Managing contract retentions just got a whole lot smarter. We’ve introduced a suite of updates to the Contracts module that automate complex retention calculations, support tiered schedules, and provide full transparency into how your retention totals are derived.

📈 Support for Tiered Retention Schedules

You can now define "tiered" retention schedules directly within the Contract Security record. This is perfect for capital works contracts that require different rates at different stages of the project (e.g., 10% on the first $200k, 5% thereafter).

• Flexible Brackets: Define multiple rows with "From" and "To" values.
• Gap Validation: The system automatically ensures your brackets are continuous, preventing calculation errors.
• Remainder Handling: Easily set an "And above" bracket to cover all costs exceeding your final defined limit.
• Simple ↔ Tiered Toggle: Switch between a flat rate and a complex schedule with a single click.

🤖 Automated Calculations on Payment Certificates

When creating a Payment Certificate, you can now link it to a defined Retention record.

• Instant Math: The system automatically calculates the retention amount based on the contractor's claim.
• Cumulative History: For tiered retentions, the system looks at the cumulative history of payments on the contract. It accurately determines which bracket the current claim falls into, even if a single payment spans across two different brackets.
• Manual Overrides: Need to make a tweak? You can still manually override the calculated value while keeping the original calculation as a reference.

🔍 Full Calculation Transparency

We’ve added a Retention Breakdown Summary to the Payment Certificate view. This provides a human-readable explanation of the math, such as:

$100,000 at 10% = $10,000 // $50,000 at 5% = $2,500

This ensures both you and your contractors have full visibility into how the final retention sum was reached.

🛡️ Data Integrity & Safety

• Locked Configurations: Once a tiered schedule is confirmed, it is locked to prevent accidental edits while it's being used by active certificates.
• Draft Protection: Calculations only trigger for "Draft" certificates, ensuring that your Submitted or Approved records remain unchanged even if the underlying security record is updated.

How to get started:

1. Navigate to Contracts > [Select Contract] > Security.
2. Add or Edit a Retention record and select Tiered as the Schedule Type.
3. Head over to your Payment Certificates and select your new retention record to see the automation in action!