When this workflow belongs in the project

Variations are for genuine changes to the agreed job scope after the project is already underway. In a fencing business that usually means something discovered on site, requested by the client, or required to complete the install properly. Typical examples include extra rock breaking, a longer return run than originally measured, upgraded gate hardware, an added retaining detail, or a late change to the fence type on one boundary.

This workflow is usually shared between the supervisor, estimator, owner, project admin and bookkeeper. The project page is the working record because it already holds the contract value, invoice records, payment history, public portal access and the rest of the delivery context. Keeping the variation inside that record makes the financial effect visible to everyone who needs it.

Before you create anything, make sure the team is clear on three points:

• what changed in the field or in the client request
• the additional value that should be charged
• whether approval will happen directly from the office or through the client portal

Record the change before the scope drifts any further

Start from the project Variations area and add the change with its description, amount and date. Fencify creates every new variation as Pending. That matters because a pending variation is visible on the project, but it does not increase the contract value yet.

1. Open the relevant project and go to the Variations area.
2. Add the variation with a plain-English description of the extra work or changed requirement.
3. Enter the additional cost as the variation amount.
4. Use the correct variation date so the record lines up with the project timeline.

At this stage the variation is acting like a controlled change request. It is on the record, the team can see it, and the project history now shows that the job moved away from the original scope. That gives you a proper checkpoint before anyone updates invoices or chases extra money.

If a variation was entered in error, deal with it while it is still easy to trace. The project page allows deletion, but a cleaner process is to catch bad entries before they become approved, invoiced or paid.

Choose the approval path that matches how the client is responding

Fencify supports two practical approval paths.

Office-side approval

If the client has already agreed by phone, email, signed paper or another process your team trusts, the office can approve the pending variation from the project record. The pending badge becomes the approval action, and once the approval is applied Fencify treats that change as accepted commercial scope.

Client portal sign-off

If you want the customer to approve the change through the public project portal, send the project email with Request Variation Sign-off included. That gives the client a variation review path in the portal, where pending items appear with a Review & Sign action. The client signs the variation in the portal and the approval is written back to the project.

Use the portal path when the wording and amount need direct client acknowledgement inside the live project record. Use direct office approval when the job has already been clearly approved and your business process is simply bringing that agreement into Fencify.

Whichever path you use, keep supporting emails, marked-up plans or photos in the project files if they help explain why the variation exists. The variation line itself carries the amount and status, while the broader project file set carries the job evidence around it.

What changes the moment the variation is approved

Approval is the commercial turning point. Fencify switches the variation from Pending to Approved, resets its payment fields back to an unpaid state, and recalculates the project contract value using the base quote total plus all approved variations on that project.

That means only approved variations count toward the live contract value. Pending items stay visible but do not inflate the job value before the customer has actually agreed.

This is the right moment to review the project finance summary as well. If the variation is approved, the contract figure should now reflect the extra charge. That gives the office, supervisor and bookkeeper one shared commercial view before any invoice is sent or any payment is recorded.

Move the approved variation into an invoice or payment request

Once a variation is approved, Fencify can carry it into the payment flow. There are two common ways this happens.

1. From the office side, you review the project invoice records and payment history, then collect or record the variation payment against the correct invoice.
2. From the client side, the public portal can surface the approved unpaid variation as the current claim, ready for payment.

When a variation is being paid and no linked invoice exists yet, Fencify can create a project invoice for that variation and attach the variation description to it. On the project finance screen those invoices are shown with a Variation label, which makes them easier to separate from deposit or progress invoices.

The invoice output for a variation is intentionally simple. It is treated as a variation payment line rather than a full rebuild of the original quote scope. That keeps the client-facing invoice clear: the customer can see that the extra charge belongs to a specific approved project change.

Before you send or rely on the invoice, check these points:

• the variation description is client-readable
• the amount matches the approved change
• the correct client name, email and address are showing on the invoice
• the invoice belongs to the right project and is not being confused with a staged progress claim

Handle bank transfer, cash and card payments without losing the audit trail

Variation payments can move through different states depending on how the client pays.

Immediate confirmed payment

Where a supported card payment succeeds through the client portal, Fencify can mark the variation payment as paid, update the linked invoice to paid and roll the confirmed amount into the project paid total straight away.

Pending payment lodgement

Where the client lodges a bank transfer or cash or cheque payment through the portal, Fencify records that event as pending rather than treating it as confirmed funds. The variation moves to a pending payment state, and the project receives a payment history entry and internal notification so the office knows there is money to verify.

This distinction is important for day-to-day control. Pending bank or cash lodgements should be reviewed from the project payment history before they are treated as collected. Confirm the funds or receipt first, then apply the payment properly so the variation and project totals stay trustworthy.

Office-side payment recording also supports invoice selection. If the variation has a linked invoice, apply the payment to that invoice so the invoice balance, variation payment status and project paid total stay aligned.

Review the knock-on effect in invoices, payments and project totals

After approval and payment activity, check the project in three places rather than relying on one badge alone.

1. Variation row: confirm the status and payment label read correctly.
2. Invoice records: check the linked variation invoice number, amount, balance and paid status.
3. Project totals: confirm the project paid amount and contract value now match the real commercial position.

Fencify uses the confirmed project payments to update the overall paid total. Pending bank and pending cash lodgements are deliberately kept out of the confirmed paid calculation until your team verifies them. That protects your project finance view from looking healthier than it really is.

The payment schedule service also stays involved when project totals move. Even if the variation itself is separate from your main staged claim structure, the broader project finance view still needs to stay in sync after confirmed money is applied.

For list-level review, the Invoicing area gives the office and bookkeeper another way to check that the variation invoice is sitting in the right status and still has the right balance. That is especially useful when one staff member handles site changes and another handles debtor follow-up.

What to do if the variation invoice is closed or corrected

Sometimes the problem is not the variation itself but the invoice linked to it. If a linked invoice needs to be voided or cancelled, review the variation straight after that change. Fencify clears the invoice link and resets the variation payment markers back to an unpaid state so the team can reissue or correct the charge cleanly.

That reset behaviour is useful because it stops old payment references from hanging off a variation after the invoice path has been abandoned. It also means the project finance picture stays coherent when the office has to unwind a mistaken invoice.

Use this as a review checklist whenever a correction is needed:

• confirm the variation should still exist and still be approved
• check whether the amount or wording needs correction before reissuing
• make sure the old invoice is no longer the active collection path
• issue or link the replacement invoice before chasing payment again

If an approved variation is deleted, Fencify recalculates the project contract value again. That is another reason to tidy errors early, before the variation has already been billed or discussed with the client.

Practical fencing example: rock breaking discovered after install starts

Your crew starts a Colorbond side boundary and finds a short section of rock that will need extra breaking before the posts can be set properly. The supervisor confirms the extra cost with the office, and the office adds a variation for rock breaking with the agreed amount and the date the issue was found.

The office then sends the project email with variation sign-off included. The client opens the public project portal, reviews the variation description, signs it and sends the approval back. Fencify changes the variation to approved and updates the project contract value.

From there the variation appears as approved but unpaid. The client pays through the portal. If the payment is made by card and succeeds immediately, the linked variation invoice can show paid straight away. If the client chooses bank transfer, the project shows payment pending until the office verifies the funds and applies the pending payment properly.

By the time the bookkeeper reviews the project, the whole story is visible in one place: why the change happened, when it was approved, which invoice belongs to it, whether the money is still pending or fully paid, and how the variation affected the final contract value.

Final review before you move back into delivery

A variation workflow is complete when the project can move forward without anyone guessing whether the extra work was approved or whether the money was collected. Before you leave the variation alone, confirm:

• the variation description explains the actual site change
• the approval path used by your team is reflected in the project record
• the contract value only includes approved variations
• the linked invoice, if any, belongs to the correct variation amount
• pending client lodgements have been followed through to verified payment where required
• the project payment total and invoice balance now read correctly

Once those checks are done, the project can return to normal delivery work with the commercial scope kept clean. The next workflow is usually either procurement and cost tracking for the extra work, or the next scheduled invoice or payment review on the project.