Contract life cycle

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Contract life cycle

    The contract life cycle in ServiceNow Yokohama Release manages the stages from contract creation to closure, controlling field editability and contract status changes. Contracts transition through defined states and substates, which determine what actions are possible and when certain fields become read-only. This lifecycle supports automated compliance checks to keep contract statuses current and manage renewals and expirations effectively.

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    Key Features

    • Editable Fields: In the Draft state, nearly all contract fields are editable. After leaving Draft, key date, renewal, extension, and financial fields become read-only, as do the State and Substate fields.
    • Contract Compliance Checks Scheduled Job: Runs nightly on the Contract [astcontract] table to automate contract state transitions:
      • Automatically activates contracts that are approved and have reached their start date.
      • Automatically renews contracts approved for renewal when reaching the renewal start date.
      • Expires contracts that have reached their end date while active.
    • Override Hierarchy for Compliance Checks: The system property contractcompliancecheckjob.enableoverride (default True) allows child table condition checks to override parent table checks on the same fields. This ensures more specific child conditions take precedence.
    • Expense Line Generation: Expense lines are created only for contracts in Active or Expired states, ensuring financial tracking aligns with contract validity.

    Contract States and Substates

    Contracts have defined states that reflect their current status in the lifecycle:

    StateDescription
    DraftUser is entering contract details and specifying approver.
    ActiveContract is approved and the start date has been reached.
    ExpiredContract end date reached. May have substates related to renewal workflows (Awaiting Review, Renewal Approved) or none if no renewal/extension is pending.
    CanceledContract discontinued and no longer active.

    Substates provide additional granularity during approval and renewal processes:

    SubstateDescription
    Awaiting ReviewContract is being prepared for review.
    Under ReviewContract is with approver for review.
    ApprovedContract accepted by approver.
    RejectedContract declined by approver.
    Renewal ApprovedRenewal approved but renewal date not yet reached.
    Renewal RejectedRenewal rejected by approver.
    Renewal in ProcessRenewal workflow underway.
    RenewedRenewal completed.
    Extension ApprovedExtension approved by approver.
    Extension RejectedExtension rejected by approver.
    NoneNo substate specified.

    Practical Implications for ServiceNow Customers

    Understanding the contract life cycle helps customers manage contracts effectively within ServiceNow by:

    • Knowing when and which contract fields can be edited to maintain data integrity.
    • Leveraging automated compliance checks to keep contract statuses accurate without manual intervention.
    • Configuring system properties to control compliance check behavior and override logic as needed.
    • Tracking contract progress with clear state and substate definitions to support approval and renewal workflows.
    • Ensuring expenses are only generated for valid contracts, aligning financial management with contract status.

    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.