Commitments
Subcontracts and purchase orders, their line items, and the change orders that revise them
Commitments are the buy-out: the subcontracts and purchase orders the job is built with. Open Commitments in the LEDGER rail.
The Commitments tool defaults to NONE on every seed role except Project Manager, which gets ADMIN, and Superintendent, which gets READ_ONLY. The buy-out spread is margin data, which is why it is a separate permission from the prime contract.
The rollup strip
Above the register, four figures read left to right in the order a buy-out is read:
Original then + Approved change orders then Revised then Invoiced to date, with a bar underneath and a status donut showing where the commitments sit in their lifecycle.
Every number there is computed by the server. Invoiced to date comes from the
subcontractor invoice chain, which you may not have permission to read. When
that happens the leg shows an unavailable marker with the reason rather than
$0.00. "Nothing has been billed" and "what has been billed could not be read"
are different facts, and a commitment is made differently against each.
Record a commitment
- Open Commitments and create one.
- Choose the kind: Subcontract or Purchase Order.
- Pick the vendor. If the vendor directory is not readable to you, type the name.
- Enter the title and the original value.
- Add the line items. Each carries a budget code and a value.
The lines must sum exactly to the commitment's original value. Saving a set that does not balance is refused, and the refusal states the difference.
Commitment numbers come from a per-project counter that never reuses a number.
Lifecycle
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Draft | Being prepared |
| Out for Bid | Issued for pricing |
| Out for Signature | Sent for execution |
| Executed | Signed. Counts into the budget's Committed Costs column |
| Complete | Closed out |
| Terminated | Ended. Terminal |
| Action | From | To |
|---|---|---|
| Send for bid | Draft | Out for Bid |
| Send for signature | Draft, Out for Bid | Out for Signature |
| Return to draft | Out for Bid, Out for Signature | Draft |
| Execute | Out for Signature | Executed |
| Mark complete | Executed | Complete |
| Reopen | Complete | Executed |
| Terminate | any status | Terminated |
Execute, Mark complete and Terminate all require Commitments ADMIN. Only Terminated is terminal, so a commitment closed out early can be reopened.
Executed and Complete are what feed Committed Costs on the Budget register.
Editing the commercial substance of a commitment (its value, vendor, lines) requires Commitments ADMIN. Filing-only changes such as attaching the executed document need STANDARD.
The compliance column
The register carries a compliance column reporting the server's own three-way answer for the vendor: a rollup of their document status, Not tracked when the vendor is not linked to a directory record, or Compliance unavailable when the lookup itself failed. A failed lookup is never dressed as "not tracked", and no green check is ever drawn from an unread answer.
Read a subcontract out of a PDF
Extract from PDF runs one metered AI read over an attached agreement and returns a preview. Confirming it creates a draft commitment through the ordinary create path and hands the proposed lines to the line editor as prefill. Nothing is written until you confirm. The read covers up to 60 pages.
Commitment change orders
A commitment change order (CCO) revises a commitment's value. Per-commitment CCOs live inside a commitment's detail. The Commitment Change Orders register in the rail is the project-wide view, searchable in both numbering spaces, yours and the vendor's own, so you can answer "which commitment does this EWO belong to?".
| Status | Effect |
|---|---|
| Draft | Recorded. Moves nothing |
| Pending | Submitted for approval |
| Approved | Counted into the commitment's revised value. Terminal |
| Void | Terminal |
| Action | From | To |
|---|---|---|
| Submit | Draft | Pending |
| Return to draft | Pending | Draft |
| Approve | Pending | Approved |
| Void | Draft, Pending | Void |
Approving and voiding both require Commitments ADMIN.
Approved is frozen. There is no un-approve and no edit. To correct an approved change order, issue a reversing one, so both facts stay on the record.
Revised value = original value + the sum of approved change orders. Only approved CCOs count.
CCOs can be created in batches of up to 50. A batch is not a transaction: every row is attempted on its own, and a mixed result is reported as such rather than as a whole-batch success or failure.
Limits
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Commitments per project | 2,000 |
| Lines per commitment | 500 |
| Change orders per commitment | 500 |
| Rows in one change-order batch create | 50 |
Troubleshooting
Saving the lines is refused. They do not sum to the commitment's original value. The message states the difference.
Approving a change order is refused with a permission error. Approval requires Commitments ADMIN, not STANDARD.
Invoiced to date shows a marker instead of an amount. Either the invoice chain could not be read, or you do not have Invoicing permission on this project.
A change order was approved by mistake. It cannot be edited or unapproved. Issue a reversing change order.