18.8 Change Order Plans

Change Order Approval Plans allow an Administrator to specify a specific approval plan that Purchase Order changes will follow. This allows you to route Purchase Order changes through a different approval process than an original Requisition or Purchase Order. This approach has a number of benefits:

• Administrators can ensure Changes are routed appropriately without unnecessary duplicate approval that may slow the approval process for a PO Change.
• Certain categories of PO Change can be “ignored” and therefore ensure that only significant PO Changes are captured by the approval plan and routed for approval.
• Only PO changes that meet certain criteria (e.g. the value has increased by a certain percentage) are captured by the approval plan, therefore allowing minor adjustments to be processed quickly and efficiently.

When creating an approval plan for a change order, you must select the Plan Type: Change Order Approval.

A user can therefore have four plans: a Requisition Plan, Order Plan, Invoice Settlement Plan and a Change Order Plan assigned to them in their Approval Rule Group. If a Change Order Approval Plan is not assigned to a user, any PO Changes they submit will not go through any approval and may be transmitted directly to the supplier. Change Order Approval Plans have the same characteristics, page layout and navigation as Requisition and Order Request Approval Plans. A Change Order Approval Master Plan can use the same sub plans that are used in Order plans but not Requisition plans.

Change Order Plan Criteria

This plan Type has the same criteria as order approval, plus the following additional criteria:

• Percent Change between PO Change order amount and Original PO order amount.
• Percent Change between PO Change order amount and most current PO or PO Change order amount.
• Amount Change between PO Change order amount and Original PO order amount.
• Amount Change between PO Change order amount and most current PO or PO Change order amount.
• Modification to the following fields:
  • Date Requested
  • Financial Tracking Codes
  • Attachments (internal or external)
  • Comments (internal or external)
  • Delivery Address
  • Payment Terms or Method
  • Delivery Method or Name
  • Freight or FOB Terms

These criteria allow a plan to route a PO Change based on both percent and actual amount change. For example, if the value of the Purchase Order Change is more than 10% greater than the original order’s amount, route it for approval.

If a Change Order type plan is not assigned to an approval rule group, Change Orders will not be approved but transmitted directly to the supplier without approval.