Project and progress claim software: the process, flow by flow

Creates the project from the letter of award with the client, contract sum, dates and payment terms.

• Contract sum before GST must equal the letter of award figure.
• Retention rate and cap, defects liability period, claim cut-off day, payment response period and payment period are entered with the clause number each comes from.
• Each subcontract and PO is later tagged as a construction contract or a supply contract, because the Act sets different response and due date rules for each.

Imports the priced BOQ or schedule of values as the contract items the client's QS will certify against.

• The sum of contract items must equal the contract sum to the cent, or the import is rejected.
• Provisional sums and prime cost sums are typed separately, since they are adjusted against actual cost and are not claimed by percentage.
• For a schedule of rates contract, items hold a rate and an estimated quantity, and claims are measured quantity times rate.

Maps each contract item to the cost codes that carry its cost.

• Every contract item needs at least one cost code before the project can be approved.
• Cost codes come from the company list; a new code needs the commercial manager.
• Subcontract scopes are mapped to the same contract items, so a subcontractor's claim can be compared with site progress on the same items later.

Sets the cost budget by cost code from the estimator's tender cost build-up.

• Each budget line keeps the estimator's basis (quantity and rate), so later variances can be traced to a quantity or a rate.
• Contract sum minus total budget gives the margin at award; a margin below the company minimum needs the director's approval with a note.

Approves the baseline of contract items, cost budget and contract terms.

• After approval the original contract sum and original budget are locked; they change only through approved variations and logged budget revisions.
• The approval is logged with the approver, the time and the baseline version.

Builds the claim calendar and opens the project to site updates, requisitions and the progress claim agent.

• Each claim date carries its payment response due date and payment due date, shown with the clause reference so the contracts manager can check them.
• The progress claim agent gets read access to the approved baseline only; it cannot change contract items, the contract sum or the budget.

Raises a requisition against the project, a cost code and, where it applies, a variation number.

• The cost code must belong to the project and be open.
• Cost for extra work must carry the VO number, so it can be shown against that variation instead of the base scope.

Works out the cost code position before and after the request.

• Spent and committed to date = actual cost booked + open PO balances + subcontract value not yet certified.
• Position after the request = spent and committed to date + request value before GST, compared with the revised budget for that cost code.
• Amounts are tracked before GST, since a GST-registered contractor recovers the GST on its bills.

Applies the warning thresholds to the position after the request.

• Below 90% of the revised cost code budget: no flag.
• From 90% to 100%: the approver sees the warning and the budget left.
• Above 100%: the project manager must give a reason and the project director must approve.

Approves the requisition, sends it back with a different cost code, or raises a budget transfer.

• Moving budget between cost codes is a budget transfer with its own approval and log entry, never an edit to the request.

Records the commitment when the PO or subcontract is approved in purchasing.

• A subcontract commits its full value at award; it draws down as claims are certified.
• Subcontract value above the budget for the mapped contract items is shown as a buyout loss on the cost code.

Moves cost from committed to actual as bills are approved and subcontract claims are certified.

• A goods receipt marks the PO value as received not billed, and it stays in open commitments until the bill is approved. The approved bill then reduces the open PO balance by the same amount.
• A certified subcontractor claim moves its certified gross value from committed to actual.
• A PO closed short releases its unused balance back to the cost code.

Shows the cost report by cost code with original budget, revised budget, actual, open commitments and budget left.

• Original and revised budgets sit side by side, so an overrun from variations can be told apart from an overrun in base scope.

Reads the instruction and drafts a variation record with its reference, date, issuer, description and photos.

• Matched to the project by project number, site address or the issuer's name on file.
• Fields it cannot read clearly are left blank for the project manager, never filled with a guess.
• An instruction from someone not named in the contract as able to instruct is flagged.

Confirms the record, which gives it the next VO number and the status instructed, unpriced.

• VO numbers run in sequence per project, so a gap shows a missing record.
• Cost can be booked against a VO from this point, so its cost is captured even before it is priced.

Prices the variation and splits its cost estimate by cost code.

• Order of pricing follows the contract's valuation clause: contract rates where the work matches an item, then rates derived from them, then cost plus the agreed overhead and profit.
• The cost estimate is split by cost code so it can become a budget revision once approved.

Sends the priced variation to the client with its build-up and photos.

• Messages to the client always stop at a person; the system never sends a VO by itself.
• The sent date is recorded, and a VO with no answer after the follow-up days set for the project goes on the follow-up list.

Records the client's decision with the signed VO or written approval attached.

• Priced value and approved value are both kept when they differ.
• Status becomes approved, rejected or approved at a different value; an unagreed balance stays as a separate pending item.

Adds the approved value to the revised contract sum and adds the VO as a line on the next progress claim.

• Revised contract sum = original contract sum + approved VOs; the original never changes.
• The VO is claimed by its own work done percentage, separate from the base contract items.

Posts the VO's cost estimate as a budget revision on the affected cost codes.

• Revised budget = original budget + posted revisions, with each revision linked to its VO.

Lists every instructed or pending VO in the weekly variation register and under each claim draft.

• Sorted by age since instruction, with days since it was sent to the client and its value.

Turns the site team's photos and notes into a draft site update with work done by contract item.

• Each percentage or quantity is tied to a contract item or VO; notes it cannot match are left unassigned for the project manager.

Confirms the site update, correcting any percentage that does not match what was seen on site.

• Only confirmed site updates count toward a claim.
• An item cannot go above 100%, or below its last certified percentage, without a written reason.

Drafts the claim from the confirmed updates, approved variations, retention terms and earlier certificates, with the working for every line.

• Order: work done to date by item + approved VOs by their own percentage = gross value to date; less retention to date at the contract rate up to its cap; less the total certified in earlier claims; = this claim before GST; plus GST at 9%.
• Amounts previously certified are deducted, not amounts previously claimed, so anything the client's QS cut last month is claimed again.
• Pending VOs are listed under the claim with value and age, and are not added.
• Items that move more than the jump threshold in a month, or pass the evidence percentage with no photo or note, are flagged.

Checks the quantities against the site photos and approves the amounts.

• Approver by value before GST: QS up to S$100,000.00, project director above (sample matrix).
• Every change the QS makes to an agent figure is logged with the old value, the new value and the reason.

Submits the claim to the client or the client's QS in the way the contract requires.

• Submission is always by a person.
• The submitted version is frozen as a numbered version; any later change creates a new version.
• The service date is recorded, since the client's response period runs from it.

Tracks the client's payment response or certificate against its due date.

• Response due = the earlier of the contract's date and 21 days after the claim is served, or 14 days after service where the contract sets no date (Act, section 11(1)).
• A missing response shows on the contracts manager's overdue list the day after it was due.

Records the certified amount by item and the reasons given for any difference.

• Certified percentages by item become the floor for next month's draft.
• A difference above the amount set for the project goes to the commercial manager.

Passes the certified amount to finance for the tax invoice and updates the retention ledger and payment due date.

• Invoice = certified amount this claim before GST + GST at 9%.
• For a GST-registered contractor, payment due = the earlier of the contract's date and 35 days after the tax invoice is submitted, or 14 days after the tax invoice where the contract sets no date (Act, section 8(1) and (2)).

Reads the claim and drafts a subcontractor claim record against the subcontract with the claimed amount, items and percentages.

• Matched to an open subcontract by subcontractor and project; an unmatched claim goes to the project coordinator.
• The date received is recorded separately from the date printed on the claim.
• Bank details on the document are never read into the record; a bank detail change always goes to a person.

Sets the payment response due date and adds the claim to the response list.

• A claim served before the subcontract's claim date is treated as served on that date (Act, section 10(3)), so the clock starts there.
• Response due = the earlier of the subcontract's date and 21 days after service, or 14 days after service if the subcontract sets none (Act, section 11(1)).
• The list is sorted by days left.

Compares each claimed item with the last confirmed site update for the contract items it maps to.

• A claimed percentage more than the set tolerance (2 points in the sample) above the confirmed percentage is flagged.
• Claims above 100% of an item, or for scope outside the subcontract and its approved variations, are flagged.

Assesses each item, setting the percentage the company accepts and the reason for any cut.

• Assessed value to date minus retention to date minus previously certified = response amount before GST.
• Back charges are deducted only with a record of the work and the notice reference.
• Every item assessed below the claim needs a reason.

Drafts the payment response and the payment certificate from the assessment.

• The response identifies the claim, states the response amount and, where it is less than claimed, the reason for the difference and for any amount withheld (Act, section 11(3)).

Approves the payment response and certificate, or passes it to the director above the limit.

• By value before GST: project manager up to S$50,000.00, director above (sample matrix).
• Claims with 3 days or fewer left move to the top of each approver's list.

Sends the payment response to the subcontractor before the due date.

• Messages to suppliers and subcontractors always stop at a person.
• The date and method of sending are recorded as proof of service.

Books the certified gross value as actual cost, adds retention to the payable retention ledger and passes the certificate to finance.

• The bill is matched to the certificate when the subcontractor's tax invoice arrives.
• Payment due = the earlier of the subcontract's date and 35 days after the tax invoice, or after the response due date if the subcontractor is not GST-registered (Act, section 8(1)); 14 days where the subcontract sets no date (section 8(2)).
• Payments always stop at a person: finance approves the payment run.

Takes a snapshot of the revised contract sum, revised budget, actual cost and open commitments by cost code at the claim cut-off.

• The same cut-off as the claim, so value earned and cost are compared for the same period.
• Actual cost = approved bills + certified subcontract claims + labour costed from timesheets + store issues.

Pre-fills the estimate to complete for each cost code from the budget not yet spent or committed.

• Pre-fill = revised budget minus actual minus open commitments, never below zero.
• A cost code already over budget pre-fills at zero and is flagged, so it cannot be signed off without an estimate.

Replaces each pre-filled figure with an estimate of what it will cost to finish that cost code.

• Any change from the pre-fill needs a basis: quantity left times rate, a quote in hand, or weeks of preliminaries left.
• Labour and preliminaries are checked against the weeks left to the completion date.

Calculates the forecast final cost, its variance to the revised budget and the forecast margin.

• Forecast final cost = actual + open commitments + estimate to complete.
• Forecast margin = revised contract sum (approved VOs only) minus forecast final cost.
• Pending VOs: their cost is in, their value is shown beside the margin as possible recovery.

Compares the forecast with last month's signed forecast and with the budget.

• A margin drop of more than 2 percentage points in a month, or any cost code more than 5% over its revised budget, goes to the project director with the cost codes that caused it.
• Cost to date running ahead of value earned to date (as a share of forecast cost and revised contract sum) is flagged.

Reviews the forecast and signs it off with notes on the actions agreed.

• The signed forecast is frozen as that month's version; next month's comparison runs against it.

Publishes the signed forecast to the company project report and to finance for month-end reporting.

• Finance sees forecast cost and margin per project; the accounting treatment stays with your accountant.