Stop the chaos of disconnected emails. Discover how PACE creates a seamless, traceable thread from a simple site query to a fully approved budget update.
Introduction: The “Innocent” Query That Changes Everything
In the lifecycle of any project, major changes often start as minor queries. A clarifying question about a material specification. A query about site working conditions. A request for a design tweak.
These are handled through Requests for Information (RFIs). In many systems, RFIs live in one silo (or worse, in email threads), while Change Orders live in another. The disconnect between these two is where projects bleed money. When a Change Order lands on an approver’s desk weeks later, the context—“Why are we spending this extra $50k?”—is often lost.
PACE (by Frontrol) eliminates this disconnect. It includes an end-to-end workflow that links the initial question (RFI) directly to the financial & schedule consequence (Change Order), creating an unbreakable chain of evidence and traceability.
Step 1: Centralizing the Conversation (The RFI)
It starts with a question. PACE allows your team to raise and manage RFIs for every scenario:
- Scope Clarification: “Is the perimeter fencing included in this phase?”
- Engineering & Design: “The drawings show a conflict in the HVAC ducting.”
- Material Substitution: “Can we swap Grade A steel for Grade B due to shortages?”
- Commercial Terms: “Clarification on payment milestones.”
Instead of chasing emails, you track every RFI within PACE. You see when it was sent, who is responsible (ball in court), and more importantly, the Response.
Step 2: The Bridge—When an Answer Becomes a Change
This is the game-changer. Let’s say the customer responds to your material substitution RFI with: “Yes, you can use Grade B, but we expect a credit,” or “No, stick to Grade A, even if it delays the schedule.”
That response has a tangible impact. In PACE, you don’t just close the RFI and open a separate spreadsheet for the change. You initiate a Change Order directly from the RFI.
- Traceability: The Change Order is permanently linked to the RFI.
- Context: Anyone looking at the financial change can click back and see the original engineering query and the client’s specific instruction.
Step 3: Capturing the Three Dimensions of Impact
Not all changes are created equal. PACE’s Change Order feature allows you to capture the specific nature of the impact:
- Cost Only: Internal re-work that eats into margins but doesn’t change revenue.
- Revenue & Cost: A client-requested addition that increases both the budget and the billing.
- Schedule Impact: A delay caused by site conditions that shifts the timeline that might not change the cost.
Step 4: The “Zero-Tax” Approval & Implementation
Once the Change Order is defined, it enters a rigorous Approval Workflow.
- For the Approver: They have total visibility. They aren’t just approving a number; they are approving a story. They can see the linked RFI, the customer’s response, and the calculated impact in one view.
- For the Project Manager: Once approved, PACE does the heavy lifting. The system automatically updates the project budget and schedule.
- No manual reconciliation.
- No “taxing” the PM with administrative data entry.
- The project baseline is updated instantly to reflect the new reality.
Conclusion: The Power of Traceability
By coupling RFI management with Change Orders, PACE ensures that no change happens in a vacuum. You get a complete audit trail—from the moment a question was asked to the moment the budget was updated. This isn’t just project control; it’s Smart Project Control.
