On a contract, specify the retention percentage for the whole contract or for each SoV/WBS line item. Retention will then automatically be held when invoices are processed against that contract. You can also use the invoice process to modify or release retention when retention becomes due.

A retention percentage is included on the contract.

Navigate to the Invoicing & Pay Applications from the project navigation menu.

Click +Create and proceed through the typical invoice creation process. Choose Contracted Invoice, select the contract, and click Next Step.

Enter the invoice Details and proceed to the Next Step. Note that you can modify and release retention within a regular contracted invoice.

On the SoV/WBS tab, click Modify / Release Retention.

Clicking this button will jump the screen to the Current Retention Amount ($) and Current Retention Percent (%) columns of the invoice.

Releasing retention means you are paying retention that you have held on previous invoices. For example, you have a General Contractor that has previously billed $50,000 for their Demolition scope of work with a retention rule of 10%. $5,000 in retention has been held. You now want to release this $5,000 to the GC.

Find the Total Retention Amount ($) column. In this column, we can see that $5,000 was previously held on the Demolition SoV/WBS line item.

To release this, update the $5,000 amount to $0. Note that by doing this, the Retention Released this Period ($) column is updated to $5,000.

This $5,000 in released retention will be included in the invoice value for this invoice.

Modify retention when you want to change the amount of retention held on an invoice. Modifying retention will also update the retention percentage for future invoices.

For example, on this same invoice, your General Contractor is billing for $10,000 against the Overhead & Profit line item. This line item includes 10% retention, but you have agreed to reduce the retention held on this line item from 10% to 5%.

Click Modify / Release Retention and find the Current Retention Percent (%) column. Currently, this invoice includes 10% retention.

Change the 10% to 5%.

Note that by doing this, the Current Retention Amount on this line item changed from $1,000 to $500.

You are now holding 5% instead of 10% on this line item. In future invoices, 5% will continue to be held until you update the retention percentage again.

You can now complete the invoice details as you would for any contracted invoice. Upload Supporting Documents if applicable, Apply Funding, and Approve the invoice.

Creating an Application Package