Product Description
Contract Management provides tracking and monitoring capabilities for various types of contracts for the transit industry. Contractual obligations and conditions to ensure compliance require a systematic approach. Avail’s Contract Management automates this process and provides the user with flexibility.
The Contract Management (CT) module interfaces with the Bid Management, Accounts Payable, and Project Tracking modules. An association between the bids that generated the contract can be made. It allows for the identification of the vendor and any sub-contractors associated with the contract. Its tie to Project Tracking allows the user to see purchases to date which reflect all processed invoices and paid to date information, which reflects all checks cut pertaining to the project.
The CT module allows for the maintaining and tracking of pertinent information such as a contract’s start and end dates, board approval date, contract amount and other fields.
The CT module allows for the sharing of documents with co-workers for easy collaboration with the ability to attach various types of documents such as the scanned original contract, insurance documentation, certifications, blue prints etc.
The tracking and alert features automatically send emails when the contract or any insurance or bond issuance are about to expire.
All contact personnel are entered for easy reference.
Other aspects needing to be tracked that do not come standard in the CT module can be setup with the custom form and field creation options. Users are able to create their own custom fields for tracking processes unique to their transit agency.
Contract Management Implementation
It is understood that the Systems Administration Guide had been followed completely and that all other modules are working prior to the Contract Management installation.
As with all Windows modules, the module must first be installed as directed in the System Administration Guide.
Contract Management Setup
Setup Checklist
This checklist follows the instructions outlined on the following pages.
Navigation
The Contract Management Setup card is where all required information to utilize Contract Management can be completed.
Miscellaneous Codes
Each ETMS application includes a list of miscellaneous codes that are used within the system. Some of these codes are preset by ETMS while others are user defined.
Click Edit Miscellaneous Code. The following form displays.
| Field | Description |
| Type | Select from the drop-down list or type in a new code. |
| Code | Enter the code associated with the value. The code is recognized by the program. |
| Value | Enter the description of the code. This value is used to identify field on reports and inquiries. |
ApprovedBy (User Defined) Define personnel that will be allowed to approve contracts.
ClosedBy (User Defined) Define personnel that will be allowed to close contracts.
ContactPhoneType (User Defined) Define the types of telephone number options.
ContactRelationship (User Defined) Define the positions relevant to contract.
ContractAdministrator (User Defined) Define personnel that will be the Administrator.
ContractNo (User Defined)
If the contract numbers are assigned manually:
Code: CreateMethod, Value: FNCT_ContractMaintManualNumberSubForm.
If the contract numbers are assigned automatically:
Code: CreateMethod, Value: FNCT_ContractMaintAutoNumberSubForm.
ContractNoDivision (User Defined) Optional setup.
ContractNoType (User Defined) Optional Setup.
ContractType (User Defined) Define the type of contracts utilized by the transit.
Department (User Defined) Defines the department that the contract will impact.
Department Type (User Defined) Defines the department that the contract will impact.
Notification Group (User Defined) Defines the department that the contract will impact.
NotificationReportParameters (Specific) Enter Codes and Values as shown in table below.
| Code | Value |
| PathToCompanyLogo | O:\LogoName (O= Windows O Drive) |
| CodePathToReportFile |
O:\Procurement\CT\ReportName (O= Windows O Drive) |
| ReportFileType | |
| ReportFooter | Information to appear on Footer |
| ReportHeading | Information to appear on Heading |
Procurement Method (User Defined) Define methods used to procure the expense/cost for a contract.
RequiredDocumentType (User Defined) This list should mirror the Document Types to be able to assign the individual documents in the Required Document fields, for creating Alerts & track documents on the Information button.
SuretyCode (User Defined) Define the Surety Method.
SuretyType (User Defined) Define the Surety Type.
UserDefinedFieldType (Specific) Enter Codes and Values as shown in table below.
| Code | Value |
| Date | Date |
| Number | Number |
| Text | Text |
UserDefinedFormName (User Defined) Enter Codes and Values as shown in table below.
Click Print with or without selecting a Type to get a printout of all codes.
Transaction Control Record
Click Transaction Control Records to set up the values and sort option for assigning Contract #’s.
Option 1 - Manual Numbering does not use the Tran Control Setup. The user will be prompted to create a manual new contract number.
Option 2 - Auto Numbering does use the Tran Control Setup form.
When a new contract is created, the user will be prompted for the fiscal year and the system will create the next sequential number for the contract based on the number that is in the Value field below.
In the example below, 80 is in the value therefore the next contract number would be 2018-0081.
| Field | Description |
| Record Type | Allow the system to create the Record Types automatically when new contract numbers are created via Contract Maintenance. Required that Fiscal Year be added to the end of Contract No for auto numbering. |
| Value | If one of the auto number options is used when creating new contracts, the system will automatically assign the next number based on this entry. |
| Maximum Value | Determine the maximum value or largest number to be used. |
| Max Digits | Max Digits will be based on the Maximum Value determined prior. |
| Add Leading Zeros | For the contract number check the box if you want the system to assign leading zeros. For example, if Max Digits is set to 3 and Value is 1 and Add Leading Zeros is checked the next sequential numbering portion of the contract number will be 002. If not checked the number will simply be 2. |
Contract Documents Required
Click this card to set up and select the various document types that may be required for the specific Contract Type. This option is not required however, it can assist the user in knowing what document types the agency has determined must be attached to a contract for uniformity when tracking contract types.
Enter or select Contract Type from the dropdown. The following form populates to enter or select the document type to be assigned to the selected Contract Type.
If a new Contract Type needs to be added, click Green Checkmark to create a new Contract Type. This will open the Misc Code form to add the new Type.
If a new Document Type needs to be added, click Green Checkmark to add a new Document Type.
Click Print. Leave Contract Type field blank to print all codes setup. To view only the Documents Types assigned to a particular Contract Type, select it from the dropdown before clicking Print.
Document Default Message
Click Document Default Message to create message or letter that will be sent when the Contract Alerts option is executed. The default document message created here will need to be assigned to the contract utilizing Contract Maintenance, Master option. Enter or select the Alert Document to assign the default Message to the selected Contract. Once alerts are emailed via Contract Alerts, the message or letter created will populate as an attachment to the sent email.
| Field | Description |
| Document Type | Enter or select from the dropdown list an existing document type. Click Green Checkmark to create a new document type. |
| Existing Docs | Document Types that were previously created and currently have messages will be available for selection from dropdown options. |
EDIT MESSAGE
Click Edit Message to enter a message or letter that will be sent via an attachment within the Create Alerts form. Information from an existing Word document can be copied and pasted into this field.
DELETE MESSAGE
Click Delete Message to delete the content in the message field. This delete option will only delete the message ~ the Document Type will remain. The following message will display.
Click Yes to continue or No to cancel. Once message is deleted the following message displays. Click OK.
PRINT MESSAGE
Click Print Message to view/print the message documentation.
REPORT SETUP
Click Report Setup to set criteria and path location of the file, format, company’s logo, and header/footer information. The Code portion must be entered exactly as shown below with no spaces. The value is agency specific. All Values EXCEPT PathToReportFile can be left blank. The paths should go to your Windows O:\ drive.
| Code | Value |
| PathToCompanyLogo | The company logo will print on the attachment letter if the path to the logo is entered here. Example: O:\Misc\logo.jpg. |
| PathToReportFile |
When the Send Alerts option is selected within the Contract Alerts form, the attachments within the sent emails are saved to the location specified here. Enter a valid path for the documents to be saved. Example: O:\Procurement\CT\ReportFiles |
| ReportFileType | Enter PDF to generate an Adobe pdf document type. |
| ReportFooter | Enter the transit agency’s address or any information you would like to appear at the bottom of the attachment letter. |
| ReportHeading | Enter the transit agency’s name or any information you would like to appear at the top right corner of the attachment letter. |
Email Notification Setup
Click this card to set up internal groups to receive emails when an Alert email is sent from the Contract Management module.
To create a new Group, click Green Checkmark.
Once Notification Group has been created, Contact Name, Phone # and email address will need to be entered for all those) receiving a notification email.
| Field | Max Field Size | Field Type | Description |
| Rec # | 1 | Numeric | Enter Record number (sequential numbering). |
| Email Address | 80 | Alpha/Numeric | Enter the email address. |
| Phone # | 15 | Alpha/Numeric | Enter telephone number associated with the email and contact name. |
| Contact Name | 80 | Alpha/Numeric | Enter contact name associated with the email and phone number information. |
| Inactive | Check the Inactive button to discontinue sending emails to the contact. |
The groups may be assigned in one of two fields. For contract expirations, the group is assigned to the Respond To Group field on the Master form.
For Information Document Types such as Insurance, Bonds etc. the group is assigned to the Respond To Group field on the Information button. The notification groups for the contract master and information button do not have to be the same group.
Search Criteria Setup
Click this card to customize which fields are searchable and what sequential order they appear in the dropdown options.
Enter or select ContractNo and click Enter.
The following form populates.
| Field | Description |
| User Name Field | Enter a descriptive name for the field. The name should correlate with the Actual Field Name below but can be spelled and spaced differently. This name will display in the Search Criteria dropdown list on the Contract Maintenance form. In the example above, the User Field Name is Alert Document Type, yet the actual field name is AlertDocumentType. The dropdown list on the Contract Maintenance form will display Administrator. |
| Seq # | This field determines the sequence that the fields will be listed in the dropdown list in ascending order. The numbers should be spaced to allow for future insertion of new fields. |
| Actual Table Name |
Enter FNCT_ContractMasterTable into this field for all fields visible via the “Master” button option. Fields within the other button options can be selected also but the table name will be different. For example, if the user wishes to create a search option for the Contact Name found within the Contacts button option, they will need to enter FNCT_ContractContactTable. This lets the system know which SQL table the fields reside in. Contact Avail Support for other possible table and field names. |
| Actual Field Name | Enter field name exactly as illustrated below within the SQL table (there are no spaces between the words). User will have to refer to the list of field names below to enter data into this field. Contact Avail Support for other possible table and field names. |
| Linked Table Field Name | To add search fields from other databases (i.e. Accounts Payable to search by Vendor Name) enter the name of the field that correlates to the field in the Contracts table. Contact Avail Support for other possible table and field names. |
| Linked Table Date Field Name |
Enter the field name in the ‘non-contract’ database that correlates to the field in Contracts. For example, Vendor Name can be added as a search criteria in Contracts, even though that information is not stored in the Contracts database. The search criteria (one-time setup) would be to add the name of the table in Accounts Payable (FNAP_VendorTable) to the Actual Table Name field, add the name of the correlating field in Contracts (VendorNo), and add the name of the correlating field in Accounts Payable (Vendor). Add the name of the field in Accounts Payable that contains the Vendor Name (VendorName). Contact Avail Support for other possible table and field names. |
User Defined Data Field
Click User Defined Data Field to set up user defined forms and data fields for custom tracking and reporting. This option allows the user to create custom fields that can be accessed via specified forms such as Contract Maintenance, Contract Inquiry etc.
Setup will include:
- User Defined Date Entry
- User Defined Data Field
- User Defined Data Security
FORM RESTRICTIONS
Click Form Restrictions to create the new form. In the example below, two forms have already been created (see Miscellaneous Module Code Setup) Contract Legal & Construction Info.
| Field | Description |
| User Form Name | Click Green Checkmark to add a new form or select an existing form from the dropdown list. |
| Form Name | Use the dropdown list to select the entry form that contains the “User Defined” button that will allow the user to enter information for the custom built form. The Form Name can be obtained by looking at the name under the card. See example below |
DATA FIELDS
Click Data Fields button to create new fields or revise existing fields. This option is not specific to a particular form. This contains all fields that could possibly be used by any of the forms.
| Field | Description |
| Field Name | Create/Enter a field name. The field name that is entered here will be seen by the user when executing their day-to-day entry. Make sure the field is clear and descriptive of what is to go into the field. Field names can be up to 50 characters. |
| Field Type | Select the field type from the dropdown options. |
| History | Place a check mark in the box to keep an audit trail of the changes made this the particular field. |
FIELD RESTRICTIONS
Click Field Restrictions to assign the correlation between the form name and the field names. Select the Form Name from the dropdown options.
Utilizing the dropdown option select the Field Name(s) to be assigned to the selected form.
RENAME FIELDS
This button is used to rename a field. The renaming process will rename the select field to a new field name utilizing this process to transfer existing data to the new field name. The new field must first be set up via Data Fields setup before the rename can take place. The renaming process will not delete the old name from the Data Fields option; it must be manually deleted.
Click Start to begin the renaming process. Once rename is completed the following message displays. Click OK.
User Defined Data Security
Click User Defined Data Security to restrict/limit/assign the users that can access User Defined forms.
Select User Id from the dropdown.
Once selected, all forms previously assigned to the selected user will populate.
To assign a new Form Name to the selected user, enter or select from the dropdown options in Form Name. This will add the form to that user’s access.