Signing the change order is the halfway point. For the change to be real everywhere, four more things have to happen: the cost budget is revised for the new scope, the matching sub change order (a commitment change) is issued, a new SOV line is added so the work can be billed, and the forecast and WIP pick up the new contract value and cost.
Sample data: on Riverside, CO #14 adds $86,400 to the contract. Summit Mechanical's subcontract gets a $68,000 change order (CCO-03). CO #14 becomes SOV line 10 and is billed on Pay App #9 at 80% (60% installed plus 20% stored), $69,120 before retainage. Then the WIP catches up.
When those steps live in different systems, each one is a chance to drift: an owner CO approved but no sub CO issued, a sub CO issued against the wrong code, a change billed before it was executed. A change order log that tracks each change through every step, with dates and amounts, is the simplest control.
The question to ask every month: for each executed change order, is it in the budget, the commitments, the SOV and the forecast?