2024 April Release

Contract Manager DashboardPermanent link for this heading

Once you have been added to a contract manager configuration, a dashboard is automatically created and placed on “Home”. The contract manager dashboard is your access to Fabasoft Contracts.
Note: Depending on your role and the settings made before your first encounter with Fabasoft Contracts, some objects and settings may differ from this user help. If necessary, inquire with the administrators in charge.

AreasPermanent link for this heading

The contract manager dashboard is divided into the following areas:

  • My Calendar
    Displays the periods and dates of your contracts.
  • <Assignment targets> (e.g. My Suppliers)
    Displays the available assignment instances.
    Note:
    • This area is only visible if the management or usage of assignment targets is enabled (see chapter “Assignments“).
    • If the management or usage of assignment targets is enabled in contract folders or legal areas, the contract manager dashboard automatically displays a separate area per assignment target (for example “My Suppliers” if suppliers are concerned).
  • My Contracts
    Displays the contracts from all contract folders available to you.
    Note: If there are archived contracts among them, you can find them by navigating into this area and click the action “Open Archive”.
  • My Responsibilities
    Shows all active contracts in which you are entered as an internal responsible.
    Note: The My Responsibilities tile is also directly accessible via a URL. The URL is composed of the base URL and /myresponsibilities (e.g. https://at.cloud.fabasoft.com/folio/myresponsibilities).
  • Recently Used Contracts
    Displays the contracts recently used by you.
  • My Contract Folders
    Displays the contract folders available to you.
  • My Legal Files
    Displays the legal files from all legal areas available to you.
  • Recently Used Legal Files
    Displays the legal files recently used by you.
  • My Legal Areas
    Displays the legal areas available to you.
  • My Requests
    Displays the requests for which you are registered as internal editor, internal responsible, internal purchaser or contributor.
  • Recently Used Requests
    Displays the request recently used by you.
  • My Confidential Rooms
    Displays the confidential rooms available to you. External rooms can be created in the “Documents” area of contracts.
  • My External Rooms
    Displays the external rooms available to you. External rooms can be created in the “Documents” area of contracts.
  • Overview
    Displays a visual representation of certain figures and metrics such as signatories, contract types and contract states.
    Note: This area is only visible if the option Enable Search Apps is active (see chapter “Contract Manager Configuration“). It is only available in the edition “Fabasoft Contracts AI”.
  • My Search Folders
    Displays the available search folders.
    Note: If necessary, read the complementing chapter “Search Folders: new window“ in the document ”User Help Fabasoft Cloud“.
  • Report Results
    Displays the reports generated by or visible to you.

Note: Some areas, such as Calendar, My Confidential Rooms, My External Rooms, and Report Results, are only displayed if there is at least one entry.

ActionsPermanent link for this heading

You can perform the following actions:

  • Upload
    Uploads folders or documents in order to create contracts. Depending on the edition of Fabasoft Contracts, the contract properties are automatically extracted and filled in.
    Further information can be found in chapter “Editions“.
  • Create Contract
    Creates a new contract.
    Further information can be found in chapter “Creating a Contract“.
    Note: This action is only visible if there is at least one contract folder in the configuration.
  • Create Legal File
    Creates a new legal file.
    Further information can be found in chapter ”Creating a Legal File“.
    Note: This action is only visible if there is at least one legal area in the configuration.
  • Create Request
    Creates a new request.
    Further information can be found in chapter ”Requests“.
    Note: This action is only visible if there is at least one contract folder or legal area wherein the option Allow Requests is active.
  • Create Report <report name>
    Creates a report based upon a report template.
    Note: This action is only visible if a report template is available for this area. Further information can be found in chapter ”Reports“.
  • Branding
    Defines the logo and background color of the top bar. In addition, you can define a background image.
    Note: This action is only visible if the organization administration on “Home” is deactivated. You can activate it in the settings of the dashboard in the “Organization Settings” tab in the field Activate Organization Settings.
  • Switch to Configuration
    Navigates to the contract manager configuration. As a contract manager administrator, you can switch there in order to define and change configuration settings.
    Note: This action is only visible if the Advanced Mode is enabled (see chapter “Enabling the Advanced Mode”).
  • Settings
    Defines general properties of the contract manager dashboard (e.g. the logo or the notification settings).
  • On the "Presettings" tab, in field “Presetting for Document Registration” the user can set his preference for how the documents in a contract/legal file/request are registered (individually, together, or by selection when uploading). You can use the "Preferred Contract Folder" and "Preferred Legal Area" fields to define a preferred contract folder/legal area which will be used as default values for newly created contracts/legal files in the dashboard. You can use the "Presetting for Handling E-Mails" field to define how emails are handled when uploading. In the "Presetting for Document Category" field, you can define a general document category for in contract/legal file/request documents uploaded documents. The goal of these “Presetting …” fields is to reduce the upload steps, which in turn makes the user work easier.
    Note: If the contract manager configuration or organization management are not enabled, the settings in both the tabs “User Settings” and “Organization Settings” are restricted.

Usage ModesPermanent link for this heading

Fabasoft Contract offers two different usage modes.

Simple Mode

This mode enables frequent use cases such as creating, uploading, filing and managing contracts with little effort.

When you use Fabasoft Contracts for the first time, you experience it in this mode. On “Home”, there is a widget that leads you to the contract manager dashboard.

Advanced Mode

The advanced mode encompasses all use cases of the simple mode. In addition to that, is allows members to create new organizing and customizing objects such as contract manager lists (contract folders, legal areas and configuration lists), templates, text modules and presettings. This mode is meant for organizations in need of more complex filing systems.

Enabling the Advanced ModePermanent link for this heading

In order to enable the advanced mode, proceed as follows:

  1. Navigate into the contract manager dashboard.
    Note: You can recognize the dashboard by the term “Personal Dashboard” above the actions in the toolbar (unless the name was changed; see chapter “Changing the Dashboard Name”).
  2. Click on the action ”Settings”.
  3. Switch to the “Organization Settings” tab.
  4. Activate the Enable Advanced Mode option.

Activate the Activate Organization Administration option.
The organization administration is needed for a host of use cases, including the setup of an external rooms (see chapter “Permanent link for this heading

  1. External RoomExternal rooms allow internal members to make documents available to a select group of external members. This is usually done when the contract and its related files are ready for the signature process in order to have the external users view, discuss and, if applicable, object to the documents before the conclusion of the contract.Setting up an External Room”).
  2. Click on “Next“.

All further information regarding the configuration options available through the advanced mode can be found in chapter ”Contract Manager Configuration“.

Note: If you not a contract manager administrator, you cannot enter the configuration or leave Simple Mode.

Activating the Organization AdministrationPermanent link for this heading

The organization administration is required for a host of use cases, including the management of external members that are relevant in an external room (see chapter “Permanent link for this heading

External RoomExternal rooms allow internal members to make documents available to a select group of external members. This is usually done when the contract and its related files are ready for the signature process in order to have the external users view, discuss and, if applicable, object to the documents before the conclusion of the contract.Setting up an External Room”).

In order to activate the organization administration, proceed as follows:

  1. Navigate into the contract manager dashboard.
    Click on the action ”Settings”.
  2. Switch to the “Organization Settings” tab.
  3. Activate the option Activate Organization Administration.
  4. Click on “Next“.

Setting the Starting PointPermanent link for this heading

In Fabasoft Contracts, you can define your starting point. Hence, after you have logged in, you are automatically directed to the selected app. By default, that is the contract manager.

In order to redefine the starting point, proceed as follows:

  1. Navigate into the contract manager dashboard.
  2. Open the dropdown menu next to the user’s name at the top right corner and select “Basic Settings”.
  3. Switch to the “User Settings” tab.
  4. Open the dropdown menu in the field Start With.
    Depending on how many other apps are available to you, you can choose from a number of entries.
  5. For example, select “Worklist” to be directed to the worklist automatically.
    Note: If you select the top entry (which is blank), you are directed to “Home”.
  6. Define your preferred starting point.
  7. Click on “Next”.

During your next log-in, the setting takes effect.

Changing the Dashboard NamePermanent link for this heading

The name of a dashboard can be changed at will. This might be useful if, for example, you have access rights to several contract manager configurations and lose track of where exactly you currently are due to the identical names. In order to change the name, proceed as follows:

  1. Navigate into the contract manager configuration.
  2. Click on “Settings“.
  3. Switch to the “Administration“ tab.
  4. In the field Default Dashboard Name, enter the desired name.
  5. Click on “Next“.

Note: The new name applies once web services have been restarted.

Demo Contracts FolderPermanent link for this heading

By default, Fabasoft Contracts comes with a pre-initialized contract folder that is named in the pattern “<organization name > Demo Contracts“. Said contract folder is meant to illustrate the possible settings of a contract folders to users of both the trial version and full version. In addition to that, the list stores all the contracts that you may create in the contract manager dashboard.

Since the pre-initialized contract folder is geared towards the less complex use cases of trial customers or new members, numerous contract properties are hidden and will not be visible to you while creating new contracts.

What follows are a number of ways to continue working in the advanced mode:

  • You can make the desired properties visible again (see chapter “Defining Required/Hidden Fields“) and continue working with the demo folder.
  • You can dissolve the demo folder (see chapter “Dissolving a Contract Folder“) and create a new contract folder (see chapter “Creating a Contract Folder“) which you can configure to meet your every need.
  • You can reassign existing contracts from the demo folder to another contract folder and then dissolve the demo folder. This may apply when, for example, your organization switches to the full version after the trial period has expired and the contract manager administrators have configured an appropriate filing and permission schema in the meantime, making then demo folder obsolete. Further information can be found in chapter “Reassigning a Contract“.