How to Configure Contract Templates

This article explains the following:-

• Selecting the Contract Template to edit
• General settings on Contract Templates 
• Workflow settings on Contract Templates 
• How to re-order the Workflow Groups
• How to hide the visibility of the Workflow Groups
• Renaming Workflow Groups
• How to Edit an individual Workflows (and not the Workflow Group)
  • Configuring Workflow Rules
  • Configuring Workflow Placeholders

Related articles:-

• Understanding Workflow and Templates

• Managing Master Contract Templates

Selecting the Contract Template to edit

To configure a new or existing Contract Template there is no longer an option to create a template from scratch.  Select a Master Template that is similar to what you want to create and click on the three dots on the right of the screen  and select Clone contract. 

 

You will then be presented with the cloned template to rename and make the required updates.

 

General settings on Contract Templates 

From the general tab on the contract template you can change the following settings:-

• Master Contract Name - This is used for display purposes in the Master Template List and is only available on Master Contract Templates, not individual contracts. When editing an individual contract, the template name is locked and not displayed. 
• Availability -
  • System Default = 'Y' This is a default built intelligence Master Template. (There is no impact, however, if you set your template to = 'Y')
  • Is Globally Available = 'Y'  This Master template will appear in the dropdown to select on the Contract Overview if you are creating a contract  else it's not available if set to N. 

• 

Workflow settings on Contract Templates 

From the Workflows tab on the contract template you can change the following settings:-

• Order of the Workflow Groups
• Visibility of Workflow Groups
• Name of Workflow Groups
• Edit Workflows ( workflow name, users permissions, email notifications, etc)
• Edit Placeholders (menu dropdowns, clause notifications types, etc)

How to re-order the Workflow Groups

You may wish to reorder the Workflow Group if you wish more common Workflows to sit at the top of the main navigation for end users e.g. move Compensation Event workflow to the top of the menu items above Early Warnings. To re-order the Workflow Groups, select the Workflow tab in the contract template, select the ordering icon and drag the workflow item into the order you wish.

Once you have done this click the Update action button. The Compensation Event Workflow in this example will now display above Early Warnings.

How to hide the visibility of the Workflow Groups

You may wish to hide (or reinstate) a Workflow Group if you don't want users to use this workflow. For example, a certain client might wish to use a third party system to manage payment, so the payment workflow can be hidden. To hide the Workflow Groups, select the Workflow tab in the contract template, select the delete icon next to the workflow item you wish to delete.

This will hide the Workflow in the main navigation on any new contracts created with the template or on an existing contract when done at a contract level. Updating a Master Template does not affect historic contracts configured with the Master Template, these must be done individually. In the example below we have hidden the Compensation Event workflow. Once you have hidden the workflow you wish to hide, click the Update action button.

If you need to reinstate a workflow or add another workflow into a contract which is hidden by default, click the arrow below the Workflow Groups title entitled "Select..." and you will see all of the Workflows which have been hidden. Select the workflow you wish to reinstate and click the Update action button. It will be added to the bottom of the list and you can reorder the items as you wish and click Update.

Renaming Workflow Groups

You may wish to rename a Workflow Group to align to amendments made to a standard form of contract, to suit bespoke contract terms or to align to organisational processes. For example your employee might associate Compensation Events with Change Control so the Group could be renamed Change Control. This same functionality also allows our contract templates to be adapted to suit bespoke terms and conditions or new version of standard forms. Select the Workflow you wish to rename and the current Group title will display the existing name and group path, under the Main sub-tab. Rename the Workflow group to the desired name and click the "Update Workflow Group" and "Update" action button for the whole template. If both buttons are not clicked the changes will not be saved.

This will rename the Workflow in the main navigation on any new contracts created with the template or on an existing contract when done at a contract level. Updating a Master Templates does not affect historic contracts configured with the Master Template, these must be done individually. Workflow groups can be renamed again at a later date by repeating the steps above.

How to Edit an individual Workflow (and not the Workflow Group)

You may wish to re-configure a Workflow to align to amendments made to a standard form of contract, to suit bespoke contract terms or to align to organisational processes. For example, most standard construction contracts are amended and this functionality helps support this.

The configuration of an individual workflow can be done in two parts.

1. Rules - Using the same example as above, if we wish to update the Compensation Event workflow rules, we would select the Contract template > Workflow Group (Compensation Events) > Individual Workflow (PM Compensation Events under Workflows) and the pop up will present the workflow rule editor. This is done from the Workflows sub-tab.
2. Placeholders - Using the same example as above, if we wish to update the Compensation Event workflow placeholders, we would select the Contract template > Workflow Group (Compensation Events) > Individual Workflow (PM Compensation Events) and then select the Placeholders tab. This is done from the Placeholders sub-tab.

Configuring Workflow Rules

The Workflow editor allows you to change:-

• Workflow name (insert explanation of what its used for)
• Path
• Menu Title name
• Notification Name
• Abbreviation
• Enable/disable Email Notify
• Configure which users can Create a Draft notices
• Configure which users can View Draft notices
• Configure which users can Communicate a notice
• Configure which users can Reply to a notice from the other party
• Configure which users can Draft a Reply notice from the other party
• Configure which users are Notified by Email about the notice

The Workflows tab and Workflow editors also allow you to change the names of Register with the Workflow Group. The Registers are displayed in the Workflows tab along with the Workflows. 

The Workflow editor provides a powerful logic builder for custom roles and permissions. By default, contract templates are configured to align to standard roles within common forms of contracts, but the workflow editors allows both contract specific roles to be assigned (e.g. NEC Project Manager) and also organisational roles (Support team).

This means that the Project Manager can delegate an entire workflow or just a task partially. They might, for example, want the support team to be able to Create, View and Communicate Early Warnings but only be able to Draft and View Compensation Events.

The Workflow editor also allows the contract parties to work more collaboratively together giving visibility to the other parties drafting notices and also to blur the boundary between parties like under alliancing type contracts where parties can initiate workflows for the other side. 

When you are happy with the changes, click the "Update Workflow" button on the pop up, then "Update Workflow Group" button and then finally  the "Update" button on the contract template. All three action buttons must be clicked to save the changes.

Like with the Workflow groups, the order and names of Workflows can be changed as outlined earlier in this article. This will display the workflow with the Workflow Group in your chosen order in the main navigation.

If changes need to be made to several contracts, it is recommended that this is done through an APi call in bulk. This can be done by our support or IT teams (charges may apply). 

Warning - Changes made to contract templates via the Workflow Editor on LIVE individual contracts affect the new and historical notices already started using the templates and are applied immediately. It is therefore recommended that the impact is fully assessed before any changes are made. 

Configuring Workflow Placeholders

The Placeholder editor allows you to change:-

• Resources
• Action Reminders
• Clauses
• Reply Options
• Status Options

Like with the Workflow groups, the order and names of placeholders can be changed as outlined earlier in this article. This will display the placeholders on the page in your chosen order.  

The number of placeholder variables varies from workflow to workflow, so for example there are more placeholder variables with the Compensation Event workflow because it has a 4 steps sequence to this workflow. The Early Warning workflow in contrast is simpler so has less placeholder variables that can be configured.

To edit a placeholder resource click on the resource name, whilst on the placeholder tab. Once you have selected the placeholder you wish to edit a pop up "Placeholder editor" will appear.

The placeholder editor will show the variables on the resources. In the example above we are editing the "Instruction to Proceed" Options. Like with the Workflow groups the order and names of Placeholder resource variable (in this case clause references) can be changed as outlined earlier in this article. This will change the way the clause references are display, ordered and named in the dropdown menu items.

Select a variable to rename it or deactivate it. When selected it is highlighted as illustrated below and the display text is shown. 

Once you have changed this text the way you wish, click the "Update item" action button, and then either edit another item or click the "Update Placeholder". You will also still need to save the Workflow Group and Contract Template for the changes to be saved and updated.

This is the functionality that is used to change, for example compensation event clauses available on a specific contract, either because of Z clauses or main and secondary option choices set out in the Contract Data.

Warning - Changes made to contract templates via the Workflow Editor on live individual contracts affect the new and historic notices using the templates and are applied immediately. It is therefore recommended that the impact is fully assessed before any changes made. Hence the warning banner "Please note that, all notifications (including communicated in the past) representation on the system will be affected from the changes made here." A workaround to this is to add new items to placeholders and deactivate old or erroneous items, rather than renaming existing one which will overwrite existing notices.