Change Requests

Need to change a PO or an invoice that's already in flight? Propose it, negotiate it, and let the platform apply it.

Overview​

Once you've accepted a PO, or submitted an invoice, its lines and amounts are locked in — you can't just edit them, and neither can your customer. Change requests are the negotiated way to amend an in-flight document:

• Propose a structured change to a PO or invoice — quantities, prices, lines, due dates, notes, taxes, charges.
• Respond to changes your customer proposes: Accept, Reject, or Counter with your own terms.
• Preview the document's end-state with recomputed totals before anyone commits.
• Accepted changes are applied automatically to the document, with the previous version kept for history.

Where to find it: the Change Requests list shows every request you're a party to, and each purchase order or invoice detail page carries its own change-request history. See Working with Purchase Orders and Invoicing a Purchase Order for the documents themselves.

1What a change request can propose​

A change request carries a structured set of changes, plus an optional Reason (up to 191 characters) — use it, because it's the first thing your customer reads. Every request must propose at least one change.

What a change request can't carry:

• Totals — always recomputed from the amended lines, taxes, and charges when the change applies; never edited directly.
• Currency and parties — locked to the document.

Which documents can be amended​

Draft invoices don't need a change request at all — edit the draft directly and submit when ready.

One active request at a time​

A document can only have one active change request in flight. Drafts don't count, so you can prepare one while another is pending — but you can't submit it until the pending one resolves (applied, rejected, countered, cancelled, or expired).

Important: while a change request is active on a document, its financial fields and its status are frozen on both sides. You can't accept or reject the PO, and the customer can't approve or pay the invoice, until the request resolves.

2Proposing a change to your customer​

Draft, then submit​

1. Create the change request on the PO or invoice. It starts as a Draft — private to you, nothing sent, nothing locked.
2. Submit when ready. Submission checks the document is still amendable and that no other request is active, then sends the proposal.

Spend policies on the platform belong to the buying side, so a request you submit isn't held for internal approval on your side — it goes straight to Sent To Counterparty and your customer is notified by email that a change request needs their review.

While your customer has it​

Your customer can respond in three ways:

Until they respond, you can Cancel the request to withdraw it — the document is untouched and unlocks immediately.

The customer's spend policies​

Your customer runs spend policies against the proposed end-state of the document — both when they submit a request and when they accept one of yours. That's why a request of yours can pause in Pending Counterparty Approval after acceptance, and why a request they raise may show as Pending Initiator Approval before it ever reaches you: their internal approver is reviewing it. Nothing is required from you while either approval is pending.

Automatic expiry​

When a request reaches Sent To Counterparty it carries an expiry date — 7 days ahead by default (the platform can configure a different window, or disable expiry). A sweep runs twice a day and lapses any request still unanswered past its expiry: it moves to Expired, the document unlocks, and the requester is emailed. This applies in both directions — a customer request you sit on will lapse too.

3Responding to a customer's proposal​

When your customer submits a change request against a PO they sent you or an invoice you raised, everyone on your team receives "A change request needs your review" by email, and the request appears on your Change Requests list in Sent To Counterparty.

Review the proposed end-state​

Open the request to see a preview of the document as it would look if you accepted — the merged header, the full line set after updates/additions/removals, taxes, charges, and recomputed totals. The preview uses the same calculation that applies the change, so what you see is exactly what you'd get.

Your three options​

Before applying, the platform re-checks that the document is still amendable — if it drifted in the meantime (e.g. the PO was fully invoiced), acceptance fails rather than amending a closed document.

What "applied" means​

On acceptance, the platform snapshots the document as it stood, merges the proposed changes, and saves the result through the same machinery that built the document — so totals are recalculated consistently and the previous version is preserved for history. The request finishes as Applied and the document unlocks.

4Statuses​

5Email notifications​

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Tips​

• Always give a Reason. A price change with "raw material cost increase on line 2" attached gets accepted faster than a bare number — and the reason stays on the audit record.
• Counter instead of rejecting when you're close. Rejection ends the thread; a counter keeps the negotiation going and the whole chain stays linked for reference.
• Respond within the window. A customer request you leave unanswered lapses after 7 days by default — and an expired request means they'll likely just re-send it, so deal with it while it's fresh.
• Remember the freeze. An active change request blocks the document's other actions — don't submit one on a PO you're about to invoice, or an invoice the customer is about to pay, unless the change genuinely has to land first.
• Don't use change requests for draft invoices. Drafts are yours to edit directly; change requests are for documents already in your customer's hands.

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Troubleshooting​

"I can't accept or reject the PO, or edit the invoice"​

An active change request freezes the document's financial fields and status — you'll see "Cannot edit … while a change request is pending on this document." Resolve the request (respond to it, or cancel it if it's yours) and the document unlocks.

"This document already has an active change request"​

Only one request may be in flight per document. Check the document's change-request history for the active one — if it's yours and unanswered, cancel it and submit the new version instead.

"This document can no longer be amended"​

A PO can only be amended before it's fully invoiced or rejected, and an invoice only while it's Sent or Approved. Past that point, agree the correction with your customer through a new document — e.g. a fresh invoice.

"I accepted the customer's change but the document hasn't updated"​

Acceptance applies the change immediately when it succeeds — if the document is unchanged, the accept call likely failed because the document had moved out of an amendable state. Check the document's current status and the change request's status.

"My request was accepted but shows Pending Counterparty Approval"​

Your customer accepted, but their spend policy requires an internal sign-off before the change applies. Nothing is needed from you — once their approver clears it the change applies and you'll receive the acceptance email; if they decline it, the request ends as Rejected with the document untouched.

"My request expired before the customer responded"​

Requests awaiting a response lapse after the expiry window (7 days by default). Expiry is terminal — raise a fresh request, and consider messaging the customer on the order so it doesn't sit unread again.

"I cancelled a request by mistake"​

Cancellation is terminal but harmless — the document was never touched. Create and submit a new request with the same changes.

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Need help?​

Contact your customer first for anything about the substance of a change — the negotiation is between the two of you. For platform issues, contact Axiom support with the change request's reference, the PO or invoice identifier, and the request's current status.