Change Requests: Implementation Checklist
The following sections provide details you can use to ensure that the system is configured properly for the processing of change requests, and to understand (and change, if needed) the settings that affect the processing workflow.
Implementation Checklist
We recommend that before you initially create change requests, you make sure the needed features have been enabled, settings have been specified, and entities have been created, as summarized in the following checklist.
| Form | Tasks to Perform |
|---|---|
| Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form |
Make sure that the Project Accounting, Change Orders, and Change Requests features are enabled. |
| Projects Preferences (PM101000) form | Make sure that all necessary settings related to project accounting have been
specified. For more information about configuration steps that you have to perform
before you can start accounting for projects, see Basic Project Configuration: General Information. Also, make sure that the default markups are specified on the General tab (Markups section). For more information about configuring markups, see Change Requests: Configuration of Markups. |
| Change Order Classes (PM203000) form | Make sure that all needed change order classes have been configured and the Two-Tier Change Management check box has been selected for these classes in the Summary area. |
| Account Groups (PM201000) form | Make sure that the default line markup is specified for all the needed account groups of the Expense type in the Default Line Markup, % box on the Change Request Settings tab. |
| Non-Stock Items (IN202000) form | Make sure that the default price markup is specified for all the needed inventory items in the Markup % box on the Price/Cost tab (Price Management section). |
| Stock Items (IN202500) form | Make sure that the default price markup is specified for all the needed inventory items in the Markup % box on the Price/Cost tab (Price Management section). |
| Projects (PM301000) form |
Make sure that the project has been created, as described in Project Creation and Processing: General Information. Also, make sure that the Change Order Workflow check box is selected on the Summary tab (Project Properties section) and the document markups are configured properly on the Defaults tab (Document Markups table). |
Project Commitment Checklist
If you want to use the functionality of change requests to manage changes in commitments, make sure that all the needed features have been enabled and settings have been specified, as described in Committed Costs: Implementation Checklist.
Other Settings That Affect the Workflow
You can affect the workflow of managing changes in projects by specifying additional settings as follows:
- By default, the CHANGERST numbering sequence specifies that the change request identifier is an automatically generated numeric string of six digits, such as 000001. To change the format of change request identifiers, adjust the CHANGERST numbering sequence on the Numbering Sequences (CS201010) form or create a new auto-numbered numbering sequence and select this sequence in the Change Request Numbering Sequence box on the General tab (Numbering Sequence section) of the Projects Preferences (PM101000) form. For more information on numbering sequences, see Use of Numbering Sequences.
- To allow users to create change requests by using the Create Change Request command on the More menu of the Projects (PM301000) form, for the numbering sequence used for change requests, clear the Manual Numbering check box in the Summary area of the Numbering Sequences form.
- To make it possible to create a change order for a change request selected on the Change Requests (PM308500) form, select the change order class that supports
the two-tier change management in the Default Change Order Class
box on the General tab (General Settings
section) of the Projects Preferences form. That is, the selected change order
class must have the Two-Tier Change Management check box selected
on the Change Order Classes (PM203000) form.Note: Even if the default change order class selected in the project accounting preferences does not support the two-tier change management, you still can add a change request to a change order by creating a change order directly on the Change Orders (PM308000) form, selecting for this change order a change order class that supports the two-tier change management, and adding the change request to the change order.
- To cause the system to automatically select a revenue account group for new estimation lines of a change request if there are multiple account groups of the Income type defined on the Account Groups (PM201000) form, specify the Default Revenue Account Group for account groups of the Expense type in the Summary area of the Account Groups form. For more information on account groups, see Account Groups: General Information.
- To cause the system to automatically select the Creates Commitment check box for a new estimation line with a particular account group selected on the Change Requests form, which results in creation of a commitment based on such an estimation line, select the Creates Commitment check box on the Settings tab of the Account Groups form for this account group. For example, it can be an account group to which you map the expense accounts of the services that a subcontractor usually provides.
With these settings specified, users in your company can process change requests quickly and accurately with a minimum of manual actions.
Validation of Configuration
To make sure that all configuration has been performed correctly, we recommend that you process a change request by performing instructions similar to those described in Change Requests: Process Activity.