After a change order is drafted, it moves through an approval process before its changes take effect on the project. The CEI routes the document, the contractor and owner sign, and the CEI approves it. This article covers each action on the change order's Review screen. To create a change order first, see Creating a Change Order.

Every change order shows a Ball in Court pill for who needs to act next: the CEI, the contractor, or the owner. When the ball is in your court, the pill is highlighted so you can spot the change orders that need your attention.

When a contractor submits a request, it appears with a status of Requested and the ball in the CEI's court. Open the change order to reach the Review screen, then use the Workflow panel.

To accept the request and turn it into a working change order:

The request becomes a Draft you can edit and route for signature.

To decline the request:

A rejected request becomes Archived.

When a draft is ready, route it for signature from the Workflow panel on the Review screen. Send it to the contractor first, then to the owner after the contractor signs.

To send to the contractor:

The status becomes Sent to Contractor, the ball moves to the contractor, and the contractor receives an email that it is their turn to sign.

After the contractor signs, the change order returns to your court. To send to the owner:

The status becomes Sent to Owner, the ball moves to the owner, and the owner receives an email.

Note: Send to Contractor appears only when the project has a contractor assigned as a stakeholder, and Send to Owner only when the project has an owner assigned. If the project has no contractor or owner to route to, approve the change order directly.

When a change order is in your court to sign, open it to reach the Review screen. The action panel shows Contractor Signature or Owner Signature and tells you the change order is awaiting your signature.

To sign:

After you sign, the change order returns to the CEI's court.

To decline:

A declined change order returns to the CEI's court with your reason shown on the approval trail. The CEI can address it and re-send it for signature.

Note: While it is not your turn, the change order is read-only and you see an Awaiting CEI Response panel instead of the signing actions.

CEI and agency users approve, or complete, a change order from the Workflow panel.

When you approve a change order, its item and timeline changes are applied to the project, the project's adjusted end date is locked in, and the status becomes Completed. The CEI, contractor, and owner all receive a confirmation email.

You do not have to collect every signature before approving. When a project has no contractor or owner to route to, click Approve to complete the change order directly.

The project may not have a contractor or owner assigned as a stakeholder. You can approve the change order directly instead. Also check that the change order is in a status that can be sent.

It is not your turn. Check the Ball in Court pill to see who needs to act. Stakeholders can only act when the change order is in their court.

Make sure you have drawn in the signature box before clicking Save Signature. An empty box does not save.

Approving is limited to CEI and agency manager roles: Administrator, Super Admin, and Project Manager.

Yes. Click Approve to complete a change order directly. This is useful when a project has no contractor or owner to route to.

The Send to Contractor button appears only when the project has a contractor assigned as a stakeholder, and Send to Owner only when it has an owner assigned. If neither exists, approve the change order directly.

No email is sent, but the CEI sees your decline reason on the change order's approval trail and can address it.

Oversite emails the relevant party when a contractor requests a change order, when the CEI sends it to the contractor, when the CEI sends it to the owner, and when the CEI approves it. Signing, declining, promoting, and rejecting do not send emails.