A relational database is the core of Conga Contracts since all data relates to other data directly or through an extended connection. The major system components, Companies and Contracts, have a hierarchical relationship and you must first create a Company Profile and then add a Contract Profile to the Company Profile.

The following relationships are key in understanding how Conga Contracts deals with stored data and elements: Company and Contract Profiles, Contract Type and Agreement Type, Contract Family, Link Data (Contract and Company), and Contract Term Types.

Company and Contract Profiles

The basic system hierarchy begins with the Company Profile that links to the Contract Profile and other linked data. Root Contract Profiles (parent contracts) can be linked to Incorporated Contract Profiles (child contracts), as well as linked to data that relates to each Contract Profile.

Contract Type and Agreement Type

At its core, Conga Contracts is a contract management solution, and as such, two key data organizational fields are directly related to the categorization of contract data. These fields are the Contract Type and Agreement Type.

Contract type usually describes the purpose of the contract, such as a License, Lease, or Purchasing Agreement. Agreement type usually refers to the ability of the contract to stand on its own as a legal document. Root contracts, such as Master and Individual agreements, can legally bind all parties to their terms and conditions. Incorporated contracts, such as Schedules, Addendums, and Amendments, rely on Master or Individual contracts for their enforceability.

The Contract Type and Agreement Type fields are used to categorize, search, and report on contracts. Properly creating the hierarchical levels of the Contract Type field will provide smooth and seamless reporting and searching. The Contract Type field categorizes contracts by the type of transactions they represent.

Contract Family

Perhaps the most important of all the hierarchical relationships is the Contract Family. Using the Agreement Type field, Conga Contracts links all the member documents together in a familial relationship that represents their legal relationships to one another. When one document is subordinate to another, it is represented at the next hierarchical level, below its parent or root contract. Root contracts, or top level documents, can have Incorporated or lower-level documents linked to them, such as Schedules, Exhibits, and Addendums.

Linked Data

There are three major profiles in the Conga Contracts: Contract, Company, and Project. Each of these profiles contains links to program features that are available in the Company, Contract, and Project profiles.

Company Profile

The Company Profile contains links to its Contracts, People, Additional Names, Relationships, Locations, Tasks, Documents, Events, Messaging, Scorecards, Projects, Additional Forms, and History.

Contract Profile

The Contract Profile contains links to its Contract Family, Documents, Clauses, Events, Messaging, Tasks, Document Packages, Payments, People, Addresses, Products, Scorecards, Projects, Additional Forms, and History.

Project Profile

The Project Profile contains links to its Workflows, Documents, Tasks, Additional Forms, History, Scorecards, and Messaging.

Contract Term Types

When adding a contract to the Conga Contracts, it is important to select the right contract term type so that renewals are handled properly and are not overlooked. Currently, Conga Contracts has six classifications for contract term types:

  • Auto-Renewal, Auto-Advance - An automatically-renewing contract where Conga Contracts advances the current contract expiration date to the next renewal date and sets up new event alerts.
  • Auto-Renewal, Manual Advance - An automatically-renewing contract where a user must change the current contract expiration date to the next renewal date and set up new event alerts.
  • Fixed, Auto-Inactivate - A fixed term contract that Conga Contracts automatically inactivates when the contract reaches its expiration date (i.e., the contract's status is changed from "Active" to "Inactive").
  • Fixed, Manual Inactivate - A fixed term contract whose status must be manually changed from "Active" to "Inactive" by a user once the contract reaches its expiration date.
  • Perpetual - A contract with an effective date, but no expiration date. Perpetual contracts are often Master agreements that contain legal terms, as well as schedules with term and renewal information.
  • Coterminous - A term type used exclusively for the incorporated (child) contract of a root (parent) contract. When this term type is selected in an Incorporated Contract Profile, Conga Contracts automatically populates all the fields in the Term & Renewal section with the data captured for the root contract, including contract status.