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Cost Payment Applications

When a billing period is activated and the schedule of values is locked, you can create the cost payment application to send to a supplier. Payment applications can be generated in the Cost tab.

In this article:

Create a Cost Payment Application

Before working with the cost payment application workflow, make sure that you have managed permissions. As a project administrator, set the:

  • Full Control option for the general contractor
  • Collaborate option for the supplier in the Cost Payment Application column

You can create a cost payment application and send it to your suppliers. This option allows you to create a single cost payment application for one contract and one billing period at a time. This option does not require the linked main contract and its master billing periods.

To do so:

  1. Select the Cost tab.

  2. Switch to the Cost Payment Application tab.

  3. Click Create.

  4. Select the main contract from the first drop-down list and the billing period from the second drop-down list:

The created cost payment application shows on the list with a draft status.

Batch-Create Cost Payment Applications

You can also batch-create a cost payment application from several contracts. This option allows you to create multiple cost payment applications for several contracts and billing periods in one go.

Preconditions for batch-creating cost payment applications:

  • The contract's budgets are linked to the main contract
  • The main contract has master billing periods

To do so:

  1. Click Batch create.
  2. Choose the billing periods and contracts. The chosen items show on the list.
  3. Click Create. The created cost payment applications show on the list with the Draft status.

Create Multiple Payment Applications in a Billing Period

Administrators can generate up to five payment applications in a single billing period. This is beneficial in scenarios such as making advanced payments, releasing retention separately, and creating net adjustments retrospectively.

To add multiple payment applications in a period:

  1. Go to Cost Payment Application, select the billing period to which you want to add a payment application.
  2. Select the plus sign within the Manage billing period drop-down or choose Create another payment application in the drop-down submenu.
  3. New payment applications are added at the end and have consecutive numbers provided in parentheses.
Note: The payment applications are calculated based on the time/date order of creation and must be approved in this same order.

To manage payment applications in a billing period, select Manage billing periods in the drop-down menu. Here, you can rename or delete any application.

Note: If a payment application in the middle of two others is deleted, the member will need to select the Update value from the previous application button to recalculate values.

Add a Change Order to a Cost Payment Application

If the Subcontractor Change Order (SCO) is Approved or at least Open (and its type is configured to be added before approval in the settings), you can add it to the cost payment application. Learn more about setting up change order types for addition before final approval.

To add change order to cost payment application:

  1. Navigate to the Cost Payment Application tab and open the details view of item you want to add change order to.

  2. Click Add Change Order.

    If there are SCOs available, they will be grouped into Approved and Unapproved sections.

    • The Approved section displays items that have Approved and Executed statuses
    • The Unapproved section displays items that have Open, and In Review statuses

  3. Select the items that you wish to add, and click Add.

  4. After adding unapproved SCOs, you will be asked to synchronize change orders. To do that, click Sync.

    Note: Synchronized cost items and their subitems cannot be detached or deleted.
Tip: You can list all SCOs as columns when the contract doesn't include SOV subitems. To do that, in the More menu , choose to show change orders as A Column. To add a change order in this view, click Add Change Order in the details panel of the payment application item.

Note: By default, subitems are hidden in the column.
Tip: The Filter and Group tool can be helpful for creating a more formatted view, such as formatting by budget code segment.


Once a cost payment application is created, it can be associated with the budget payment application. Linking reduces manual entry and potential mistakes.

To link budget and cost payment application:

  1. Go to the Budget Payment Application tab.

  2. Select the main contract. The details panel opens.

  3. Click Add in the Associated Cost section.

  4. Choose between two options:

    • Create to create a payment application from the existing contracts.
    • Add Existing to add the existing cost payment application. Use the checkboxes to select the cost payment applications to import.

  5. Click Add.

To update the information automatically, you need to associate cost payment applications for each budget payment application (a new billing period).

Work with a Schedule of Values after Creating a Cost Payment Application

After creating a cost payment application, there are a few rules to keep in mind:

  • If a new Schedule of Values (SOV) is added, it won't appear in the existing cost payment application.
  • If an SOV is deleted and the 'workCompleted' value is zero, it will be automatically removed from the existing cost payment application. If 'workCompleted' is not zero, an error will pop up when attempting to delete the SOV.
  • When an SOV is updated (the amount), the update won't sync with the existing cost payment application.
  • The next cost payment application that is created will synchronize with the latest structure and amounts of the SOV.

Learn more about the Schedule of Values.

Tip: After cost payment applications are created, if the parent SOV item already has subitems, you can still append more SOV subitems.


Create a Cost Payment Application Document

You can generate a document and add it to a cost payment application. The most effective approach is to create a document template that can be shared across multiple payment applications. For best results, associate cost payment applications with contracts before generating documents to enable effective sharing.

To learn how to create and customize document templates, see Create and Manage Document Templates. Payment applications' documents created this way are mostly view-only. See the Export and Reimport Payment Applications section to create a document that can be filled out by the subcontractor.

For a complete list of available document template variables, see the payment application variables documentation.

Tip: When the Materials Billed setting is enabled in your project, you can use specialized document template variables to track materials delivered to the job site. See the Materials Billed Tracking example in the payment application variables documentation for implementation details.

Export and Reimport Cost Payment Applications

Cost payment applications can be exported for subcontractors to enter their billing information. To do so:

  1. Select the Cost tool from the left navigation.

  2. Switch to the Cost Payment Application tab.

  3. Open the details view of the cost payment application.

  4. Open the More menu .

  5. Click Populate via Excel.

  6. Click Export Excel File. The Excel file is downloaded.

    Note: When a contract associated with a cost payment application is denominated in a foreign currency, the value will be exported in that currency during document generation.

  7. Click the name of the cost payment application to open the details panel.

  8. In the Documents section, click Add Document, and choose the downloaded Excel file from your computer.

  9. Click Request Input. A window pops up. Fill out the necessary information and click Send. Your cost payment application has the Pending Supplier Input status now.

You can import the received filled-out Excel file by clicking the Import Excel File option in the 6th step. Then:

  1. Open the details panel of the cost payment application.
  2. Add the document to the Document Package in the Documents section.

Request Input or Cost Payment Application Revision from a Supplier

Once you have entered all the necessary details for your payment application, click Request Input to proceed. The supplier will then receive the information and can submit it in Cost Management, unless:

  • Project administrator established a compliance workflow and its fulfillment is required.
  • An approval workflow is set up. Then, a project administrator has to send an email to reviewers to get approval. You can make this process more automatic by toggling the Auto start after submission option. See the Cost Settings article to learn more.

A supplier will be notified of the cost payment application for review by email when they have a collaborative permission for cost payment applications.

Tip: As a project administrator, you can review on behalf of a reviewer by clicking Set as Submitted.


Respond to Cost Payment Application Email as a Supplier

When receiving a cost payment application email, as a supplier:

  1. Open the email and select Open in Cost Management. When Cost Management opens, only the information pertaining to a supplier's cost payment application will be visible.

  2. Scroll to review details. In the columns within This Period, click the fields to enter the completions. The information will autopopulate based on the Amount or % entered.

  3. To autopopulate data based on the item being 100% complete, select the More menu next to a line item and choose % mark as completed.

  4. Once the payment application information has been populated, select Submit.

  5. Include a message in Submit.

Once submitted, the system will notify a general contractor by email. They can review line-by-line and accept, reject, and leave comments. If a revision is required, they may request it. A supplier can respond directly to the comments left by a general contractor and make necessary updates.

When done, a supplier submits the payment application back to a general contractor. A general contractor can accept all line items. The system will notify a supplier by email.

Retention Release

Retention release is the payout of retained funds to contractors or subcontractors after meeting milestones, such as project completion, and passing required inspections and approvals.

Members with Full Control permission and project administrators can toggle the Enable retention release option. Project administrators can also adjust retention settings in General Settings.

This option is disabled on default for new payment applications. If the option is disabled:

  • This Period Released columns in Retention Total Work Completed and Retention Materials Stored (Materials Billed) show 0 and are uneditable.

  • Changes to Total Work Completed Retention % affect only This Period Work Completed Retention.

  • A message in the column header displays: "Retention release disabled." A link to settings is provided. You can click it to enable retention release for this payment application:

    Enable retention release path

Steps to release retention for a payment application:

  1. Navigate to the Cost tab.
  2. Switch to the Cost Payment Application tab.
  3. Open the cost payment application details Open details view icon.
  4. Click the More menu icon in the top-right corner of the table.
  5. Toggle Enable retention release.

If the option is enabled, members with Full Control permission can:

  • Release retention or edit values in the retention columns. This Period Released columns in Retention Total Work Completed and Retention Materials Stored (Materials Billed) are editable.
  • Changes to Total Work Completed Retention % update This Period Released.
Note: You can also turn off this option on payments with previously enabled release retention. If the toggle is turned off with existing values in the Release column, the values are cleared, added back to Presently Retained, and the retention % recalculates.


Complete a Cost Payment Application

After acceptance, the cost payment application can be set as approved, and then as paid. You can learn more about payment application statuses. The information is updated in the From Previous Applications section in the active billing period.

Tip: When the status is changed to Paid, Cost Management automatically sets the paid date and creates the payment reference. After the status change operation, members can freely modify the paid date.


Export a Cost Payment Application Report

You can generate a report for the cost payment application to share information with subcontractors.

To create a cost payment application report:

  1. Select the Cost tab.
  2. Switch to the Cost Payment Application tab.
  3. Click .
  4. Select PDF Report or Excel Report.
  5. Enter the report title and choose the template.
  6. Click Run report.

You'll receive an email notification when your report is ready.

More Resources

Learn more about managing cost payment applications with the workflow guide. You can also take a course on this article.

Parent page: Payments

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