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Managing Retainage

Use the Contract Settings page to configure how retainage is managed.

There are two ways of managing retainage in Proliance: at the summary level, which applies the same retainage to all line items on the contract, and at the line-item level which allows different retainage rates on individual line items. You can switch between summary- and line-item level retainage management at any time. However, if you switch from summary- to line-item management, you cannot edit the summary retainage values on invoices that already exist.

Following is an explanation of the two ways of managing retainage:

ClosedSummary level management

With summary level retainage management, you edit retainage from the invoice's Retainage Options dialog box. You can apply variable retainage rules at the summary level.

Summary retainage applies the same retainage rate to all line items on the contract. This simplifies the retainage calculations, and reduces the amount of information users have to enter for managing retainage.

Whenever you edit retainage at the summary level, Proliance automatically ensures that the values of the line items' Retainage [General|Stored|Total] Pct columns are consistent on any given invoice.

ClosedLine-item level management

Line-item level retainage management is required when different retainage rates are needed on each line item, or if you need to release retainage on certain line items at a different time than other line items. More work is required to setup and maintain line item retainage, but it provides a greater level of control of retainage over summary retainage.

NOTE: You cannot apply variable retainage rules at the line-item level.

You can still use the Retainage Options dialog box, with Line Item retainage. However, Proliance will replace any specific line item retainage values with whatever options are chosen in the Retainage Options dialog box.

You can exempt selected line items from retainage for both summary and line item retainage. To exempt all instances of a line item, select the Exempt from Retainage column for the line item on the contract or change order's Schedule of Values. To exempt a single instance of a line item from retainage, select Exempt from Retainage column for the line item on the invoice's Line Items page. You can only exempt a line item from retainage rules if no retainage has ever been taken against it.

You take and release retainage from invoices. As you create subsequent invoices, the retainage values are copied from invoice to invoice when the next invoice is created.

However, to set up the retainage on the first invoice, or to configure the general retainage settings, such as which retainage management method to use, the contract's Settings page is used.

To choose the type of retainage for a contract

  1. Edit the contract's Settings page.
  2. In the Retainage section, select Is Using Retainage.
  3. If you want to manage retainage at the summary level, select Is Using Summary. You then need to provide the retainage percentages for Stored Materials (if used) and General Work. For simple summary retainage, where the same rate is used over the entire contract, set the Up To value to 100%. For Variable Retainage rules, the Up To value is set to less than 100%, as described here.

    4. —or—

    If you want to manage retainage at the line-item level, clear the "Is Using Summary" check box. The values entered will be the default retainage for new line items on the contract and its change orders.

Note:

  • You can activate summary or line-item level retainage on an existing contract after you have already created invoices against the contract. However, Proliance will only take retainage on subsequent new invoices. Furthermore, you must specify the amount of retainage to take on the first new invoice's Line Items page either on the line items themselves, or using the Retainage Options dialog box.