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.

  1. Go to your Project tab and switch to User mode.
  2. In the left Navigator, select Commitments, and then select Contract.
  3. 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.
  4. To add attachments, click Attach Files on the Attachments tab.
  5. After completing the form, click Send.
  6. 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.
  7. Click Send.
  8. 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

E-Mail

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:

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