Commitment vs prime contract change orders
Procore locks change order tier settings once change orders exist. Here is how that choice sets where a CCO and a PCCO start in the workflow.
Set the tier on Procore’s Prime Contracts tool and on its Commitments tool before anyone creates a change order, and have finance sign off on both. A prime contract change order (PCCO) is the change you send to the project owner. A commitment change order (CCO) is the change you send to the downstream collaborator. The tier decides whether each one starts as a change order or as a potential change order. This rests on Procore’s support articles on change order tiers and its tutorial on creating a CCO from a PCCO.
Why does the tier matter before the first change order?
Changes on a job run in two directions. They go upward to the owner through the Prime Contracts tool. They go downward to subcontractors and suppliers through the Commitments tool. Procore’s support article on change order tier settings in Project Financials says the setting determines the number of steps that must be completed when creating change orders for a client contract, commitment, funding, or prime contract. Your team can choose a 1-tier, 2-tier or 3-tier configuration. The article is plain about timing: always configure the setting before allowing your team to create change orders. After you create one or more change orders on a Project Financials tool, you cannot change your setting. A rushed choice in week one stays with that project. The same rule of one record per change, from first request to signed document, applies on the selling side of quote-to-order work.
How do a PCCO and a CCO move under each tier?
On the Prime Contracts tool, the 1-tier setting lets the team create a change order when there is a change to the original scope of work on a prime contract. PCCOs can then be sent to the project owner for approval. The 2-tier setting is Procore’s default there: the team first creates a potential change order (PCO), and PCOs can then be grouped into a PCCO. The 3-tier setting, which Procore calls uncommon, puts a change order request between the two.
The Commitments tool offers the same three settings, but its default is 1-tier, where CCOs can be sent to the downstream collaborator for approval. Under 2-tier, the team first creates a commitment potential change order (CPCO). Procore’s tutorial on creating a CCO from a PCCO states the sequence: with 1 tier, Prime Contracts starts with a PCCO and Commitments can start with a CCO. With 2 or 3 tiers, you start with a Prime Contract PCO or a CPCO. This means a project left on defaults has a potential step on the owner side and none on the subcontract side.
Where does the budget show the cost?
The tutorial applies only when the Change Events tool is turned off. It requires ‘Admin’ permissions on the Prime Contracts tool. From a Prime Contract PCO’s Schedule of Values tab, a user clicks Create CPCO and picks the commitment contract. For the Procore Standard Budget View, Draft and Rejected CCO costs are not reflected in the budget. Pending - In Review and Pending - Revised show as “Pending Changes”, and Approved shows as “Committed Costs”. You can also compare the CCO to its PCO line item and view any variance. We would make that variance the CFO’s standing check.
Which tier should each tool use?
The decision is how many steps each side needs before cost reaches the budget, fixed per tool before the first change order.
| Option | We would choose it when | What we would check first |
|---|---|---|
| Procore defaults: Prime 2-tier, Commitments 1-tier | Owner changes need pricing first, subcontract changes are simple | Whether each CCO still traces to a PCO |
| 2-tier on both tools | You want a potential step before cost hits either contract | Who groups PCOs and CPCOs, and how often |
| 3-tier on Prime Contracts | Your owner signs one combined change order per billing period | Who approves change order requests before grouping |
| 2 or 3 tiers with collaborator PCOs | Field teams and subcontractors raise most changes | Whether a Beta feature fits your controls |
What to do this quarter
- Pull the tier setting on the Prime Contracts and Commitments tools for every project with no change orders yet.
- Name one approver per tool for the tier choice, with finance signing before setup closes.
- Check whether the Change Events tool is on, since the CCO-from-PCCO steps apply only when it is off.
- Measure the value of CCOs in Pending - In Review and Pending - Revised each month, and how long they sit there.
- Review CCO lines added to the budget with a “?” and name who clears them.
What this means for a bottleneck worth $1M or more
The tier setting is one switch inside project information operations. The larger exposure sits in changes that live in email and site notes but not yet as a PCO, CPCO or CCO. When that gap spans many projects, we would redesign change capture as one domain. Rules handle the predictable steps, such as cost code matching and status routing. AI reads the messy inputs, such as field notes and subcontractor quotes, and drafts the PCO. People approve every change order and budget move. AI never decides alone.
Limits of this evidence
These are Procore help articles. They describe settings and steps, not how often each tier is used or what it does to margin, cycle time or claims. They do not cover the Change Events workflow in detail or any other construction software. The budget effects listed apply to the Procore Standard Budget View, and custom views are not described. Nothing here benchmarks one tier against another.
Questions buyers ask
Can we change the tier setting later?
Not on a tool that already has change orders. Procore's tier settings article says that after you create one or more change orders on a Project Financials tool, you cannot change your setting.
What is the difference between a CCO and a PCCO?
A PCCO changes the prime contract and can be sent to the project owner for approval. A CCO changes a commitment and can be sent to the downstream collaborator for approval.
When does a CCO show up in the budget?
In the Procore Standard Budget View, an Approved CCO shows as "Committed Costs" and both Pending statuses show as "Pending Changes". Draft and Rejected CCOs are not reflected in the budget.
Sources
Sources give context. Dates show when each was last checked.