To load contracts into your Contract repository, start by clicking on the '+ Create Contract' button in the top right.
You can then choose to link your contract to a procurement already complete within your Cotiss account or store it as an independent contract.
You will also be able to assign what type of agreement your contract is - Purchase Agreement, Sales Agreement, Both Sales and Purchase agreement or Other.
From there you will be taken through the 'Contract creation wizard' where you will navigate through different stages to build out the contract shell, upload the contract (if applicable) and link documents associated to this contract.
Stage 1 | Contract:
To start you will be asked; Is a contract document required?
If yes is chosen, you can upload your Contract documentation in whatever state it needs to be in whether that be 'pre signed' or 'post signed' and you can proceed to upload the contract document as well as any supporting documents in the tables available.
If no is chosen, this will allow you to continue through to the next stage of the wizard without having to upload any documents in relation to that contract shell.
This could be the case if you do not wish to house your actual contract documents in Cotiss or if your contract has not yet been written up and you want to just draft the contract shell for now to upload the documents to it later.
If you have Cotiss AI turned on within your account, you can also toggle on AI powered form filling.
This requires you to upload your Contract and Supporting documentation in order for Cotiss AI to be able to scan through the documentation and autofill responses to the rest of the wizard for you, where possible.
Note: If you do not have Cotiss AI enabled in your account - AI powered form filling will not show as an option.
Stage 2 |Terms & Metadata:
Key Terms & Metadata
To ensure information about the contract displays on the overarching contract repository table and can be extracted for reporting and searching, Cotiss has some pre set key terms & metadata that should be stored against your contract. These are as follows;
Short description: Brief summary of purpose and scope of the contract
Counterparties: Select which contacts you want to have noted as the party you have this agreement with. If the contact does not exist, they can be added to your Contact list.
Contracting Entity: Select which contacts you want to have noted as the party contracting out. If the contact does not exist, it can be added to your Contact list.
Categories and Regions: Select the UNSPSC category and regions for goods or services covered
Currency: There are several currencies that can be stored against your contract including; NZD, AUD, USD, GBP, EUR
Contract ID: Each contract you create is generated with a globally unique ID.
Internal Reference: The internal reference field is used to store any generic ID that can be used to identity contracts. This field is typically used for integrations or to reference external systems where relevant information is held.
Contract Associations
To the right of the Terms & Metadata page, you will see other Contracts in your repository can be related to one another via either a Parent, Child or Sibling relationship. For example, if you had an MSA and multiple SOWs, they could be linked via a Parent → Child association.
Associate contracts by;
Clicking on the 'Link Associated Contract' button to the right
Search and select from the Contract shells available
Click 'Continue'
Select the hierarchy for this contract association
Click 'Save'
Contract Owner
Moving down the Terms & Metadata page, you'll see each contract can be assigned additional contract owners by clicking on the '+ Add owner' Button (the user creating the contract shell will be an owner by default).
Contract owners will receive notifications for key events, such as a variation and they will be able to edit and adjust the contract shell as required.
Tip: It can be good to always add a second contract owner so that when you are on leave or unavailable, someone else can manage the contracts in your repository
To be assigned as a contract owner the user must be assigned the contract manager role (see User roles and permission).
Custom Fields
Custom Contract fields will appear at the bottom section of your Terms & Metadata and enable you to input any additional information the business wishes to add or capture in the repository. Your custom fields are created and managed in your Contract Module settings.
If you have Cotiss AI active and toggled the AI powered form filling option on when you were in the Contract stage of the wizard then here, some or perhaps all of your custom fields will be pre filled by Cotiss AI.
You will see to the right of each field, a confidence rating in as well, which you can drill into further to understand the Logic and Evidence behind the answer Cotiss AI identified.
This Cotiss AI feature identifies and auto populates the fields in your Contract shell by scanning through the uploaded documentation (main contract and supported documents) and providing the most accurate response to that attribute
Logic - summarises the thinking of the AI and how it arrived at the answer it provided to which you can provide feedback on whether the AI's response was accurate or not.
Evidence - provides you direct visibility of the page and section within the documentation where Cotiss AI found its answer.
Click on the evidence tile you wish to drill into and observe the highlighted section of the page containing the answer Cotiss AI has identified.
Stage 3 | Schedule of Rates:
At this stage of the Contract wizard you can Include a detailed rate card structure with specific prices by unit as per your Rate Sheet.
To add your schedule of rates, you must first click 'Yes' the the question; Does this contract require a schedule of rates? Upon clicking yes, a table will be unlocked for you to begin entering the individual items as required:
Click '+ Add Row' to add agreed rates charged for various goods or services by the counterparty
Input the following details:
Item Name
Tag - This is an optional field for categorisation if required
Unit Price (numerical input)
Unit of measurement ( Hours, Weeks, Meters squared, Etc.)
A description of the Item - This is an optional field for additional detail if required
Click 'Save'
Repeat for each Item
Stage 4 | Contract Overview:
Within this stage of your Contract creation wizard you can identify which contract type is applicable. Each contract type slightly affects the makeup of the contract overview. There are two types of Contracts:
Duration Contract Type
This contract type is based on an initial term duration and renewal periods for the work/service.
To add your periods of your Contract;
Click '+Add renewal period'
Input the Start and End date (TIP - if you skip end date and input the length first, the system will calculate your end date for you!)
Input the Length (this should auto populate based on your end date input)
Add the Value of that renewal period
If desired - Add a description of that renewal period
Click 'Save' and continue adding as many renewal periods as required for your contract.
Milestones Contract Type
This contract type is based on a specific set of milestones that will be achieved throughout the work/service.
To add the Milestones of your Contract;
Click '+Add renewal period'
Input the Length
Add the Value of that milestone
If desired - Add a description of that milestone
Click 'Save' and continue adding as many milestone as required for your contract.
If you set up your contract shell with the Duration type and then decide to switch it to Milestone type, you will receive a warning that the duration periods you built out will be lost and vice-versa, for switching from Milestone type to Duration Type.
Once the contract shell is created and approved, Contract type cannot be edited.
Stage 5 | Exercise Period:
After you have set your Duration or Milestone periods, you can exercise the duration period or milestone you have already complete and/or the one you are currently in by selecting the check box to the items left and clicking 'Continue'. This will push your selected duration periods or milestones through the approval flow at the end of the Contract shell creation wizard.
Stage 7 | Signers
This stage of the contract creation wizard is for you to set up how the contract will be signed.
Choose signing method:
This contract has already been signed
This is the option you would choose if the document you uploaded at the start of the creation wizard already contains signatures and it doesn't need to be signed through Cotiss
This contract will be signed externally and uploaded
This is the option you would choose if the document you uploaded at the start of the creation wizard is unsigned and still requires approval before Signatories sign the document and send it back to be manually uploaded in Cotiss later.
This contract will be signed using e-signature
This is the option you would choose if you wish to send your contract document through our DocuSign integration and have it signed in system.
The E-Signature option will only show for Customer's with access to our DocuSign Integration. Reach out to your Account Manager if you are interested in this feature
Stage 8 | Approvers:
Each contract creation or variation has an approval process you can push the Contract through. In order to have approval sequences available for this stage, you can set pre - define and configured approval sequences in your approval sequence settings.
Approval Sequences can only be built by users with Admin Access
Once your sequences are built out, they can then be selected configured specifically to the contract within the contract creation or variation wizard.
Here you will be able to;
Add a comment for the approver for when they receive the approval task request
Select the desired sequence
Select or adjust the specific users from each department required to approve this contract within the sequence.
Stage 8 | Summary:
The Summary page is the final stage of your Contract Creation or Variation Wizard. This is a gate for you to double check your work and all of the details you have logged against within the contracts shell before it goes out for approval or signature.
Once you are happy with everything, click 'Confirm and Send', triple check the approval pop up and click 'Confirm' to push it our for approval and/or signature.
