Contracts Activity Center

Use this activity center to log, track, and review contracts for the current project electronically.

Project Center administrators can set which tasks appear here using the Remove Contract Management Item Tasks dialog box.

Contracts

● New Contract > Create Contract

Click to open the Create Contract dialog box to create a new contract.

● New Contract > Log Received Contract

Click to open the Log a Received Contract dialog box to log a contract that you have received.

● Create Report

Click to open the Create Report dialog box to select the type of contract report to create. This report contains the contents of this log.

You can customize which columns appear in reports simply by selecting which columns to show and hide in the activity center. Simply right-click on column headers to add or remove columns. A checkmark indicates the column will appear in the activity center and the report.

● Import Spreadsheet

Click to open the Select Spreadsheet dialog box to select a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet containing contract data that you can import. The imported contracts are placed in the appropriate contract log based on the type imported.

Selected Contract

The following list shows all available tasks for all contract categories, in alphabetical order. The tasks that appear depend on which category you select from.

● Add Similar Contract

Click to open the Create Contract dialog box to create a new contract based on the one selected. The new one contains most of the information from the original, except for unique identifiers such as the ID. The new one is also automatically related to the original. Supporting documents from the original are included.

● Close > Close

Click to open the Close Contract dialog box to close the contract without providing a response.

● Close > Respond and Close

Click to open the Respond to Contract and Close dialog box to file your response to the sender of the contract and close it. If the contract has files associated with it, the Select Files to Send dialog box will open first.

● Close > Send and Close

Click to open the Send and Close Contract dialog box to send the contract to team members and close it. If the contract has files associated with it, the Select Files to Send dialog box will open first.

● Delete

Click to delete the selected contract from Project Center.

You must be a Project Center administrator and have a contract management role to delete contracts.

● Forward

Click to open the Forward Contract dialog box to forward the contract to any contacts who are responsible for reviewing it and to create a transmittal. If the contract has received files or supporting documents associated with it, the Select Files to Forward for Review dialog box will open first so you can select the files to forward.

● Link the Executed Contract File

Click to open the Select File to Link to a Contract File dialog box to link the scanned file of the executed contract.

● Modify

Click to open the Modify a Contract dialog box to edit the settings for the selected contract, including estimated amount and time, and the description.

● Open Contract File

Click to open the actual signed contract file that was linked to in the Executed Contract field of the Create/Modify Contract dialog box.

● Receive

Click to open the Receive Contract dialog box to log the receipt of an expected contract.

● Record Reviewer Response

Click to open the Record Reviewer Response for Contract dialog box to record the contract reviewer's response.

● Reopen

Click to open the Reopen Contract dialog box to reopen a closed contract.

● Review Related Action Items

This task is available only when you select an item that has related action items.

Click to open the Related Action Items activity center to view action items related to the selected item.

● Review Related Markup Sessions

This task is available only when you select an item that has related markup sessions.

Click to open the Related Markup Sessions activity center to view information about and preview the related markup sessions.

● Send

Click to open the Send Contract dialog box to send the contract to other project team members.

● Send Email About Contract to All Participants

Click to open an email message in Microsoft Outlook to send to all contract participants, including the sender, recipients, and reviewers as a reminder or with additional information. The email message includes information about the contract.

● View Form

Click to open the Contract form to print or send the actual contract document.

Selected Action

Access the actions by clicking the expand icon in the first column next to each contract.

The file tasks apply to files in the Supporting Documents tab. See File Tasks panel for more information.

These tasks apply to emails in the Email Log tab. See Email Tasks panel for more information.

These tasks apply to items in the Related Items tab. See Related Item Tasks panel for more information.

Contracts

This activity center is composed of the following main sections: a categories list, the contracts log, and the tabs in the lower section.

Category drop-down list

The category drop-down list contains filters to display the contracts in particular categories. For example, if you want to view forwarded contracts, select Forwarded from the list. Only contracts that have been forwarded will appear in the log. Each category is explained below.

Click to toggle between showing contracts for all users or only contracts you are involved with.

All

Click to display all contracts that have been entered for this project.

Pending Incoming

Click to display all contracts sent via Info Exchange that need to be received. When a contract or contract response is logged by a project team member on Info Exchange, it will show up in this category.

Draft

Click to display all contracts that are in draft form and have not been sent.

Under Review

Click to display contracts that have been received, but responses have not been sent to the contract senders.

When a non-expected contract is first filed, it is placed in the Under Review category.

Awaiting Action

Click to display contracts that have been received, but they:

● Have not been forwarded for review, or

● Have been forwarded for review, but a response has not been received, or

● Have been forwarded for review and all responses have been received, but there has been no response sent to the contract sender.

Forwarded

Click to display contracts that have been forwarded with a due date for another contact to review that have not been received back yet.

Response Overdue

Click to display contracts that have been forwarded but the responses back from the reviewers are overdue.

Expected

Click to display all contracts filed as expected.

Late

Click to display expected contracts that are late.

All Closed

Click to display contracts that have had a response sent to the contract sender and there is no further action required.

Filter All Columns

You can filter by any text that appears in any of the columns in the log. For example, if you know the subject (or part of the subject) of the contract that you are searching for (or the ID, status, discipline, etc.), enter at least part of the text in this field. The contracts list updates automatically as you type. For example, if the contract you are searching for has the number 30 somewhere in one of the columns, enter 30 in this field. The list will be narrowed down to only contracts that have the number 30 somewhere in one of the columns.

Click to clear all filters.

Click to toggle between showing and hiding the column filter fields.

> >

Click to group by the any of the columns. For example, if you want to group the list of items by subject, select Subject from the drop-down list. The items will be grouped into separate sections alphabetically by subject. See Column Sorting, Filtering, and Grouping for more information.

Contracts log

The log displays the contracts for the category selected above. Click a contract for a list of tasks you can perform, which appear in the Tasks panel. Double-click a contract to open the Modify a Contract dialog box to view the contract's information and settings.

You can drag and drop or copy and paste email messages from Microsoft Outlook and files from Windows Explorer into the Contracts log to create a new contract. This also prevents Microsoft Outlook from opening multiple instances of Project Center.

Columns

Column headers are different for each category. The following list includes all column headers for all contract categories. Some categories may not include all headers, and they may not be in the order listed here. If you move and resize columns, they are saved in that position for each category. Column settings are reflected in contract reports. Right-click on any column header to list and de-list columns. Click the icons for more filtering options.

Subject

The subject of the contract.

ID

The ID number of the contract.

Client Contract Number

The number for the contract given by the client for tracking (only needed if it is different than your contract number).

Status

The status of the contract (Open, Closed, Draft, etc.).

Last Action

The last completed workflow action for the contract. It displays the action and the purpose or type for that item. For example, if a contract was received and For Signature was selected for the Action/Purpose field, the Last Action column would display Received – For Signature. If you were looking at an entry in the Under Review category that had a Last Action of Received – For Signature, that indicates that the item needs to be closed using the Close task. For items in the Closed category, the Last Action would indicate Closed – Executed.

Type

The contract's type.

To Contact

The contact the contract is going to.

To Company

The company the contract is going to.

From Contact

The contact the contract came from.

From Company

The company the contract came from.

Key Contact

The main person to contact regarding the contract.

Original Commitment

The original committed dollar amount of the contract, either + or -.

Current Commitment

This value is the sum of the original commitment plus all closed change orders.

Current Forecast

This value is the sum of the current commitment plus all pending change order and potential change order items.

Due Date

The date the contract is due back to the initiator of the contract.

Contract Date

The date the contract was issued to the subcontractor.

Date Executed

The date the contract is signed off on and agreed to.

Original Start Date

The original start date of the contract.

Original End Date

The date the contract was supposed to end.

Current Completion

The revised completion date based on approved change orders.

Terms

The terms of the contract: Lump Sum or Contract Sum.

Discipline

Any disciplines applied to the contract.

Related Items

If the contract has any related items, the icons appear here.

Related Project Items

This column is a text version of the icons in the Related Items column. The text will appear in reports.

Keywords

Any keywords applied to the contract.

From

The contact the contract came from.

Received

The date the contract was received by the contact the contract was sent to.

Forwarded to

The contacts the contract was forwarded to.

Last Forwarded

The date the contract was last forwarded to a reviewer.

Last Reviewed

The date the most recent reviewer returned the contract (the most recent review response date).

Review Days

The total number of days the contract has been in the review cycle for all reviewers.

Due Back From

Any contacts a response to the contract is due back from.

Current Reviewer

The contact who is currently reviewing the contract in a sequential workflow.

Total Days

The number of days to process the contract. The count starts from the start date, which is either when the item was created or the received date, and ends either now or when it was closed if a closed date was entered. If it is re-opened, it displays the count from when the contract was created. It is based on calendar days (not business days) and does not consider holidays in its calculations.

Expected Date

The date the contract is expected (for Expected contracts only).

Supporting Documents

Any files attached to the contract.

Internal Notes

Any personal notes added to the contract.

Closed Date

The date the contract was closed.

Actions

The actions drop-down displays a history of the actions taken on the selected contract, including when it was received, forwarded, reviewed, etc. Every action represents a communication between a sender and recipients and is linked to a transmittal, which you can print out. You can undo individual actions to revert the contract to its prior state. Selecting an action displays tasks you can perform on it, including displaying its transmittal form, modifying the action, or sending an email about the action. Double-click an action to open the Transmittal form to view the transmittal form for the contract action. An example of the action history is shown here:

Type

The type of action performed. Each type can have multiple actions, which you can add.

Action

The action taken.

Date

The date of the action.

From

Who performed the action.

To

The recipient of the action taken.

Due Date

The due date is either the contract due date or the forward for review due date – depending on the action taken.

Remarks

Any remarks entered about the action taken.

Via

How the action was sent.

To delete a transmittal that is associated with a contract action, select the contract, then delete the corresponding action.

Actions are listed in red if the contract is overdue or if a review response is overdue.

Files related to the action

The Files Sent tab contains any electronic files that were included with the selected contract action. Select a file to display file tasks you can perform, including opening, comparing, sending, and publishing the file.

Refer to the Create Contract dialog box for a description of these tabs. The tabs that are not available in that dialog box or have additional features are explained here:

Summary tab

This tab (which is read-only) displays a summary of the contract's values in a pie chart, a summary of the commitment values, and all of the changes made to the contract.

Original Commitment

This value is the sum of all line items from the Schedule of Values tab.

Executed

This value is the sum of all change order totals linked to this contract with a status of Closed.

Current Commitment

This value is the sum of the original commitment plus all closed change orders.

Pending

This value is the sum of all change order totals linked to this contract where the status = Open.

Potential Change Orders

Approved

This value is the sum of all potential change order line items linked to this contract that have an approved amount but no change order has been issued.

Proposed

This value is the sum of all potential change order line items linked to this contract that have a proposed value, but no approved amount or change order has been issued.

Estimated

This value is the sum of all potential change order line items linked to this contract that have an estimated value, but no proposed or final values, and no change order has been issued.

Current Forecast

This value is the sum of the current commitment plus all pending change order and potential change order items.

Preview tab

This tab displays a preview of the file selected in the contract's Executed Contract field.

Related Items tab

This tab lists all related Project Center items for the selected contract.

Create Related > Action Item

Click to open the Identify an Action Item dialog box to create a new action item and link it to the current contract.

Create Related > Transfer > Via Info Exchange

Click to open the Transfer Files to a Newforma Info Exchange Server dialog box to transfer project files via your Newforma Info Exchange Server and link the transfer to the current contract.

Create Related > Transfer > Via Email

Click to open the Send Files to Email Recipients dialog box to send project files via email. Nothing is logged in this tab.

Create Related > Transmittal > Via Info Exchange

Click to open the Transfer Files and Create an Outgoing Transmittal dialog box to transfer project files via your Newforma Info Exchange Server, create a new outgoing transmittal for the file transfer, and link the transfer to the current contract.

Create Related > Transmittal > Via Email

Click to open the Send Files and Create an Outgoing Transmittal dialog box to send project files via email, file an outgoing transmittal for a file transfer, and link the transfer to the current contract.

Create Related > Contract Management > Contract Management Item

Click to open the Create Contract Management Item dialog box for the type of contract management item you selected to create a new CM item and link it to the current change order.

Create Related > Web Link

Click to open the Create Web Link dialog box to enter a web link and automatically relate it to the selected Project Center item. After it is created, the Relation Type column will indicate Web Link, and users can double-click on it to open the website.

Relate to >

Click to select an existing project item and establish a relationship between it and the currently selected contract. This gives you the ability to link two items that are related together. (For example, a markup session that is related to a contract). Select Another Project Item to open the Select Project Item dialog box to locate an item that is not in the list. When you create a relationship between two items, each item's icon is added to the other item's Related Items column and tab.

Share with External

Click and select Yes to allow the selected web link to be shared with external project team members through Info Exchange.

Remove

Click to unlink and remove the selected project item from the Related Items tab.

Removing a related item from the Related Items tab does not remove it from the database.

The Relation Type column has two icons to indicate the relationship type:

● The icon indicates that the relationship was created by a user and can be deleted (such as an action item related to a contract).

● The icon indicates that the relationship was created by Project Center and cannot be deleted (such as a transmittal or record copy related to a contract).

To access this activity center

Click Contracts from the Activities list or from the Project Home activity center.

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