This page gives you visibility into vendor agreements tied to your projects, showing what has been committed financially before invoices arrive. It helps teams stay aligned on budgets, scope, and vendor expectations.
Purpose
The Commitments tab plays a central role in SubBase by capturing and tracking vendor agreements so project teams can manage financial exposure, pricing and quantity commitments, and budget alignment before and during procurement.
Overview
This is where SubBase brings structure to vendor agreements that sit between planning and invoicing. Users typically land here to understand what has already been committed for a project, confirm agreed pricing or quantities, and maintain financial clarity as orders and invoices progress. This page supports proactive budget control by making commitments visible and traceable across projects.
Who Can Do This
This tab is typically available to Admins and Purchasers, but visibility depends on company configuration and permissions.
Before You Start
Before using the Commitments tab, projects, vendors, and cost or budget codes should already exist in SubBase. Some organizations may also require approval workflows to be enabled for commitments.
What You Can See and Do in the Commitments Tab
When you open this page, you see a table view of commitments across all projects or filtered to a single project. Each row represents a commitment tied to a specific vendor and project, with key financial and reference information visible at a glance.
From this tab, you can:
Switch between all projects or a specific project using the project selector to control what data is shown.
Search commitments by vendor name, project, or keyword to quickly locate specific agreements.
Review committed pricing, quantities, and associated cost or budget codes without opening each record.
Sort and scan the table to understand current financial exposure across projects.
Export commitment data for reporting, reconciliation, or accounting review.
In addition to viewing existing records, this tab supports different types of commitments. You may see commitments created for:
Material commitments, used to lock in agreed pricing and quantities for commonly ordered materials.
Budget commitments, used to track planned or reserved spend against specific cost structures.
Concrete commitments, which are planned for future availability and will support trade-specific workflows.
The available commitment types help teams adapt the Commitments tab to different procurement and budgeting needs while keeping all agreements centralized.
Icons and Indicators
The table includes visual indicators and controls that help you understand commitment status and details without opening each record:
Status labels show where a commitment sits in its lifecycle, such as drafted, approved, delivered, or invoiced.
Column headers can be used to sort commitments by project, vendor, expiration date, or status.
Action icons allow quick access to view or manage individual commitment records, depending on permissions.
Supporting Info
How Commitments Relate to RFQs and Orders
How Commitments Relate to RFQs and Orders
Commitments connect upstream pricing decisions and downstream purchasing activity. Teams may use RFQs to gather and negotiate pricing, convert agreed terms into commitments for tracking, and later issue individual orders that draw against those commitments as work progresses.
Commitment Status Visibility
Commitment Status Visibility
Commitments reflect their progression as related orders and invoices move forward. This allows teams to quickly see which commitments are still active, which have been fulfilled, and which have been fully invoiced.
Project and Budget Alignment
Project and Budget Alignment
Each commitment is tied back to a specific project and budget structure. This ensures committed amounts can be reviewed alongside actual spend, helping prevent budget overruns before they happen.
Troubleshooting
I cannot see the Commitments tab
I cannot see the Commitments tab
This usually means your role does not have access. Check with an Admin to confirm your permissions.
A commitment is missing from my view
A commitment is missing from my view
Make sure the correct project is selected and that any filters or search terms are cleared.
FAQs
Are commitments the same as orders?
Are commitments the same as orders?
No. Commitments represent agreed pricing or quantities with vendors, while orders are the actual purchase transactions sent to vendors.
Best Practices
Use commitments to lock in pricing and scope before issuing orders.
Regularly review commitments alongside orders and invoices to maintain budget accuracy.
Keep commitment data clean and consistent so reporting and exports remain reliable.