About contracts

Manual contracts

Creating a manual contract lets you enter information without using the interview process. This method does not require articles and terms on the contract.

Manufacturer contracts

Creating a manufacturer contract lets you associate the contract to a manufacturer or a distributor of goods and services. If associated with a manufacturer, the contract is used to set the price for goods and services; if associated with a distributor, the contract serves as a starting price that the distributor honors before applying a markup or discount.

Distributor contracts

Creating a distributor contract lets you purchase items from a distributor either directly or against a manufacturer price (where the contract is associated with a manufacturer contract).

If you are purchasing items directly from a distributor, the costs are negotiated between you and the distributor. If you are purchasing items against a manufacturer price, you can associate a manufacturer contract with the distributor contract. In this case, the distributor honors the manufacturer price of an item and then applies a markup or discount.

Manufacturer and distributor contracts are usually negotiated for multiple years, and the effective and expiration dates are often not the same for a manufacturer and a distributor. On distributor contracts only, you can use effective dates to create distributor contract lines for the same set of items to account for multiple manufacturer contracts under a distributor contract where you have negotiated different prices for the same item. You would create multiple manufacture contracts with different dates, and associate them with the distributor contracts. As long as the manufacturer contract dates do no overlap one another and are within the date range of the distributor contract, you can add lines to the distributor contract that have the same item, vendor item, unit of measure, but with different pricing. After agreements are updated to create lines with multiple date ranges, when Purchase Orders are created, the proper cost will default based on comparison of the Purchase Order date to the date range on the agreement line. Requisition lines will default cost in a similar manner based on the system date when the requisition is created.

Interviews

Creating a contract from an interview lets you answer specific questions to determine the articles and terms that appear on the contract. It acts as a "wizard", guiding the user through a structured process of contract building. Before you can approve and activate the contract, the articles and terms must first be assigned.

Existing contracts

Copying an existing contract helps reduce the amount of information that needs to be entered when creating the new contract. By reusing existing contract information, you can change or edit information that is specific to the new contract. You typically use this method for contract renewals.

Contract templates

Creating a contract from a contract template lets you default specific information to new contracts. You can then add or change information to the new contract as needed.