In ACC, when populating an invoice using the Excel template, we can only enter the current value (work completed in this period). However, in real-life scenarios, we need to submit the cumulative value (this application’s total work completed) along with all values related to the advance payment. Otherwise, these values must be entered manually in ACC, one by one, whereas it would be much more efficient if all required values not just the current value could be populated directly through Excel.
While ACC can automatically calculate the total work completed to date based on the current period’s work completed, entering this data directly in ACC would require the contractor to manually populate approximately 3,500 line items individually, which is not practical.
In real project workflows, contractors prepare invoices using Excel files that typically contain multiple interconnected worksheets for each invoice. Changes in supporting worksheets automatically update other sheets, particularly the summary or first worksheet through formulas and links.
The initial proposed approach was to provide an ACC-aligned Excel template and require the contractor to place it as the first worksheet within their existing Excel file, linking it to the other tabs. However, this approach is not fully viable, as the Excel import functionality currently allows populating only the current period values (i.e., the highlighted columns in the template), and does not support importing cumulative values.
From a technical and cost-management perspective, cost teams generally prefer to submit cumulative values (total work completed to date) rather than only the current period values, as this reduces the risk of discrepancies and calculation issues. This preference is widely observed in the Middle East region, and similar feedback has been received from other developers, including projects in Egypt.
At a minimum, there is a strong need to enable bulk copy-and-paste of all rows in a single action, rather than requiring data entry on a line-by-line basis.
