Managing Contract Agreements

This chapter provides an overview of agreement management and discusses how to:

Update agreement statuses.
Monitor agreement compliance.
Review contract agreement statuses.

Understanding Agreement Management

Agreement management is a PeopleSoft Supplier Contract Management feature that assists you in monitoring, updating, and reviewing agreements and their verification steps, statuses, and workflow notifications. After assigning agreements to a contract, you use this feature to indicate whether a verification step is in process or has been completed successfully or not, and whether the agreement met the requirements for compliance. The tracking of agreements is optional, but assists you in documenting compliance or noncompliance of contracts.

Note. Agreement management does not include any clause or document approvals or collaboration that you might need to perform for an agreement document.

When agreements and any associated verification steps are assigned to a contract, the system can send workflow notifications to interested parties when due dates are approaching and an action must be completed. This might include securing documents, getting confirmation of an agreed upon date or completing necessary inspections. You can track the progress of each step using the Update Agreement Statuses component. Using the component, the verification step owner can indicate that verification is in process, has been completed, or has failed. After the steps have been completed, either successfully or not, the contract administrator can indicate whether or not the vendor has meet the terms of the agreement.

Agreement management also provides a quick and easy method to check agreement and verification step statuses. Using the Monitor Agreement Compliance component, you can see a summary view of selected contracts with designations for agreements that are or are not in compliance. Additionally, the verification step details are displayed, along with their respective status of not started, in process, completed or failed. From this summary view, you can drill into the details of the verification steps or agreements simply by selecting the link in the various status columns.

To view the agreement and verification step details of a single contract, use the Review Agreement Status inquiry. This inquiry is useful for those individuals who don’t necessarily need to update statuses or monitor progress, but would like to view the details of agreements associated with a contract.

Contract agreement compliance is divided into two parts. The first involves predefining agreements, bid factor agreements, and assigning agreements to purchasing contracts and is described in the previous chapter. The second part is updating, monitoring, and analyzing compliance against agreements and is described in this chapter.

See Also

Understanding Contract Agreements

Updating Agreement Statuses

This section discusses how to:

Search for contract agreements.
Update agreement statuses.
Verify agreement verification steps.
Upload attachments for agreement steps.

Pages Used to Update Agreement Statuses

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Update Agreement Statuses	CS_CNT_AG_SEARCH	Supplier Contracts, Monitor and Update Agreements, Update Agreement Statuses	Search for contract agreements.
Update Agreement Statuses	CS_CNT_AG_RESULTS	Click the Search button on the Update Agreement Statuses page after completing search criteria.	Update agreement statuses.
Contract Verification Details	CS_CLN_AG_VFY_UPD	Click the Contract Step Verification link on the Update Agreement Statuses page.	Verify agreement verification steps.

Searching for Contract Agreements

Access the Update Agreement Statuses page (Search page).

Use the search page to define criteria for viewing and updating contract agreements and verification steps. At a minimum, you must select a contract ID to perform the search. If you do not specify any other criteria, all agreements that are associated to the contract will appear when the Search button is selected. You can limit the list by entering information in the available fields.

If the contract specified has no agreements or if you apply other search criteria within the contract that is not met, the Agreements Retrieved grid appears empty.

Search Criteria

Agreement search criteria include:

Contract ID	Select a contract ID. This is a required field. All other criteria that you enter for the search relate to agreements that are attached to this contract. The contract must be in an Approved, Open, or On-Hold status. Contracts that are in a Closed or Cancelled status are not available for searching
Contract Line	Enter a contract line number on which to search for agreements. If you specify a line number here, the system retrieves only those agreements for that line number, regardless of what you select for the Results to Include field.
Verification Step Owner	Select to limit the search results to agreements that have a specific step owner. This is the person responsible for verifying that a step in the agreement has been met.
Compliance Status	Select a status on which to limit search results. If you don’t make a selection, all agreements that meet the remaining criteria appear in the search results. Statuses that you can select include Cancelled, Compliant, Not Compliant, or Not Set.

You can also limit the search results to header agreements, line agreements or both by selecting the appropriate option for Results to Include. If you do not make a selection, the system uses Header and Line Agreements as the default value. Header agreements are those agreements that have been attached to the general terms of a contract and typically apply to the entire contract. A line agreement applies to a specific line in the contract. For example, suppose that an agreement defines the terms for inspecting all items on the contract upon their receipt. You create this agreement using the Contract Agreement link in the contract header.

Then, suppose that you have an item in the same contract that requires special inspection techniques or testing. This is called a line agreement. You use the Contract Agreement button in the contract line to add the terms of this agreement. The system displays the agreements as either header agreements or line agreements when they appear after the search.

You can make only one selection. Select Header Agreements Only or Line Agreement Only to include only one in the search results, or select Header and Line Agreements to include both in the search results.

After you define the criteria, click the Search button and the system retrieves agreements that match the criteria.

Agreements Retrieved

Use this grid to select the agreement that you want to view or update. The system displays header and line agreements for the specified contract. Click any of the links to navigate to details about an agreement.

Contract Agreement

Displays the contract number you selected for the search along with either a header designation or line designation and a corresponding number. This indicates the agreement is associated with the contract header or the line number displayed in the field. You can have multiple agreements at both the header and the line levels.

Click a link to access the Update Agreement Statuses page where you can view all agreements associated with the header or the lines. Click the contract agreement link labeled as a HEADER to view all header-level agreements for the contract. Click the agreement link that is labeled as LINE to view all line-level agreements for the contract.

Agreement Sequence and Code

Displays the agreement sequence and the agreement code that are used for the header or line agreement. Click the link to access the Update Agreement Statuses page where you can update the status, results, verification information, and enter comments or attachments for the specific agreement you selected.

Compliance Status

Displays the current state of the agreement’s compliance to the agreement’s terms. Valid values are Cancelled, Compliant, Not Compliant, or Not Set.

Updating Agreement Statuses

Access the Update Agreement Statuses page (Results page).

Contract administrators use this page to view and update the contract agreement status and access the verification details. The agreement level—header or line—as well as the result type determine which fields appear on this page. The system displays contract information in the upper portion of the page. For line-level agreements, the system displays additional information about the line number, item ID, item description and category.

Information in the Contracts Agreements section is the same for both header and line-level agreements. However, the value in the Result Type field determines which additional fields appear.

See Predefining Agreements.

Most information on this page is display-only, except the Compliance Status, Actual Result, and Compliance Comments fields.

Compliance Status	Select a status for the agreement. The system displays the current status for the agreement. The initial value for this field is Not Set. You can change the status to one of these values: Cancelled: Select to indicate the agreement has been canceled. The system assumes that the agreement and all of its verification steps are no longer valid and does not issue reminders when the target date or due date of the steps is approaching or has passed. When the agreement is set to Cancelled, all of the associated steps are also set to Cancelled. If you decide to reactivate the agreement, you must manually reset the steps to Not Started or In Process. Compliant: Select to indicate that all terms of the agreement have been met. When you select this option, the system verifies that all agreement steps have been completed as specified. If the associated steps are still in the status of In Process or Not Set, or if an attachment is required but not yet linked, the system issues a warning that specifies which steps need to be completed. Note. Be sure to first enter the actual results and any compliance comments before setting the status to Compliant. Not Compliant: Select to indicates that the agreement is not in compliance with the agreed upon terms. Not Set: Select to indicate that the compliance has not yet been determined. The system automatically assign this status to the agreement when the agreement is added to the contract. If the agreement is currently set to Cancelled, Compliant, or Not Compliant and changes are made to the agreement on the contract, the status is automatically reset to Not Set. With each change of status, the system updates the Last User to Update and Last Update Date/Time fields. The system also records the status change which triggers workflow notifications if the agreement is set up to notify interested parties with status changes. The notification occurs the next time the system runs the Workflow Notifications process.
Negotiated Result	Displays the user-defined value for the expected result of this agreement. The negotiated result is the expected outcome of the agreement and represents the value of that outcome. From a date value to a monetary value, this is the value that the contract administrator uses to determine whether the agreement is compliant.
Actual Result	Enter the actual results of the agreement prior to setting the status to Compliant or Not Compliant. The contract administrator uses this information to determine whether or not the terms of the agreement have been met. Entries in the field depend on the result type. If the result type is Date, the Actual Result field expects a date format and a calendar is displayed. You can enter a date that represents, for example, when a milestone was reached. If the result type is Yes/No, then Yes and No values are available for selection. If the type is Monetary or Numeric, enter a numeric value. If the type is Text, the system displays an extended text field which is available for input.
Compliance Comments	Enter any text or explanation that you want to note regarding the agreement. This might include why the agreement was canceled or is considered not compliant. After the status is set to Cancelled or Compliant, you can no longer enter comments.
Financial Implication	Enter a statement that relates to the financial implication if an agreement is compliant or not compliant. The statement can describe whether a bonus is paid or a penalty assessed if the agreement is met or not met.
Contract Step Verification	This link is displayed when there are verification steps associated with the agreement. Click to access the step details where you can update the status, attach documents, or enter comments. See Verifying Agreement Verification Steps.
Return to Contract Status Search	Click to access the Update Agreement Statuses search page where you can perform a new agreement search.

Verifying Agreement Verification Steps

Access the Contract Verification Details page.

Use this page to update the status of the verifications steps on a contract agreement. Verification steps are a checklist of tasks to be completed before the system considers the agreement as compliant. You assign each step to an owner and the owner can update the step information directly or pass the information to the contract administrator who can perform the updates on behalf of the owner. As part of the update process, you can also upload attachments.

As with other pages in this component, information that appears on the page depends on whether you are viewing a line or header agreement. If attachments already exist with the agreement, the Attachments grid also appears when you open the Contract Verification Details page. If attachments do not exist, use the Upload a File link to add them and access the grid. Contract information appears at the top of the page and if the steps are associated with a line agreement, the system displays additional line information.

Verification Step	Displays the step number that defines the order in which the steps are listed. The system begins the numbering with 10, but you can change the sequence value to maintain the order when you insert new rows. The system uses the step value to help order and locate specific verification requirements.
Due Date	Displays the date on which the step should be completed. You set this date when the agreement is added to the contract and you can based it on the agreement’s target date. You cannot change the due date here, but must return to the Contract Maintenance pages and access the specific header or line agreement.
Verification Step Owner	Displays the name of the person assigned this task. The owner can be either an internal or external person.
Activity Status	Displays the current status for the step. When you add the agreement to the contract, the status is automatically set to Not Started. The step owner or contract administrator can use this status to track the progress of the step. Values are: Cancelled: Select to indicate that this step is no longer a requirement to meet the terms of the agreement. The step’s activity status is automatically set to Cancelled if the agreement is canceled. Completed: Select to indicate the task has been completed. Be sure to enter the verification results prior to setting the status to complete. If you do not enter attachments or comments, a date/time, or a yes/no indicator, the system displays a warning that the verification results have not yet been completed. Once set to complete, the associated fields are disabled and not accessible. You must set the status back to Not Started to update the appropriate fields. Failed: Select to indicate the task was not completed to the satisfaction of the contract administrator or in accordance with the agreed upon terms. In Process: Select this optional status to indicate that the task has started but has not yet been completed. Not Started: Select to indicate that no action has begun for this task. With each change of status, the Last User to Update and Last Update Timestamp fields are updated. The system also records the status change which triggers workflow notifications if the step is set up to notify interested parties with status changes. The notification occurs the next time the system runs the Workflow Notifications process.
Verification Method	Displays the method used to indicate the task has been completed. Methods include: Attachment: Select to indicate this step can be verified using an attachment. Upload any documents by clicking the Upload a File link. After a file has been attached to the verification step, the Attachments grid appears at the bottom of the page. You can add additional attachments by clicking the Upload another File link. If attachments are required and are not attached, the system displays a warning message if you set the activity status to Completed. Comments: Select to indicate you can make notations regarding the verification step. When this method is selected, a text box is available for input. If comments are not entered, the system displays a warning message when the activity status is set to Completed. Date/Time: Select to indicates that a date and time stamp must be entered to verify that the step was completed. When you select this method, the Date Verified and Time Verified fields are available for input. If you do not enter a date and time, the system displays a warning message when the activity status is set to Completed. Notify: Select to indicate that an action is not required to verify that the step has been completed. However, you can optionally notify someone when the status has changed. Yes/No: Select to indicate that a Yes or No response must be entered to verify that the task has been competed. Use the Yes/No Verification field to enter a response. If a yes or no response is not entered, the system displays a warning message when the activity status is set to Completed.

Uploading Attachments for Agreement Steps

Access the Contract Verification Details page.

Use the Attachments grid to add documents associated with the verification step. The grid appears after you upload at least one attachment. If an attachment already exists, the grid appears when you open the Contract Verification Details page for a line or header agreement.

You can use attachments as a means of capturing additional information about the agreement or task. Also, an attachment might be required as a verification method. You might, for example, require a copy of the vendor’s license or certifications that you can attach using this page. You can attach documents even if the verification method is not Attachment.

You can upload and view a variety of documents, including Microsoft Word and Adobe Reader documents, as well as Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Access files. Attachments are read only files. You can edit these files and load them again to make changes. They are not managed through the document authoring system

To upload attachments:

Click the Upload a File link on the Contract Verification Details page. If a file already exists as an attachment, click the Upload another File link. Another page appears, where you can browse for the file to upload.
Click the Browse button to locate the file from an external system.
Select the file, and then click the Upload button.

The attachment appears in the Attachment grid and includes a system-assigned sequence number. To view the uploaded attachment, click the View button.

Attachment Sequence	Displays the sequence for the attachment. The system initially assigns the sequence numbers in increments of 10. You can reorder the sequence by entering a new sequence value and clicking the column heading. The system reorders the attachments based on your changes.
File Name	Displays the name of the file as it was selected from the external location. You cannot change the file name here.
Attachment Description	Enter a description for the attachment.

Description

Access the Description tab.

Use the Document Description field to enter an expanded description of the document. You can enter up to 254 characters.

Monitoring Agreement Compliance

This section discusses how to:

Define selection criteria for contracts to view.
Monitor agreement compliance for contracts.
Review summary details for agreement statuses.

Pages Used to Monitor Agreement Compliance

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Monitor Contract Agreements	CS_CNT_AG_MONITOR	Supplier Contracts, Monitor and Update Agreements, Monitor Agreement Compliance	Define selection criteria for contracts to view. The system displays the results of the search using the Status Summary grid.
Contract Agreement Status Details	CS_CNT_AG_DETAIL	Click a link in the returned results in the Status Summary grid.	Review details for agreement statuses.
Review Agreement Statuses	CS_CNT_AG_RESULTS	Click on a value in the Agreement Sequence and Code field on the Contract Agreement Status Details	Navigate to agreement information. See Reviewing Agreement Statuses.

Defining Selection Criteria for Contracts to View

Access the Monitor Contract Agreements page.

Use this page to view search results for agreement and verification step statuses. You must select at least one value for the search.

The system summarizes search results by contract ID. The Status Summary grid displays the total number of agreements and verification steps in a specific status. Statuses display as column headings. You can have multiple agreements and steps for a single contract. By selecting the link under one of the status headings, you can navigate to and view which agreements or steps are in that status.

Note. To select values in the Vendor ID, Contract ID, or Agreement Code fields, you must first specify the appropriate vendor, contract, or agreement setID using the corresponding set ID field.

You can use the Past Due as of Date field to search for agreements that might be coming due or are past due in the next few days or week. By entering a future date, the system checks all agreements and verification steps with a current status of Not Set or Not Started and a target date or due date prior to or equal to the date you select. This enables you to monitor tasks that might have fallen behind schedule. When you enter a date, the system automatically sets the Compliance Status field to Not Set. If you do not select a date, the system still indicates which agreements or steps have not been completed as of today’s date for the contracts it includes in the search results.

After defining the selection criteria for the search, click the Search button. The system displays another grid with the search results. The grid is described in the next section.

Monitoring Agreement Compliance for Contracts

Access the Monitor Contract Agreements page.

When you click a link for a status on this page, you access the Contract Agreement Status Details page.

Contract ID	Displays the contracts that meet the selection criteria. Each row of data displays agreement and verification step information about a single contract. Click the contract number link to access the Contract Entry page where you can view and update header and line agreement information.
Compliant	Displays the number of agreements for this contract that are in the Compliant status. Click the link to access the Contract Agreement Status Details page where you can view agreement details.
Not Compliant	Displays the number of agreements that are not compliant. Click the link to access those agreements.
Not Set	Displays the number of agreements associated with this contract that have not had a change in status since they were originally added. They are not considered compliant, but they are not yet considered not compliant.
Past Due	Depending on what you entered in the Past Due as of Date field in the search selection criteria, this number can represent different values. If you entered a date, the number represents the number of agreements that could, potentially, be an issue based on the agreement’s current status of Not Set. However, you would need to be make a decision by the date specified as to whether the agreement is compliant. If you did not enter a date, this number represents the number of agreements that are not compliant as of today’s date and could, potentially, be considered not compliant. You should review these agreements to check whether verification steps, if specified, have been completed on time or whether the terms of the agreement have or have not been met.
Complete, Failed, In Process, Not Started	Displays the number of verification steps within a contract that are in the specified status. These steps can be associated with any of the agreements within the contract. Click the link to access the Contract Agreement Status Details page where you can view the agreements with their associated verification steps. There, the status of each individual step is displayed for each agreement.
Details	Click the link to display specific information about an agreement or verification step. This displays all agreements with their associated verification steps for the contract to which they are associated. Additionally, the system displays the target date, step owner, and current status.

Vendor

Select the Vendor tab.

Use this tab to review vendor information for contracts. The information includes the vendor ID and name. You can also access the contract to make changes to vendor information.

Reviewing Summary Details for Agreement Statuses

Access the Contract Agreement Status Details page.

Use this page to review the details about contract agreements and verification steps, line released amounts, and results of the verifications. The amount and order of information that appears on the page depend on the selection criteria you entered to access the page.

Agreement Level	Displays whether the agreement is at a header level or at a line level. Line-level agreements also display the line number for the contract item. Click the link to view either the header or the line agreement information and navigate to verification step information.
Agreement Sequence and Code	Displays the order in which the agreement is sequenced, followed by the predefined agreement code that is used as a basis for creating the agreement. If you click the link for this value, you can navigate to the Review Agreement Statuses page where you can review all the information about the agreement including its verification steps. See Reviewing Agreement Statuses.
Verification Steps	Displays the verification steps that are associated with a line or header agreement. The system lists the steps for each agreement code that is used in the agreement.
Description	Displays a description of the corresponding agreement or verification step.
Target Date	Displays the estimated completion date for the agreement or the due date for the verification step.
Assigned To	Displays the person who is responsible for verifying the corresponding agreement verification step.
Status	Displays the current state of the agreement or verifications step. Values for agreements are Compliant, Not Compliant, and Not Set. Values for steps are In Process, Failed, Completed, and Not Started.
Return to Monitor Contract Agreement Search	Click to return to the search utility where you can define criteria for another search.

Results

Select the Results tab.

Use this tab to review the actual results of completing a verification step or meeting the terms of the agreement.

Line Released Amount

Displays the amount of the contract that has been released and sourced to a purchase order. The system expresses this amount in the contract header currency.

Actual Result

Displays the actual result for the agreement when it is entered on the Update Agreement Statuses page. Actual results are the values that verification owners enter to further describe the processing of the agreement. The system records the actual result of the agreement activity and keeps it in this field for historical purposes. The system uses the agreement compliance status to process agreement conditions.

Reviewing Contract Agreement Statuses

This section discusses how to:

Review agreement statuses.
Review agreement verification details.

Pages Used to Review Agreement Statuses

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Review Agreement Statuses	CS_CNT_AG_SEARCH	Supplier Contracts, Monitor and Update Agreements, Review Agreement Statuses	Search for contracts agreements and verification steps you want to review. See Defining Selection Criteria for Contracts to View.
Review Agreement Statuses	CS_CNT_AG_RESULTS	Supplier Contracts, Monitor and Update Agreements, Review Agreement Statuses	Review agreement statuses.
Contract Verification Details	CS_CLN_AG_VFY_UPD	Click the Contract Step Verification link on the Review Agreement Statuses page.	Review agreement verification details.

Reviewing Agreement Statuses

Access the Review Agreement Statuses page.

Use this page to review information about agreements for a single contract. You cannot make changes to data using the page. You can navigate to review agreements and their verification step details.

You can also access this page using the Monitor Contract Compliance component.

Reviewing Agreement Verification Details

Access the Contract Verification Details page.

Use this page to review details about verification steps for a contract agreement.

You can also access this page using the Monitor Contract Compliance component.