Contract Business Process
Use the Contracts business process to manage the commitment with a vendor, typically for services, and track key information about the commitment, such as the type of contract and detailed cost information. This business process supports retainage against both work and stored materials.
Characteristics
This is a Project-level business process with a workflow, provided in the system template.
Record Statuses
Approved | terminal status |
|---|---|
Canceled | terminal status |
Rejected | terminal status |
Awaiting_Review | non-terminal status |
Pending_Approval | non-terminal status |
Sent_for_Revision | non-terminal status |
Workflow
The default workflow for the Contract business process is set up in a certain way; however, it may be used differently by your organization. Typically, a user with the necessary permissions can create the record and either move it directly to the end step or send it to others for review or approval. The recipients in the second step can take the action of approving or rejecting the record or send it on to others.
Related Processes
The Contract business process might create the following business processes: Notice to Proceed
The Contract business process might be created by the following business processes: Request for Bid, Request for Bid Unsealed
Creating a Contract Record
Create a Contract record by navigating to Commitments / Contract on the Project/Shell tab, or from the Tasks log on the Home tab or relevant Project/Shell tab. Act on an existing Contract task that has been assigned to you from the Tasks log.
Complete the Contract form and attach related documents, if needed. After completing the form, click Send and select an action in the Workflow Actions list to determine the next step in the workflow. Click Send to route the form to the next assignee.
Note: You must enter a value in all required fields (*) before you can save the form.
- Go to your Project tab and switch to User mode.
- In the left Navigator, select Commitments, and then select Contract.
- On the Contract page, click Create. Refer to the tables below to complete the form. You can click Save at any time to save a draft version of the form. Draft versions are stored under Drafts.
- To add attachments, click Attach Files
on the Attachments tab. - After completing the form, click Send.
- On the Workflow Action Details tab, select who should receive this Contract.
- If permitted, you can add users to the CC list. These users will receive a notification about this Contract but are not assigned a task.
- If permitted, you can adjust task due dates for all users, or set individual task due dates for each assignee.
- Click Send.
- In the Notification window, review the content and click OK.
The record moves to the next step in the workflow.
Completing the Contract Form
Key Information
Key information about this Contract is provided below.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Title | Required | Enter a title. |
Vendor | Required | Select the vendor for this record. |
Contract Number | Editable | The unique number for the contract, which might come from a corporate financial system |
Amount | Read-Only | Amount of this record or line item |
Due Date | Editable | Target completion date for this record. A default duration has been set by your administrator but can be overridden here for this record. |
Description
Enter the description or scope of this contract. This information might appear in any formal printouts of this contract.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Short Description | Editable | Enter a description of 250 characters or fewer. |
Detailed Description | Editable | The detailed information about the short-description field. The field size can be expanded. The business processes selected for auto-creation will copy this detailed description to the destination business process. |
Contract Details
Details about the contract should be entered below.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Contract Type | Editable | Type of contract |
Priority | Editable | Priority of this record |
Effective Date | Required | Enter the date this record takes effect. |
Original Contract Completion Date | Editable | Target completion date of the contract |
Spec Section | Editable | Specification section |
Revised Contract Completion Date | Editable | Current target completion date based on all approved change orders |
Unit Cost Contract | Editable | Specifies whether the system should freeze and copy unit price information onto a Change Order or Payment Application |
Financial Summary
The following information provides a full snapshot of the approved contract.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Percentage Complete to Date (D / C) | Read-Only | Percentage of contract completed |
A. Original Commitment | Read-Only | Amount of original contract |
B. Total Approved Change Orders | Read-Only | Total amount of all approved change orders |
C. Revised Commitment (A+B) | Read-Only | Revised contract amount |
D. Total Completed and Stored to Date | Read-Only | Payment Application total value for the Completed and Stored to Due, including line items |
E. Total Work Retainage | Read-Only | Payment Application total value for the Work Retainage, including line items |
F. Total Stored Materials Retainage | Read-Only | Payment Application total value for the Stored Materials Retainage, including line items |
G. Total Retainage (E + F) | Read-Only | Payment Application total value for the Retainage, including line items |
H. Total Earned Less Retainage (D - G) | Read-Only | Total amount earned, after subtracting Retainage |
I. Total Previous Payments | Read-Only | Total of all previous payments against the contract |
J. Last Approved Payment Application | Read-Only | Amount of last approved Payment Application |
K. Balance to Finish Including Retainage (C - I - J) | Read-Only | Remaining balance to finish, including Retainage |
Retention and Billing
The information below defines how the billing for this contract will be managed. The information is automatically filled based on your project settings.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Work Retainage % | Editable | Percentage retained for work or services. The default value is set in the project setting. Can be changed at the contract-level or contract-line-item-level. |
Stored Materials Retainage % | Editable | Percentage retained on stored materials. The default value is a project setting. Can be changed at the Contract or Contract line item level. |
Vendor Preferred Payment Terms | Editable | Preferred payment terms for this vendor. The value is populated from the selected vendor. |
Payment Terms | Editable | Payment terms (in days) for this contract |
Vendor Information
Details of the Vendor for this Contract. If the Vendor has Unifier Essentials users, be sure to select the primary contact here so that they can see the contract.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Legal Vendor Name | Read-Only | Lists the legal vendor name if the vendor name is different from the vendor full legal business name, the vendor has a name longer than 50 characters, or both. |
Vendor ID | Editable | Populates based on the selected Vendor. Can be manually completed if no Vendor record exists. Note: The Vendor ID in the Vendor Business Process will be populated from an external system. |
Vendor a Unifier User? | Required | Indicates whether or not the vendor should be CCed when the contract is approved. CCing the vendor allows the vendor to see the contract, with some restrictions, as well as to access the contract when creating Change Orders, Payment Applications, or other business processes. |
Vendor User | Editable | Indicates whether the vendor is a user in the system |
Vendor Contact First Name | Editable | First name of the main vendor contact |
Vendor Contact Last Name | Editable | Last name of the main vendor contact |
Vendor Contact Phone | Editable | Phone number of the main vendor contact |
Contact Email | Editable | Contact email address for the main vendor |
Vendor Address
Vendor address to be used for this Contract
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Vendor Address to Use | Required | Address to use for this transaction. By default, the vendor's primary address is used. |
Alternate Vendor Address | Editable | Alternate address listed for this Vendor |
Address | Read-Only | Street address, P.O. box, apartment, suite, unit, building, floor, and so on. Do not include the contact's name. |
City | Read-Only | City |
State/Province | Read-Only | State or province |
State/Province - Other | Read-Only | If selecting a country without defined states, provinces, or regions, this field provides additional information. |
Country | Read-Only | Country |
Zip/Postal Code | Read-Only | ZIP Code or postal code |
MWBE Tracking
Track the Minority-owned and Women-owned Business Enterprises (MWBE) participation on this contract.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
MWBE Project Target | Read-Only | The target Minority-owned and Women-owned Business Enterprises (MWBE) participation for the project. |
Designations | Editable | Special designations applicable to this business |
MWBE Contract Target % | Editable | Value of the Target for Minority-owned and Women-owned business enterprises (MWBE) for this contract |
MWBE Contract Actual % | Read-Only | The actual MWBE percentage (MWBE Contract Actual Amount / Total Completed and Stored to Date) |
MWBE Contract Target Amount | Read-Only | Target contract amount to be designated as MWBE for the contract |
MWBE Contract Actual Amount | Read-Only | Total amount of MWBE designated payments for all approved Payment Applications |
(Internal) Contract Primary Contact
Specify the main internal contact for this contract. By default, this is set to the record creator. Their contact information will be used to fill the remaining fields.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Main Contact | Editable | Name of internal main contact for this contract |
Read-Only | Email of the primary contact | |
Mobile Phone | Read-Only | Mobile phone number of the primary contact |
Work Phone | Read-Only | Work phone number of the primary contact |
Notice to Proceed
To create a Notice to Proceed (NTP) business process automatically upon approval of this Contract, select the checkbox in this section. The NTP date is updated by completion of the NTP workflow.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Create a Notice to Proceed? | Editable | If selected, automatically creates a Notice to Proceed (NTP) upon approval of the Contract. |
Notice to Proceed Date | Editable | The date on which any NTP is issued by the Owner in accordance with the terms of the referenced Contract |
Notice to Proceed Creator | Read-Only | Link to the created NTP record |
Unit Cost Information
Information on the cost per unit for this record. The Unit of Measure and Unit Quantity values are set to the project values by default.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Unit of Measure | Editable | The default unit of measure used for any line items that are added to this record |
Unit Quantity | Editable | The default unit quantity used for any line items that are added to this record |
Cost per Unit | Read-Only | The cost per unit amount divided by the unit quantity, for the initial budget |
Record Information
System information about this record
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Record Number | Read-Only | System-assigned record number |
Status | Read-Only | Record status for a workflow BP record is based on the workflow action preceding the current workflow step. |
Creator | Read-Only | Creator of this record
|
Creation Date | Read-Only | Date that the record was created
|
Record Last Update Date | Read-Only | Date that the record was last updated
|
Business Process Record URL | Read-Only | A shareable link to this record, for anyone with the necessary permissions
|
Project Number | Read-Only | Unique Project Number |
Project Name | Read-Only | Name of the project |
Additional Information
The Contract Additional Information block is reserved for future use by your organization.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Contract Date Picker UDF 1 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Contract Date Picker UDF 2 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Contract Decimal UDF 1 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Contract Decimal UDF 2 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Contract Date Only Picker UDF 1 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Contract Date Only Picker UDF 2 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Contract Currency Amount UDF 1 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Contract Currency Amount UDF 2 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Contract Picker UDF 1 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Contract Picker UDF 2 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Additional Notes
The Contract Additional Notes block is reserved for future use by your organization.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Contract Text 255 UDF 1 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Contract Text 255 UDF 2 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Contract Text 255 UDF 3 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Contract Text 255 UDF 4 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Contract Long Text UDF 1 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Contract Long Text UDF 2 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Currency
If the currency of this Contract is different from the project currency, specify it here.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Transaction Currency | Editable | If there are multiple currencies defined, use this field to specify a currency other than the project currency. |
Rate in Project Currency | Read-Only | Exchange rate that will be used to calculate the Project Currency Amount. This will be set after the record is saved, submitted, or sent forward in the workflow. After it is set for a record, it cannot be changed. |
Project Currency Amount | Read-Only | This field shows the amount of the transaction, according to the project currency. |
Consolidating Line Items
Contract line items can be consolidated from the following business processes:
- Budget Change
- Budget Transfer
- Change Order
- Change Request
- Contract
- Estimate
- Forecast
- Initial Budget
- Invoice
- Issue
- Journal Entry
- PO Amendment
- Potential Change Order
- Purchase Order
- Risk
- Work Release
Completing the Standard tab
General
Specify a cost code for this Contract line item.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Cost Code | Required | Enter a cost code. |
Code Name | Read-Only | Populates the code name of the selected cost code |
Contract Details
Enter the cost for this line item as a lump sum or a unit rate.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Item Quantity | Editable | Enter the item quantity. |
Unit of Measure | Editable | Enter the Unit of Measure used for the Unit Quantity and Cost Per Unit amounts. |
Item Unit Cost | Editable | Enter the item unit cost. |
Amount | Read-Only | Amount of this line item |
Description
Enter a description for this Contract line item.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Short Description | Required | Enter a description of 250 characters or fewer. |
Detailed Line Item Description | Editable | Enter additional detailed information about the line item description field. |
Retainage
By default, the retainage is set at the Contract level. If you would like to override the percentages for any line items, you can do so here.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Work Retainage % | Editable | The percentage retained for work or services. The default value is set in the project setting. Can be changed at the contract-level or contract-line-item-level. |
Stored Materials Retainage % | Editable | The percentage retained on stored materials. The default value is a project setting. Can be changed at the Contract or Contract line item level. |
Additional Information
Enter additional information specific to this Contract line item.
Field Name | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
Spend Category | Editable | Select the spending category. |
Work Package | Editable | Select the Work Package that this item will roll up to. |
Contract Line Item UDF PD 1 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Contract Line Item UDF Text 255 1 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Contract Line Item UDF CA 1 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Contract Line Item UDF DA 1 | Disabled | Reserved for future use by your organization |
Last Published Monday, April 14, 2025