You can use a standard workflow process to submit the templates for approval. You must request approval in the following cases:
When a new contract template is created.
After making updates to a rejected contract template.
When a contract template revision is created.
Note: You can approve a template enabled for Contract Expert with no clauses or deliverables. Templates that are not enabled for Contract Expert must contain at least one clause or one deliverable to be approved. In the Contract Expert-enabled template, you should include at least the sections that you want on the printed business document
The Deliverables functionality is currently supported only on contract templates with Buy intent.
Special considerations exist for contract templates that include unapproved clauses, that is, clauses for which the status is either Draft or Rejected.
One factor that determines which clauses are to be submitted for approval along with the contract template is the contract template effective date.
The contract template effective date is the contract template start date or the current date, whichever is later.
When the contract template is submitted for approval, the contract template is first validated. If no errors occur during validation, the application presents you with a list of the draft clauses that are used in the contract template that is effective on the contract template effective date.
Draft clauses can belong to one of the following categories:
No approved previous version exists, or the previous version of the clause is not valid.
The previous version may be invalid for either or both of the following reasons:
The version expires before the contract template effective date.
The clause is on hold.
In this case, you must submit the clause with the contract template for approval.
A previously approved version of the clause is valid for the contract template effective date.
In this case, approval of the clause is not necessary for the contract template to be valid, and you can choose whether to submit the draft clause for approval.
The clauses in category 1 and the clauses that you select in category 2 become the final list of clauses that are submitted for approval with the contract template.
Note: If a template contained a Draft clause and during approval, you deselect this clause and submit the template with the previous approved version of the clause, in a new revision of the template, the latest Draft clause is displayed and will be submitted again when the revision is submitted for approval.
The approval notification includes a list of any unapproved clauses in the contract template.
Note: If a draft clause that has been added to a contract template is submitted for approval independent of the template, the contract template validation report displays an error indicating that a template with a clause in the Pending Approval status cannot be submitted for approval.
Approvers can approve or reject the template. When a template is rejected, the system sends a workflow notification to the author of the contract template. The reason for rejection is also included in the workflow notification. The submitter can update the template based on the comments and resubmit the template for approval.
Approving or rejecting a contract template also approves or rejects all the draft clauses that are submitted with the contract template.
The approver can reassign the contract template for approval to another user. While reassigning, the approver can delegate the notification while retaining ownership on the notification or transfer the notification to the assignee
To approve contract templates:
Navigate to the Contract Templates page.
Navigation: Library > Contract Templates tab
Open the contract template and select the Submit option from the Actions list of values. Alternatively, from the search results, query the contract template and click the Submit button.
If errors occur, the Validation Results report appears. You must correct the errors before you resubmit the contract template for approval.
If no errors occur and no draft clauses are in the contract template, the contract template is submitted for approval.
Approving Draft Clauses
If no errors occur, but draft clauses exist in the contract template, the Submit for Approval page appears for the contract template. This displays a list of the clauses to be submitted with the contract template for approval.
The types of clauses that may exist in the list are:
Clauses that must be submitted for approval. You cannot deselect these clauses.
Clauses that may be submitted for approval. You can select or deselect these clauses.
In the Submit for Approval page, optionally click View Warnings.
The Validation Results report lists the warnings.
If you want to submit the contract template for approval, you must click the link to return to the Submit for Approval page.
In the Submit for Approval page, click Submit.
If no warnings appear or no errors occur, the contract template is submitted for approval.
If warnings appear or errors occur, the Validation Results report appears, listing the warnings. Click Finish to submit the contract template for approval, or Cancel to cancel the Submit for Approval process.