Support  ·  Contracts add-on

Contracts and vendors

Every contract and renewal in one place, with who you buy from and how to reach them.

This guide is for the contracts and vendors add-on, which is extra on any plan.

Contracts keeps track of what your organization pays for and who it pays: software subscriptions, support and maintenance agreements, copier leases, warranties, service agreements. Each contract has its vendor, what it covers, its dates, who looks after it, and the last day to cancel before it renews on its own. Its owner hears about it well before that day.

Techs can look everything up: each contract, what it covers, its dates, and who to call. People whose role has Manage contracts (and people who change helpdesk settings) add and change contracts and vendors, and only they see what contracts cost, their purchase orders, and their files. A signed contract usually has the pricing in it, so the files stay with them too.

Adding a contract

Click Add a contract. Give it a name and pick its vendor, or type a new vendor’s name and it’s added to the vendor list along with the contract. Fill in what you know; only the name and vendor are required.

• Starts and Ends are this term’s dates. Leave Ends empty for one that runs until someone cancels it.
• Tick Renews on its own for one that rolls over unless it’s cancelled, and put in how many days of notice it takes to cancel. That makes the last day to give notice the date that matters, and the reminder counts from there.
• Remind how many days before is when the owner hears about it. 60 days is where new contracts start; change that under Contracts, Settings.
• Owner is who looks after it. They get the reminder, and the renewal ticket is opened for them if renewal tickets are on.
• Paid for by is a label for the department that pays. It doesn’t limit who can see the contract.

Keep passwords out of contracts and vendors. Use a password manager for those.

Act by

The list sorts contracts by Act by: the last day to give notice for one that renews on its own, or else its end date. Where it stands says Active, Coming up (inside its reminder days), Past the notice date, Ended, or Cancelled. Filter by vendor, kind, or department, or pick Coming up to see what needs a decision soon.

Renewing and cancelling

On a contract’s page, Renew it starts the next term. The term ending now goes under Earlier terms with what it cost, and the dates move on by the contract’s term length (12 months to start), or to the end date you put in. Put in a new cost or purchase order if they changed. Each new term gets its own reminder.

Not renewing? Cancel it marks it cancelled. It stays for the record and no more reminders go out. Turn it back on if that changes.

A contract added by mistake can be deleted until it’s been renewed or reminded about.

Equipment it covers

When the inventory is on too, a contract’s page has Equipment it covers: the copiers on a lease, the switches on a support agreement. Each piece of equipment then shows the contract in its history.