Creating Contracts

A procurement contract is a legally binding agreement between a buyer and a seller.

Anika Gadher avatar
Written by Anika Gadher
Updated over a week ago

This article will cover:

New Contract from awarded requests


You can link any awarded requests to new contracts which allows you to directly import information, this allows you to import key information like documents or line items you might need to capture, saving you time & making any manual errors.

To do this, please click 'New Contract' and then 'From awarded request' to find a dropdown of all your options

Once selected, you will see the awarded supplier's name:

If the request has been awarded to multiple suppliers, there will be a drop down you can choose from

You’re also able to create a contract directly from your request.

Go to the awarded request page and click create a contract in the top right hand corner. This will follow the same flow as above, pre-selecting your supplier counterparty if it’s single award, or will give you the option to choose your supplier counterparty for a multi-award request

If the request was awarded to multiple suppliers, there will be options to choose from.

Please note, you cannot change the supplier once the contract has been created

The following fields are pre-populated with relation to the request, however you still have the ability to edit:

You can choose to import any UNSPSC codes tagged to your request & have the ability to add any more

You are required to fill in a contract start date & you have the option of setting an expiry date incase you have any rolling contracts with no expiry date

You can create custom milestones (i.e mid point check in) & you can set them for each of your contracts to help you keep track of key dates. You have the option of hiding the visibility of a milestone from your counterparty - which means you can keep track of both internal and external milestones in the same place

In addition to this, you can create reminders which you can link to your Milestones or choose your exact date:

Milestone reminders: Linked to any of your milestones & automatically responds to any milestone changes

Exact date reminders: not associated with milestones & can be set on a recurring basis

Within reminders you can decide if you want it for internal usage only or for counterparties as well.

Please note: If you send a reminder to your counterparty, all counterparty users will get the reminder. When you send a reminder internally you can either send to all contract members or choose selected colleagues to receive the reminder.

As the contract has been built from awarded requests, some of the information below is pulled through:

For contract created from an awarded request your contract will be by default linked to an awarded request and the supplier company will be pre-filled. You will still have to select the counterparty users you would like to send the contract to however.

Spend Data is where you input the value of the contract - you can select the currency you wish the contract to be in. This is a mandatory field is hidden from your suppliers - it feeds into our reporting which gives you a bird’s eye view of all your key contract metrics.

Choose the currency you'd like to enter the contract value in

The details tab allows you to import content from the request meaning you don’t have to waste time re-uploading important documents or line items from your request. Plus - for every exchange you import across, the whole negotiation history will be imported too giving you an end to end source to contract audit trail.

This is only available to those with a full user profile

You are able to delete & reimport segments from the request

If there is further information or documents you would like to add which was not included in the request, you can add to the imported pages or +add page:

You also have the option to add line items & documents.

The next segment is where you can upload the contract & add a description:

Note: you can only upload one document here

The final tab is: Team

This allows you to add users to the account & assign permissions to them.

Contract owner: Full access to make any changes & can do anything.

Please note: Authorised Stakeholders can never have 'can edit' permissions

Contract team member: A support role within the contract with limitations & cannot:

  • Delete draft contracts

  • Manages pages in the details tab

  • Internal team management

  • Issue a contract

  • Issue a revision

  • Issue an amendment

  • Mark negotiations as failed

  • Terminate a contract

  • Countersign a contract

  • Approve contract pages

Contract owners are able to manage team members permissions choosing from the following options per tab:

Summary Tab

Details Tab

Contracts Tab

Can read

No access

No access

Can edit

Can read

Can read

Can comment

Can comment

Can respond

Can respond

Can edit

Can edit

Permissions can be set at a tab and page level:

Upon completion please click onto the review & send tab, please read over the contract before submitting. You are able to make revisions once submitted but not to all parts of the contract.

If there are any issues, they will flag up in red:

Once you issue the contract, it is sent (or made visible) to the supplier counterparty. They can then respond to any additional line items or documents you’ve added or make any changes to those imported from the request.

Once all line items and documents in the details tab are complete a contract owner can go through an approve each page. This is required to unlock the contract for signing.

The supplier counterparty doesn’t see the approval flow it’s internal only so they can still make changes to a page after it’s been approved, but don’t worry the platform will let all users know something has changed and what it is so you can re-approve it or ask any follow up questions.

The contract tab is where the main contract sits and users can negotiate the terms back and forward. The supplier counterparty can upload the signed contract at any time but on the buyer side it is only unlocked for signing once all pages have been approved.

Once you are happy with the contract a contract owner can upload their countersigned contract and the contract will be pushed live. Depending on the start date it will either appear as Active or Agreed.

Active - the contract start date has already passed


Agreed - you’ve agreed the details but the start date hasn’t happened yet, will automatically move to active once the start date occurs and you’ll get a reminder letting you know this has happened.

Once this is approved you will see the below notification & can upload your signed contract as the final step.

Final approval will happen once:

  • All inputs are correct

  • All exchanges on each page have been resolved

Once both parties have signed, the contract is marked as live.

Blank Contracts


If you wish to create a contract not linked to an RFx, go to the contract repository, select new contract and select blank contract.

You can set up and negotiate this the same way as you would a linked RFx but there won’t be an option to import any details.

Once you click 'Blank Contract', you have the option to attach it to an 'awarded request' when setting it up:

Please read through the above material for any clarification.

Please note, any fields marked with an *are mandatory.

Legacy Contracts


Legacy Contracts allow users to store contract data in the system for all contracts negotiated prior to using DeepStream contracts.

This allows you to:

  • store all your contracts in one place

  • have a complete picture in reporting of all the contracts you hold (and the value of them)

  • set reminders for your older contracts ensuring you don’t miss any key dates

  • manage any further amendments to your older contracts within the system

Click onto Contracts in the Navigation bar & on the right hand side, press the dropdown on New contract.

Click on the Upload legacy contracts option which will allow you to download templates in CSV or XLSX format

Please note, you cannot upload the file in XLSX, you can only upload in CSV format!

CSV Template:

XLSX Template:

Fields:

  1. Name* - naming convention of contract

  2. Description - any key details related to your contract

  3. Start Date* - dd/mm/yyyy format

  4. End Date - dd/mm/yyyy format

  5. Contract currency* - Please use a valid 3-digit ISO code. (Example: USD)

  6. Contract value* - e.g 100.00

  7. Counterparty (linked) - The user ID of the counterparty you wish to link to the contract

  8. Counterparty (unlinked) - The name of the counterparty as you want it to appear in the system

    You can find the ID number in the URL of the company profile illustrated below as the last set of digits

  9. Additional Reference Number - any internal reference number

  10. Contract owner* - Please use the email address the contract owner signed up to the DeepStream platform with.

All fields marked with an * are mandatory!

Please note all counter-parties must be in the system before the template is uploaded

Once the legacy contract has successfully been uploaded you will see a green tick: ✅ and 'Legacy' next to the title

Statuses once the legacy contract is uploaded:

  1. Agreed

  2. Active

  3. Expired

Contract actions once the legacy contract is uploaded:

  1. Terminated

  2. Deleted

Please note, all actions will be captured as part of the audit trail

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