Agreement Management User Guide

Change Summary

Overview

You can use TechnoMile's Contracts Agreement Management feature to view the complete life cycle of agreement generation and management on Contracts, including the review processes associated with agreements.

You can also use Contracts to create different types of agreements such as Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs), Teaming Agreements (TAs), etc. You can use these agreements to automate the management of the associated Agreement Teams and various other processes such as Internal and External Reviews, Approvals, and ESignatures.

IMPORTANT

If you have any questions contact your Administrator, or send an email to support@technomile.com.

Audience

Contracts Suite Users

Agreement Management Process

Create New Agreement

An agreement can be created from multiple entities, including Partners, Opportunities, Contracts, and Subcontracts, as required.

Create an Independent Agreement

To create an independent agreement record:

1. Login to your Microsoft Dynamics instance.

2. Go to Partners and click New.

   NOTE

   If the required Partner record already exists, you can proceed directly to Step 4.

   

3. Select a Partner account, enter all required details, and click Save.
   

4. Open the Partner record.
   

5. Click Create Agreement.
   

6. Click New Agreement.
   

7. Specify the Agreement Name, Agreement Type, Start Date, End Date, and Agreement Manager, then click Save.

   NOTE

   The Partner and Vendor/Partner Number fields are auto-populated, you can edit the fields if required.

   

   The new agreement is available in the Agreements tab.
   

8. Open the newly created agreement, go to Actions, and select Send to Agreement Manager.
   

9. Click OK on the confirmation message.
   

10. A confirmation banner appears indicating that the agreement has been sent to the Agreement Manager for approval. The banner remains visible until the Agreement Manager takes action on the record.
    

11. On receiving an Agreement Waiting for Approval email, the Agreement Manager can Approve or Reject.

12. Specify comments, if any, and click Submit.
    The agreement is approved by the Agreement Manager. Post approval, the BPF stage changes from Requested to Draft. Also, the Agreement Team tab is now visible.

Create Agreement from an Existing Record

To create an agreement from an existing Opportunity, Contract or a Subcontract record:

NOTE

The following steps explain how to create an agreement from an opportunity record. The same process can be followed to create agreements from other entities.

1. Login to your Microsoft Dynamics instance.

2. Go to Opportunities and open an opportunity record.
   

3. Click the ellipsis (…) icon, and then click Agreements.
   

4. Click New Agreement.
   

5. Specify the Agreement Name, Agreement Type, Start Date, End Date, and Agreement Manager, then click Save.
   

6. Go to Actions and click Send to Agreement Manager.
   

7. Click OK on the confirmation message.
   

8. A confirmation banner appears indicating that the agreement has been sent to the Agreement Manager for approval. The banner remains visible until the Agreement Manager takes action on the record.
   
   

   NOTE

   • The Opportunity/Contract/Subcontract field is auto-populated based on the , you can edit the field if required.

   • Fields marked by the red asterisk (*) sign are mandatory.

   • The ESignature Sequence field determines whether a document is sent to Internal or External Signatories first.

   • On clicking Send to Agreement Manager, the system sends an email containing the link to the Agreement to the Agreement Manager for approval.

   • The supported Agreement types include NDA, TA, SubK, SubK Mod, and Contract.

   • Field visibility on the Agreement layout changes based on the selected Agreement Type. Specific fields are shown or hidden to ensure users view only the relevant information for each agreement type.

   • The Agreement Manager lookup field displays only users who have the Agreement Manager role assigned.

   • Users with the Agreement Manager role will not see the Agreement Manager lookup field on the layout and can directly save the record as a draft.

9. On receiving an Agreement Waiting for Approval email, the Agreement Manager can Approve or Reject.

10. Specify comments, if any, and click Submit.
    The agreement is approved by the Agreement Manager. Post approval, the BPF stage changes from Requested to Draft. Also, the Agreement Team tab is now visible.

Add Agreement Team Members

IMPORTANT

According to TechnoMile's Out of the Box (OOTB) capabilities, the review process runs parallel, and the approval process runs sequentially by default.

To add agreement team members:

1. Go to the Agreement Team tab and click New Team Member in the Agreement Team section.

   

   NOTE

   You can view the approval history in the Approval History section here.

   

2. Select Role as Reviewer, choose a Team Role, then click Save and Close.

   NOTE

   • The review/approval process can be either sequential or parallel, depending on the settings defined by your Administrator. The Sequence field appears only if the review/approval process is set to sequential.

   • By default, the Team Role field is set to Contributor.

     

3. Click New Team Member again.

4. Select Role as Approver, choose a Team Role, then click Save and Close.Similarly, you can add other Agreement Team members as Reviewer, Approver, or Signatory by selecting the appropriate values in the Role field. To add multiple Signatory roles at once:

   1. click Action > Add a Signatory.

   2. The Add Signatory window appears. Use the check box to select the required team members and click Add. The selected team members are added again and assigned the Role of Signatory.

Add External Team Members

Adding Reviewers

To add an external reviewer:

1. Scroll down to the External Reviewers section and click New External Reviewer.

   

2. Select Role as Reviewer and Reviewer Type as either Contact (external third-party vendors) or Employee (internal staff members), add Employee, and click Save and Close.

   NOTE

   The Name field is read-only and will be automatically populated when you select the Employee name.

   
   
   
   Similarly, you can add other reviewers.

Adding Signatories

To add signatories:

1. Scroll down to the External Reviewers section and click New External Reviewer.

2. Select Role as Signatory and Reviewer Type as either Contact (external third-party vendors) or Employee (internal staff members), add Employee, the Sequence field is automatically populated.

   NOTE

   • When adding a new signatory, the Sequence field is automatically populated with the next available sequence number.

   • Duplicate signatories are not permitted within the same role type.

3. Click Save and Close.
   

   

   Similarly, you can add other signatories.

Generate Document

NOTE

Before initiating a Review, Approval, or Signatory process, the system verifies whether a document is associated with the record. If a document is available, the selected process proceeds as normal. If no document is found, the system prevents the process from starting and displays the following validation message.

To generate a document:

1. Click Generate Document or navigate to Agreement Team > Documents and Upload a document.
   
   

Send for Reviews and Approval

NOTE

If you are an Agreement Manager, you can skip the Internal Review, External Review, and Approval stages to move an Agreement through the workflow more quickly. This is useful when the Agreement has already been reviewed outside the system or does not require the standard review process. For instructions, refer to Bypass Agreement Review and Approval Stages.

Internal Review Process

To send the Agreement for internal review:

1. Go to Actions and click Send For Internal Review.

   NOTE

   For this feature to work, you must have at least one Reviewer in your Agreement Team.

2. Click Ok.

3. Select the checkboxes against the documents you want to send for review and click Ok. An email is sent to all the users in the internal Agreement Team with roles as Reviewer, along with the link to the Agreement document. Also, the status of Agreement Stages/BPF changes to Sent for Internal Review.

4. Click Review Agreement in the email.

5. Click the ellipsis (…) icon, then click More, and then click Check-out.

   

   NOTE

   Check-out disables other users from editing a document while you are working on it.

6. Open the Agreement document.
   
   The Agreement document opens in a new tab. You can make any changes here, if required.

7. Go to the SharePoint document location on the previous tab, click …, then click More, and select Check-in.

   

8. Specify comments, if any, and click Check-in.
   
   Check-in is completed.
   Once Check-in is complete, the status of the Agreement Stages/BPF changes to Internal Review Completed.
   

External Review Process

To send the Agreement for external review:

1. Go to Actions and click Send For External Review.

   

   NOTE

   For the Send for External Review feature to work, you must have at least one reviewer as an external reviewer.

2. Click OK.

   

3. Select the checkboxes against the documents you want to send for review and click Ok.
   An email is sent to all the external reviewers with roles as Reviewer, along with the Agreement document (edited by the Internal Reviewers) as an attachment.

   NOTE

   • Once an external reviewer receives the email, they can modify the Agreement document by downloading the attachment, making the necessary changes, and then replying to all with the revised document attached. In such cases, the system recognizes the updated version of the document. Conversely, if no alterations are required for the Agreement document, they can reply to all without attaching any file.

   • Both the Agreement Manager and the Requester are copied on the email.
     Also, the status of the Agreement Stages/BPF changes to Sent for External Review.

   Note: By default, when creating an Agreement record, the option to send the Agreement document for external review as an email attachment is selected. Alternatively, you can choose to send it as a link in the email by selecting the corresponding option in the Send Agreement Document (External Reviewer) field. However, to ensure the functionality of the link, third-party vendors must have access to your system.
   Important: You can choose to complete the review process (either internal review or external review) by clicking Review Done in the Actions drop-down menu on top, followed by OK on the POP-up screen. The logged in user must have the Agreement Manager role to perform the Review Done action.
   The external reviewer's Review Status changes to Reviewed and the Date Completed field is populated.
   An email is also sent to the Reviewers.
   You can also cancel the Agreement anytime by clicking Cancel Agreement here.
   Once the external review is completed, the status of the Agreement Stages/BPF changes to External Review Completed.

Approval and E-Signature Process

To send the Agreement for approval:

1. Click Send For Approval.

   

   NOTE

   For the Send For Approval feature to work, you need to have at least one Approver.

2. Click OK.
   An approval request is sent to all the users sequentially in the Internal Agreement Team with roles as Approver, along with the link to the Agreement document. Also, the status of the Agreement Stages/BPF changes to Pending Approval.

   NOTE

   These changes are also reflected in the Approval History section on the Agreement Team tab.

   

   IMPORTANT

   The Agreement Manager can withdraw an approval by selecting an Approver and clicking Withdraw, followed by OK on the pop-up screen.

   

3. Open the email and click Approve.

4. Specify comments, if any, and click Submit.
   The agreement is approved and the status of the Agreement Stages/BPF changes to Approved.

5. Click Send For ESignature.
   

   NOTE

   • For the Send For ESignature feature to work, you must have at least one Signatory in your Agreement Team as well as among External Reviewers.

   • The signatory workflow is controlled by the E-Signature Sequence field.
     
     If Internal is selected, the signing process begins with the Internal Signatories. Signature requests are sent sequentially based on the assigned sequence numbers. Only after all Internal Signatories have completed signing does the workflow proceed to the External Signatories, who will then receive signature requests in sequence. Similarly, if External is selected, the signing process begins with the External Signatories and then proceeds to Internal Signatories.

6. Select the document that you want to send for ESignature, then click OK.

   NOTE

   If multiple documents are available, only one document can be selected and sent for eSignature at a time.

   
   An email notification along with the Agreement document for ESignature is sent to all the Signatories sequentially. Also, the status of the Agreement Stages/BPF changes to Sent for ESignature.
   
   Once the ESignature process is completed for all Signatories (both Internal and External), the status of the Agreement Stages/BPF changes to ESignature Completed and then to Active if the Start Date is on or before today. An ESignature completion email is sent to all signatories.
   Agreements are then automatically Archived a set number of days after their End Date. This timeframe (X days after the end date) is configured by the administrator based on organizational preferences.
   

   IMPORTANT

   You can complete the ESignature process by clicking Bypass Signature in the Actions drop-down menu, and then clicking OK on the pop-up screen. This option is presented for use if you are utilizing offline or alternative E-Signature processes apart from DocuSign to complete the Agreement Management lifecycle.

   
   

Bypass Agreement Review and Approval Stages

This feature allows users with the Agreement Manager role to skip the Internal Review, External Review, and Approval stages and move an Agreement through the workflow more quickly. This is useful when the Agreement has already been reviewed outside the system or does not require the standard review process. Using the bypass actions, the Agreement can be moved from Draft to Approved, with the BPF automatically updating at each stage.

Note:

The availability of the bypass option depends on the Agreement Type and whether the Agreement is Inbound or Outbound. These settings are configured by your administrator.

To bypass the Agreement review and approval stages:

1. Open the required Agreement record. Ensure the Agreement record is in the Draft stage.

2. Go to Actions and click Bypass Internal Review.
   

3. A confirmation message appears; click Yes.
   

4. A success message appears; click Ok.
   
   The BPF changes from Draft to Internal Review Completed.

5. Go to Actions and click Bypass External Review.
   

6. A confirmation message appears; click Yes.
   

7. A success message appears; click Ok.
   
   The BPF changes from Internal Review Completed to External Review Completed.

8. Go to Actions and click Bypass Approval.
   

9. A confirmation message appears; click Yes.
   

10. A success message appears; click Ok.
    
    The BPF changes from External Review Completed to Approved.

Agreement Mods

Agreement management allows you to create, negotiate, and execute modifications. When an Agreement Mod is created, it inherits the same field details and follows the same review and approval process as its parent agreement.

Creating an Agreement Mod

NOTE

The Create Mod option is available only when the Agreements BPF stage is Active or Archived.

The following steps outline the process to create an Agreement mod from an agreement:

1. Once the Agreement's BPF stage reaches Active or Archived, go to Actions and click Create Mod.

2. A confirmation dialog appears. Click Ok.

3. Mod1 record is created.  

   NOTE

   Mods are named sequentially as Mod1, Mod2, and so on.

4. Open the Mod record to view the details.

   NOTE

   A Mod record should include all mandatory fields of Agreement record and Agreement Manager, except Name, Agreement ID, and Parent Agreement.

   Once an Agreement Mod is created, it will follow the same process as its parent agreement.