Contract life cycle

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Contract life cycle

    The contract life cycle encompasses all stages from creation to closure, dictating the editability of various fields. Initially, in the Draft state, most fields can be modified. Once the contract progresses beyond Draft, certain fields become read-only, including date, renewal, extension, and financial fields.

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    Key Features

    • The Contract Compliance Checks job automatically runs each night to manage contract statuses:
      • Changes to Active if approved and the start date is reached.
      • Renews contracts approved for renewal at the start date.
      • Changes to Expired if the end date is reached while in Active state.
    • System Property: The property contractcompliancecheckjob.enableoverride allows for overrides in compliance checks, defaulting to True.
    • Expense Lines: Generated only from contracts that are either active or expired.

    Key Outcomes

    Understanding the contract states and substates is crucial for effective contract management:

    • Contract States: Include Draft, Active, Expired, and Canceled.
    • Contract Substates: Provide further details on the contract's status, such as Awaiting Review, Under Review, Approved, and Renewal Approved.

    This clarity ensures that ServiceNow customers can effectively manage contracts, anticipate necessary actions, and maintain compliance throughout the contract life cycle.

    From creation until closure, contracts follow a life cycle that determines which fields can be edited.

    When a contract is in Draft state, almost all fields on the contract record can be edited. After a contract moves past the Draft state, certain date, renewal, extension, and financial fields become read-only. The State field and Substate field are read-only.

    The Contract Compliance Checks schedule job runs on the Contract [ast_contract] table automatically each night. For more information about the scheduled job, see Use Condition Check Definitions. The scheduled job performs the following actions:
    • Changes the contract state to Active if the contract is approved and reaches the specified start date.
    • Renews the contract if the contract is approved for renewal and reaches the specified start date.
    • Changes the contract state to Expired if the contract state is Active and reaches the end date.
    The system property contract_compliance_check_job.enable_override enables the Contract Compliance Checks job to override checks in a hierarchy. By default, this system property is set to True. When checks are defined on the same field of the parent and child tables, the Contract Compliance Checks job performs the following:
    • For the records on the parent table, the condition check on the table sets the field with the value specified in the condition.
    • For the records on the child table, the condition check on the child table overrides the parent table condition and sets the field value on the child table accordingly.

    For example, when a check is defined on the Description field of the Contract (parent) and Lease (child) tables, the field on the Lease table is set to the value specified in the child table condition. To disable the contract compliance check override functionality, set the system property contract_compliance_check_job.enable_override to False.

    Expense lines are only generated from contracts that are active or expired.

    Table 1. Contract states
    State Description
    Draft User adds information about the contract and specifies an approver.
    Active Contract was approved and has reached the specified start date.
    Expired Contract reached the specified end date. Expired contracts with an active renewal workflow that are waiting for approval have a substate of Awaiting Review. Expired contracts with an active renewal workflow where the renewal was approved, but the renewal date hasn’t yet passed, have a substate of Renewal Approved. Expired contracts with no active renewal or extension pending workflow have an empty substate.
    Canceled Contract was discontinued and is no longer active.

    In addition to a state, a contract can also have a substate.

    Table 2. Contract substates
    Substate Description
    Awaiting Review Contract is being prepared for review.
    Under Review Contract sent to the approver and the approver is reviewing the contract.
    Approved Contract reviewed and accepted by the approver.
    Rejected Contract reviewed and declined by the approver.
    Renewal Approved Contract renewal approved by the approver.
    Renewal Rejected Contract renewal rejected by the approver.
    Renewal in process Contract renewal is in progress through the contract renewal workflow.
    Renewed Contract renewal is complete through the contract renewal workflow.
    Extension Approved Contract extension approved by the approver.
    Extension Rejected Contract extension rejected by the approver.
    None No substate is specified.