Contract Inventory
- Example
- Notes
- Best Practice
- Characteristics specific to versions 2016 and earlier
- Menu access
- Description of tabs
- Procedures and Wizards
Definition
The contract inventory lists all contracts for the IT infrastructure: subscription, insurance, maintenance, leasing, .... These contracts can be associated with equipment, licenses or other contracts. Effective management requires the monitoring of renewal dates and contract periods. It can be simplified using scheduled alerts that send a warning to users before the expiry of each contract.
EndDefinition
- Each contract is associated with a reference defined in a unique catalog entry.
- The cost of the contract can be spread over several cost centers based on usage. It can include a fixed time-based dimension and a variable dimension related to equipment.
- A payment schedule is used to define future contract periods and their amounts.
See Life Cycle of a contract.
Example
You want to generate a payment schedule using the following criteria:
- Contract:
- Start date: 11/01/2015
- Duration: 6 months
- Period:
- Fixed costs: €1500
- Frequency: 3 months
- Payment: Fallen term (last day of the month)
==> The payment schedule displays the two periods scheduled:
| Date | Designation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 11/30/2015 | 18823 11/2015 | 1500 |
| 2/29/2016 | 18823 02/2016 | 1500 |
Notes
- When a contract is created, certain information is inherited from the reference defined in the catalog.
Best Practice
- Modifications made to references in the catalog will automatically be reflected in existing contracts. Make corrections at this level only if there are specific conditions not to be included in the catalog.
- When you perform an action on the main contract, e.g. renewal, end of contract or association with equipment or licenses, remember to update the associated contracts.
- To end a contract:
- Run the Finish action to keep the archived contract. Remember to delete scheduled periods that are no longer relevant in the Periods tab.
- Run the Delete action only if you do not want to keep the Contract form.
- To book invoices related to a contract in accounting:
- If the payment is for a scheduled contract period, select Transition > Invoices > Contract Periods and run the New Invoice on Payment Schedule wizard.
- If the payment is without a contract period, run the Invoice wizard in the contract.
- To receive warning for contracts that are due to expire, you can define scheduled alerts that take into consideration the renewal notice period. The alerts can be sent sufficiently ahead of time so that the sales manager can renegotiate conditions with the supplier.
Characteristics specific to versions 2016 and earlier
- Graphic interface:
- General overview of the form. See the Fundamentals
- Screens in the Contract form
- General overview of the form.
Menu access
Asset & Configuration > Contracts > Inventory
Description of tabs
TabUpdateRules_After2016Versions
Click to see the general principles for updating tabs.
| Create a new item | Delete an item or association with a related item |
|---|---|
|
Run the New wizard at the top of the tab
|
Move the cursor over the corresponding item and click
|
Alphabetical order of the tabs
QuickAccess
|
|
|
|
|
|
Details
Contract Number: Contract number used to identify it in a unique way.
Description: Name of the contract.
Type
Type: Type (full path displayed) associated with the current object.
- The type is inherited from the reference.
example Contracts/Insurance
Reference: Reference of the contract.
Supplier: Supplier with whom the contract is signed. It can be different from the one in the reference.
Manager: User in charge of the contract. This user negotiates the contract's terms and conditions and decides if it should be renewed.
Initial Signature: Date on which the contract was initially signed.
- Not modified when the contract is renewed.
Department
Department: Department associated with the current object.
Location
Location: Location where the current object is physically stored.
- By default, it is at the manager's current domain root.
Start Date: Start date of the contract or contract renewal.
- Update: Run the Generate Payment Periods and Renew wizards.
Scheduled End: Scheduled end date of the contract or contract renewal. Once it is reached, the contract status will be Expired.
- Update: Run the Renew wizard.
Duration (Months): Duration of the contract in months. This is used to calculate the date in the Scheduled End field based on its start date.
Duration of the Period (in Months): Frequency of the contract periods in months.
- Update: In the Payment Frequency field in the Financial Data tab.
Due Day/Expiry Fallen Term: Used to indicate if the contract period invoice is issued on a specific day of the month (Due Day field) or on the last day of the month (Expiry Fallen Term box) based on payment frequency.
- The two options are mutually exclusive. If you select the Expiry Fallen Term box, you should not specify the Due Day field. Likewise, if you specify the due day, then you should not select the Expiry Fallen Term box.
- Update: Run the Generate Payment Periods and Renew wizards.
example Contract Start February 25, payment due every three months
| Option | Next period | Payment on... |
|---|---|---|
Due Day --> 14 |
May 25 | June 14 |
Expiry Fallen Term (box is checked) |
May 25 | May 31 (last day of the month) |
Next Renewal Decision: Used to indicate the current situation of the contract renewal decision.
Tacit Renewal: At the expiry of the contract, this is used to indicate if the contract should be renewed automatically (box is checked) or if it should be renegotiated (box is not checked).
Renewal Notice (Months): Number of months before the contract expiry date after which you can no longer terminate or renegotiate the contract.
To receive warning for contracts that are due to expire, you can define scheduled alerts that take into consideration the renewal notice period. The alerts can be sent sufficiently ahead of time so that the sales manager can renegotiate conditions with the supplier.
End Date: End date of the contract or contract renewal. Once the date is reached, the contract is Archived. It is no longer active and can no longer be associated with any equipment, license or contract.
- Update: Run the Finish wizard.
Note
Note: Comments on the form. You can also add images or tables in this field using HTML tags.
Financial Data
Data on the purchase and renewal of the contract. Monthly data enables you to compare the cost of different contracts. Data by period enables you to check invoices received for each period.
See the Renewal Management report
- Total Monthly Equipment Rental: Monthly cost of equipment and licenses included in the contract.
- Calculated field.
- Update of the monthly asset cost for a contract: Run the Link to a Contract wizard in the Equipment or License forms.
- Monthly Charge Back: Amount of the contract charged back every month to different cost centers.
- Allocation to costs centers: In the Amount Charged Back tab.
- Fixed Monthly Costs: Fixed monthly costs of the contract regardless of the number of equipment and licenses included in the contract.
- Payment Frequency: Frequency of the contract periods in months.example 3 ==> Payment due every quarter In the Details tab, specify the precise date of the period invoice in the Due Day field or select the Expiry Fallen Term box.
- Total Monthly Cost: Monthly amount including fixed costs and the cost of equipment and licenses included in the contract.
- Calculated field: Total Monthly Equipment Rental + Fixed Monthly Costs
- Fixed Costs per Period: Amount of fixed costs in the contract for each period.
- Calculated field: Fixed Monthly Costs * Payment Frequency.
- Total Costs: Total amount of the contract over its entire duration including fixed costs and the cost of equipment and licenses included in the contract.
- Calculated field: Total Monthly Cost * Duration in the Details tab.
- Equipment Rental: Cost of equipment and licenses included in the contract for each period.
- Calculated field: Total Monthly Equipment Rental * Payment Frequency. To see the monthly rental for each asset, select the Equipment and Licenses tabs.
- Calculated field: Total Monthly Equipment Rental * Payment Frequency.
- Amount for Period: Total cost for the period including fixed costs and the cost of equipment and licenses included in the contract.
- Calculated field: Total Monthly Cost * Payment Frequency.
- Total Price for Equipment: Total purchase price for equipment and licenses included in the contract.
- Calculated field.
- Update of an asset's purchase price: In the Equipment or License form > Financial Data tab.
- Invoice Totals: Amount of invoiced contract periods. To view the details of the invoice, select the Invoices of Periods tab.
- Future Periods Totals: Amount of non-invoiced contract periods.
- Invoices and Periods Totals: Total amount of contract periods, regardless of whether they are invoiced or not.
- Calculated field: Invoice Totals + Future Periods Totals.
Amount Charged Back
AmountChargedBackTab
Details of the current object's charge back to the relevant cost centers. The amount charged back can be broken down by cost center calculated using their sharing value coefficient. See the examples
Invoices of Periods
List of invoices for the contract periods. The amount in each invoice is posted in the analytical cost allocation account selected when the contract was created.
- Update: Select Transition > Invoices > Contract Periods > New Invoice on Payment Schedule action.
Asset Invoices
List of invoices for all equipment and licenses associated with the contract.
Equipment
List of equipment associated with the contract.
- Update: In this tab or run the Link to a Contract wizard in the Equipment forms or in the Equipment forms > Pending Contracts or All Contracts tab
To associate several items of equipment with a given contract, display the equipment inventory in List mode, select the equipment you want and run the Link to a contract action.
Licenses
LicenseTab
List of licenses associated with the current object.
- Update: In this tab, or run the Link to a License wizard, or in License forms > Related Equipment tab. You can also use an integration model based on the Relationships Equipment Licenses connector
- Update: In this tab or run the Link to a contract wizard in the License forms or in the License forms > Related Contracts tab
To associate several licenses with a given contract, display the license inventory in List mode, select the licenses you want and run the Link to a contract action.
Related Contracts
RelatedContractTab
List of contracts associated with the current object.
- These are usually amendments to contracts.
Problems
ProblemTab
List of problems associated with the current object.
- Update: In Problem forms
Known Errors
KnownErrorTab
List of known errors associated with the current object.
- Update: In Known Error forms
History of Changes
HistoryOfChangeTab
List of all modifications made to the form.
- The fields taken into account are defined using rules in the history of changes.
- This is the AM_ASSET table.
Attributes
AttributeTab
List of attributes linked to the current object.
- Only attributes compatible with the reference type can be added.
- Update: Inherited from the reference or in this tab when specific conditions exist. You can also use an integration model based on the Attributes (Equipment, Contracts, Licenses) connector.
Discussions
DiscussionTab
List of discussions associated with the current object.
- Users can access discussions based on their domain and the visibility of the discussion. Users must also belong to a group authorized to take part in discussions, i.e. in the Group form, the Discussion Enabled box must be selected.
- Enter the keywords you want in the Search field and press <Enter>.
*To cancel the search criteria and return to the complete list of discussions, provided you have the relevant rights, click within the box and then click
.
Attachments
AttachmentTab
List of documents associated with the current object.
- Update: In this tab - See the description
Scheduled Periods
List of periods scheduled using the Generate Payment Periods action and that have not yet been invoiced.
- Once a period is invoiced in Transition > Invoices > Contract Periods, it will disappear from the list and appear in the Invoiced Periods tab.
Invoiced Periods
List of periods that have been invoiced. They may be booked in an analytical cost account.
- Update: Select Transition > Invoices > Invoices.
Related CI
RelatedConfigurationItemTab
List of configuration items (CI) associated with the current object.
- Update: In this tab or in CI forms > Related Contracts tab.
Continuity Plans
ContinuityPlanTab
List of continuity plans associated with the current object.
- Update: In this tab and also in Continuity Plan forms in the Service Design menu. You can also run the New Continuity Plan wizard
Release Projects
ReleaseProjectTab
List of release projects linked to the current object.
- Update: In this tab and also in Release Projects forms (All CI tab in the Service Transition menu)
Users
UserTab
List of users associated with the current object.
- Update: in the User forms.
Related Projects
RelatedProjectTab
List of projects linked to the current object.
- Only project managers can associate a project with the current object. If this is not the case, no projects will appear in the list.
- Update: Run the Link Asset to Project wizard.
Procedures and Wizards
How to create a contract
Step 1: Creating the contract.
1. Select Asset & Configuration > Contracts > Inventory in the menu.
2. Click + New.
3. Select the catalog entry and the the of the new contract.
4. Specify the other fields.
5. Click Finish.
The form will be created.
Step 2 (optional): Specifying the contract's invoicing conditions.
1. Run the Generate Payment Periods wizard.
2. Specify the conditions. See the Financial Data tab.
3. Click Generate Payment Periods.
The list of payment periods is automatically displayed based on the specified criteria. See the examples.
Step 3 (optional): Specifying the contract charge back to cost centers.
See the examples.
1. Go to the Amount Charged Back tab.
2. Click 
.
3. Select the cost center.
4. Indicate its coefficient based on contract usage.
5. Click Finish.
6. Repeat these actions for all the cost centers to be added.
Step 4 (optional): Associating the contract with an item of equipment or a license.
1. Go to the Equipment or Licenses tab.
2. Click .
3. Selecdt the item of equipment or the license.
To associate several items of equipment or licenses with a given contract:
- Go to the equipment or license inventory in List mode.
- Select the assets you want.
- Run the Link to a Contract wizard.
Wizards
Contract Renewal Decision
Delete
Finish
Generate Payment Periods
Global Rental Distribution
Invoice
Link Asset to a Project
Renew
Update