Change order

A change order is a request for a change to budget. You change a budget without a change order by making a change on the same form you used to define the budget, such as Life Only Budget (AC20.1). This process is different from the process of using change orders in several ways, as described in this table:


Changes made on budget forms	Changes made with change orders
Are effective immediately after you choose the Change form action Leave no audit trail or record of the change Automatically update all budgets (period, annual, and total) and keep them in balance	Must be released and approved before an actual budget change is made Can be automatically tracked by the application and can be reported on Automatically update all budgets (period, annual, and total) and keep them in balance

Rules for using change orders

Two key rules apply to change orders:

Each budget can have only one unreleased change order at a time.
Change orders must be maintained on the form on which they were defined. For example, change orders created on Period Budget Change Order (AC21.3) must also be maintained on AC21.3.

Integration with Infor Process Automation

You can use the Infor Process Automation application with change orders to notify you when change orders were entered and need to be approved and again when change orders were approved and need to be released.

Change orders and locked budgets

As an option, you can lock budgets to prevent them from any changes or deletion. You can also secure the locking procedure by limiting who can lock and unlock budgets. These rules apply to locked budgets:

Budgets are locked by activity group or activity and budget number. This means that you cannot change any activity group or activity budget for that budget number, but you can create or modify activity group or activity budgets under a different budget number.
You can enter change orders for a locked budget, but you cannot approve or release those change orders until the budget is unlocked.