Contract Management Continued

CONTRACT MANAGEMENT tracks contracts, purchase orders, and associated dates and expenditures. The system maintains a record of:

  • Each contract including expiration date, contract amount, and vendor number.
  • Calendar dates, action items, and approval steps.
  • Each individual authorization, or purchase order including expiration date, authorized amount, case or file number, paid to date, balance, and a history of payment amounts and dates.
  • System generated letters and memos associated with each contract or purchase order.
  • Preparation and approval steps including calendar reminders and completion information for each step.
  • Required insurance certificates.
  • Insurance certificate expiration dates with advance notice of renewal requirements.

The system provides the full standard viewer features including Calendar and Documents.
The system is optionally includes tracking of insurance certificates and a more detailed tracking of the approval process.
Information may be retrieved based on Contract Number, Contract Name, Purchase Order Number, Vendor Id, Object Account, or Matter File Number.
From information maintained, screen displays, and printed reports provide:

  • Warnings of contracts nearing or past expiration.
  • Warnings of expenditures exceeding authorization, or expenditure rates exceeding expectations.
  • Fiscal year-to-date and matter-to-date totals. These are compared to authorized or budgeted amounts.
  • Historical docket of calendared activity.
  • Detailed historical information regarding invoice and payment dates and amounts.
  • Record of all generated letters and memos.

A variety of reports are produced including summaries by case, contracting firm, and responsible staff attorney.
The information maintained by this module is also available for summary or display from the financial tab of any related matter.
 
 
FILES AND SCREEN TABS
 
MASTER [Basic Screen Tab]
A master record can be a Contract or a Purchase Order. The fields are similar. If a Contract, or master Purchase Order has one or more related Purchase Orders, they are entered on the Financial Summary Tab. The Basic Data Tab shows:
 
File # Type [Contract or PO] Name
Vendor Id Status Approval Stage
# [Contract or PO] Received Date Resolution #
Resolution Date Department Budget Line Item (Accnt)
Initial Author Amt. Net Authorized Amount Total Paid
Matter # [if related] Description (tab) Entered Date
Last Renewal Date Expiration Date Ins. Cert. Req. (6 entries)
Review Date

Contracts only:
Renewal Option (y/n) Number of Renewals Last Renewal Date
 
CERTIFICATES [Tab]
This is a separate screen tab with a grid listing all insurance certificates. The insurance certificate types are General Liability; Professional Liability; Completed Projects; and Workers' Comp. There may be others - modifications and additions may be made by the user. Types are user maintained with dropdowns that allow entry of Types to be validated.
Detail entries are entered and viewed from this screen. This screen shows received and expiration dates for each of the certificates. Remarks on each certificate are used for explanation and additional requirements. Certificates occur multiple times. Maybe 1 to 6 initially and then more as these expire during the life of the contract or purchase order.
Data:
Type Certificate # Received Date
Effective Date Expiration Date Entered Date
Remarks (70 chr)
 
APPROVAL TRACKING [Tab]
A master default list is maintained in System Management. This is a user maintained table and will contain entries such as: Review as to Form; Budget Approval; Purchasing Approval; Final Approval, entered into system, etc. These entries become a grid for each Contract and each Purchase Order where items can be added or deleted as necessary. The master file contains:
Step 6 chr (a/n user entry) Item Description Apply to Contracts (y/n)
Apply to POs (y/n)
When added from the master table to an individual Contract or Purchase Order, additional fields are added to the table for each entry:
Date Submitted Date Returned Approved (y/n) Action Date
 
FINANCIAL SUMMARY [Tab]
There are three types of entries on the Financial Summary Tab:
Authorized Amount [from basic data. This is not changed here but is a reflection of the basic data]
Purchase Order(s)
Change Order(s).
 
These all have the same format and effect on the file with a code to indicate the type of entry.

These entries are used to add to, modify, or just allocate the amounts of the contract or purchase order. The base amount of the original contract or purchase order is shown as the first entry in the grid. This is followed by a grid of records reflecting changes to the contract or purchase order. Each entry includes:

Id (12 chr) Type Entry Code Effective Date
Amount Description (70 chr) Entered Date (default cur)
Base Amount Impact: increase/decrease/none

These are totaled at the bottom of the display. The total amount will be increased as appropriate based each entry. Note: these are re-calculated if changes are made to existing entries, or entries are deleted. The Original Contract Amount plus these changes, if any, will always equal the Net Contract Amount. Totals at the bottom are: Increases; Decreases; and Net Amount

Note: Changes are also made if the original contract amount is modified.
 
PAYMENTS
Payments are made against line items on the Financial Tab. Payments may be entered against basic entry represented by the basic Contract or Purchase Order or against any selected Change Order or Purchase Order. This is done by highlighting the item to pay and pressing the Payment Button. Payments to date are shown.

Each payment is made with the standard payment entry screen. Contract or Purchase Order Id and Change Order Id is forced to appropriate values based on record selected. If a matter cross-reference has been entered that too is forced. If a contract matter cross-reference has not been entered, then allow user to enter a file# on any entry if desired. Cross-reference entries are validated as entered.

Object Code and Department are also defaulted but may be modified as desired.

The Payment File will carry identifications to indicate Contract, Purchase Order, and Line Item, in addition to other payment information.
 
DESCRIPTION [TEXT]
This screen will provide for a detailed description of the contract including renewal options and other specifics of interest.
 
FILE MANAGEMENT
Each Contact/PO will have the same File Management Tab and options as general matters. This includes:

File Location - 20 characters. This represents current location or pre-archive location.
Archive Date. Date the user physically archives this file.
Box - 12 characters
Archive Locator - 15 characters.
Destruction Date.
Destroyed - Y/N.
Remarks - 60 Characters.
 
RETRIEVALS
Data is retrieved by typical identifiers including:

Contract Number, Contract Name, Purchase Order Number, Purchase Order Name, Vendor Id, Object Account, Matter File Number.

Additionally, special retrievals are available:

Open Contracts or Purchase Orders with Insurance Certificates expired or expiring by [date range].
In-process Contracts submitted but without approval for [nnn] days.
In-process Contracts without approval at [seq #].
Open Contracts or Purchase Orders expired or expiring by [date range].
 
MODULE RELATIONSHIPS
If a matter number is related, then these Contract or Purchase Orders are shown on the matter Finance Tab. Amounts entered into the Contract Management module are to be included and shown on matter just as if they had been entered from there.

If amounts are entered from the matter and are related to a Contract… they are treated just as if they had been entered in the Contract module. This means that a special routine will be used if a financial entry is entered against a matter where there is more than one line item on the selected Contract or Purchase Order.
 
SPECIAL FUNCTIONS
Auto-calendar the following:

  • Insurance certificate name] Insurance Certificate Expires anytime an insurance certificate expiration is entered or modified.
  • [Contract or PO [name] Expires anytime the Expiration date changes.