Progress, expenditure and change communications
- Last UpdatedApr 16, 2024
- 4 minute read
Communications are used to track the progress of the contract, to apply for payment based on the progress, and to request changes to the contract commitment.
Whether a communication records progress, expenditure or change depends on the configuration of the communication template, as detailed in the following tables.
Contract has line items
|
Communication records progress |
Communication template properties |
How financial values are entered |
|
No |
Does not support financial values |
No progress or financial values are recorded. |
|
Yes |
Does not support financial values |
Progress can be recorded on the Progress tab against line items which have progress measures, after the communication has been saved as Draft. |
|
No |
Configured as Expenditure |
Expenditure values and line items are managed on the Expenditure tab, after the communication has been saved as Draft. The communication cannot be linked to progress communications. |
|
Yes |
Configured as Expenditure |
Expenditure values and line items are managed on the Expenditure tab, after the communication has been saved as Draft. The communication can be linked to progress communications. |
|
No |
Configured as Change |
Commitment change values which apply to line items are added on the Change tab, after the communication has been saved as Draft. See Commitment change line items. |
|
No |
Supports financial values but is not explicitly configured as Expenditure or Change |
A single value can be added as the Financial Impact of the communication on the Create a Communication page or when editing a communication. |
Contract does not have line items
|
Communiction records progress |
Communication template properties |
How financial values are entered |
|
Not applicable |
Does not support financial values |
No progress or financial values are recorded. Note Progress can only be recorded against line items. |
|
No |
Configured as Expenditure |
Expenditure values are managed on the Expenditure tab, after the communication has been saved as Draft. The communication cannot be linked to progress communications. See Expenditure values. |
|
Yes |
Configured as Expenditure |
Expenditure values are managed on the Expenditure tab, after the communication has been saved as Draft. The communication can be linked to progress communications but the progress communications cannot have progress values because they can only be recorded against line items. See Expenditure values. |
|
No |
Configured as Change |
A single commitment change value can be added as the Financial Impact of the communication on the Create a Communication page or when editing a communication. |
|
No |
Supports financial values but is not explicitly configured as Expenditure or Change |
A single value can be added as the Financial Impact of the communication on the Create a Communication page or when editing a communication. |
Progress communications
If a contract has line items which have associated progress measures, progress against these is recorded in progress communications. Once the progress communications are agreed or approved, the contractor can apply for payment for the work done.
If the contract does not have line items, or none of the contract line items record progress, progress communications cannot be used.
For more information about recording progress in communications, see Progress communications.
Financial impact values for expenditure and change communications
Communication templates for expenditure communications such as applications for payment and invoices, and for change communications such as variation orders have associated financial impact values. Communication financial values can only be seen by users with Confidential access to the communication.
Note Users with the Contractor Information Management and Contractor Functional Support contract roles cannot see financial values; a Confidential indicator is shown instead. Users with the Contractor Information Management role cannot create or edit communications which have financial values.
Depending on the communication template configuration, the financial impact value can affect the value of the contract. This can be the value that is committed to the contract, the contract expenditure or the value of risk/change associated with the contract. When a communication based on these communication templates is approved, the financial impact value of the communication is applied to the expenditure or commitment/change values of the contract.
For more information about including financial values in communications, see Expenditure communications and Change communications.
Many contracts define a breakdown of the contract award value, for example, by type or location of work. If breakdown items are configured for the contract, communication financial values (including line items) can be associated with the breakdown items as follows:
-
Applying change financial values to a line item will affect the value of the contract commitment for the breakdown item that the line item is associated with, if any.
-
Associating contract line items ensures the correct reporting of expenditure against the breakdown defined in the contract when the line items are added to communications.
Note If a contract is configured to use more than one currency, it may have communications with financial values in any of the configured currencies. Contract financial values are shown in the contract base currency, and are calculated using the configured exchange rates.
If a communication has a financial association with another communication of the same type (expenditure or change), the financial impact values (including any line items) are copied from the predecessor to the successor. If progress communications are linked to a successor expenditure communication, the expenditure values are calculated for the successor based on the progress claimed for in the predecessor communications. See Frequently asked questions: How are the claimed values of line items in expenditure communications calculated from the associated progress communications? for more information about how calculations are done.
Schedule impact values for change communications
Change communications can also contain schedule impact values if the communication template is configured to record these. However, these do not affect the contract's end date directly.
For more information, see Schedule impact values.