How to raise an Application for Payment in Validate

An Application for Payment is your formal claim for the work you have done this period. In Validate the AFP is not typed up from memory. It builds itself from work your engineers logged on site and you approved in the validation queue, priced against the project rate card. Every line is backed by a dated record.

This guide walks the full cycle: raise the draft, check the figures, submit it, and record what comes back from your client.

Before you start

• You need an Admin, Office or Project Manager role. Engineers cannot raise certs.
• The project needs validated work. Approve your engineers' submissions first, otherwise there is nothing to certify. See How to approve work in the validation queue.
• Check the project rate card has a quantity and rate against each work package. A line without a rate certifies at zero.
• Only one draft AFP can exist per project at a time. Submit or delete the old draft before raising a new one.

Step 1: Open Payment certs

Go to Commercial and open Payment certs. This is the certificate register for the whole company. Each row shows the cert number, project, date, gross value, retention, net to bank and status, so you can see where every application sits at a glance.

Step 2: Raise the draft

Click + Raise AFP. If you are not already working inside a project, Validate asks which project the AFP is for. Pick the project and the draft generates. It pulls in every validated engineer submission since your last certificate, priced from the rate card, plus any agreed variations as their own section.

Step 3: Check the work package lines

Each line shows the work package, the contract quantity and rate, what your engineers claimed this period, and the applied quantity and value you are putting forward. While the cert is a draft you can edit the Applied Qty on any line, and the totals update as you type. When the figures are right, click Save Certified Values to lock your edits into the draft.

Step 4: Check the financial summary

Read the summary from the top: the works total, agreed variations, and the Gross Application Value. If retention applies to the contract, the deduction is shown at the contract rate. Below that sits the Net Application Value, then Less Previously Certified, then the net amount due. If CIS applies you will also see the CIS deduction and the net to bank figure. VAT treatment follows the project setting, and you can override it on the draft if this cert needs a different treatment.

If an amber warning says the gross value exceeds the contract sum, stop and check your variation values before you go any further.

Step 5: Download the AFP

Click Download AFP to generate the PDF. The Export menu also gives you Excel, Xero CSV, QuickBooks CSV and Sage 50 CSV if your accounts package needs them.

Step 6: Mark as submitted

When you are happy, click Mark as submitted. This records your formal application for payment and locks the certified values so they can no longer be edited. Validate does not email the AFP on your behalf. Download it and send it to your client in whatever way your contract requires, then keep the submitted cert as your dated record of what you applied for.

Step 7: Record what comes back

• When your client issues their payment certificate or notice, open the AFP and click Record payment certificate received. Enter the amount they certified if it differs from your application. The status moves to Issued and the payment timeline is recorded against the cert, including the payment due date and the pay-less notice deadline.
• If the payer serves a pay less notice, click Record Pay Less Notice received and log who served it, the amount they propose to pay and the reason they stated. Any shortfall against your application is then on record.
• When the money arrives, click Mark Paid. That closes the cycle for this cert.

If something looks wrong

• Nothing to certify. The message about no validated work means nothing has been approved in the validation queue since the last cert. Approve the outstanding submissions and raise the AFP again.
• A draft already exists. Validate allows one draft per project. Open the existing draft and either finish it or use Delete Draft.
• A line shows zero value. The rate card is missing a rate or quantity for that work package. Fix the rate card, delete the draft and raise it again.
• Mark as submitted is greyed out. The cert has no value. Certify at least one line first.