Create and Apply Project Change Orders

Use a Change Order after commercial hand-off when agreed scope, deliverables, milestone or task groups, dates, value, billing stages, revision limits, assumptions or exclusions must change.

Permission required

You need Project management and Change Order access within the Project’s location and assignment scope. Applying accepted changes to billing, tasks or delivery also checks the corresponding Project permissions.

Decide whether a Change Order is required

Use a Change Order when the client must approve the change. Use ordinary planning edits for internal execution detail that does not alter the accepted outcome, price or commitment. Use a new follow-on Project when the request is a separate engagement.

Prepare and send

Control a post-agreement change

1. Open Delivery → Change Orders and create a Draft.
2. Explain why the change is needed and summarise its client impact.
3. Add the affected scope, deliverables, plan groups, dates, value, billing stages, revision allowances, assumptions or exclusions.
4. Preview the exact client-facing version and application plan.
5. Send it to an authorised client stakeholder.
6. Wait for Accepted, Changes Requested, Rejected or Expired.

Sent content is frozen. If the client requests changes, create and send a revision; earlier versions and responses remain preserved.

Important information

A message or comment is not a Change Order decision. The client must use the formal response on the exact version.

Apply an accepted Change Order

Acceptance records commercial consent but does not blindly mutate the Project. Review the application plan and apply it. Yepsta then creates or updates only the supported Project records and records the link back to the accepted version.

Application state can be Not Applicable, Pending, Applied or Blocked. A blocked application identifies the validation conflict—such as a lifecycle, plan or billing condition—so it can be resolved at the source. Repeating an applied action does not duplicate the change.

Accepted value changes update the current contract while preserving the original baseline. New billing stages must still reconcile. Added tasks and deliverables remain ordinary controlled Project records.

Warning

Do not manually edit the original Estimate or overwrite historic billing stages to imitate an accepted change. That breaks the commercial audit trail.

Monitor pending responses

Pending, expiring, changes-requested and blocked Change Orders can affect waiting on and the next best action. Safe reminder automations may notify eligible recipients, but they never accept or apply a change.

Tip

Keep one Change Order focused enough that the client can understand its total impact. If unrelated changes have different decision owners, separate them.

Related guides

• Create and revise Proposals before acceptance
• Reconcile billing changes
• Plan milestones and tasks
• Use the client workspace

Last reviewed: 1 September 2026