Managing Grower Contracts

This chapter provides an overview of valid start and end dates and discusses how to:

• Review contracts.

• Manage contract headers.

• Add text to amendments.

• Manage contract blocks.

• Manage contract harvests.

• Renew contracts.

• Terminate contracts.

• Delete contracts.

See Also

Managing Cash Flow

Understanding Valid Start and End Dates

As part of managing your grower contracts, you might need to revise start and end dates.

This diagram shows valid start and end dates among contract headers, contract blocks, and contract harvest records:

Valid start and end dates

As illustrated in this diagram, the harvest end date must be greater than the contract block start date. The contract renewable end date must be greater than the harvest start date.

You can attach harvest records with dates after the contract block end date. However, you are not allowed to apply transactions to the contract after the contract block end date. The system prevents you from generating weigh tags after the contract block end date.

Reviewing Contracts

This section provides an overview of the Contract Workbench program and discusses how to review contracts.

Understanding the Contract Workbench Program

A grower contract consists of a header record, as well as block and harvest records. The Contract Workbench program (P43C00) provides a single entry point for all of the forms and programs that are available for managing grower contracts.

For example, from the Contract Workbench program, you can:

• Review a list of existing contract headers, blocks, or harvests.

• Use search criteria to limit the list to specific headers, blocks, or harvests.

• Copy or delete a grower contract.

• Access a form to add a header, terminate a contract, or renew a contract.

After you add grower contracts, you can update information on the contract, block, and harvest records as long as the contract status is draft or active. The system updates these tables:

• Contract Header (F43C01)

• Contract Block (F43C10)

• Contract Detail (F43C11)

Form Used to Review Contracts

Reviewing Contracts

Access the Contract Search form.

Click the Contract Headers tab, the Contract Blocks tab, or the Contract Harvests tab.

See Also

Setting Processing Options for Contract Workbench (P43C00)

Managing Contract Headers

This section provides an overview of contract header revisions and discusses how to:

• Revise a contract header.

• Push contract header revisions to contract blocks and harvests.

• Copy a contract header and blocks.

• Delete a contract header.

Understanding Contract Header Revisions

After you add a contract, you can change information on the contract header as long as the contract status is draft or active.

Because the contract header and the contract block and harvest records have some of the same attributes or fields, you can change an attribute on the contract header and, optionally, have the system update the same attribute on corresponding block and harvest records. In this way, the system pushes the changes from the contract header to selected block and harvest records. For example, if you change or update the payment schedule on the contract header, you can selectively update block records and harvest records with the same information.

Forms Used to Manage Contract Headers

Revising a Contract Header

Access the Edit Contract Header form.

Update Contract Harvest and Block

Select this check box to update some or all the associated blocks and harvests with the information that you revise on the Edit Contract Header form. If you select this check box, the system displays the Contract Header form, which you use to push revisions from the contract header to corresponding contract blocks and harvests. See Pushing Contract Header Revisions to Contract Blocks and Harvests.

Contract Status

To change the status of a contract from draft to active, enter a date range in the Start Date and End Date fields, and then change the status in this field. To change the status of a contract from active to draft, the system validates that no purchase orders are associated with the contract. The system does not validate whether payments exist for the contract.

Date and Renew Fields

The status of a contract determines which of the following fields on the Edit Contract Header form are required and whether the system validates the field values.

Pushing Contract Header Revisions to Contract Blocks and Harvests

Access the Contract Header form.

When you first access the Contract Header form, the system displays the payee field values from the contract header. Scroll down to the Push Selection area of the form.

Push Selection Area

In the Push Selection area of the Contract Header form, the system displays check boxes that correspond to the field values that you can push from the contract header to the contract block and harvest. You can push price type and payment schedule fields to the contract block and harvest.

1. Select the check boxes that correspond to the information that you want to push to a block or harvest record.

2. Select the block and harvest records that you want to update.

3. Click Update Selected.

4. To review the updated block record, on the Add Contract Header form, scroll down and select the block or harvest record to access the Update Contract Block form.

Copying a Contract Header and Blocks

Access the Copy Contract form.

You can copy an existing contract header to use as a template for another contract header and minimize redundant data entry. The system copies the following information from the original contract header to the new contract header:

• Business unit, currency code, and geographic ID.

  You cannot change the business unit, currency code, and geographic ID of a copied contract, so ensure that the contract that you are copying from has the correct values.

• Contract type, ownership, delivery form, price type, contract manager and buyer, and commodity code.

  You can change this information:

• Clauses.

• Payment schedule.

• Action dates.

• Additional information.

• Block records that are associated with the contract header.

The system does not copy the contracting entity, contract start and end dates, amendments, or harvest records that are associated with the blocks.

The system sets the status of a copied contract to draft and the renew type to nonrenewable.

Copy To Fields

The fields listed in the following table are required:

Deleting a Contract Header

Access the Contract Search form.

You can delete a contract header only if no purchase orders or payments have been applied to the contract header, block, and harvest records. If one or more records do not meet this criteria, the system does not delete the contract header.

When you delete a contract header in the F43C01 table, the system deletes the entire contract. This includes the contract block records in the F43C10 table and the contract harvest records in the F43C11 table, as well as these records:

• Contract action dates from the F43C05 table

• Contract clauses from the F43C60 table.

• Contract payees from the F43C20 table.

• Payment schedules from the F43C25 table.

• Assessments and donations from the F43C40 table.

The system disassociates the contract ID from the corresponding grower harvest record in the Grower Harvest table (F40G03). This causes the link between the contract harvest record and grower harvest record to be broken. The system does not delete the grower block and harvest records that are associated with the contract block and harvest records.

When you delete a contract header, you can optionally have the system set the status of the associated grower harvest to terminate in the F40G03 table.

1. Select the contract header record, and click Delete Contract.

2. On the Delete Confirmation window, click Yes to proceed.

3. On the Message window, click Yes or No to specify whether to set the status of the associated grower harvest to terminate.

   If you click Yes, the system terminates the record in the Grower Harvest table (F40G03).

Note. Alternatively, you can delete a single block or harvest record that is associated with a contract header, instead of deleting the entire contract.

See Also

Deleting a Contract Block Record

Deleting a Contract Harvest Record

Adding Text to Amendments

This section provides an overview of contract amendments and discusses how to add text to an amendment.

Understanding Contract Amendments

If you set the Display Amendments on Update processing option for the Contract Workbench program (P43C00), every time that a contract header, block, or harvest is revised, the system logs the user ID and date on which the revision was made. You can review this log on the Amendments form, which is a media object. You can also use the Amendments form to add text to describe the revisions that were made. For example, you might add text to describe why you changed the contract and who approved the change or to explain that a manual payment was issued outside of the general contract terms.

You can access the Amendments form in either of these ways:

• Click the link for Add Amendments (or Edit Amendments) from the contract header, block, or harvest record.

• Set a processing option so that the system automatically displays the form when a contract header, block, or harvest record is saved.

Forms Used to Add Text to Amendments

Adding Text to an Amendment

Access the Edit Contract Header form, Update Contract Block form, or Edit Contract Harvest form. Click Add Amendments or, if applicable, Edit Amendments.

Managing Contract Blocks

This section provides an overview of contract block revisions and discusses how to:

• Revise a contract block.

• Push contract block revisions to contract harvests.

• Copy values from one contract block to another.

• Delete a contract block record

Understanding Contract Block Revisions

You will often revise and update existing information throughout the life cycle of most grower contracts. After you add a contract, you can revise information on the contract block record as long as the contract status is draft or active.

Because the contract block and harvest records have some of the same attributes or fields, you can change an attribute on the block record and, optionally, have the system update the same attribute on corresponding harvest records with a current or future status. In this way, the system pushes the changes from the contract header to selected harvest records. For example, if you change or update the minimum and maximum quantities on the contract block, you can selectively update harvest records with the same information. The system updates both the F43C10 and F43C11 tables.

Note. You cannot change the grower block that is associated with the contract block. To assign a different grower block to a contract, you must delete the contract and add a new one.

Forms Used to Manage Contract Blocks

Revising a Contract Block

Access the Update Contract Block form.

You can revise fields on a contract block with a status of draft or active only.

Pushing Contract Block Revisions to Contract Harvests

Access the Push From Contract Block form.

When you first access the Push From Contract Block form, the system displays the field values from the contract block. Scroll down to the Push Selection area of the form.

Push Selection Area

In the Push Selection area of the Push From Contract Block form, the system displays check boxes that correspond to the field values that you can push to a harvest record.

1. Select the check boxes that correspond to the information that you want to push to a harvest record.

2. Select the current or future harvest records that you want to update.

3. Click Update Selected.

4. To review the updated harvest record, on the Update Contract Block form, scroll down and select the harvest record to access the Edit Contract Harvest form.

Note. The system pushes the start and end dates from a contract block to a new harvest record; however, it will not push dates if the harvest record already exists.

You cannot push clauses from the contract block to the harvest record.

Copying Values from One Contract Block to Another

Access the Update Contract Block form. Click Copy Contract Block.

You can copy values from an existing contract block to another block and minimize redundant data entry. When you copy a block, the system copies most of the values from the original contract block, except for the block code, business unit, harvest records, and amendments, to the block that you have selected and overrides any values that exist on the selected block. A block record must exist in the Contract Block table (F43C10) before you can use it to copy values.

Because contract blocks can look very similar, you should consider setting up model contract blocks to use as templates so that you can quickly copy the values from the model to another block and then update that block with specific information.

Deleting a Contract Block Record

Access the Edit Contract Header form. Select the block record that you want to delete from the contract header and click Remove.

You can delete a contract block only if no purchase orders or payments have been applied to the contract harvest records. When you delete a contract block, the system deletes the block in the F43C10 table and all harvest records associated with the block in the F43C11 table, as well as payment schedules in the F43C25 table.

To delete an entire contract including the contract block and harvest records, you must delete the contract header.

See Deleting a Contract Header.

Managing Contract Harvests

This section provides an overview of contract harvest revisions and discusses how to:

• Revise a contract harvest record.

• Delete a contract harvest record.

Understanding Contract Harvest Revisions

The agribusiness is unique in that it has one or multiple harvests per year. For long-range planning, you typically will have multiple contract harvest records that represent future years. Over time, these records might need to be revised. For example, you might need to revise contract harvest records if you extend the date range of a contract block and, as a result, need to add or generate harvest records.

After you add a contract, you can revise information on the contract harvest as long as the contract status is draft or active.

Note. You cannot copy an existing contract harvest record.

Forms Used to Manage Contract Harvests

Revising a Contract Harvest Record

Access the Edit Contract Harvest form.

General Info

Select this tab.

Pricing

Select this tab.

Deleting a Contract Harvest Record

Access the Update Contract Block form.

On the Update Contract Block form, scroll down to the Contract Harvests area of the form. Select the harvest record and click Remove.

You can delete a contract harvest record only if no purchase orders or payments have been applied to the record. To delete an entire contract including the block and harvest records, you must delete the contract header.

See Deleting a Contract Header.

Renewing Contracts

This section provides an overview of contract renewal and discusses how to renew a contract.

Understanding Contract Renewal

To renew or extend a contract, you change the end date on the contract. The contract can have one of these renew types:

Forms Used to Renew Contracts

Renewing a Contract

Access the Edit Contract Header form. Scroll down to the Dates area of the form.

Terminating Contracts

This section provides an overview of contract termination and discusses how to terminate a contract.

Understanding Contract Termination

To terminate a contract, you terminate the contract header in the F4301 table. The system disassociates the contract ID from the corresponding grower harvest record in the Grower Harvest table (F40G03). When you terminate a contract, you can optionally have the system set the status of the associated grower harvest to terminate (F40G03).

The following rules apply to contract termination:

• You can terminate a contract if purchase orders that are applied to the contract are fully paid.

  If fully paid, the harvest record is no longer open and you can terminate the contract.

• You cannot terminate a contract if purchase orders that are applied to the contract are partially paid.

  If partially paid, the harvest record is open and shows purchase order or payment activity. You cannot terminate the contract.

You can continue to view contracts that have been terminated. You can also copy the values from a terminated contract to another contract. You cannot, however, revise a terminated contract.

Forms Used to Terminate a Contract

Terminating a Contract

Access the Edit Contract Header form.

Contract Status

Select the status for terminated. Click Save and Continue.

Deleting Contracts

This section provides an overview of contract deletion and discusses how to delete a contract.

Understanding Contract Deletion

You can delete a contract header only if no purchase orders or payments have been applied to the contract header, block, and harvest records. If one or more records do not meet this criteria, the system does not delete the contract header.

When you delete a contract header in the F43C01 table, the system deletes the entire contract. This includes the contract block records in the F43C10 table and the contract harvest records in the F43C11 table, as well as these records:

• Contract action dates from the F43C05 table.

• Contract clauses from the F43C60 table.

• Contract payees from the F43C20 table.

• Payment schedules from the F43C25 table.

• Assessments and donations from the F43C40 table.

The system disassociates the contract ID from the corresponding grower harvest record in the Grower Harvest table (F40G03). This causes the link between the contract harvest record and grower harvest record to be broken. The system does not delete the grower block and harvest records that are associated with the contract block and harvest records.

When you delete a contract header, you can optionally have the system set the status of the associated grower harvest to terminate in the F40G03 table.

Note. Alternatively, you can delete a single block or harvest record that is associated with a contract header, instead of deleting the entire contract.

See Also

Deleting a Contract Block Record

Deleting a Contract Harvest Record

Form Used to Delete a Contract

Deleting a Contract

Access the Contract Search form.

1. Select the contract header record, and click Delete Contract.

2. On the Delete Confirmation window, click Yes to proceed.

3. On the Message window, click Yes or No to specify whether to set the status of the associated grower harvest to terminate.

   If you click Yes, the system terminates the record in the Grower Harvest table (F40G03).