Replacing a Contract from an Opportunity

When the BC Opportunity to Contract Integration feature is enabled in Feature Console, you can automatically replace existing contracts with new ones, so providing an automatic sales workflow. By default, a replacement contract is created automatically from an opportunity when:

• The Opportunity has Type "Existing Customer - Replacement"
• The Original Opportunity has a related active contract
• The Opportunity is moved to Stage "Closed Won"

If the Billing Central Automation feature is also enabled and automatic contract activation is configured, the new contract is created in the "Active" status, provided that:

• The opportunity has products associated with it.
• All of the associated opportunity products have the Billing Term, Billing Type, and Contract Line First Bill Date fields populated.

Notes:

Your administrator may have configured your system differently. See Setting up Opportunity to Contract Process Configuration and Mapping Fields From An Opportunity To A Contract.

You can only create one contract from an opportunity. When the contract is created, the Contract lookup on the Opportunity is set to that contract. If you have permission to view opportunities, then the replacement contract displays a link to related opportunities.

To create the replacement contract, you must complete the Account Name and Contract Start Date fields. For a list of the opportunity and opportunity product fields that are mapped to the replacement contract and replacement contract line items, see Mappings. You might need to add some or all of these fields to your page layouts.

A replacement contract is not created when you save a new opportunity. To create a replacement contract for a new opportunity, you must first save it and then update it.

If the replacement contract Start Date results in the original contract not being ended, that is if the Start Date is not before the original contract's current end date, then the replacement contract is not created. For example, a replacement contract is not created if the original contract End Date is May 4, 2017 and the replacement contract start date is May 16, 2017.

When a replacement contract is created, the original contract is automatically updated with an end date of the day before the replacement contract starts. For example, if the replacement contract starts on May 4, 2017, then the original contract end date changes to May 3, 2017.

When a contract is ended before its end date:

• If the new end date is before today, the status of the contract is set to "Expired".
• If the new end date is today or later, the status of the contract remains "Active" until the end date is reached.
• The original end date of the contract is recorded in the Original End Date field. This enables you to renew the contract at a later date using the same duration of the contract before it was ended.
• Draft billing documents and billing schedules that have not yet been billed are deleted.
• Billing schedules are regenerated up to the new end date of the contract.
• Change requests with an Approval Status other than "Rejected" are deleted.
• Draft renewals associated with the contract are deleted.

The following process is correct for the default setup. Depending on your system setup, you may need to enter information in different fields.

When a contract is replaced, no reason for ending the contract or notes are recorded.

Note:

Your system may be configured so that an opportunity creates exactly the contract that you require. Your administrator may have set up a plugin that intercepts the contract creation processes to make any necessary changes, rather than mapping the contract directly from the opportunity.

To create a replacement contract from an opportunity:

1. If you need to do so, complete these fields on the Details page of the opportunity from which you want to create the replacement contract:
   • Account Name
   • Contract Start Date
2. [Optional] Complete these fields on the opportunity, which are to be copied to the replacement contract:
   • Company
   • Contract End Date
   • Contract First Bill Date
   • Opportunity Name
3. Complete the fields on each opportunity product, which are to be copied to the contract line items on the replacement contract:
   • Billing Term - required if automatic contract activation is enabled
   • Billing Type - required if automatic contract activation is enabled
   • Contract Line End Date
   • Contract Line First Bill Date - required if automatic contract activation is enabled
   • Contract Line Start Date
   • Plan Name
   • Product
   • Quantity
   • Sales Price
   • Unit of Measure
4. Select the Type "Existing Customer - Replacement".
5. Select the Stage "Closed Won".
6. Click Save.

Your replacement contract is created, and the original contract will end the day before the new contract starts. For more information about the ending of contracts, see Ending Contracts.

Notes:

The dates used for the Start Date and End Date of the replacement contract are taken from the fields mapped in your Mapping Fields. See Mapping Fields From An Opportunity To A Contract and Setting up Field Mapping.

Draft Billing Documents and unbilled Billing Schedules are deleted from the Original Opportunity's Contract.

An error message is displayed if you attempt to replace a contract that has "Draft" or "Ready for Review" credit notes or consolidated billing documents linked to it. Ensure that the documents are completed, discarded, or unconsolidated before attempting to replace the contract again. A consolidated billing document will trigger this error regardless of whether or not it contains only billing documents related to the current contract.