Your first project, start to issued certificate

Before you start, pick the right job

The instinct is to start with the biggest project or the most awkward one. Both are mistakes. You want to reach a finished certificate on the first afternoon, because that is the point where you can judge whether QScope saves you time.

Choose a job that is running normally, has a valuation due soon, and where you already know the figures. Familiar numbers mean you will spot immediately if something does not add up.

Step 1: create the project

1. Sign in and open the projects list.
2. Choose New project and give it a site name and a job reference. The reference is what prints on documents, so use the one your client already knows.
3. The project opens on its dashboard, empty. That is expected.

Step 2: set the contract

This is the step that matters most and takes about ten minutes. The contract form is not a label: it decides the statutory day counts, the default retention rate and what your periodic document is called.

1. Open Settings from the sidebar.
2. Set Acting as to your side of the contract. This changes the document names and hides sections you do not need.
3. Fill in the contractor, client, site and job reference. Add the client purchase order if they use one, because it prints on certificates and saves their accounts team emailing you.
4. Set the Contract Form. JCT SBC and D&B, JCT Intermediate and Minor Works, NEC3 and NEC4, or the Scheme.
5. Check Document issued. It is set automatically from your role and contract form, but if your contract calls the document something else, override it here.
6. Enter the contract sum, the retention rate and the rectification period.

Step 3: put the works in

Open Bill of Quantities and enter the priced works. Keep your own section structure, because the certificate the client receives will follow it and they will recognise the shape.

1. Enter sections as separators, then the priced items under each.
2. Provisional sums go in as normal lines. You adjust them later in the final account.
3. If work has been omitted by the client, mark it omitted rather than deleting it. The audit trail keeps the record and the final account shows the adjustment.

Step 4: value the first certificate

If this job already has certificates issued, you are not starting from zero. Enter what has been certified before against each line, then value this period on top.

1. Open Client Valuations and create a new certificate.
2. Give it the valuation date and the due date from your contract. The due date drives every statutory deadline.
3. Go down the lines. Enter a percentage where the work is measured, or click the % beside the field to switch that line to a fixed sum where it is a lump, a drawn-down provisional sum or dayworks.
4. Add any approved variations with + Add Variations. They come in as normal valuation lines and retention is then deducted once, in the certificate.
5. Check the summary: gross this period, less retention, net due.

Step 5: check the dates, then issue

1. Look at the payment dates panel on the certificate. You should see the last date for the payment notice, the final date for payment and the pay-less deadline.
2. If it says the dates cannot be computed, you have not entered a due date. Do not issue the certificate until you have.
3. Print or save as PDF. The document carries your practice name and logo, in black and white so it survives being photocopied into a bundle.
4. Diary the pay-less deadline separately. QScope shows it on the project list, but a second record costs you nothing.

Step 6: let the client look

This is the part that quietly saves the most time over a year, because it stops the monthly email asking where things stand.

1. Open the Project team panel.
2. Add the client with view-only access and send them the link.
3. They need no account and no licence, and they never count towards your plan. Your cost report and risk register stay hidden from them.

What to check before you trust it

Compare three numbers against whatever you used before: the gross this period, the retention deducted, and the net due. If all three match, the setup is right and you can carry on. If one differs, it is almost always the retention rate or the previously certified figures, and both are quick to correct.