The details of the contract, the fields to display, and other configurations are determined by the settings an Administrator User makes in the Contracts section of System Management.
The two areas of Contract Administration to set up are:
Contracts System Options (including Contracts Approvals) and
Screen Field Filters
Setting Contracts System Options (Including Contract Approvals)
There are two sections on the System Management screen relating to contracts: Contracts Approvals and Contracts.
To configure the system options for contracts, do the following:
Navigate to Admin > GEMS Settings > System Management and then click on Options > General in the left navigation menu.
Click the Edit button and locate the Contracts Approvals and Contracts sections.
Select or enter the required values into the system options as per the following guidelines.
Contract Approvals
These settings are related to the Approvals process that a new contract will go through if Contract Approvals are enabled.
Enable | Determines if contracts are to go through the Approval process or not. The default option is "No." This is a mandatory field. |
Attached Document Language | This specifies the language that must be used in Documents that will be attached as part of the contract record. Choose the appropriate language from the lookup list. If the option is left blank (the default setting), there will be no validation check on the language used in any attached Documents. |
Min number of Approvers | Enter the minimum number of Approvers that must approve the contract before it receives the status of Approved. If this is left blank, but Contract Approvals have been enabled, a minimum of one Approver will be required by default for any contract change requests. |
Approver – Roles | Select the roles that the Approver(s) for each contract must be a member of. For example, if you enter "Treasury" and "Tax," then there must be an Approver from each of these roles in the Approvers section on the Add a Contract Wizard.
If no user roles are entered in this field, then there is no validation check on the user roles of the approvers entered in the Add a Contract Wizard. |
Approver – User | If there are specific users that must approve every contract, enter them in this field. For example, if GEMS users Joe Bloggs and Evan Browne are entered in the "Approver – User" field, then in the Add a Contract Wizard, these users will then be displayed in the Approvers section by default. Within the wizard, you can then add other users in addition to the existing default approvers that have been set up. |
Role – Final Approval | Enter a role type in this field if you want all contracts to go through a particular role or department for final approval. For example, if each contract must get final approval from a person in the Legal department, then the role "Legal" would be entered in this field. |
Can Creator of Contract be the only Approver on that Contract | This field is "No" by default and ensures that the creator of the contract must appoint persons other than herself as approvers for the contract. Choose "Yes" if you want the person creating the contract to be the only user who can approve this contract. |
Contract Administrator(s) | Enter a person(s) in this field to set up an administrator(s) that is specific to contracts only. |
Key Contact Types | Enter the types of contact that are key to the contracts being created, e.g. Solicitor, Accountant or Compliance Officer. |
Minimum number of Party to Contract | Enter the minimum number of Entities that each contract must have as parties to the contract. The default value is "2."
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Contracts
The Contracts section is related to all contracts, regardless of whether Approvals are enabled or not. It has only one field, "Contract Title Options," which contains the following options:
Contract Title | Choose this option to display the title that is entered in the Add a Contract Wizard as the Contract Title. |
Contract Type | Choose this option to display the Contract Type as the Contract Title. |
Start Date Year - Contract Number, Contract Type | Choose this option to display the year, contract number, and contract type as the Contract Title. |
Please note: By default, the Contract Title is a hyperlink that users can use to click through to the contract details. It is possible to restrict users from doing this; please see Restricting Access to Contract Details for details.
Configuring Contract Emails and Notifications
There are several Notifications and Email Templates available that you can configure for notifying various parties of milestones and other indicators relating to the contract. For example, if a contract has been created but has not been submitted for approval, the Author will receive an email reminder after a certain number of days as specified in the Notification record.
To open the list of Notifications, go to Admin > Notification Management > Manage
Notifications.
There are pre-configured Contract Change Notifications as follows:
Email to Admin advising that approvers not approved within X days
Email to Admin if the author has not submitted the CR within X days
Email to Approvers advising that they have not actioned the contract within X days
Email to Author if CR has not been submitted within X days
Email to contacts advising that the specified contract is due to expire in X days’ time
Expiring contracts
For information subscribing users to Contract Notifications in GEMS, see Subscribe Users to a General, Ownership, or Contract Notification (Admin Only).
Each notification specifies which email template it will use. To open the email templates, go to Admin > Email Management > Manage Email Settings > Email Templates. The Contracts emails are:
Notification Email Admin – Contract not yet approved.
Notification Email Admin – Contract not submitted.
Notification Email Approver – Contract approval reminder
Notification Email Author – Contract not submitted.
Notification Email Contacts – Contract Expiry
Change to Contract Information
Other existing email templates associated with Contracts Notifications include:
Notification Email Approver – Contract approval request
Notification Email Approver – Contract rejected.
Notification Email Approver – Revised Contract approval request
Notification Email Author – Contract Approved
Notification Email Contacts – Quarterly Attestation
Choosing Fields to Display on Contract Records
Using Screen Field Filters, you can configure the contract Screens to display or hide certain fields and make fields mandatory during data entry, which is then reflected in the Add a Contract Wizard and on the contract records. For example, you can remove the "Product" field or the "Location" field from Contract Basics, and these fields are then removed from the Add a Contract Wizard.
Please note: Hiding fields using Screen Field Filters hides the fields from all users. To restrict access to the fields for specific user groups, please see Restricting Access to Contract Details.
To configure the fields on the Contracts screens, do the following:
Navigate to Admin > GEMS Administration > Screen Management and then click on Screen Field Filters in the left navigation menu.
Select a Contract type from the Filter drop-down list, then choose the Screen to configure from the options below:
· Associated Documents · Contract Approver · Contract Basics · Contract Details | · Contract Entity Contact · Contract Finance · Contract Notes · Contract Status History | · Key Dates · Party to Contract · Quarterly Exposure · Recent Contracts |
The Screen you choose determines the field options displayed below it. For example, the Contract Basics screen for type "Lease" has the fields as displayed below.
Click Edit and clear the checkbox on the Visible column next to any fields you want to remove from the Contracts Screen in GEMS. You may also click on the checkbox on the Mandatory column if you want to make that field mandatory during data entry.
Please note: The "Contract Type," "Contract Title," "End Date," and "Contract Status" fields are mandatory fields for setting up the contract and cannot be cleared.
If you clear the checkbox for "External Tracking Number" for example, that field would be removed from the Contract Basics section on the Add a Contract Wizard.
Before
After
Please note: The field selections you have made for Lease > Contract Basics on the Screen Field Filters are displayed on the Add a Contract Wizard only after you have selected "Lease" as the Contract Type.
Restricting Access to Contract Details
You can set user permissions such that users will not be able to view the details of the contract record. This prevents users without the correct permissions from viewing detailed information about contracts. Please refer to the Security Management Tutorial on the Community Support Site for details on setting up restrictions.
In the example below, to apply this restriction, assign the following Access Levels to the user role of the users that should be prevented from viewing contract details. The Access Level field for these items should contain "None."
Snapshot Contract Link - This removes the hyperlink from the contract title on the Contract Snapshot.
Screen > Specific Screen > Contract Basics - This hides the details in the Basics panel.
Snapshot Web Part Title Links - This removes the hyperlink from the Basics panel title.
