Departures Register: every scope change, from first sighting to variation

Every scope change now has a home in Deep Space, from the moment it surfaces to the variation it becomes. User story As a QS or Commercial Manager, I tracked every drawing revision, site instruction and latent condition in an Excel register that lived outside Deep Space, so I can now log departures as they land, see my open exposure live, and turn the ones that firm up into variations without retyping a thing. Before Deep Space held the outputs of change, your head contract and subcontract variations, but not the event that started them. Scope changes sat in a spreadsheet with a SUM formula at the top, rebuilt at month end. The link between "the scope moved" and "we raised a variation" lived in someone's inbox, and the exposure number you took into PCG was only as fresh as the last time someone updated the sheet. After Commercial now has a Departures Register. Log a departure in under a minute, watch your open exposure update as you work, push it into Risk & Opportunity, and convert it to a head contract or subcontract variation when it firms up. Both records stay linked, and every step is on the record. How it works, step by step Step 1. Find the register Open any project and go to Commercial > Departures Register (1). Hit Log departure (2) to capture a new one. The summary strip at the top (3) is your PCG number: open exposure split by status, what has converted to date, and the programme days at risk. Step 1: Commercial > Departures Register, the Log departure button, and the live exposure strip Step 2. Log a departure Only the title is required (1). Add the source type and any references you have (2), such as SI-021 or S-110 Rev B. Put in a rough cost and time impact if you know them (3). Leave the cost blank and it records as nil, not $0, so it never distorts your exposure. Click Log departure (4). Step 2: the Log departure form. Title is the only required field Step 3. Track it and refine it The new departure lands at the top of the register as Open (1) and the exposure recalculates straight away (2). The detail drawer opens beside the register. Use Move to (3) to progress it through Under Review, Firming Up, Absorbed or Rejected. Every field edits in place (4), and every change is written to the Activity tab, so a $10k estimate that grows to $46k is on the record. Step 3: the new departure in the register, the updated exposure, and the detail drawer Step 4. Push the exposure into Risk & Opportunity While a departure is still open, click Link to Risk & Opportunity. One Risk is created in Cost Forecasting with the departure estimate as the Most Likely value (1). Confirm with Link (2). The link is one-way, so anything you refine in Forecasting stays in Forecasting. Step 4: linking an open departure to the Risk & Opportunity register Step 5. Convert it to a variation when it firms up Click Convert to variation and choose a head contract variation or a subcontract variation (1). The head contract is selected for you, or pick the subcontract for an SVO (2). The preview (3) shows exactly what carries across: title, value, cost code, time impact, description and source references. Click Raise HVO or Raise SVO (4). Step 5: Convert to variation, with a preview of everything that carries across Step 6. The trail stays linked The departure flips to Converted and locks (1), because the variation now carries the change. Link chips (2) jump straight to the variation and the Risk & Opportunity entry. The Activity tab shows how the estimate moved (3), when it became formal money, and that the linked risk was flagged for closure (4). Step 6: a converted departure with its variation and R&O links, and the full activity trail Step 7. The variation knows where it came from Open the variation and it shows Raised from departure with a link back (1). On the Variations register, a DEP chip marks every variation raised this way (2). Value, time impact and type arrive pre-filled (3), and the variation starts as a Draft in your normal approval flow. Step 7: the head contract variation, raised from the departure and linked back to it Step 8. Forecasting stays honest In Cost Forecasting > Risk & Opportunity, every linked entry shows the departure it came from (1). When that departure converts, the entry is flagged Pending closure (2), so you close it once the variation is agreed and the money is never counted twice. The departure estimate sits as Most Likely (3), and the Net Most Likely flows into your WIP report margin as R&O Adjust (4). Step 8: the R&O register, showing the source departure and the Pending closure flag Step 9. Filter, search and export Filter by status with live counts (1). Search titles, refs and source references (2), so typing SI-0 pulls up every departure tied to a site instruction. Export (3) to Excel or CSV gives you exactly the view you have filtered. Step 9: status filters, search and export Impact The change ledger every QS already keeps now lives next to the contracts it affects. The open exposure number is ready for PCG without an export. Every variation raised this way shows where it came from. And when a dispute lands, you can show when the change surfaced, how the estimate moved, and when it became a formal variation, all from one record. Good to know Linked Risk & Opportunity entries flow into WIP report margin (R&O Adjust) and the forecast snapshot margin bridge. They don't yet change the per cost code forecast EAC.