Create a baseline progress claim before the next billing period for an active project migrated to Drum. It records amounts already invoiced so future claims start from the correct Prev. Claimed figures. In Drum this is the same thing as an Opening position claim. This guide covers deliverable-based claims.
A baseline or Opening position claim updates Prev. Claimed for later progress claims. It does not write spent onto the task budget bars on the Budget tab. Spent still only updates from approved time and approved costs on each task. See Project budget and resourcing glossary.
If the project already has an Opening position draft
Some migrations create a draft progress claim named Opening position on active projects that already have billed value. That draft is a starting point built from imported invoices and billed time or costs. It does not affect later claims until you approve it.
Open the project and select Claims.
Open the draft named Opening position (do not create a second claim if this draft is already there).
Review each deliverable’s amounts against your pre-Drum invoices. Adjust This Claim or % Claimed where the split looks wrong, and leave deliverables that were not invoiced at zero.
Check Total Claimed and Remaining, then continue from Approve the baseline below.
If there is no Opening position draft, create one with the steps under Create the baseline claim.
Before you begin: review and restructure the project
First, work through Restructure a project after migration and complete any changes your project needs. Check that deliverables and tasks match how you intend to invoice, budget and contract values are allocated correctly, and any time entries you reassigned are against the intended tasks.
If the project already has the right structure, complete the checks in that guide before continuing. Your baseline claim should record the invoiced position against the deliverables you will use for future claims.
Check the project’s invoiced position
Open the project and select Invoices.
Review the invoices issued before moving to Drum. Identify the latest invoice’s issue date and the total invoiced against each deliverable up to that date.
Compare those amounts with the deliverables’ contract values in the project’s Budget.
For example, if Schematic Design has a contract value of $19,500 and you have already invoiced $19,500 for it, the baseline should record that deliverable as 100% claimed.
Use the cumulative position across all previous invoices. Your project may have partial claims across several deliverables, rather than one fully claimed deliverable.
Create the baseline claim
Skip this section if you already opened an Opening position draft above.
Select Claims, then Add Progress Claim.
For a project you intend to claim at deliverable level, select Deliverable-based Claims. This choice cannot be changed after the project’s first claim is created.
Enter Opening position or Baseline Claim in Name and leave the status as Draft.
Set Claim Period End and Issued Date to the issue date of the project’s latest existing invoice. In the example, both dates are 31 July.
Set Claim Period Start to a date before Claim Period End. Check that the claim period covers the time and costs you intend to include in the baseline.
Review Claim all billable costs and times. Selecting it associates billable costs issued and billable time recorded in timesheets for the claim period with this claim, removing those entries from work in progress (WIP) for future invoices. Select it when those entries belong to amounts already invoiced; clear it when they need to remain as WIP for future invoices. The checkbox only shows if your role has budget access as well as progress claim access (View on the Budgets row of your account role, or Budgets View on your project role). Without it, carry on with the next step. Billable entries stay as WIP.
Select Save and Edit.
Record the amounts already invoiced
Review each deliverable in the claim.
Enter its previously invoiced amount in This Claim, or the corresponding percentage in % Claimed.
Check Total Claimed and Remaining against your invoiced position. Leave deliverables that have not been invoiced at zero.
In the example, Schematic Design is entered as $19,500, or 100%. The other deliverables remain at zero. The baseline total is $19,500.
Detail: Schematic Design is 100% claimed, with $19,500 total claimed and $0 remaining.
Approve the baseline
Later claims treat baseline amounts as Prev. Claimed only after this Opening position claim is Approved (with an issued date earlier than the next claim). Approving the claim is what feeds Prev. Claimed. Creating another invoice is a separate step.
When the project’s historical invoices for those amounts are already in Drum from migration, select Approve (or Request Approval). Do not use Approve & Convert or Create Invoice From Claim for the same amounts, or you will create another invoice on top of the ones already imported.
If those historical amounts are not already on invoices in Drum, create the linked Drum invoice after approval (for example Approve & Convert, or Create Invoice From Claim) so the project’s invoice history matches the baseline. If you do not have permission to create invoices, select Request Approval and ask an approver to finish that step.
To confirm your baseline claim:
Check the claim’s dates, deliverable values and total against your previous invoices.
Select Approve if you have permission. Otherwise, select Request Approval for an authorised teammate to review it.
Check that the baseline’s status is Approved before relying on it for the next claim.
Check the next progress claim
When the next billing period arrives, create the next claim from the project’s Claims tab and select Save and Edit.
For each deliverable, check that Prev. Claimed matches the approved baseline. Check Remaining against the contract value still to be claimed.
If any figures do not match, check the baseline’s approval status and compare its dates and deliverable values with your previous invoices before proceeding. Resolve any discrepancy before approving the new claim.
In the August example, Schematic Design shows $19,500 (100%) under Prev. Claimed, $0 in This Claim and $0 Remaining. This confirms that the July baseline has carried forward.
Detail: the next claim carries Schematic Design’s $19,500 into Prev. Claimed, leaving $0 remaining.
Once the carried-forward figures match your existing invoices, enter the new period’s claim figures. Review any amounts Drum has already included before approving that next claim.
Many jobs after migration
When many active jobs come across together, migration can create one draft named Opening position on each active project that already has billed value. Each draft is built from billed time and costs already imported, split across the project’s deliverables or tasks. Some migrations leave claim import rows empty on purpose and rely on that Create baseline claim step alone.
Open each draft on the project’s Claims tab, check the amounts against your pre-Drum records (invoices, claim schedules, or internal tracking), adjust where the split looks wrong, then approve. Until you approve, the draft does not feed the next claim’s Prev. Claimed figures.
If a project has no Opening position draft, create one with the steps under Create the baseline claim.
No bulk upload for arbitrary tracking sheets
Drum does not offer a customer self-serve bulk upload for arbitrary tracking spreadsheets. Opening positions are set from the migration Opening position drafts where they exist, or project by project on each Claims tab using the steps above.
Opening position does not clear Unbilled time
An Opening position (baseline) claim sets the claimed-to-date figures for later progress claims. It does not clear Unbilled Work.
Unbilled Work is billable tracked time and billable costs that are not yet billed on an invoice. Those entries stay in the unbilled pool until you claim or invoice them, write them down, or correct how they were linked during import.
Migration Opening position drafts are built from already-billed amounts (imported invoices and billed time or costs). Approving them feeds Prev. Claimed. They do not delete leftover unbilled time on the project.
If old projects still show Unbilled time after migration:
Use Opening position where you need the claim baseline for amounts already invoiced (this guide).
Separately review leftover Unbilled entries on the project’s Time tab and costs. Decide whether each amount should still be billed, written down (see How to write off leftover Unbilled work on a project), left for a future claim, or corrected if it should have been linked to a historical invoice.
Approving another Opening position alone will not remove that leftover Unbilled balance. The optional Claim all billable costs and times checkbox when you create a claim by hand only associates billable entries in that claim period with the claim. Use it when those entries belong to amounts already invoiced; clear it when they should stay as WIP. It is not a bulk path to clear all Unbilled via Opening position.
Projects never billed and written off
If a project was never billed and you will not bill the leftover Unbilled, Opening position is not the tool. Opening position only records amounts already invoiced.
To clear Unbilled time and costs that will not be recovered, create a Cost Write-Off on the project’s Write Offs tab, allocate those entries, then approve the write-off. Allocated entries leave Unbilled and show as Written Off.
Step-by-step: How to write off leftover Unbilled work on a project.
Related guides
This article is about setting the starting claimed position on a migrated project. It is separate from clearing Unbilled Work, from finding approved claims ready to invoice in Insights, and from day-to-day Create Invoice From Claim / Approve & Convert flows in the progress claims tutorial.
How to write off leftover Unbilled work on a project (Cost Write-Off for leftover Unbilled)
How to release rejected or held progress claims for the next claim (includes monitoring Unbilled on the Projects Dashboard)