It is easier to use a worksheet for the preparation and submission of the Payment Application and then use the worksheet to distribute the allocations into your CPM.
Remember there are many ways to submit a payment application and that there are issues not intended to be handled on the CPM such as:
- Advanced payments (not a good idea that here can even make the Payment and Performance Bond invalid).
- Handling of retainage.
- Handling of Material on Site.
- When payment application periods do not match the pre-defined financial periods, a requirement by some poor CPM software.
- Many times those involved in the approval of the Payment Application are not proficient in the use of the CPM software being used. The fact is that ea CPM software require different approach, they require a long learning curve, they require a substantial investment in time and training. Even if using common software, the specific modeling by different Contractors might differ. They have a responsibility for doing their homework and this includes checking on the math. this is done better by using a worksheet software such as Excel, software most people know and have.
- At times the simple addition of values will miss accuracy due to rounding of values, not acceptable by accounting standards, this is very common on software that depends on % complete rather than precise actuals.
All the prior mentioned above issues will be properly addressed when using a worksheet and you will be able to get meaningful Payment Application S Curves.
At first glance it might seems like a step can be saved, but at what cost? It does not make sense saving a step if by doing this the remaining steps get so complicated you end up doing more cumbersome and unnecessary work, here in Spanish we call it "el avance de Juan Bobo" in English it might read "the advance of Johnny the Fool".
Of course for those Juan Bobos there are other options, even more complicated like using a different resource designation for each PA item, like combining cost accounts with the resource, and many others.
Your suggestion to me seems like the most practical of all, just use a single resource or cost code if your software allows for it without the need to assign resources.
Rafael