The Application for Payment is a formal document that details a contractor’s request for payment and should identify the work completed and materials received or installed during a specified time period. The entire process can be rather complex since it must consider the original commitment and approved change order values, work completed, and overall approval process, all the while lineup with, and output to, the standard AIA G702/G703 reports that support the final invoice to the client.
Throughout my years in Project Controls, I’ve seen many different approaches for processing payment applications. Most of these solutions were entered into a Project Management Information System (PMIS), rather than in Microsoft Excel. In my experience, the pay app processes and tools were extremely cumbersome because some, if not all, of the steps were done manually via hard copy or through email, links to the project or payment schedule were not included with the application, and there was a lack of details in the tracking templates to know where the pay application was in the process at any given point in time.
When we decided to build-out Application for Payment functionality in Construction Viz, we wanted to address some of the shortfalls identified with other software products, as well as enhance the overall usability for project team members.
As a result, we built four separate forms—Commitment, Change Order Request, Change Order, and Pay Application—that integrate with one another for a comprehensive approach from committing scope to making a progress payment.
Key features include:
- All forms and functionality can be accessed on any device with a modern browser; and since Construction Viz is a Progressive Web App, it can be made available offline without having to install an app on your device.
- All four forms can be customized to your processes and deployed into your on-premise SharePoint or Microsoft 365.
- In addition to the 4 forms being integrated with one another, they can also be integrated with our other applications such as the Scheduler and Project Tracker.
- Each form is tracked at a line item level of detail, in a Schedule of Value (SOV) format by WBS, Cost Code, Work Order, Account and/or Line Item.
- Each form can be independently routed for review and approval.
- Only approved forms impact the overall summary rollup which provides a status of all payments.
- Since a Change Order Request is purely a field request and does not commit costs, contractors can leverage current commitment information to quickly add change request line details, or can create new change request line details, without impacting the PO.
- Retention can be identified on the Commitment level and automatically withheld on each Pay Application.
- Both the standard AIA G702 and G703 reports can be generated from any Pay App form.
Find out more about all of our tools to help you manage your projects in SharePoint and Microsoft 365, or visit LydonSolutions.com to submit a free consultation for services to get you on the right track with your PMIS.
