PeopleSoft Supplier Contract Management

PeopleSoft Supplier Contract Management is an application for use in the source-to-settle business process for managing supplier contracts. The application works in conjunction with the transactional contract functionality in PeopleSoft Purchasing, buy-side events in PeopleSoft Strategic Sourcing, and requisition request-related documents in PeopleSoft eProcurement to assist an organization in obtaining goods and services at reduced contract prices. The system accomplishes this by linking Microsoft Word-based authored contracts to these source transactional elements.

For this release, Supplier Contract Management features include integration with Microsoft Word XML that is supported in Microsoft Word 2007, or later versions that use the Microsoft Office Open XML format. This integration enables the authoring process to occur in an environment that is comfortable to most users, while achieving the control and compliance benefits that come with originating and maintaining the contract in the PeopleSoft system. To support the PeopleSoft .xml information rendered within Microsoft Word documents, anyone who edits authored documents created within the PeopleSoft system must use Microsoft Word 2007, or later version, using the Microsoft Office Open XML format.

The application provides an electronic contract repository, document authoring and search capabilities, contract syndication to third-party systems, and contract compliance monitoring. Digitizing the entire contract, including the terms, conditions, and performance clauses, prevents contracts from being lost in file cabinets, adds to their control and use, and makes the contract process more manageable.

You can reduce exposure and risk due to nonstandard contracts by requiring contracts to use preapproved language in a structured clause library and having the system alert you to potential variances in specific cases. If the inclusion of a particular clause requires special approval from the Legal department, for example, you can configure the clause definition to enforce that approval policy. Also, using special .xml tags, you can import a clause or multiple clauses directly into the clause library.

The application enables you to specify preapproved configurations that contain the business logic for drafting the contract. In situations for which special cases exist that typically require changes to boilerplate agreements, you can define wizard questions in Supplier Contract Management to invoke the appropriate clause inclusion which, in turn, can invoke special approval requirements.

Also, you can enforce the contract terms that you negotiate through contract agreement capabilities of the application. Agreements are the deliverables for contract terms. You can identify external and internal owners and notify them when agreement actions are required. For example, you can easily track and monitor periodic supplier reviews or required verification information on transactional contracts. In addition, you can automatically include any agreement-related clause in an executed Microsoft Word contract document.

Having an integrated system for managing buy-side contracts enables you to take advantage of setup and transactional information contained in the PeopleSoft Supplier Relationship Management solution when authoring contracts, thus increasing the speed, control, and accuracy of the process. You can use integrated transactional information, such as supplier names and amounts, to process the inclusion of specific contract content, or as fill-in-the-blank values in the authored document.

The application also enables online supplier-side collaboration during the drafting process, as well as online preparation and capturing of digitally signed documents.