Set up a trade breakdown claim

Section 01 · The idea

A commitment claims one of two ways.

Every commitment carries a claim kind. Base fee (single drawdown) claims the whole package as one figure each month. Claim schedule (Schedule of Values) claims it line by line, against a schedule you write. Pick the schedule when the vendor claims by trade, or when you want to see where the money actually sits.

·One lump, or trade by trade

The choice is the last step of awarding a commitment, next to retention.

Base fee (single drawdown). One figure per claim. Right for a fixed fee, a consultant, a small package.
Claim schedule (Schedule of Values). A list of lines, claimed one by one. Right for a trade package.
Retention sits here too. Standard, None, or Bank guarantee where no cash is held, with the percentage, the cap, and the Practical Completion release.
What this means on the right does the sums in dollars before you save anything.

ChangeableYou can switch a commitment between the two kinds later, in Claim setup on its register row. Do it before the first claim is certified and nothing has to be unpicked.

FIG 01

The Set up claims step of the Award a commitment wizard with the Claim kind dropdown ringed in orange and set to Claim schedule (Schedule of Values), retention fields below it, and a What this means panel showing retention held, cap, releases and amount due in dollars

Claim setup for a $265,000 package. Claim kind on the left, the sums on the right.

·The claim schedule

The list every claim on this commitment is read against.

One line per thing you claim. A ref, a description, a contract value.
Group with Add child. Put lines beneath another line and that line becomes a subtotal.
Subtotals are not typed. Charlo adds the lines beneath, so a parent can never drift from its children.
Claim on the bottom lines only. The tree carries the totals up for you.

The check that mattersClaim schedule total and Committed sit side by side at the top. Until they match, Charlo says so, and the first claim cannot be raised.

FIG 02

The Claim schedule grid for PO-1004 with Claim schedule total $265,000.00 and Committed $265,000.00 ringed at the top, and a Wet areas row showing $175,000.00 with a SUBTOTAL chip above its two child lines Ground floor wet areas and Level 1 wet areas

Wet areas is a subtotal. Its $175,000 is the two lines beneath it, not a typed figure.

Section 02 · Walkthrough

From a new vendor to a commitment ready to claim.

Everything sits under Commercials, on the Cost control tab's Commitments register. One wizard awards the commitment; the claim schedule is built in a spreadsheet-style grid straight after.

01Add the vendor

A commitment has to belong to somebody.

Open Commercials and pick the project.
Go to Cost control, then Commitments.
Click Manage vendors, top right of the register.
Type the name in the row under the list, pick the type, add the ABN if you have it, and click Add vendor.

TypesContractor, Supplier or Consultant. It sorts the register and nothing else, so pick the honest one.

FIG 03

The Vendors dialog with three existing vendors listed and a new row being filled in, the name box reading Harbour Hydraulics Pty Ltd ringed in orange, a Contractor type dropdown, an ABN of 55 666 777 888 and the Add vendor button ringed

The add row sits under the register. Name, type, ABN, add.

02Check it landed

The register sorts itself alphabetically.

The new vendor appears in the list straight away, with a Vendor added note beside the add row.
Click a row to select it, then Edit fixes a typo in the name or ABN.
Delete only works while nothing is pointed at it.
Click Done to close the dialog.

One list per projectVendors belong to this project. Adding one here does not touch any other project.

FIG 04

The Vendors dialog with the newly added Harbour Hydraulics Pty Ltd row ringed in orange in the alphabetical list, showing Contractor and ABN 55 666 777 888, with Edit and Delete buttons above and a Vendor added note beside the cleared add row

Harbour Hydraulics is in the register and can now hold a commitment.

03Award the commitment

A three-step wizard raises the purchase order.

Click Award commitment, top right of the register.
Fill step 1: reference, description, vendor, category, committed amount ex GST.
New vendor under the vendor box adds one without leaving the wizard.
Click Continue. The commitment is created on the register the moment step 1 finishes; the two steps after it only set it up.

CategoryGroups the commitment on the register and the cost reports. Reuse one of the project's existing categories where you can.

FIG 05

Step 1 of the Award a commitment wizard with reference PO-1004, description Hydraulic services package, Harbour Hydraulics Pty Ltd as vendor, a Services category and a committed amount of 265000

Step 1 of 3. Continuing creates PO-1004 on the register.

04Attach it to the budget

So the cost report shows the money against the right line.

Step 2 offers One line or Split across lines.
Pick the budget line, or split the amount across several.
No budget yet? Click Attach later and nothing is lost. Allocate on the register row does the same job any time.

Worth doingAn attached commitment reconciles on the cost report, and the schedule can be copied from your budget allocations. Unattached ones show Not set in the register's Budget line column.

FIG 06

Step 2 of the Award a commitment wizard, Attach to the budget, with One line and Split across lines buttons and Back, Attach later and Continue at the foot

Attach now or later. The commitment already exists either way.

05Pick the claim schedule, and set retention

Step 3 decides how every future claim behaves.

Set Claim kind to Claim schedule (Schedule of Values).
Retention offers three modes: Standard, None, and Bank guarantee, where no cash is held. Leave it on Standard, or set your own percentages.
Read What this means on the right: the held amount, the cap, the releases and the amount due, in dollars.
Click Save commitment.

Standard retention, in plain words10% of each certificate is held back until the total held reaches 5% of the adjusted contract sum. Half of it releases at Practical Completion, the rest at the end of the defects liability period.

FIG 07

Step 3 of the wizard, Set up claims, with Claim kind ringed and set to Claim schedule, Standard retention at 10 percent with a 5 percent cap and 50 percent PC release, and the What this means panel showing $13,250 held and $251,750 due on $265,000

Retention on a $265,000 package: $13,250 held, released half at PC and half at end of defects.

06Choose how the schedule gets built

Three doors, one destination.

Set up manually. You know the lines; type them into the grid. This guide takes this door.
Create schedule from document. Upload the contract breakdown or the vendor's first claim as a PDF, and Charlo drafts the lines for you to review.
Do it later. The commitment waits in Claims; the schedule must be finished before the first claim is raised.

The ruleThe schedule total must match the committed amount before the first claim can be raised. Charlo tells you the difference until it does.

FIG 08

The Commitment ready screen offering Set up manually, Create schedule from document and Do it later as ways to build the claim schedule

Type it, have Charlo read it from a PDF, or come back later.

07Build the schedule in the grid

It works like a small spreadsheet.

Click Add row and type the ref, description and contract value ex GST.
Add child puts a line beneath another. The parent grows a SUBTOTAL chip and its value becomes the sum of its children.
The arrow buttons move a line up, down, in or out. Add below adds a sibling.
Or paste a block straight from Excel. Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V work, and Ctrl+Z undoes.
Watch Claim schedule total against Committed at the top, then click Apply changes and Done.

Refs are yoursCharlo suggests T1, T2 and so on. Keep those or use your contract's numbering: 1, 1.1, 1.2, 2 reads the way you would expect.

Copy from budgetCopy from budget allocations builds the list from your budget instead. It needs the commitment attached to a budget line first, and an empty schedule.

FIG 09

The Claim schedule grid with matching totals of $265,000, a Wet areas subtotal over two child lines, External works and Testing and commissioning lines, and Add below, Add child and Remove buttons on every row

Totals matching at the top, a subtotal holding its children together underneath.

08Everything lives on the row

Back on the register, the commitment carries its own controls.

Click the commitment's row to select it.
The bar above wakes up: Edit, Claim setup, Schedule, Ledger, Allocate, Delete.
Claim setup and Schedule reopen what the wizard set up, any time.

Nothing is locked awayThe wizard is a convenience, not a cage. Everything it wrote can be revisited from this bar.

FIG 10

The Commitments register with the PO-1004 row selected and the action bar ringed in orange showing Edit, Claim setup, Schedule, Ledger, Allocate and Delete

Select the row and its controls appear in the bar above the register.

09Ready to claim

The commitment now has its own claims workspace.

Go to Claims and open the commitment.
The strip across the top names the journey: Raise, Claim files, Assess, Certify, Certificate.
The Commitment summary underneath shows the adjusted contract sum, certified to date, retention and balance to complete, all still at zero.
Click Raise claim when the first claim arrives.

NextGuide 10, Assess a progress claim, picks the story up here: raising the month's claim, working the schedule line by line, and certifying it. Once a claim is certified, guide 11, Set up a claim certificate, turns it into a document you can send.

FIG 11

The claims workspace for PO-1004 showing the five-step strip Raise, Claim files, Assess, Certify, Certificate, a commitment summary with $265,000 adjusted contract sum and $0 certified, and no claims raised yet

PO-1004 is set up and waiting. Nothing has been claimed against it yet.

Section 03 · More help

Ask Dylan any time.

WhereThe Help button sits in the bottom-left corner of Charlo CPS. It opens Dylan, Charlo's help assistant: ask a question in plain words and Dylan answers from the how-to guides. The Library button in the panel opens the whole How-To Library.

Next in the storyAssess a progress claim, then Set up a claim certificate.

AskStuck on your own claim? Send a real example to ai@charlo.com.au.