Contracts - Overview
Updated
Suggested Prior Reading
Contracts - Overview
The Project Manager will create Contract(s) with the Owner/Client(s) specifying what is to be delivered in the scope of work of the project and the amount the Owner/Client(s) will pay for that.
Note* A Contract is the agreement with whomever is responsible for paying for this project, which in most cases is the Owner or Client however, it could be a General Contractor if the Organization running JobPlanner is a Specialty Contractor or Sub Contractor. Throughout the help it will be referred to as Client/Owner.
The Contract is referred to as Accounts Receivable (as payment will be received).
A single Contract may be created or multiple contracts can be created with if there is more than one owner or person responsible for financing the project or financing of the project is separated into phases.
Note* In industry this Contract may be referred to as the “Prime Contract”. It is referred to in this system as “Contract”. There may also be “Subcontracts” which are contracts between the Project Manager and vendors or suppliers. In the system, these are referred to as “Subcontracts” to differentiate them from “Contracts” with the Owner. For more information on Subcontracts, see Commitments - Overview.
Note* Management of the receipt of payment for Contracts is done through the Accounting System.
Schedule Of Values
The Contract includes the overall General Contract information as well as the Schedule of Values.
The Schedule of Values defines in detail what the scope of work is along with the amounts to be charged for that work.
For example, the scope of work includes things like:
- Work to be performed
- Services to be delivered
- Materials or equipment to be used
- Resources to be supplied etc.
This scope of work will be documented in detail as individual Line Items on the Schedule of Values.
A Tax Code can be set for each line item, to automatically calculate taxes as well.
For more information, see Contracts - Schedule of Values - Overview.
Change Requests
If Change Requests are used to approve changes with the Client/Owner, the Change Request Schedule of Values Line Items can be copied to a Contract Schedule of Value Line Items (see Assign Change Request Line Items to Contracts and Commitments - Overview (Grouped List View) OR Assign Change Request Line Items to Contracts and Commitments - Overview (Simple List View)).
Financial Markups
Financial Markups can optionally be set to automatically apply to line items on the Schedule of Values. These can also be used to setup taxes (if not one standard tax rate is applied). See Contracts - Financial Markups.
Sub Jobs
Sub Jobs can be turned on for a project and then the Line Items on the Schedule of Values can be assigned to the Parent Job or the Sub Jobs. See Sub Jobs - Overview for more information.
Automatically setup on Budgets
The Contract total amount (Grand Total) including taxes and financial markups automatically appears on the Budget in the Contracts column. i.e. to show the revenue/funding for the project. See Contract - Budget for more information.
Contracts Status
There are pre-defined statuses that can be assigned to a Contract. These statuses can be used to manage the life cycle of the Contract. They can also be used to filter and report on Contracts. In addition, some functionality can only be performed for those Change Orders in certain statuses. See Contracts – Status for more information.
Contract PDFs and Emailing
A PDF of a Contract can be created (see Contracts - View/Edit - Export) and optionally the PDF can be emailed to Project Contacts as required (see Contracts - View/Edit - Email).
Sync to ERP
If it is an approved Contract and if the option to sync to the ERP is enabled, there will be a button to sync to the ERP system.
Other Functions
Invoices and Payments
Invoice(s) can be created for the Contract (from the Schedule of Value line items) and sent to Client/Owner.
Payments from the Client/Owner can be tracked.
This is viewable by the Project Manager to manage the overall financial picture.
See Contract Invoices - Overview for more information.
Change Orders
Change Orders may also be created for Contracts and tracked and managed. Change Orders detail the actual changes in scope to the project and once approved, these will be executed, invoiced and paid. See Contract Change Orders - Overview for more information.
Change Requests
Change Requests can also be created for Contracts and tracked and managed. These are higher level Change Requests to the Client/Owner, for pre-approval before creating the actual Change Order(s). See Change Requests - Overview for more information.
Reporting
There are various ways Contracts can be reported on:
- Via the Project Contracts List (see Contracts List - Overview) and Exporting.
- Via the Project Reports - to report on Contracts for the specific project (see Project Specific Reports).
- Via the System Reports - to report on all Contracts across all Projects (see Reports).
