Contracts on transactions
Zudello automatically tracks certain transactions against relevant contracts while they are being processed. This guide covers what that looks like on an invoice, a requisition, or an order, and what happens when transactions deviate from the agreed pricing or exceed thresholds.
On transaction lines
When contracts are in use, two read-only columns are added to the transaction line grid.
- Contract Pricing
- Shows the pricing as one of Within contract, On contract, Over contract, or N/A.
- New or edited lines show Save changes, because the comparison is only refreshed when the transaciton is saved.
- Contract Thresholds
- Shows Under threshold, On threshold, Over threshold or N/A.
Where a line is covered by more than one contract, the cell shows the most serious status of the set.
Click a status to open Contract Impact Details, which lists each contract affecting that line with its date range, its status and the contracted price. Where nothing applies, it reads No contracts affect this line.
In the Contract tab
The Contract tab on the right of the document shows matching contract information for the transaction. It consists of two sections:
Thresholds
The Thresholds section groups the thresholds this transaction matches.
Each card shows the threshold description with an Amount or Quantity badge, the contract's date range, the contract owners, and the Threshold, Allocated and Remaining figures. Remaining turns red once the cap has been passed.
The bar breaks spend into its five categories, with a This transaction row showing what this document alone contributes to the threshold.
Pricing
Pricing lists each line with its contracted price and status, or shows the same information as a grid with one row per contract.
Where your administrator has turned on Only show contract information to contract owners, threshold figures are only shown to contract owners, threshold owners and Zudello staff. Pricing information is not restricted by that setting.
When a document breaches a contract
When a transaction breaches contract pricing or exceeds a threshold, a banner appears at the top of the document reading Contract exceptions detected. A red dot also appears on the Contract tab icon.
Expanding the banner lists each affected contract and what is wrong with it, e.g. "Acme Supply Agreement - Over contract threshold".
Which statuses count as exceptions, and how each exception is treated, is configurable. Out of the box, spend over or under a threshold and a price over contract each raise a warning. However, check with your organisation administrator to find out exactly how exceptions are configured in your team.
Where a contract exception is configured as a blocking error, the document cannot be submitted or progressed until it is resolved.
Providing a reason for exceptions
When you click Save and submit on a document with an unresolved exception, the Contract exceptions modal opens. It lists the contracts that have been violated, along with each threshold description and/or each pricing violation.
To add a reason for exceptions:
- Select a Reason from the drop-down.
- Enter Comments if required.
- Click Submit for approval.
The reason is recorded against the document. The banner shows the reason and who submitted it. Approval emails for the exception include the same information, along with a Threshold Impact table showing each threshold, its status, the amount, what is allocated and what remains.
Sending contract breaches for aowner approval
Contract excpetions are designed to catch breaches and get them reviewed by whoever owns the agreement. Approval flows can add a step that sends the document to a contract's owners when a contract is identified as On contract, Under contract, or Over contract.
When configured, one approval step is created per breached contract, with its owners as the approvers. See Approval management and Configure approval milestones and steps for how to build these.
Automations can also test contract impact in their conditions, targeting specific contracts, contract groups or contract categories. This allows you to send breaches of a strategic supplier agreement somewhere different to everything else.
Need help?
Contact your organisation administrator or Zudello support for assistance with contract impacts on your documents.