This chapter covers the following topics:
As you plan your implementation of Oracle Project Contracts, we recommend that you consider the implementation issues discussed in this section. By carefully planning your implementation, you can save valuable time and prevent errors.
This section contains a checklist that includes each task to perform to complete the implementation of Oracle Project Contracts. It lists the steps required to implement Oracle Project Contracts along with advanced implementation topics for you to consider.
The setup checklist is broken down into several sub-sections.
When you install Oracle Project Contracts, the installation process automatically creates two responsibilities, Project Contracts Super User and Project Contracts User. The Project Contracts Super User responsibility includes the necessary functions to set up and implement Oracle Project Contracts.
Before you set up Oracle Project Contracts, you must set up the users and assign the appropriate responsibilities for the implementation.
Managing Oracle Applications Security, Oracle Applications System Administrator's Guide
Oracle Project Contracts setup includes various setup steps within Oracle Applications products. These steps are discussed in detail in the Overview of Setting Up sections of the respective Oracle product user's guides.
You must complete several setup steps that include:
Performing system-wide setup tasks such as configuring concurrent managers and printers.
Managing data security, which includes setting up responsibilities to allow access to a specific set of business data and complete a specific set of transactions, and assigning individual users to one or more of these responsibilities.
Setting up Oracle Workflow.
Managing Concurrent Programs and Reports, Oracle Applications System Administrator's Guide
Managing Oracle Applications Security, Oracle Applications System Administrator's Guide
Setting Up Oracle Workflow, Oracle Workflow Guide
This checklist summarizes each of the steps you follow to implement Oracle Project Contracts. It includes setup steps for data that may be shared with other Oracle Applications, but is required by Oracle Project Contracts. If you have already defined this information when setting up other Oracle Applications, you can skip those steps.
Since some implementation steps build upon information you define in other implementation steps, you should perform the steps in the order listed.
You need to design and define your flexfields, including key flexfields and descriptive flexfields. Specifically, you need to set up your System Items key flexfield before defining items.
Planning and Defining Key Flexfields, Oracle Applications Flexfield Guide
Planning and Defining Descriptive Flexfields, Oracle Applications Flexfield Guide
You need to set up site, application, and responsibility level profile options for the applications you are implementing. You should refer to the specific applications' user guides and implementation manuals for the list of required and optional profile options. For the list of profile options in Oracle Project Contracts, see Appendix A .
Document Categories are used to categorize and group attached documents.
Oracle applications provide a default document category called Miscellaneous. Oracle Project Contracts adds a new document category, Contract Document, when the product is installed.
You can define additional document categories as required. In order to utilize the newly defined document categories, you must assign those document categories to one of the entities listed in Appendix C.
About Attachments, Oracle Applications User's Guide
Oracle Project Contracts shares organization, location and employee information with Oracle Human Resources. If your business does not currently use Oracle Human Resources, you define this data using the Oracle Human Resources windows provided with Oracle Project Contracts. If you install Oracle Human Resources, you must define this data using an Oracle Human Resources login responsibility; you cannot use the windows provided with Oracle Project Contracts. Your implementation of Oracle Human Resources to work with Oracle Project Contracts involves the following areas:
Defining organizations
Defining locations
Entering employee information
If you have already implemented Oracle Human Resources, you can skip many of the steps included in this section. Ensure that the jobs and organizations you defined in Oracle Human Resources correspond to the data you want to use with Oracle Project Contracts.
Organizations are departments, divisions, subsidiaries, companies, or other organizational units in your business.
Oracle Project Contracts uses organizations with classifications of operating unit and inventory organizations for party role definitions. Set up of additional classifications and related information, including organization hierarchy information, may be needed depending on the implementation requirements of other Oracle Applications products.
Organizations in Oracle Projects, Oracle Projects User's Guide.
Organization Hierarchy in Oracle Projects, Oracle Projects User's Guide.
Organization Hierarchy in Oracle Human Resources, Oracle Human Resources User's Guide.
Use the Locations window to define Ship To, Receiving, and other location information.
Oracle Project Contracts uses locations for party role definitions.
Setting Up Locations, Using Oracle HRMS – The Fundamentals
Use the Enter Person window to enter employee information. Oracle Project Contracts uses employees for the security framework. Oracle Project Contracts requires the following information for employees:
Last name
First name
Employee number
Start date
Set up of additional information maybe needed, depending on the implementation requirements of other Oracle applications.
Note: If you have Oracle Human Resources installed, you cannot use Oracle Project Contracts to define employee information. Use an Oracle Human Resources responsibility to define employees.
Oracle Project Contracts shares several customer related setups with Oracle Receivables and Oracle Order Management. If you have already installed and set up either Oracle Receivables or Oracle Order Management, or have performed a common applications setup, you may not need to perform these steps again.
You can define customers in either the Customers or Customer Summary window. Customers can be defined either in Oracle Receivables or Oracle Project Contracts.
In Oracle Project Contracts, you use customers, customer addresses, and customer contacts to specify customer information for various contracts. Each customer must have at least one bill-to and ship-to address.
Entering Customers, Oracle Receivables User's Guide
You can define receivables payment terms using the Define Payment Terms window.
Payment Terms, Oracle Receivables User's Guide
Note: Oracle Applications distinguishes between payment terms defined in Oracle Receivables and payment terms defined in Oracle Payables. If you intend to use Oracle Project Contracts for both buy and sell contracting activities, you will need to define payment terms in both applications.
Oracle Project Contracts shares several supplier related setups with Oracle Payables and Oracle Purchasing. If you have already installed and set up either Oracle Payables or Oracle Purchasing, or have performed a common applications setup, you may not need to perform these steps again.
You can define suppliers in the Suppliers window. Suppliers can be defined in Oracle Payables, Oracle Purchasing, or directly in Oracle Project Contracts.
In Oracle Project Contracts, you use suppliers, supplier sites, and supplier contacts to specify contractor information for various contracts.
Entering Suppliers, Oracle Payables User's Guide
You can define payables payment terms using the Define Payment Terms window.
Payment Terms, Oracle Payables User's Guide
Note: Oracle Applications distinguishes between payment terms defined in Oracle Receivables and payment terms defined in Oracle Payables. If you intend to use Oracle Project Contracts for both buy and sell contracting activities, you will need to define payment terms in both applications.
You may not need to perform this step if you have already installed and set up Oracle Inventory or performed a common applications setup.
This step involves the following tasks:
Define unit of measure classes.
Define units of measure.
Define units of measure conversions
You can define three different conversion types for your needs: Standard, Intra-class, or Inter-class.
Units of Measure, Oracle Inventory User's Guide
Although you can define items at any point from this step onward, it is recommended that you set up at least one item to ensure that your flexfields are working properly.
If you skip this step, when you create a contract document line, you will be able to enter only an item description, not an item number.
This step needs to be performed for each inventory organization.
This step involves the following tasks.
Define items at the master level.
Some Inventory fields in the Master Item window, such as the Serial Number fields, are available only if Inventory is fully installed rather than shared.
Assign items at the organization level.
Define item cross references.
This optional step enables you to define contract document lines using customer item numbers, such as National Stock Numbers, UPC, or any generic item number.
Master Level vs. Organization Level, Oracle Inventory User's Guide
Defining Items, Oracle Inventory User's Guide.
Updating Organization Level Items, Oracle Inventory User's Guide
Defining Customer Item Cross References, Oracle Inventory User's Guide
Contract document types help you categorize and identify various contract documents. They can be used to define different contract terminology used by both commercial and government contractors. For example, a solicitation may be termed a request for proposal, or invitation to bid, a proposal may be termed a bid, proposal, quote, or offer, and a contract may be termed award, grant, contract, and so on.
Each contract document type must be defined using one of the following document type classes:
Solicitation: A solicitation is a type of contract document that a contract customer or owner sends to potential contractors describing the goods and services needed, and any clauses, terms and conditions that govern the delivery or performance of the goods and services.
Proposal: A proposal is a response from the contractor to a contract customer or owner regarding a solicitation, with detailed delivery and pricing information. A proposal does not include any legal obligation to actually deliver the goods and services.
Awarded Contract: An awarded contract is a legal-binding document describing the agreement between the contract customer / owner and the contractor, including details of the delivery and pricing information, and any clauses, terms, and conditions that may affect the delivery or performance of the goods and services described in the contract.
Basic Order Agreement: A basic order agreement, or a master agreement, is a special type of awarded contract. While it also contains the agreement between the contract customer or owner and the contractor and the clauses, terms, and conditions, it normally does not include detailed delivery information. The delivery information is normally included in subsequent delivery orders or task orders against the basic order agreement.
Delivery Order: A delivery order, or task order, describes the delivery details for a particular basic order agreement
You can define as many contract document types per type class as you need.
Contract billing methods are also known as pricing agreements, price types, and contract types. They can be linked to either contract documents or contract document lines. Examples of commonly used billing methods include Firm Fixed Price, Time and Material, and Cost Plus Award Fee.
The status of a contract is a label defining where the contract document and contract document line stands in its life cycle. Oracle Project Contracts recognizes the following status types as provided by Oracle Contracts:
Entered: Contract is currently being edited and it can be completed but not approved.
Signed: Contract is approved, but not yet effective. This status is used, when the contract is not yet due, but should have the same protection from changes an approved contract has.
Active: Contract is approved, signed, and effective.
Expired: Contract was active, but is not effective anymore.
Terminated: Contract is no longer active, either by termination from either side or by completion of all contractual obligations as specified (closed).
Canceled: Contract never became active and is not planned to become active.
You can define as many statuses per status type as you need.
For each status you define, you need to specify the list of operations this is allowed. The following operations are applicable to Oracle Project Contracts:
Update Online: This operation controls whether you can update the contract. This operation is controlled at the contract level.
Create Deliverable: This operation controls whether you can create new deliverables for the contract. This operation is controlled at the line level.
Update Deliverable: This operation controls whether you can update existing deliverables for the contract. This operation is controlled at the line level.
Delete Deliverable: This operation controls whether you can delete existing deliverables for the contract. This operation is controlled at the line level.
Initiate Deliverable Action: This operation controls whether you can initiate any deliverable actions for the contract. This operation is controlled at the line level.
Eligible for Invoicing: This operation controls whether you can initiate billing events for the contract. This operation is controlled at the line level.
For more information on Contract Statuses, see the online help topics of Oracle Contracts.
Party roles describe the various parties to a contract. Each party assumes a role in the relation to the contract, such as contractor or customer/owner. The setup of roles is different between sell and buy contracts. For example, you are a contract customer/owner in a buy contract while you become a contractor in a sell contract.
Party roles are defined as lookup codes using the lookup type OKC_ROLE in Oracle Contracts. Contact roles are defined as lookup codes using the lookup type OKC_CONTACT_ROLE in Oracle Contracts. Oracle Project Contracts creates the following party roles and the corresponding role sources as part of the installation:
| Role | Intent | Role Source |
|---|---|---|
| Contract Customer | Sell | Customer |
| Contract Customer | Buy | Operating Unit |
| Contractor | Sell | Operating Unit |
| Contractor | Buy | Supplier |
| Fund By | Sell | Party |
| Fund By | Buy | Operating Unit |
| Bill To | Sell | Customer Site |
| Bill To | Buy | Internal Location |
| Ship To | Sell | Customer Site |
| Ship To | Buy | Internal Location |
| Mark For | Sell | Customer Site |
| Mark For | Buy | Internal Location |
Oracle Project Contracts includes special processing logic for the seeded roles. If you need different roles for your implementation, we recommend that you define new roles and set expiration dates for the existing roles. New roles you define should be enabled for the Project Contract category using the Define Categories window.
Oracle Project Contracts does not include any contact roles as part of the installation.
Attribute groups are used to organize system seeded contract attributes. You can assign attribute groups to security access rules as well as the flowdown matrix.
Attribute groups are defined as lookup codes using the lookup type ATTRIBUTE_GROUP in Oracle Project Contracts.
Once you have defined the desired attribute groups, use the Attribute Groupings window to assign individual contract attributes to attribute groups.
Article Sets are used to organize standard articles for easy reference and inclusion in contracts. A standard article can be assigned to multiple article sets.
Article Sets are defined as lookup codes using the lookup type OKC_ARTICLE_SET in Oracle Contracts.
Managing Standard Clauses, Oracle Contracts Implementation and Administration guide
Article Subjects provide a classification of contract articles. Article Subjects are used in setting up the Flowdown Matrix.
Article Subjects are defined as lookup codes using the lookup type OKC_SUBJECT in Oracle Contracts.
Managing Standard Clauses, Oracle Contracts Implementation and Administration guide
The Library of Standard Articles is a small database of previously written and established articles. These articles can be referenced and included in a contract.
You must have defined Article Sets and Article Subjects before defining Standard Articles.
Oracle Project Contracts uses the Articles Library functionality developed by Oracle Contracts. Oracle Project Contracts uses the enhanced common Articles Library that is shared across all contracts applications.
Benefits include:
Enhancing the articles authoring process by streamlining article approvals and placement within the Standard Articles Library.
Storing articles by article number.
Provides a road map to future articles enhancements made by Oracle Contracts.
To set up articles authoring
Select Setup from the Navigator
Choose Articles
Choose Create Clause to create a new article
Select Setup from the Navigator
Choose Folders
Choose Create Folder to create a new folder
You can add the articles to the folders by using the Add Clauses button and associating the articles that you previously created with the folders.
Contract Terms Library Administration, Oracle Contracts Implementation and Administration guide
Line Style controls the type of information that can be entered on a particular line. The line style sets input requirements and sets up the lists of values to choose from in a contract line during contract authoring.
Oracle Project Contracts creates the following line style structures during installation of the product:
| Line Style | Source | Recursive? |
|---|---|---|
| Item | System Item | Yes |
| -- Data Item | None | Yes |
| ---- Delivery Schedule | None | No |
| Free Format | None | Yes |
| -- Data Item | None | Yes |
| ---- Delivery Schedule | None | No |
| Data Item | None | Yes |
| ---- Delivery Schedule | None | No |
Print Form Types provide a classification of printed forms. Print Form Types are defined as lookup codes using the lookup type PRINT_FORM_TYPE in Oracle Project Contracts.
Print forms are printed forms that contractors need to submit to contract customer and owner over the life cycle of a contracting process. Print form submission is common in government contracts. You should define your print forms so you can designate a print form as mandatory or optional during contract authoring.
Oracle Project Contracts extends the concept of descriptive flexfields to allow multiple flexfield contexts and unlimited user-defined attributes per contract document or line.
Contract user-definable attributes are defined as a descriptive flexfield with the title User-Defined Contract Attributes. This descriptive flexfield is created when you install Oracle Project Contracts.
You can define as many flexfield contexts as needed. Each context can contain up to 30 attributes.
Defining Descriptive Flexfields, Oracle Applications Descriptive Flexfields Guide
Contract category is a concept in Oracle Contracts that is used to classify or categorize contracts. As part of the installation, Oracle Project Contracts provides a default category, Project Contract , as well as the following related setup data:
Party roles that can be included in a contract
Top line styles that are applicable
Party roles that are applicable for the top line style
Oracle Project Contracts uses the Project Contract category by default. You do not need to set up additional categories.
Any version of a contract document authored in Oracle Project Contracts can be printed as a draft document for internal review and record-keeping purposes. You can print the document in whole or in part using a your unique style format. This capability enables printing of a contract document from the Authoring Workbench for internal review and approvals, and for record-keeping purposes.
Oracle Project Contracts uses Oracle XML Publisher (XDO) to merge contract XML data and layout template. The layout template controls the format and layout of the printed contract document.
You can create your own contract template by following the guidelines provided by Oracle XML Publisher.
To set up contract printing
Navigate to the XML Publisher Administrator responsibility and choose Templates.
Choose Create Template. Oracle Project Contracts provides a seeded template as a sample template.
Enter the following required fields for creating a new template:
Enter a descriptive Name for the template
Enter a unique Code for the template
Enter Project Contracts for the Application
Choose seeded Data Definition Project Contracts Data Source
Choose PDF for Type
Start Date is the date when this template is available
File is the physical path and filename of the template file
Language is the language of the template
Choose Territory Independent for the Territory
Note: The template field name must be the same as database column name. Contract Printing does not support mapping each template field to the corresponding data source element (database column name).
Choose Apply to upload the template
If you have more than one customized template, then repeat the above steps for each template. The system displays the new templates in the list of values when you select the Print Contract option in the Authoring Workbench window.
Terms and Conditions Types are used to group terms and conditions for flowdowns.
Terms and condition types are defined as lookups using the lookup type TERM_TYPE in Oracle Project Contracts.
Standard Note Types are used to group standard notes for flowdowns.
Standard note types are defined as lookups using the lookup type STD_NOTE_TYPE in Oracle Project Contracts.
The following setups are needed if you want to implement the Change Management functionality in Oracle Project Contracts.
Change Types can be used for reporting as well as tailoring the workflow processes. You must reference a change type for a change request.
Change types are defined as lookups using the lookup type CHANGE_TYPE in Oracle Project Contracts.
Change Reasons can be used for reporting as well as tailoring the workflow processes. You must reference a change reason for a change request.
Change reasons are defined as lookups using the lookup type CHANGE_REASON in Oracle Project Contracts.
Examine the default workflow processes for Change Management as provided by Oracle Project Contracts and make necessary additions, changes, and modifications to suit your business practices.
Using Workflows, Oracle Project Contracts User's Guide
The status of a contract change request is a label that indicates where the change request stands in its life cycle. Each change status must be categorized under one of the following change status types:
Entered: Change request is currently being edited.
Submitted: Change request has been submitted for approval.
Approved: Change request has been approved and can be implemented.
Rejected: Change request has been rejected.
In Progress: Modification to the contract as specified by the change request is in progress.
Completed: Change request has been completed. This status type marks the normal completion of a change request.
Canceled: Change request has been canceled and cannot be reactivated, approved, or implemented.
You can define as many statuses per status type as you need. You must set up at least one change status for status types Entered, Submitted, Approved, In Progress, and Completed and designate those statuses as default statuses for the status type.
If you allow users to reject a change request during the approval process, you must also define a default status of type Rejected.
You can associate a workflow process to each change status to automatic the processing of the change request.
The following setups are needed if you want to implement the Funding and Billing functionality in Oracle Project Contracts.
Funding Types can be used for reporting. You can reference a funding type on a funding allocation. This reference is optional.
Fund types are defined as lookups using the lookup type FUND_TYPE in Oracle Project Contracts.
Funding Statuses can be used for reporting as well as tailoring the workflow processes. You can reference a funding status on a funding allocation. This reference is optional.
Funding statuses are defined as lookups using the lookup type FUND_STATUS in Oracle Project Contracts.
If you want to use Oracle Projects for deliverable-based billing, you need to define event types in Oracle Projects, using the Event Types window. Oracle Project Contracts uses event types with a type class of Manual for deliverable-based billing.
Event Types, Oracle Projects User's Guide
The following setups are needed to implement the Hold Management functionality in Oracle Project Contracts.
Hold Types can be used for analysis as well as tailoring the workflow processes. You must reference a hold type for a contract hold.
Hold types are defined as lookups using the lookup type HOLD_TYPE in Oracle Project Contracts.
Hold reasons can be used for analysis as well as tailoring the workflow processes.
The hold reason types are Apply Hold Reasons and Remove Hold Reasons. You must reference and apply a hold reason when you put a contract, contract line, or deliverable on hold. Also, you must reference a remove hold reason when you remove an existing hold.
Apply and remove hold reasons are defined as lookups using the lookup type APPLY_HOLD_REASON and REMOVE_HOLD_REASON respectively in Oracle Project Contracts.
Examine the default workflow processes for Hold Management as provided by Oracle Project Contracts and make necessary additions, changes, and modifications to suit your business practices.
Hold status is a label that describes where the contract hold stands in its life cycle. It can also be used to define hold escalations.
You can associate a workflow process to each hold status to automate the processing of the change request.
The following setups are needed if you wish to implement Contract Communications functionality in Oracle Project Contracts.
Communication Types can be used for analysis as well as tailoring the workflow processes. You must reference a communication type for a contract communication.
Communication types are defined as lookups using the lookup type COMMUNICATION_TYPE in Oracle Project Contracts.
Communication Reasons can be used for analysis as well as tailoring the workflow processes. You must reference a communication reason for a contract communication.
Communication reasons are defined as lookups using the lookup type COMMUNICATION_REASON_CODE in Oracle Project Contracts.
Communication Priorities can be used for analysis as well as tailoring the workflow processes. You must reference a communication priority for a contract communication.
Communication priorities are defined as lookups using the lookup type COMMUNICATION_PRIORITY in Oracle Project Contracts.
Examine the default workflow processes for Contract Communication Actions as provided by Oracle Project Contracts and make necessary additions, changes, and modifications to suit your business practices.
Communication Action Workflow.
Communication Actions define the follow-up action items, if necessary, for a contract communication.
You can associate a workflow process to each communication action to automatic the processing of the communication.
You can associate workflow processes within the Deliverable Tracking System (DTS) that can be tailored to meet your business requirements. Using this association, you can automate business events normally associated with the execution phase of a contract such as shipping, billing, procurement, and planning.
To set up deliverable workflow
Choose OKE Deliverable Processes as Workflow and Main Process as Process Name for both INBOUND and OUTBOUND Usage Code.
Enter due date notifications for each Usage Code.
If you want to receive the notification before due date, then choose Before in the Before/After.
If you would like to receive the notification after the due date, then choose After in Before/After.
Select the Recipient
If you select Contract Role for the Recipient, then select a role. The employee with the corresponding role set up under the Administration Tab in the Contract Authoring window receives the notifications.
Verify the workflow background process concurrent program is running periodically with the parameters Process Deferred set to Yes.
If you use the Deliverable Workflow feature, then always set up the workflow OKE Deliverable Processes with the process name of Main Process for both INBOUND and OUTBOUND. Choosing any other combination of Workflow and Process Name is interpreted as using a custom workflow and will not be supported by the Oracle Project Contracts development.
The following setup is required if you want to enable the Contract Flowdown capability in Oracle Project Contracts
Contract information is passed to different business areas using attribute groups, article subjects, terms and conditions types, standard notes types, and print forms information. Use the Contract Flowdown Matrix window to configure the values.
For more information, see Oracle Project Contracts User's Guide.