Passing Values in Equation Engine

Hi,

I am looking for a way to pass the A_Amount result in an equation in a packaging plan down to be evaluated by another equation further down in the plan.  I know I can use I_LAST_AWD_AMT if I make the very next itemtype the one I want to evaluate this amount on.  But I am not sure how I can reference this amount further down in the packaging plan, several item types down.

If I were to write this value to an actual SQL table, I am not sure if it is committed as soon as I write it, so I can retrieve it back again.  Or if the commit is not done until the entire packaging plan is finished running.  We are MS SQL server.