Hello! We're thrilled to announce our latest update, designed to give you more granular control over your processes and introduce smarter, more reliable automations. This release focuses on delivering greater flexibility for your approval workflows and ensuring your contract statuses are always accurate and up-to-date.

Let's dive in!

🚀 New! Approval Workflows, Tailored to Your Contract Types

Ever wished you could apply different approval processes for different types of contracts? Now you can. We recognised that a variation for a major construction project shouldn't have to follow the same approval path as a minor services agreement. This update introduces the ability to configure unique approval workflows for each contract type.

While the approval experience for end-users remains seamless and familiar, administrators now have powerful new tools to ensure the right people are involved at the right stage, for every kind of contract.

• Granular Configuration: Define distinct approval workflows for contract creation, variations, and extensions and more based on the specific contract type.
• Increased Compliance: Easily map your internal delegation of authority and ensure the correct stakeholders review and approve high-value or high-risk contracts.
• Process Efficiency: Streamline approvals by creating simpler workflows for low-risk contract types and more robust ones where needed.

Learn more about configuring approval workflows using this Help Centre article. 

This gives you the power to configure approval processes that match your business needs, enhancing both compliance and efficiency.

🎯 Enhanced! More Robust & Flexible Contract Status Updates

Keeping contract statuses accurate is critical for effective management. Previously, the system would only update a status (like 'Expired') on the exact day it was due. This could cause statuses to become outdated if a contract was entered with an end in the past date. This is particularly common when importing historical contract data.

We've overhauled this logic to make it more resilient and flexible. With our new options, you can ensure statuses are updated automatically and reliably, no matter what. Status updates trigger options now include:

• "Anytime On or After": This new setting will update the status of any item that has met its due date. For example, you can now automatically expire all contracts with an end date in the past. 
• "Anytime On or Before": This option provides flexibility for statuses that need to be triggered leading up to an event.
• Configurable Offsets: Add a time buffer to your status updates by setting an offset in days, weeks, or months, giving you even finer control over your automated processes.

With this update, now you can define whether a contract status should update to ‘Expired’ at the start or end of the final day of the contract; configuring the status updates to meet the specific needs of your organisation! Reach out to our Support team if your preference is to have contracts expire at the end of the day rather than the start.

Please reach out to support if you would like to use any of these new logic options.

Now you can trust your contract statuses to be consistently accurate, reducing manual effort and ensuring nothing slips through the cracks.

🛠️ Other Enhancements & Fixes

We've also rolled out several other improvements and fixes to enhance your experience:

• Editable KPI Descriptions: You can now edit the descriptions of your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) after they have been created.
• Clearer KPI Identification: The KPI table within a contract now displays the concise KPI Name instead of the full description, making it easier to scan and identify items.
• New API Endpoint: A new, out-of-the-box API endpoint is available for developers to programmatically update the spend against a contract.
• Accurate DocuSign Signers: Signer fields for DocuSign envelopes will now correctly display the signer's name, providing a clearer audit trail. The generic "DocuSign Signature" will only appear if signers are manually changed within the DocuSign platform.
• Correct Extension Durations: The duration for all contract extensions is now calculated and displayed correctly on the contract record.

We are confident these updates will help you streamline your processes and manage your contracts with even greater precision. We love hearing from you, so please don't hesitate to share your feedback.