locked for the project, the users cannot perform the following actions:

• Create new purchase orders for the project on the Purchase Orders (PO301000) form
• Add new lines to the existing purchase orders for the project on the Purchase Orders form
• Create new subcontracts for the project on the Subcontracts (SC301000) form
  Note: Subcontracts are available in the system if the Construction feature is enabled on the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form.
• Add new lines to the existing subcontracts for the project on the Subcontracts form

However, users can edit or delete the existing commitments that have been created before the lock by editing or deleting the corresponding purchase order lines or subcontract lines directly.

Once you decide to permit users to create new purchase orders and make changes to existing purchase orders for the project on the Purchase Orders form, you unlock the ability to process project commitments directly for the project by clicking Unlock Commitments on the More menu of the Projects form.

For more information on commitments, see Committed Costs: General Information.