Creating a contract

You can bring an agreement into Zudello by uploading the signed document, or by creating a blank record and typing the detail in. Uploading is the usual route, because Zudello reads the document and fills in most of the record for you.

Best practices

To create accurate, reliable contract records:

• Upload the version you want to keep as the record of the agreement, not a working draft
• Check the extracted dates against the document before you save, since reminders depend on them
• Enter the Renewal Date by hand, as it is not read from the document
• Give every contract an owner, because owners approve breaches and receive reminder emails

Uploading a contract

1. Go to the Contracts module and open the Contracts submodule.
2. Click Create contract.
3. Choose Upload, then drag your file onto the panel or click Click here to upload. You can also drag a file straight onto the contracts list without opening the modal.
4. Wait for the scan to finish. Zudello reads the document and creates the contract record.

(Screenshot: the Create contract modal showing the Upload and Create options)

To type a contract in yourself instead, choose Create and complete the form. You can attach the document afterwards.

Supported files

Contracts accepts the following file types:

• PDF
• JPEG
• PNG
• HEIC
• HEIF
• DOC/DOCX
• XLS/XLSX
• CSV
• TXT
• ZIP
  • ZIP files are unpacked and each document inside them is processed as a separate file.

For security and added peace of mind, Zudello scans every file for viruses before storing it within your team. If you upload an identical copy of a file already held against a contract, Zudello blocks it and tells you which record already has it.

Note

You can't convert contracts to another document type, or convert other documents into contracts. If you upload an agreement to the wrong module, upload it again to Contracts.

What the standard setup reads

Zudello ships with a standard set of instructions for reading contracts. They are the starting point rather than the limit, and they are the same for every team until you change them.

As standard, Zudello looks for:

• Name
• Effective Date
  • The date the agreement comes into force, taken from a commencement date or the start of a stated term rather than the date printed at the top
• Execution Date
  • Taken from the signature block. Where the parties signed on different days, the last signature wins
• Expiry Date
  • Only where the agreement states one. A term of three years isn't turned into an end date unless the document prints that date
• Other party's details
  • The registered name, tax number, and any contact and bank details set out in the notices or signature blocks. Zudello uses these to find the matching supplier or customer
• Issuer's reference
  • The issuer's own reference for the agreement, such as a quote or agreement number
• Priced line items
  • These become contract pricing rows with a stock code and a price
• Line detail
  • The line detail printed on the agreement becomes the contract lines

Where the agreement genuinely doesn't state something, Zudello leaves it empty rather than guessing.

You'll need to fill in two fields yourself:

• Renewal Date
  • Enter it if you want renewal reminders.
• Contract Value
  • Where you've set up thresholds, Zudello adds their totals together to give the contract value, then converts it to your team's currency using the exchange rate on the Execution Date.

Reading more than the standard set

The standard setup covers what most agreements have in common. It will not, on its own, pick up the terms that matter to your business, and those are usually the reason you wanted the contract in Zudello in the first place.

Zudello can extract anything stated in your agreements. Teams commonly add things like:

• An evergreen or auto-renewal flag, so you can report on contracts with no end date
• A notice period, or the deadline for giving notice
• Commercial terms specific to a sector, such as an agreed ratio, a rate card reference, or a number of seats
• A rebate or discount tier
• Whichever obligations your team has to track

Each one is a prompt in Document Studio, describing in plain English what to look for, paired with a custom field on the contract so the value has somewhere to live. Both are configuration rather than development, so you can change them as your agreements change.

You can also adjust the standard instructions themselves. If your agreements word something unusually, or you want the effective date taken from a different clause, you can edit the existing instruction rather than working around it.

See Setting up contracts for how to do this, or talk to your Zudello contact about having it configured for your agreements.

Note

Zudello doesn't read long agreements in full. Above 100 pages, Zudello reads the first three pages and the last page. Check anything extracted from a long contract against the document.

Linking the contract to a supplier or customer

Zudello matches the other party to a record in your CRM module, working through the tax number, bank account number, contact email, the address the document was emailed from, the phone number, then the legal or trading name and any alternative names you have recorded.

Your administrator sets whether a contract matches a supplier or a customer on the contract document type. Zudello uses supplier when nothing is configured. See Setting up contracts.

Matching does more than fill in a name:

• The contract inherits the Currency and Employee from the matched record where those fields are empty
• Pricing rows inherit the tax rate and currency from the supplier or customer, and from the matched catalogue item
• Zudello links a bank account automatically where the details on the contract match one already recorded

Zudello only creates pricing rows once a supplier or customer is linked. If Zudello can't match the party, link it by hand and save — Zudello will then create the pricing rows.

Checking and completing the record

1. Open the contract. The form is on the left and the original document on the right.
2. Check Effective Date, Execution Date and Expiry Date against the document.
3. Enter the Renewal Date if the agreement renews.
4. Set the Contract Category and Contract Group if your team uses them.
5. Add the Owners. Owners receive reminder emails and approve documents that breach the contract.
6. Add Contract Pricing or Contract Thresholds rows if the agreement sets prices or spend commitments. See Contract pricing and Contract thresholds.
7. Click Save.

Saving a contract also re-links its thresholds to your transactions, so the spend figures on the contract refresh each time you save.

(Screenshot: a contract open with the document alongside the form)

Sending a contract for approval

Where your team has configured an approval flow for contracts, click Save and submit. The contract moves into approval and appears under the Requests submodule until it is actioned.

You build approval routing for contracts with automations, in the same way as the rest of the platform. See Approval management.

When a contract becomes live

Zudello only uses a contract for price and spend checking once all of the following are true:

• Its status type is Active
• It has both an Effective Date and an Expiry Date
• The document being checked is dated inside that window

A contract sitting in Draft or Approval is stored, searchable, and reminding you about its dates, but it isn't yet checking your invoices.

Need help?

Contact your organisation administrator or Zudello support for assistance with creating contracts.