Change Request Log app

The Change Request Log app by Scoro lets you log, assess, and approve every change to an agreed project scope, timeline, or budget in one place, replacing change requests otherwise scattered across email threads, meeting notes, and spreadsheets. This gives project managers, delivery leads, and account managers a clear record of what was requested, what it costs, and what the client signed off on.

This article walks you through how the Change Request Log app works and how to activate, configure, and use it.

1. How the Change Request Log app works

A change request is a record of a requested modification to a project's agreed scope, timeline, or budget.

The Change Request Log app by Scoro lets you log every change request in a consistent format, assess its impact on scope, timeline, and budget, and record whether it has been approved and formally signed off by the client.

Each change request can be linked to a project, a quote, and a client, and it also appears in the Details tab of the related project and contact, so the full history of changes sits next to the work it affects. You move each request through its statuses manually, from Proposed and Under Review to Approved or Rejected/Cancelled.

Every team member can interact with the app according to their role – for example:

• Project managers and delivery leads log change requests, assess their impact on scope, timeline, and budget, and move them through review and approval.
• Account managers record the approval decision and the client's sign-off, and use the log as a reference when discussing costs with the client and preparing invoices.
• Site admins manage who can access the app and customize statuses, tags, and drop-down values to match the team's delivery process.

Key benefits of the Change Request Log app:

• A paper trail for every change: Every request is logged with a number, a status, and an owner from the start, so changes agreed in calls or chats no longer get actioned without a record.
• A consistent impact assessment: Rate the impact on scope, timeline, and budget on a shared scale, and record the estimated effort, budget impact, and timeline shift in days, so the conversation with the client starts from the same view of what the change costs.
• Formal approval and sign-off on record: Approval date, approval notes, and a client sign-off checkbox are captured directly on the request, so the answer to when a change was agreed and by whom is one click away instead of buried in an inbox.
• Discussion and evidence in one place: Comments and files live on the change request itself, next to the decision they support.
• Change requests linked to projects and clients: Change requests appear in the Details tab of the related project and contact, so scope history sits alongside the tasks, time, and invoices it relates to rather than in a separate spreadsheet.

2. Activating the Change Request Log app

Site administrators can activate the Change Request Log app:

• From the Scoro App Store – click the Get this app button;
• From your Scoro site – go to Settings > Administration > Plan, add-ons and billing, click the Configure plan button (if your site's on the new pricing plan) or the Manage add-ons button (if your site's on a legacy plan), and enable the Change Request Log app. See the Plan, add-ons and billing article for step-by-step instructions on managing your add-ons.

Once activated, the Change Request Log app will appear on your site menu. At first, only the site admin who activated the app can access it, so the first step is to give other users access.

3. Configuring the Change Request Log app

• Manage app permissions
• Customize statuses, tags, and drop-down values
• Set up notifications

3.1. Manage app permissions

Once the Change Request Log app is activated, it grants full permissions to the permission set of the site admin who enabled it. To customize the app permissions for other permission sets:

1. Go to Settings > Administration > Permission sets and click the Modules and actions button for the permission set you want to modify.
2. Scroll down to the Apps section and enable Change request log. This is the primary permission that grants access to the module. Then enable the sub-permissions that control what users with this permission set can do:
   • Add and modify entries – lets users create and modify the change requests they own (where they're set as the Owner).
   • View entries of other users – lets users see change requests owned by other users.
   • Modify entries of other users – lets users modify change requests owned by other users.
   • Delete entries – lets users delete the change requests they own, and those owned by other users if they can modify them.

For example, team members who raise change requests typically need Add and modify entries, project managers and account managers also need View entries of other users and Modify entries of other users to assess and approve requests logged by others, and Delete entries is best reserved for leads and admins.

For more information about managing user access, see our Permission sets article.

3.2. Customize statuses, tags, and drop-down values

The app comes with default values that work for most delivery teams. You can use them as they are or adjust them – add new options, edit or remove the existing ones – to match your own process.

Site admins can edit the available options for the following Change Request drop-down fields under Settings > Site settings > Custom fields:

• Source
• Change type
• Priority
• Impact on scope
• Impact on timeline
• Impact on budget

Change request entry tags can be managed under Settings > Site settings > Tags and relations. 

Default tags for Change request log entries:

• Commercial impact – Billable, Non-billable, Under negotiation. Defines the financial treatment of the change.
• Origin – Client-driven, Internal, Regulatory. Tracks the root cause or source of the change.
• Priority – Awaiting approval, Blocked, No action needed, Urgent. Gives immediate context for current bottlenecks.

Learn more about managing tags.

Change request statuses can be managed under Settings > Site settings > Statuses. 

Default statuses for Change request log entries:

• Proposed – the default status for every new change request, awaiting initial review.
• Under Review – the request is being assessed for impact and feasibility.
• Approved – the change has been formally accepted and can proceed.
• Delivered – the work associated with the change request has been completed.
• Deferred – the change has been put on hold for a future project phase.
• Rejected/Cancelled – the request has been denied or withdrawn.

Learn more about statuses.

3.3. Set up notifications

The Change Request Log app doesn't include any pre-configured notifications, giving your team the freedom to set up only the notifications that matter for your workflows.

If you want your team to be alerted in specific situations – for example, when a new change request is logged or when a request is approved – you need to set up the notification rules via triggers and actions using the change request log options. A site administrator or any site user can do this – for a full walkthrough, see our Triggers and actions article.

4. Logging a new change request

To add a new change request:

1. Open the Change request log module and click the + New button. Alternatively, you can create a new change request:
   • From the project detailed view – open the Details tab, scroll down to the Change request log section, and click the Add button. The Project field on the new change request will be filled in automatically.
   • From the contact detailed view – scroll down to the Change request log section, and click the Add button. The Client field on the new change request will be filled in automatically.
2. Fill out the details for your change request entry:
   • Set the basic information for your entry:
     • Owner – the owner is set to you by default; you can change it if you're creating a change request on behalf of another team member.
     • Nr – you can leave this field untouched, as Scoro numbers each change request automatically, or set the entry number based on your own preferences.
     • Title – enter a short name that identifies the change request.
     • Project, Quote, and Client – link the change request to the project, the financial quote, and the client it relates to.
     • Date raised – select the date the request was submitted.
   • Specify the entry classification:
     • Source – select where the request came from: Client request, Internal request, Regulatory requirement, Technical discovery, Bug fix, or Third-party dependency.
     • Change type – select the nature of the change: Scope addition, Scope reduction, Timeline change, Budget change, Technical change, or Process change.
     • Priority – select how urgent the request is: Critical, High, Medium, or Low.
   • Evaluate the impact assessment of the requested change:
     • Impact on scope, Impact on timeline, and Impact on budget – rate each as None, Minor, Moderate, or Major.
     • Estimated effort – enter the time required to implement the change.
     • Budget impact – enter the financial cost or value of the change. [TO VERIFY: currency used for this field.]
     • Timeline impact (days) – enter the number of days the project schedule will be extended.
     • Impact notes – add any details behind your impact assessment.
   • Specify further details if needed:
     • Description – describe the requested change in detail.
     • Justification – explain the reasoning or business case for the change.
     • Tags – add tags to give the request more context, such as its commercial treatment or origin.
   • If you're creating a new change request that is pending review or approval, ignore the fields in the Approval section. Or, if you're logging a change request that's already approved, you can specify the Approval date and provide free-form Approval notes if needed.
3. Set the entry status as needed – for example, set it to Proposed if it's a new request – and click Save.

5. Assessing and approving a change request

Users with permission to modify change request log entries can review the entries and take them from first review to a final decision. To do so, open the change request from the Change request log module and click Modify.

Review the change request and document the review process accordingly:

• Set the Status to Under Review while you assess the request, and complete the impact fields: Impact on scope, Impact on timeline, Impact on budget, Estimated effort, Budget impact, Timeline impact (days), and Impact notes.
• Once a decision has been made, set the Status to Approved, Deferred, or Rejected/Cancelled, enter the Approval date, and add the reasoning behind the decision in Approval notes.
• When the client has formally agreed to the change, select the Client sign-off received checkbox.
• Once the approved work is completed, change the Status to Delivered.

6. Adding comments and files

The change request entry detailed view includes Comments and Files sections. Use them to keep the discussion, supporting documents, and approval evidence on the change request itself, so that anyone reviewing the request later can see how the decision was reached.

7. Viewing change requests on projects and contacts

The Change request log section in the project view's Detailed tab and the contact detailed view lists each linked change request with most of the change request columns visible there. You cannot modify which columns are displayed there.

8. Modifying and deleting a change request

Users can modify the change requests they own if they have the Add and modify entries permission, and modify change requests owned by others if they have the Modify entries of other users permission.

Users with the Add and modify entries and Delete entries permissions can delete their own change request entries (or also those owned by other users if they have the Modify entries of other users) as follows:

1. Click on the change request entry name from the Change request log module (or the project or contact detailed views) and click Modify.
2. Click the Delete button and confirm your choice.

Once deleted, the change request entry is removed from your site permanently, along with its comments, but the following will remain on your site:

• The attached files – any files that were uploaded in the change request entry's detailed view remain available in your site's Files module.
• Projects and quotes that were created or linked from the deleted change request entry – these are not deleted, as only their link to the entry is removed.

9. Customizing the change request list and board views

The Change request log app offers multiple views:

• The list view displays all change requests you own, plus ones owned by other users if your permissions allow accessing them.
• The board view provides a more visual look at the change requests and allows you to move the entry cards as needed – for example, to update their status.

In the Change request log list and board views, you can use the following view customization options:

• Filters – use the Owner field to select whose change request entries you want to display, and click the Filters to uncover even more filters, such as Client, Project, Source, Quote, various date and impact-related filters, etc.
• Sorting – click View > Sorted by to select by which column you want to sort the view. In the list view, you can also simply click the column name to sort by it, and click it again to change the sorting order.

In the Change request log list view, you can also choose what columns to display in the list – click View > Data columns and choose the necessary columns, adjusting their order as you prefer.

In the Change request log board view, you can also:

• Customize the change request entry card details – click View > Field data and select the details you want to display on the change request card.
• Add rows – click View > Rows to add a row dimension – for example, to group the entries by owners – creating a matrix view for your change request log board view.

For detailed step-by-step instructions on customizing list and board views, see our Using filters, view options, and sorting data article.