How to Create a Contract

This article is a guide on how to create a contract on FastDraft.

This guide contains the following:

Introduction
Company Set Up
- User Set Up
Project Set Up
Contract Set Up
Contract Template
- Periods for Reply
- Clauses
Secondary Dates
Add Contract Users

Introduction

The following users can create contracts on FastDraft:

Site Administrator
Company Administrator
Site Support
Super User
Contract Administrator

Currently only Site Admin, Company Admin, and Site Support users can make any changes to created contract templates. Below are the steps required to set up your contract.

For our customers on our managed instance we send out a proforma to assist us in setting up their contracts correctly. You may find it useful to use as a checklist, that nothing is missed. We also send it out during the set up of an Enterprise instance, which customers manage themselves. It contains, for example, default clauses for each framework.

Before creating the contract ensure the following exist; Company, Named Lead Users and Project.

Company Set Up

Check that the company records of the Lead users (eg; the Employer, PM, Contractor and Supervisor) already exist on FastDraft. Create if necessary.

Once created - you can add the company logo by clicking on the pencil icon & upload the image.

Admin Panel >>> Company >>> Create New

Not all fields are mandatory. If any are missing, when you click the create button, you will see any error messages.

Note - It may take a few minutes for the new company to appear due to caching.

User Set Up

Users are set up at a system (Company) level and then also added to the contract(s) they are working on, depending what role they require. To add them, select the relevant company, select

and add their details.

Note - Job Title and Mobile are optional fields that do not need to be filled out if you don't have the information available. See here for more information about creating a user record.

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Company users are usually set up a a General User. For further information on user access and roles see Understanding roles and permissions in FastDraft

Note - Any new users added to a company receive a password reset email from FastDraft immediately (unless your platform uses SSO). You may prefer just to add the Employer and lead users and check the contract set up before adding the remaining users.

Project Set Up

A Project is a collection of contracts that you've identified and are managing through the platform. Projects allows contracts to be grouped. Each Project is managed by a lead organisation and can be categorised by Project type.

If necessary, create a new Project via the Admin panel - the Company will always be your company. A project can be allocated to many contracts, so you may not need to create one.

Contract Set Up

From your My Contracts page, click 'Create New' and populate from the proforma (if you have one).

The following are mandatory fields...

Contract Number

Contract number is only used as a reference - you might want to number each contract in order of creation, or in order of creation based on what project they're linked to. It's a free-text field so it could be a reference number that is used internally.

Contract Name

A free-text field where you can give the contract a name. This will appear on the contract dashboard.

Company

Selecting the Company will determine what project you can associate this contract with. If you're on a dedicated instance, the Company will usually be your company.

Note - this cannot be changed after the contract has been created.

Project

Select from the dropdown which Project this contract should be associated with.

Note - this cannot be changed after the contract has been created

Contract Type

Select the type of contract you are using (e.g. ECC/ECS/PSC, etc.). Next to the dropdown there is an (i) button, which if you hover over it will display this message:

Party Structure

Selecting a type of contract will automatically fill the Party Structure dropdown with the default structure. For most contract types this will be Contract Administrator > Supplier, but if you need to add in either Supervisor or Employer you can do so. Next to the dropdown there is an (i) button, which if you hover over it will display this message:

The party structure determines what party a user can be added to the contract as.

Note - if you add Supervisor/Employer that doesn't necessarily mean there will be workflows they can use - this depends on what Master Template you are using.

Master Template

First, select the option next to Template Create Mode that is most suitable - the options are:

Copy master for this contract (can be used for further customisation later, not affected by "Master Template" changes)
Always use "Master Template"

The first option means this contract will be based on a master template, but then can be amended and have its own custom template which you can edit without affecting any other contracts.

The second option means this contract is tied to a Master Template - this is usually best used if you know this contract is part of a project that encompasses many contracts, and therefore changes to the contract templates will need to be made in bulk. You cannot make any changes to your contract if you select this option.

If a change is made to a master template - all contract that use the master template and have chosen this option will also be updated with the changes. Next, select which Master Template you'll be using. We have default versions for different contract types (it's usually best practice to use the latest version, i.e. v2.5 instead of v2.4), or you may have some bespoke Master Templates.

Note - this cannot be changed after the contract has been created.

Lead Users

When you've selected a party structure, the amount of lead users you need to nominate will adjust to fit that party structure. For each party you need to select a Company, a User Company, and a User.

The Company can be different to User Company, for example if the user technically works for Company B but is representing Company A on this contract.

Start Date

Select the start date for your contract.

Note - the start date can be no earlier than 01/01/1900 and no later than 06/06/2079.

Completion Date

Select the completion date for your contract.

Note - the completion date can be no earlier than 01/01/1900 and no later than 06/06/2079.

Currency

FastDraft supports currencies at contract level, which means you could run several contracts from your account with different currencies. By default currency will be GBP.

Contract Price

Input the contract price.

Note - Set this to £0.00 if your contract is a TSC/TSSC.

The following are optional fields...

PO Number & Value

PO Number is a free text field where you can type the PO reference.

PO Value is a currency field.

Defects Period

You can enter how many weeks your Defect Period will last (this is usually 52 weeks). The defects period is only necessary if a Completion Certificate is communicated, which will trigger the Defects Date to be displayed on the contract dashboard along with the Start and Completion dates.

Secondary Dates

They can be added under

If any Key/Sectional/Task Order/Project Order dates, set to Yes.

Note - Set this to Yes if your contract is TSC/TSSC.

Secondary Prices

If your contract is using multiple currencies, set to Yes.

Note - FastDraft does not perform any foreign exchange calculations so secondary prices are not compatible with FastDraft's Financial Limits feature.

Demo Contract

If your contract is a demo contract, set to Yes.

Note - demo contracts are a sandbox environment where users can switch parties, and email notifications are not sent. Read here for more information.

Financial Limits

If you have users that have platform-level financial limits, but would like these to be overridden for this specific contract, set to Yes.

Note - you can set each user's contract-level financial limit when adding them to the contract.

You are now ready to create the contract

Contract Template

Now that your contract has been created, if you have selected the 'copy master [template] for this contract' you will be able to edit your contract template to incorporate your contract's amendments. If you've selected 'always use master template', this specific contract's template is uneditable.

Periods for Reply

You can update the contract's Periods for Reply by using the Global Resources tab of the template.

Within the contract you'd like to amend, click on Contract Template.

Click Global Resources

The first default Period for Reply you'll see is SUPPLIER_REPLY_PERIOD.

The main Periods for Reply that you'll be concerned with are:

SUPPLIER_REPLY_PERIOD - The number of days the Supplier party has to reply to a notice.
PM_REPLY_PERIOD - The number of days the PM party has to reply to a notice.
VARIATION_RESPONSE - The number of days the PM party has to reply to the following notices:
- Supplier Compensation Event
- Supplier Claims
- Supplier CE (Short Term)
- Client Compensation Event

For each period of reply that needs updating, click and enter the number of days for this Period for Reply.

Note - FastDraft works in Calendar days, not working days.

Click Update Resource.

When all period of replies have been updated, click Save Changes.

Clauses

You can update your contract's clauses in the Workflows tab of the contract template.

Within the contract you'd like to amend, click on Contract Template.

Click Workflows.

The main workflows which will need your attention are:

Early Warnings
Instructions
Compensation Events
Notifications
Submissions
Submissions (with quote)

Note - depending on which contract type you have selected, not all of these workflows will be switched on by default, or they may even have different names.

For each workflow, you can find the clauses in the Placeholders tab.

The name of the placeholder will vary for each workflow -

For Early Warnings, it's RiskTypes - please note, if you need the Supplier's Early Warning clauses to be different to the Contract Administrators, you'll need to update the RiskTypesSupplier. If they can both be the same list, you only need to have the RiskTypes placeholder activated (you can delete RiskTypesSupplier from the list using if it's not needed, by clicking on the X). Early Warning clauses are managed slightly differently in FastDraft. If you need to add any extra RiskTypes, please contact support@builtintelligence.com and a member of the team will assist you.
For Instructions, it's InstructionTypes.
For Compensation Events, it's CompensationClauses.
For Notifications, it's PMClauses, SupplierClauses, and/or SupervisorClauses (depending on which Notifications workflow you're updating).
For Submissions, it's IssueClauses.
For Submissions (with quote), it's ProposalClauses

Adding a new clause

Within the placeholder, to add a new clause select Add New.

On the right of the screen, you'll see the following fields.

To ensure the clause is active, make sure the Is Active box is ticked.

Enter the clause number and display text in the Display Text field. For example:

Once you're done, select Add Item.

This will add the clause to the bottom of the list of clauses. Click on the next to the wording and you can drag the new clause, if necessary to the right area in the clause list, so they are in numerical order. This is not essential, but makes for easier viewing and selection for the contract user. You can cut and paste a group of new clauses from the proforma and paste them in the box at the top of the selected clauses list. Again they will be added to the bottom of the list and you can reorder.

Note - clauses must be within a 250 character limit, so we suggest using succinct text rather than getting into specifics. If you're unsure of how best to summarise your clause, please feel free to contact us for advice.

Amending an existing clause

If you'd like to amend an existing clause, click on the clause you'd like to update, make your changes as above, and click Update Item.

Remove clauses

There are two ways to remove a clause.

If you'd like to stop it from being shown to users, but keep it in the list (in case you need to switch it back on later - this is our recommended way of removing clauses), you can mark the clause as passive.

Click Update Item.

It will show as passive in the list:

Or, if you'd like it removed completely you can click the X button next to the clause's status.

When all clauses have been amended, click Save Changes.

Secondary Dates

If there are dates specified on the proforma these can be added to the contract. Remember to have selected 'YES' on the contract overview. If you are setting up a TSC contract, set to Yes as this is required for updating task order dates.

If there Under settings on the left hand panel chose Other Dates to add them.

Select the + button.

Add the name and the type and the date.

Secondary Dates can be amended/deleted after they're added, but only if they haven't been referenced in any communications. The Edit and Delete icons will be visible

Add Contract Users

Once you're happy with your contract setup, you can now add the users at contract level so they can perform their role on the contract. Please see here for instructions on how to add users to a contract.

Again refer to Understanding roles and permissions in FastDraft for the available roles.

Articles in this section

Introduction