Ministry of Transportation. WBCMS Manual. Item Postings & Reconciliation Guide. Contract Management and Operations Branch

Transcription

1 WBCMS Manual Item Postings & Reconciliation Contract Management and Operations Branch

2 Table of Contents Introduction... 2 Item Postings... 3 Item Postings... 3 Reconciliation Item Postings... 9 Support Date of Issuance: September 5, 2018 Page 1

3 CA, CA Inspector/MTO In-House CA, Item Postings Manual Introduction This guide will serve as an in-depth manual surrounding the Item Postings function within WBCMS (Web-Based Contract Management Services), which is used to track quantities constructed under tender items. Each tender item is typically broken into many sub-code items, which organize the total quantity over many sub locations and applications, which aid the inspection team in tracking quantities constructed each day, in each location, for records and payment purposes. It is the responsibility of both the contractor and the inspector to be submitting Item Postings records daily, in order to accurately track the work completed each day. This is truly the first step in the payment reconciliation process, which is later done by the CA (Contract Administrator) to corroborate the quantities posted by both the inspector and contractor, in order to determine true constructed quantities for payment. Once a determined dataset has been reconciled (recommended weekly reconciliations, but established on a by-contract basis) and agreed to by the contractor, WBCMS will automatically pull from these reconciled Item Postings records to populate the contractor s invoice, when the contractor chooses to generate one. The inspector and contractor may sometimes, for whatever reason, input data differently, either different quantities or different sub-codes. This will cause discrepancies between the posted records shown when the CA attempts to reconcile items, however this is an intentional function of the system, as well. If there are disagreements or discrepancies in data entered between the inspector and contractor, it is important a dated record of this be made to resolve the issue later. The CA and contractor can still work together to determine the errors and agree to a final, actual, correct posting in order to reconcile for payment later or invoke another process. Date of Issuance: September 5, 2018 Page 2

4 Item Postings This section will walk both the CA firm and the construction firm, through the process of posting Item Postings records for tender items, as well as Reconciling Item Postings. Briefly, the general workflow is as follows: CA/Inspector* and the contractor create Item Postings records for each day s work (separately) CA/Inspector and the contractor populate with Sub Items pulled from quantity sheets to record what work was performed, along with precise daily quantities and descriptive notes detailing limits of work Inspector reviews then submits record to the CA for review and archival Contractor also reviews and submits to their Record Reviewer and Approver (RRA) o If either CA or contractor RRA submits record themselves, it is automatically Reviewed and is therefore immediately eligible for reconciliation by the CA When a reconciliation on all outstanding Item Postings is to be made, CA generates an Item Postings Rollup, aggregating all unreconciled Item Postings records in order to review CA determines final posted quantity, in cooperation with contractor when required, and submits the entire Item Postings Reconciliation record to the contractor for their review and acknowledgement Contractor reviews and acknowledges each item posting line (not reviewing and acknowledging each line is at contractor s own risk) Contractor submits final, acknowledged reconciled Item Postings, which can now be pulled from for generating the invoice. *For the purpose of this manual, Inspector shall denote either CA, Inspector, MTO In- House CA, MTO In-House Inspector, or anyone else assigned a role with the Inspector privileges including contractors, as defined by WBCMS. Item Postings Date of Issuance: September 5, 2018 Page 3

5 The inspector first creates their Item Postings record, which will then be saved in draft and updated throughout the day, as sub-codes and operations are completed. For steps 1 through 10, actions apply to either CA inspector or contractor inspector. Actions are identical and are therefore transferable. Actions only differ beyond step 10, involving the approval of submitted Item Postings by the RRA. Step 1: Inspector How-To: 1. Inspector navigates to the Item Posting subfolder under the construction contract, and clicks New to generate a new record for that day (Figure 1) 2. The landing page of the Item Postings record displays the general contract information, and a pull down menu where the inspector selects the Posted Date for which the Item Postings shall apply (Figure 2) Figure 1 Figure 2 Note: When item postings have been linked to Diary Records elsewhere in the system and said Diary Records have been completed and submitted, the item posting record which has been included will now display all Diary Records which reference this item posting shown here in Figure 2. This allows for crossreferencing and connection of the Diary and Item Postings records. Date of Issuance: September 5, 2018 Page 4

6 Figure 3 3. Inspector chooses the appropriate date, then clicks the Item Postings tab at the top of the record to begin adding sub-codes and quantities to the record (Figure 3). If the record has thus far not been saved, the system will prompt the user with a request to automatically save. This prevents being returned back to the Item Postings records page, and will save the user some time 4. After inspector clicks Select Items a master list of all unreconciled sub-code items is displayed. Using the varying filter options, or by simply scrolling, the inspector selects all applicable sub-codes to be added to the record as worked on that day (Figure 4). For this example, Superpave 12.5FC 2 will be used (Item 5) Figure 4 Date of Issuance: September 5, 2018 Page 5

7 Figure 5 5. Once sub-codes are selected and the inspector clicks at the bottom of the window, the sub-codes populate the Item Postings page of the record for further input (Figure 5). Note some key headings explained 6. Click Save. It is important to form the habit of saving early and often 7. Returning to the Item Postings page, inspector inputs the actual measured quantities into their associated yellow sub-code quantity fields (Figure 6). Whether the measured quantity matches that of the sub-item s quantity or not, input what the actual measurement is. It is important to maintain accurate records of where item quantities are being placed. A record of why the sub-code has been overrun or underrun can be made elsewhere in the Diary Record, which can then link this Item Posting record into it. Date of Issuance: September 5, 2018 Page 6

8 Figure 6 Sub-code: the sub-number, as defined in the quantity sheets that breaks out the entire item s quantity over its specific locations and sub-quantities. Sub-Item: the location for which the sub-code s quantity is planned to be placed. These also come directly from the Location in the quantity sheets. Current Quantity: this is the planned quantity the designer estimated would be needed for that specific sub-item location. The total sum of these sub-item quantities will always add up to the total original tender quantity under the item. The Current Quantity will never change, regardless of payments of change orders, as this indicates the original planned quantity. Quantities can be posted higher or lower than this planned quantity, it simply organizes the input of the total quantity under the item for tracking purposes. Remaining Quantity: this is the total remaining quantity left under the item. This will change with every payment, as well as any change order adjusting its quantity. If ever a user is trying to post a higher quantity than that shown under Remaining, the system will disallow until the discrepancy is either rectified, or the quantity is adjusted by change order. UOM: the unit of measure for each item. Posted Date: the date for which the posting shall apply. This is the date the work was actually completed on, if different than that of the day it s being posted. Remarks: any comment explaining; a difference in quantity, whether the sub-item was overrun or underrun, and why; if a sub-item wasn t completed fully; notes or reminders to the CA for when they are reconciling later, etc. From/To Station: if sub-item is not completed as per the design limits within the subitem description, or quantity is overrun/under run and stations aren t met, the actual station limits go here. This is important to track changes. Date of Issuance: September 5, 2018 Page 7

9 Figure 7 8. As the inspector enters data, they also fill out the cells beside it, providing explanation (if required) and the actual measured stations, to allow for easy explanation of mismatched quantities. For this example, sub-codes 1, 2 and 4 were constructed as designed, within the designed limits, however sub-code 3 and 5 were not. Note their Posting Quantity differs from that of the Remaining Quantity, the To Station for each is not the full station as designed, and there is an explanation in the Remarks column beside it to explain the discrepancy 9. Once satisfied with the fields, and reviewed for accuracy, the inspector again clicks Save then clicks the Record Details tab to return to the main Item Postings page (Figure 8 & 9) 10. Once the inspector has again checked the Posting Date for accuracy discussed in step 2, they click Submit to submit their Item Postings to their RRA (Record Reviewer and Approver) (Figure 9) Figure 8 Figure 9 Figure 10 - Note the Workflow Status is now "Submitted." This record can no longer be modified. Note: As this should typically be a record which is updated throughout the day, as required, remember that at any time the inspector can simply click Save to save the draft and return to it at a later time. At the end of the day, prior to completing the Diary record, the Item Postings record should be completed, Date of Issuance: September 5, 2018 Page 8

10 submitted, and can then be linked to that day s Diary page prior to the completion of the Diary Record. Reconciliation Item Postings As mentioned previously, steps 1 through 10 apply to the Contractor s Inspector as well, and for the purpose of this example, assume the contractor has input his own Item Postings separately, for the same work done that day. The quantities entered may not match, but that will be dealt with under the reconciliation process. Steps 11 through 16 shall also apply to the Contractor RRA in reviewing their inspectors Item Postings. 11. Immediately upon logging in, the CA can see in their tasks they now have an Item Posting to review before it can be reconciled. This is the posting just submitted in Step 10 by the inspector. The Contractor RRA will have the same notification on their end (Figure 11) 12. By highlighting the record and clicking History it quickly pulls up the as-yet brief Workflow history of the record, as well as shows which user it is pending on action from (Figure 12) 13. Once finished reviewing, CA closes this window, navigates to the Item Postings record, highlights and clicks Edit to open the record for review (Figure 13) Figure 11 Figure 12 Date of Issuance: September 5, 2018 Page 9

11 Figure 13 Figure CA clicks the same Item Posting tab shown in Figure 3 and reviews the posting quantities submitted by their inspector, along with all associated remarks and stations of the as-constructed, measured quantities 15. When satisfied with the Item Postings, CA returns to the original Record Details landing page of the record and clicks their action button Reviewed. Note this is the same button in the same location as the action button for the inspector when they click Submit and carries the same function within the system: their signature. 16. Clicking the workflow history now reveals the Item Postings have been reviewed and are now completed, as they are not pending on any further user s actions. Assuming the contractor has performed these same actions on their end, a Reconciliation of the postings can now occur Date of Issuance: September 5, 2018 Page 10

12 Figure 15 Figure CA clicks Reconciliation Item Postings revealing all posted Item Postings Reconciliations to date (Figures 15 & 16). CA clicks New to create a new reconciliation record, revealing the main reconciliation page displaying the generic contract information above the Posting Rollup window where quantities will be reconciled (Figure 17) Figure CA selects the To date up to set the cut-off date for which postings will be pulled into the rollup. The From date is simply a system-generated date used to track the last completed reconciliation. Note: If there are unreconciled item postings either before or after the From date, they will still be pulled into the rollup. They will continue to be pulled in until they are reconciled and paid, or until the job is completed. If a posting is never reconciled, an explanation as to why should be made in both the posting record, and a diary record, after which the two can be linked together for future reference or audit. Date of Issuance: September 5, 2018 Page 11

13 19. After selecting the cut-off date for the reconciliation, CA clicks Generate. The system will aggregate every single unreconciled item posting that both the CA and contractor have posted for the same date, and display it in the Posting Rollup window (Figure 18) Figure 18 Note: the system has rolled up all unreconciled item postings and displayed them above. If any item s reconciliation is to be deferred to a later time, they can simply be removed from the reconciliation rollup by highlighting and clicking Delete at the bottom of the rollup window (Figure 18). This will not remove them, or their associated quantities, from the system. They will be pulled into the next rollup, and continue to be, until they ve been reconciled or until the contract s been completed. Note 2: the items are displayed at the item level, and no longer show the subcodes, as payment is made at the item level only. The quantity being displayed for reconciliation is the total sum of the sub-code quantities posted by the inspectors. Note 3: if both the CA inspector and the contractor posted the same quantities to the same sub-codes for the same date, the Final Posted Quantity is automatically populated, as these are obviously agreed-to quantities. The items showing 0.00 as the Final Posted Quantities indicate the CA and contractor posted differentiating quantities, and some investigation will have to occur to determine the true as-constructed quantity and rectify. Date of Issuance: September 5, 2018 Page 12

14 20. CA reviews the items in the rollup and removes any that are not to be reconciled at this time by highlighting and clicking Delete at the bottom of the rollup window. 21. CA and contractor must now determine the discrepancy in quantities for item 4 and item 30. Once the true quantity is determined, the rectification of these discrepancies will be achieved one of four ways in the system, depending on which posting is correct. 22A. If the CA posting is LESS than the contractor posting, and it is the CORRECT quantity, the CA simply inputs the correct quantity into the Final Posted Quantity. The CA can always input the final number if it is less than the contractor s, but not if it is more, as the postings are contractor-driven 22B. If the CA posting is MORE than the contractor posting, and it is the CORRECT quantity, the contractor must go back to the Item Posting section and create an item posting record, posting the exact amount difference in the two quantities, to bring the contractor item quantity up to that of the CA s. Once that item posting is submitted and reviewed, CA redoes the Posting Rollup to aggregate the item postings, and the contractor quantity will now match the CA quantity, automatically populating the Final Posted Quantity cell 22C. If the CA posting is LESS than the contractor posting, and it is the WRONG quantity, the CA simply inputs the correct quantity into the Final Posted Quantity. The CA can always input the final number if it is less than the contractor s, but not if it is more, as the postings are contractor-driven 22D. If the CA posting is MORE than the contractor posting, and it is the WRONG quantity, the CA simply inputs the correct quantity into the Final Posted Quantity, as it does not exceed that of the contractor s posting (contractor s governs). The quantity amount that the CA erroneously posted in excess of that of the contractors will just fall back to the total item quantity, and again be available for future postings. Figure 19 Date of Issuance: September 5, 2018 Page 13

15 23. Assuming one of the four actions under step 22 was performed and quantities are rectified, reconciliation can now proceed (Figure 19). CA inputs the true as-constructed quantity after contractor or inspector has corrected their item postings (if required) and once all Final Posted Quantities cells are populated with the correct figures, the CA clicks Submit. This places the workflow of the Item Posting Reconciliation record with the contractor to review the reconciliation and acknowledge the item quantities 24. Contractor logs in to find the newly submitted Reconciliation record in their To-Do List, immediately prompting them of their required action (Figure 20) Figure Contractor navigates to the Item Posting Reconciliation section and opens the reconciliation record the CA submitted to them in the previous few steps. This will open the record and display the same items and their associated quantities, with a new column on the far right of the rollup window with an Acknowledge check box beside each item (Figure 21) Figure 21 Note: Item 30 has not been Acknowledged by contractor, and will prompt a warning message later on. 26. Contractor carefully reviews the postings, ensuring Final Posted Quantities are the true and agreed to quantities, checking the acknowledge box beside each item as they confirm. If the contractor disagrees with any of the item quantities, it is assumed that Date of Issuance: September 5, 2018 Page 14

16 informal resolution of the quantities dispute did not solve the issue, and the contractor now has one of two options: If they feel more quantity should be paid then what is in the reconciliation, however they want to be paid for the undisputed quantity in the reconciliation, click acknowledge (as these quantities are not in dispute and should therefore be paid). Contractor then separately submits a Request For Clarification (RFC) to resolve the remaining quantity, and can reference this reconciliation in the RFC, or; Do not click Acknowledge and submit an RFC. The entire quantity within reconciliation for the item in dispute will not be pulled into the invoice for payment until reposted and reconciled at a later time. Note: Regardless of dispute, the Reconciliation process is not the appropriate avenue for dispute resolution, and if disputes are not resolvable, neither party should hold up the reconciliation and payment process due to disagreements. RFCs, INCs, Change Orders and the Claims process are designed to mitigate and resolve disagreements, and it is extremely important to maintain an accurate record of actual postings, quantities and reconciliations to aid resolution later on. It is also extremely important to resolve all issues within the system, to create a traceable and accountable record of the dispute directly from its origin. If a dispute is resolved, or conversely goes to claim, outside of the system, there is no record of it, and therefore, contractually, does not exist. 27. Once all items have been acknowledged by the contractor line by line, contractor clicks Acknowledge (Figure 22). If there has been a line acknowledgement missed, the system will prompt the user with the warning message displayed in Figure 23. Figure 22 Figure 23 Support Date of Issuance: September 5, 2018 Page 15

17 All questions can be forwarded to the WBCMS Team: (7:30am to 5pm EST) or Date of Issuance: September 5, 2018 Page 16