How to Track Contracts and Amendments

Contracts hold your agreements with vendors, clients, and partners, and each contract keeps its own amendment history so you can see how the deal changed over time.

Go to Operations > Contracts.

Contracts sits at the bottom of the Marketing & Engagement menu.

The Add A New Contract and Add An Amendment pages, and each tab of a contract and of an amendment, have a short Show Me How To Use This Page video at the top right; click it to watch, and use its chapters to jump to the part you need.

Adding a Contract

1. Click Add A New Contract. Argenta asks for the Contract Title and the Constituent, both required. You can also choose the Contract Type and the Contract Start Date here. The start date begins on today's date, and one left blank is saved as today.
2. Click Add & Enter Details. The contract is created and the Contract Workspace opens.
3. Fill in Contract Details. Two fields are required: Contract Title and Constituent, the party the contract is with.
4. Save.

Add A New Contract opens a short form. Contract Title and Constituent are required; Contract Type and Contract Start Date are optional.

Contract Title and Constituent both carry the orange asterisk.

Contract Details

• Contract Title (required) and Constituent (required)
• Current Status - where the agreement stands
• Contract Start Date and Contract End Date
• Contract Value - what it is worth
• Contract Type and Contract Category - your own classification lists
• Version Number - which version of the agreement this record reflects, as a number such as 1, 2 or 2.25 (up to two decimal places).
• Team Member - who owns the relationship on your side
• Description

Status and the four dates sit at the top of the form.

The Contract End Date, Review Date and Term/Completion Date are all measured against the Contract Start Date. Set any of them earlier than the start date and the contract will not save, and Argenta names the date to fix. A date you have not filled in yet is never checked, so it cannot block a save.

Type and Category come from your own classification lists.

Description is where you say what the agreement covers.

Amendments Are Their Own Records

When an agreement changes, do not overwrite the contract or bury the change in a note. The workspace has an Amendments page, and each amendment is a full record with its own Amendment Details, Related Files, and Amendment Notes.

That way the original terms stay intact and the change is documented beside them, which is what you need when someone asks a year later what was actually agreed and when.

Each amendment is listed on its own, with its status and effective date.

An amendment is a full record, with its own files and notes pages.

Adding an Amendment

To record a change to the agreement, open the contract's Amendments page.

1. Click Add New. The Add An Amendment page opens. Nothing is saved until you add the amendment.
2. Enter the Effective Date, the day the change takes effect. It cannot be earlier than the contract's Contract Start Date.
3. Select the Status, such as Approved or Signed/Executed.
4. In Our Representative (Team Member), start typing a name, then select the team member who approved or signed the change for your organization.
5. Enter the Amendment Title.
6. Click Add & Enter Details. The amendment is added and its Amendment Details page opens, where you enter the reason and the terms.

All four fields are required. If one is missing, or the effective date falls before the contract starts, the amendment is not added and Argenta lists what to fix. To leave without adding anything, click Cancel & Exit.

Add An Amendment asks for four fields. The reason and the terms come on the next screen.

Amendment Details

Each amendment opens in its own Contract Amendment Workspace, with three pages: Amendment Details, Related Files, and Amendment Notes. Amendment Details holds the change itself:

• Effective Date (required) - the day the change takes effect, never earlier than the Contract Start Date
• Status (required) - where the amendment stands, from the same list the contract's Current Status uses
• Our Representative (Team Member) (required) - who approved or signed the change for your side. The Amendments page lists this person as Approved/Signed By Team Member.
• Amendment Title (required) - the name the amendment is listed under
• Reason for Amendment/Description - why the agreement changed
• Amendment Terms - what the change says

Click Save All Changes & Continue to save and stay on the page, or Save All Changes & Exit to save and return to the contract's amendments. If a required field is empty, Required! appears under it and nothing is saved. To delete the amendment, click the trash can icon in the workspace title bar. Argenta asks you to confirm, and a deleted amendment cannot be brought back.

The amendment records when the change takes effect, who signed it, why, and what changed.

Amendment Related Files

The amendment's Related Files page holds the signed amendment and anything that supports it. These files belong to the amendment, separate from the contract's own Contract Files.

1. Drag the files onto Drag & Drop Files Here, or click it to browse. You can choose several files at once.
2. Click Save The Selected File(s). The files upload and appear in the list beside it. Under each file's name is the date and time it was added and, if they are on your team, who added it.

Click a file name to open it. Click the Download icon to save a copy, or the Delete icon to remove the file.

Files saved here belong to the amendment, not the contract.

Amendment Notes

The Amendment Notes page keeps a running record of the amendment, such as calls, approvals, and what is still outstanding. These notes are separate from the contract's Contract Notes.

1. Click Add A New Note.
2. Type the note in the editor.
3. Click Add This Note. The note joins the list with its Date Created and Created By.

To change a note, click its Edit icon. To remove it, click its Delete icon.

Each note shows when it was written and by whom.

Renewals

Contract End Date is the field renewals hang off. Use the Notifications page in the workspace to get told before a contract lapses, rather than relying on someone remembering.

Contract End Date is the field a renewal hangs off.

The Notifications Page

The Notifications page schedules an email about the contract, such as a renewal reminder two months before the Contract End Date or a nudge ahead of the Review Date. Argenta sends the email at the date and time you choose.

1. Click Add New. The Add Notification window opens.
2. Enter the Date/Time To Send. It starts at the current date and time.
3. Optional: To send the email as soon as you save, select Send immediately.
4. Enter the Send To Email, the address that receives the email. It starts with your own email address.
5. Enter the Send From Email, the address the email comes from.
6. Enter the Subject.
7. Optional: Enter the Message. If you leave it blank, the subject is sent as the message.
8. Click Save Notification.

Save Notification stays unavailable until Date/Time To Send, Send To Email, Send From Email, and Subject are filled in, and the window names any that are missing. Both addresses must be valid email addresses.

Date/Time To Send, Send To Email, Send From Email, and Subject are required.

Each saved notification shows its subject, its send date and time, and who it goes to and comes from. A Sent badge appears once it has gone out. Click the Edit icon to change a notification, or the Delete icon to remove it. Deleting one that has not been sent also cancels its email.

The list shows every notification filed under you, so it can include reminders from your other records. The badge beside each subject, such as Contracts, names the kind of record it belongs to. A notification a teammate sets on this contract shows in their list, not yours.

Two reminders scheduled on the contract: one before the review date, one before it ends.

The Contract Workspace

• Contract Details - the agreement itself
• Amendments - every change, each its own record
• Signing - send the contract out for electronic signature (see How to Send a Contract for Electronic Signature)
• Notifications - alerts on this contract
• Contract Files - the signed PDF and anything supporting it
• Contract Notes - internal notes
• Record Permissions - who can view or edit it

Every page of the contract is on this bar.

Finding Contracts

Search by ID or contract name, and export the list to CSV. Each contract also shows the status of its newest signing request, and Show Filter can narrow the list by Signing Status.

Search by ID or contract name, or send the list out to CSV.