Workbench Contract Claim Process Enhancement
Overview
The enhancement supports clear distinction of the claim and certification stages with updates to the process, retaining the individual values of each stage, and reflecting these in the associated reports.
This feature is enabled on the ‘BETA FEATURE - Contract Claims’ control parameter. Find the control parameter using Scaffold.
Pre-existing claims will reflect as claim values only regardless of their status.
Process
The process remains mostly the same with clear distinction on the use of approval, and claim and certification steps. The key steps of the revised process is depicted below.
Process Step | Status |
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Prepare Claim - Is the initial capture of the claim in Workbench prior to internal review. | Entered |
Internal Claim Review - The claim is internally reviewed with the usual Standard or Workflow approval process and their accompanying statuses, typically ending as with Internal Approval. | Ready for Certification |
Send Claim - Once internally approved the claim certificate will be sent to the client for assessment, indicated by a Mark as Sent button on the email screen. | Sent for Certification |
Client Claim Review - This is the external review by the client and their response of the certified values. |
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Record Certified - The certified values received from the client are recorded against the initial claim values. | In Certification |
Finalise Invoice - When all the certified values are recorded and the invoice is finalised the claim invoice is generated and attached to the record. It is displayed prompting the user to optionally send to the client at this point. | Certified |
Send Certified - Once finalised the claim invoice can be sent to the client if required, indicated by a Mark as Sent button on the email screen. | Sent Invoice |
Export Batch - Once ready the batch including the invoice can be exported. | Updated |
These status have been updated to list screens and filters on:
Job Invoices list
Job Enquiry, Invoicing tab
Job Contract, Claims tab
Claim Get Sales
The main user interface enhancement is on Get Sales to distinguish the claim and certification stages as depicted.
Claim Stage
Prior to internal approval, the familiar ‘Claim To Date’ and ‘This Claim’ sections are available to prepare or edit the claim.
The initial values are based on the certified values of the previous claim + any uncertified values from previous Claims. There are scenarios where a PM (Workbench user) might be waiting for certification on multiple past claims.
Previous Claim To Date is there as a memorandum to add visibility of the previous claim’s original claimed value and easily compare to the Claimed To Date values which represent the certified values. This allows a PM/QS to see when claimed values were knocked back, making it easier to remember to claim that difference again on the current claim being prepared.
PMs/QSs had to resort to an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of the difference between Claimed and Certified or open the Previous Claim in Workbench on another tab to get that information, to be then able to prepare the current claim. In Schedules with multiple lines (up to hundreds of lines), this became too complicated to keep track of.
The new % Done - Previous Claim To Date column will be bold to highlight when there is a difference between %Done under Claim To Date* section and the % Done Prev Claim To Date, indicating this line was certified for less and should be claimed again.*Claim To Date = All certified values + any waiting on certification
Any report viewed or printed at this stage reflects the claimed values.
Certification Stage
After internal approval the new ‘Certified To Date’ and ‘This Certified’ sections are available to enter the certification values.
The initial values are based on the certified values of the previous claim.
Ticking a line certifies 100% of the claimed value for the line. No extra manual entry is needed when the full amount is being certified.
Comment and Reason fields added.
Any report viewed or printed at this stage reflects the certified values.
Claims List in a Contract
Visibility of the certifying habits on each Project:
The list of Claims in a Contract now displays the Certified values including Retention, This Certified Incl Ret, and the original Claimed value, This Claim, to help PMs/QSs understand certification patterns from a client on each project.
Contract Claims List (all Jobs)
Visibility of the Claimed To Date and Certified To Date for analysis
We have added additional information to the Contracts Claims List, to provide visibility of the Project’s claimed-to-date and certified-to-date values. This allows you to make an analysis of all the last claims in all Projects, and see the difference between Claimed and Certified.
For this, we have added an extra filter, Last Claim = yes - This will display the last claim of each Contract based on the other filter criteria.
Having Claimed vs Certified values in the list of Claims in a Contract shows you a pattern of the Client’s certification habits.
Having the Claimed To Date and Certified To Date values in the Contract Claims List screen will allow you to report on uncertified values for all your projects, showing you how much you might have missed on good revenue for the month. Use the new filter Last Claim = yes, filter for the Jobs you want, export to Excel and do any further analysis you may want.
Create your Custom View with the details you need.
Claim Reports
The report enhancements also relate to the separation of the claim and certification stages. The sourcing of values based on the stage was enhanced.
See all enhancements to the Contract Claim Reports and AR invoice here https://webwbdoc.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/REQ/pages/3385786369
Claim Stage
The Claim Stage is the notable introduction from a report perspective since the certification is essentially an invoice.
Invoice Type has been enhanced to support the specification of a Claim Certificate format to automatically use at internal approval based on the selected invoice type on the claim.
A warning is displayed on the claim if the Invoice Type selected does not have a Claim Certificate format specified.
Any report viewed or printed before the ‘In Certification’ status reflects the claimed values.
Certification Stage
This stage essentially remains unchanged as it is equivalent to an invoice.
The Invoice Report Format on the Invoice Type dictates the format used to auto-generate the Claim Invoice when the claim is finalised.
Any report viewed or printed after and including the ‘In Certification’ status reflects the certified values.
New Payment Claim Certificate report
Only compatible with the new process: Detailed Payment Claim Certificate (Schedule) % Complete
Purpose: For users who want to notify their client that they disagree with the certified value and reaffirm their stance on the claimed amounts, indicating that these will be included in a future claim. This might be appropriate in the Construction industry, where the claim is over an unapproved variation that had to be completed regardless of approval, to allow them to continue with the agreed scope of work in the Approved original schedule.
Note:
Reads Contract values from a Schedule not from a Budget.
no quantities on the schedule line details (for those scenarios where quantities are meaningless and always 1).
and after certification, it displays any variance between claimed and certified values at the line level.
Previous claims summary.
Modified Schedule line details section:
Schedule lines details |
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| Claim History [new] *only displayed after certification | ||
Schedule Code - description | % Complete [new] | Unit | Schedule Amount | Total Claim To Date | Less Prev Claims | Value This Claim | Original Value This Claim [new] | Scheduled This Claim [new] | Variance This Claim [new] |
| Total Claim To Date * 100 / Schedule Amount |
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| Scheduled This Claim - Original Value This Claim same calculation as in Get Sales.Variance column |
Sent To Client
In order to record whether the claim or final invoice has been sent to the client, versus sent to anyone else, the user needs to indicate this action.
This indicator is the option Mark as Sent in the Send Email popup screen.
Contract Claim Accruals
A Contract Claim Accrual batch will include any Contract Claims with a status before Certified.
Migration Process
Find CP ‘BETA FEATURE - Contract Claims’ in SCAFFOLD, and change it to Yes.
Invoice Types:
Must populate the Invoice type used for Contract Claims with the default Claim Certificate Format. So on internal approval, the correct Contract Claim is rendered:Claim Certificate Format must be populatedReview and assess Custom reports:
Do you have any custom Contract Claim Payment Certificate reports for Contract Claims?
It might pay off to try the new enhanced reports, which now include extra information and highlight if there are any uncertified values. Check https://webwbdoc.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/REQ/pages/3385786369New Previous Claims section:
The new section with a list of Previous Claims at the bottom of the standard Contract Claim Payment Certificates will not display in your custom reports unless you add this. This section displays from claim #2, as claim #1 does not have previous claims:Custom Contract Claim Reports:
Scenarios where Custom reports based on previous versions of standard Contract Payment Claim reports will not be correct. Old reports only read from Claimed values:
there are previous claims that were certified for less: Claimed To Date, Previous Claimed will not be right. Not reading from certified values.
This claim was certified for less and is printed again after certification: This claim is reading claimed values not certified values.
Reports reading from Job Invoices are always correct (not from JobOutputs table).
Custom Reports will be missing all standard enhancements (like the history of previous claims).
New certified values are stored in:
Joboutputs.CertifiedQuantity
Joboutputs.CertifiedAmount
Joboutputs.ToDateCertifiedAmount
Joboutputs.ToDateCertifiedQuantity
Each Claim now records Claimed values and Certified values.
Custom reports will be missing the new logic on the standard Payment Certificate reports. Based on the new statuses, the report will either read Claimed values (Entered, Ready for Certification, or Sent for Certification—Job Outputs Claimed Values) or Certified Values (any status including In Certification and after - Job Outputs Certified Values). This logic will need to be added to your custom report.
