A Schedule of Values (SOV) outlines project cost allocations and financial progress across phases or work categories. Funders, brokers, and underwriters rely on SOVs to confirm that claimed work aligns with the budget and that payment applications reflect true progress.
Manual validation of these spreadsheets or PDFs is repetitive and prone to error; totals might not match, formulas may break, and stale versions are often submitted.
Heron automates validation for SOVs, checking math accuracy, structural integrity, and logical consistency before records reach underwriters. Each field, from contract value to retainage, is verified against expected rules, ensuring that only clean, trustworthy data enters the system of record.
The result is less rework, faster turnaround, and greater confidence across every deal.
Use Cases
- Confirm structural completeness: Heron validates that all required fields, such as original contract value, change order total, revised value, work complete, and retainage, exist and are populated.
- Check math accuracy: Line item totals must equal section and project totals. Variances are automatically detected and flagged for review.
- Validate contract value progression: Heron verifies that revised totals correctly include approved change orders and do not regress between versions.
- Flag period inconsistencies: Dates such as period end and application date are checked to make sure they follow logical order and match the project timeline.
- Detect missing or duplicate items: The system compares SOVs across submissions, identifying missing rows or repeated cost codes.
- Evaluate retainage compliance: Heron validates retainage percentages against funder policies or caps and flags any excess.
These use cases make validation a predictable, automated control point that guarantees quality before underwriting.
Operational Impact
Automated validation removes the last major bottleneck between intake and funding.
- Faster approvals: Documents that pass validation flow directly into underwriting queues.
- Higher accuracy: Automated logic catches miscalculations and duplicates instantly.
- Reduced rework: Only flagged exceptions require manual review.
- Improved reporting: Clean data supports downstream analytics without adjustment.
- Consistent standards: Every submission faces the same validation logic, reducing subjectivity.
Heron turns validation into a strategic advantage by ensuring that incoming data is always accurate and audit-ready.
Validation Framework
Heron uses layered checks to confirm both data quality and logical alignment across submissions.
- Structural validation: Confirms that expected headers and fields exist and contain readable data.
- Mathematical validation: Totals and subtotals are recalculated to confirm arithmetic integrity.
- Chronological validation: Verifies that period dates move forward and do not skip required intervals.
- Version validation: Confirms that new versions contain all prior line items and correctly reflect changes.
- Consistency validation: Checks that retainage, progress, and totals follow defined program rules.
- Reference validation: Confirms the SOV links to the correct merchant or project in the CRM, preventing cross-record contamination.
Each step produces clear outcomes (valid, flagged, or pending), and each flag carries a reason code to drive efficient resolution.
Data Quality and Exception Handling
Heron’s validation engine applies both automatic fixes and intelligent routing for edge cases.
- Auto-correct minor errors: Rounding variances and formatting inconsistencies are corrected automatically.
- Escalate exceptions: Items with major mismatches or missing columns move to a review queue.
- Partial approvals: Clean sections are marked ready while problematic rows await correction.
- Real-time feedback: Brokers receive precise missing-info requests referencing the exact field or total in question.
- Audit logs: Each validation action is timestamped and recorded for compliance tracking.
This blend of automation and escalation prevents backlogs while maintaining quality assurance.
Integration in the Heron Workflow
Validation sits between scrubbing and write-back, forming the final gate before clean data enters the CRM.
- Intake: The SOV arrives via email, portal, or API.
- Classification: The system identifies it as a Schedule of Values and bundles related files.
- Scrubbing: Structural completeness and basic math checks run first.
- Validation: Deep logic checks confirm correctness and readiness.
- Write-back: Verified data populates CRM fields such as contract value, work completed, and retainage.
- Routing: The record moves to underwriting or compliance queues with a ready-to-fund tag.
Each step produces measurable progress and cuts manual touchpoints to near zero.
Governance and Compliance Advantages
Automated validation supports compliance by keeping every document traceable and verifiable.
- Audit trail: Every check is logged with a timestamp and confidence score.
- Policy enforcement: Validation applies funder-specific business rules automatically.
- SOC 2 alignment: All actions occur within Heron’s secure, monitored environment.
- PII protection: Sensitive details stay encrypted during processing and write-back.
- Exception reports: Managers view summaries of all flagged records for oversight.
Compliance and operations teams gain full visibility into what passed, what failed, and why.
Collaboration and Transparency
Validation enhances collaboration between brokers, underwriters, and operations staff.
- Underwriters: Work only with validated, complete data.
- Operations: Track exception resolution through reason codes.
- Brokers: Receive specific feedback rather than vague correction requests.
- Managers: Monitor quality trends and broker performance from a single dashboard.
Everyone in the workflow gains clarity, accountability, and shared context.
Performance Metrics
Teams tracking Heron validation see rapid operational improvements:
- Turnaround time: 60–80% reduction in intake-to-ready cycle.
- Error rate: Arithmetic and structure errors drop below 5%.
- Exception rate: Gradual decline as brokers submit cleaner data over time.
- Review touch time: Minutes per exception continue to fall as automation handles more categories.
- Compliance accuracy: 100% of SOVs validated with audit trails for inspection.
These metrics translate into tangible efficiency gains and measurable cost savings.
Business Outcomes
Validated SOVs support cleaner funding decisions and fewer disputes later. Funders and brokers gain trust in their data because every figure is verified against objective rules. Operations teams handle higher volumes without adding staff, and leadership relies on real-time accuracy metrics for forecasting.
By automating validation, Heron makes data reliability scalable. Every submission gets the same scrutiny, every approval happens faster, and every record meets audit standards without extra effort.
Benefits of Using Heron for Validating the Schedule of Values
- Speed: Automatic math and logic checks complete in seconds.
- Accuracy: Totals, retainage, and version alignment verified consistently.
- Compliance: Every result logged for audit and oversight.
- Scalability: Handles large submission volumes seamlessly.
- Transparency: Brokers see exact correction points through reason codes.
Heron delivers precision validation that strengthens data quality across the entire workflow.
FAQs About Validate for Schedule of Values
How does Heron validate Schedule of Values submissions?
Heron runs multiple checks that confirm math accuracy, data completeness, and compliance with funder rules. Each check produces a clear result (pass, flag, or review) with details stored in the audit log.
What happens when validation flags a problem?
Flagged items move to an exception queue with reason codes. The broker receives a targeted missing-info request that identifies which field or total needs correction.
Can Heron adjust or correct small arithmetic errors automatically?
Yes. Heron automatically corrects rounding discrepancies and formatting issues that do not affect financial accuracy, minimizing unnecessary delays.
How do validation results appear in the CRM?
Each validated SOV updates key fields such as contract value, change orders, and retainage, while exceptions are labeled visibly for tracking until cleared.
How does validation improve downstream underwriting?
By verifying structure and math upfront, Heron removes guesswork from underwriting. Reviewers spend less time verifying spreadsheets and more time assessing eligibility.
