Contract life cycle

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated February 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Contract Lifecycle IT Asset Management

    The contract lifecycle in IT Asset Management outlines the stages contracts progress through, from creation to closure. During the Draft state, most fields are editable, but once the contract moves forward, specific fields become read-only, including State and Substate. The Contract Compliance Checks job runs nightly to manage contract states based on approval and date criteria.

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    Key Features

    • Contract States: Contracts can be in various states such as Draft, Active, Expired, or Canceled, each with specific implications for editing and approval.
    • Substates: Additional classifications (e.g., Awaiting Review, Under Review, Approved) provide clarity on where the contract is in the approval process.
    • Compliance Check Job: Automatically updates contract states and manages renewals and expirations based on predefined conditions.
    • Override Functionality: The system property contractcompliancecheckjob.enableoverride allows for customizable compliance checks between parent and child records.

    Key Outcomes

    By effectively managing the contract lifecycle, ServiceNow customers can ensure timely approvals, automate transitions between contract states, and maintain accurate records. This leads to improved contract management efficiency, compliance with renewal processes, and clear visibility into contract statuses at any point in the lifecycle.

    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.