Once you create a CR, you can track its status and see where it is in the approval flow.

See the Ariba Contract Compliance Guide for information about how to implement Ariba Contract Compliance.

Users who are authorized with the required permission can create a contract with a supplier to obtain better discounts (or value-added services) for commodities or items than those available through the supplier's catalog. Other authorized users can create release orders against the contract.

Contract requests (CRs) involve these basic steps (see the process flow diagram for a detailed description of the process):

1. A user, known as the requester, creates a CR and submits it for approval. The CR reflects general terms and conditions already agreed with the supplier, and defines discount pricing terms for the commodities or items (catalog and non-catalog alike) to be included on the contract. Ariba Contract Compliance notifies designated approvers that the CR is waiting for their approval.
2. Approvers approve or deny the CR:
• If the CR is approved, Ariba Contract Compliance automatically creates a contract and notifies the user and approvers. The contract has a status of Created.
• If the CR is denied, the user can either edit and resubmit the CR for approval, or withdraw, edit, and then resubmit it.
3. After the contract's effective date has passed, the status changes to Open. When authorized users create requisitions that reference the supplier, commodities, or items listed in the contract, the resulting release orders receive the contract discount pricing and decrement the contract balance.

Authorized users, such as purchasing agents, can change a contract, if necessary. The same rules that apply to change orders apply to changed contracts.

4. When a contract is closed manually, or when it reaches its expiration date, specified tolerance, or zero balance, its status changes to Closed. Users can no longer create release orders against it; the contract must be reopened first.

   Exceptions to this restriction are:

   • Requisitions that are based on change orders can continue to decrement against a closed contract.
   • If a release order applied to a contract is subsequently canceled or changed, Ariba Contract Compliance automatically reflects the remaining available amounts or quantities, even if the contract is in the Closed status.