Available in Sage 50 Premium Accounting and higher.
How To Use Change Orders
Change orders are used to keep track of changes made to estimates for a job.
You can only enter change orders for existing jobs. If you need to enter estimates for a new job, you should enter the job and the original estimates in Maintain Jobs.
Where do I enter change orders?
To enter a change order, click the Jobs navigation aid on the Customers & Sales Navigation Center and select New Change Order.
How change orders work
Enter the change order details and change amounts on the change order window. When the change order is approved, you can return to the change order and mark it as approved. If the change order is approved, you can update the job estimates. This updates the estimates on the job record for the change amounts in the change order. It will also update the projected end date if Change in schedule is checked on the change order.
You can also note if the change order has been applied to a transaction. This means that this change is reflected on a transaction such as a proposal or invoice. This is for informational purposes only. The change order is not automatically applied to any transactions.
Important! The primary purpose of change orders is to update estimated revenues. For this reason, you can only save change orders for jobs that have estimated revenues, even if the change orders are for updating estimated expenses or the projected end date.
Do I have to use a change order to change the estimates for a job?
No, you can change the estimate on the Estimated Expenses and Revenues tab in Maintain Jobs. However, using change orders gives you a way to keep track of details regarding the estimate change such as when the estimate changed, how much it changed by, and who approved the change.
Important! Once you have saved a change order for a job, you must use change orders to change the estimated expenses and revenues for that job.
Printing and Emailing Change Orders
To print a change order, open it on the Change Orders screen and click the Print button. To email a change order, open it on the Change Orders screen and click the Email button.
If you want to customize the Change Order form, click the Form Design button on the dialog that appears after you click the Print or Email button. You can also customize the form by going to Reports & Forms>Forms>Change Orders and clicking the Customize button.
The change order form shows changes to the estimated revenues and the projected end date. Those are the changes that your customers would need to know about. Changes to estimated expenses are not shown on this form.
Change Orders for Jobs with Percent of Proposal billing method
Estimated revenues for jobs with the Percent of Proposal billing method are applied to the job from proposals. Change orders cannot be used to update estimated revenues for these jobs. You must enter or update a proposal to change the estimated revenues.
Note: You can use change orders to update other estimates for jobs with the Percent of Proposal billing method, just not estimated revenues.
You can't print or email change orders for jobs with the Percent of Proposal billing method. Why not?
Change orders are sent to customers to inform them of changes to estimated revenues. Since you can't use a change order to change the estimated revenues for a job with the Percent of Proposal billing method, there is nothing to print on the form.