Contracts App Overview

Contracts

1. What it is

Contracts keeps every agreement your organization signs — with vendors you buy from and customers you sell to — from the first draft to renewal or exit. It files the contract, reads it with AI, routes it for approval and signature, and then tracks what happens under it: obligations, renewals, spend, and the service actually delivered.

• Enablement: Contracts is a licensed app. An admin turns it on from Admin → Apps Marketplace, then configures it at Contracts → Settings.
• What it is not: Contracts is not a document editor. You write and redline contracts in Word, then upload them, start them from one of your standard contracts, or have a first draft made from an intake questionnaire.

2. Standing it up

Admins and Contracts app admins see a setup checklist on the Contracts dashboard. It covers standard contracts, approvers, bringing in contracts, the renewal calendar and a first approval, and ticks each step off as it happens.

1. Go to Contracts → Settings → General. Choose who you usually contract with under Most of our contracts are with: Vendors we buy from (the default), Customers we sell to, or An even mix — ask every time. Add every name you sign as under Legal entity names we sign contracts as, so the AI can tell which side of a contract you are on.
2. Still on General, decide Who can create contracts? The default is Managers and admins. Admins and Contracts app admins can always create contracts.
3. Add your standard contracts under Settings → Rules & Libraries → Standard Contracts — the NDA, MSA and order form you send, as Word or PDF files.
4. Go to Settings → Approvals and decide who approves. With Require approval for new contracts on (the default), a submitted contract goes to the Default approver roles (Admin and Super Admin by default), or to a multi-level workflow you build under Manage workflows.
5. Bring in your existing contracts. New Contract files one at a time; Bulk Upload, in the actions menu on the contracts list, takes a whole binder at once. Bulk upload needs AI contract analysis switched on.
6. Open Renewal calendar from the same actions menu, or Add renewals to your calendar on any contract, and subscribe, so renewals and notice deadlines reach your own calendar.
7. Confirm it worked: file one contract, submit it, and approve it. Your managers should now see New Contract on the dashboard.

Things that do nothing until a second thing is set:

• Built-in signing needs the E-Signature app turned on. DocuSign or HelloSign needs an active integration at Admin → Organization → Integrations. Until one exists, the provider list on Settings → Integrations is empty.
• Obligations become tasks only when the Tasks app is turned on.
• Signability verdicts need at least one playbook rule with an ideal clause or a walk-away line. Until then, the playbook only checks whether each required clause is present.
• Delivered vs contracted needs Safety Hub (hours and visits, read from work permits as an upper bound) or Service Desk (resolution times) for vendor contracts, and a linked Field Service agreement for customer contracts.
• Renewal reminders count back from the contract’s notice deadline, or from its end date when it has no notice date or period.

3. How it fits together

Vendor side and customer side. Every contract is either with a vendor (you buy) or a customer (you sell). Vendors are the same records Procurement and Supplier Hub use; customers are the same accounts Mango GTM and Mango CS use. The Customers tab appears when your usual side is not vendors, or once any customer contract exists.

Status. A contract is Draft, Pending approval, Active, Expiring, Expired, Terminated or Renewed. Active, Expiring and Expired follow the dates on their own: a nightly check moves a contract to Expiring when it enters the expiration-warning window, and to Expired after its end date. The other statuses change only when someone acts.

Owner, uploader and manager. The uploader filed the contract and never changes. The owner is responsible for it from then on; admins and Contracts app admins can transfer ownership, and when someone is offboarded their contracts pass to their manager. A contract manager — the owner, the uploader, an admin, a Contracts app admin or a contract coordinator — can edit, submit, renew, amend and send the contract for signature.

Contract coordinator. A coordinator (Settings → General → Who can manage every contract?) sees and edits every contract, files for any location, and decides value-tier approvals — without access to Settings. By default only app admins hold this.

AI analysis and the allowance. With AI contract analysis on, a contract filed from New Contract gets an AI summary, a risk explanation and a risk score from 0 to 100 on its own. A bulk import does the same on commit unless Summarize and risk-score each contract as it is filed is switched off on the review grid. Each AI run counts against the contract’s allowance — 3 runs per rolling 12 months by default. Admins and Contracts app admins are not limited.

Version, amendment and renewal. These are easy to mix up:

• A version is a new file on the same contract — a counterparty’s redline, your next draft, a supporting document.
• An amendment is a recorded change to value, dates, vendor or customer, payment terms or scope. Once approved, it updates the contract.
• A renewal creates a new contract for the next term. The original becomes Renewed. Nothing renews automatically; someone clicks Renew.

Redlines and the playbook. When a new draft replaces the contract file — uploaded by you, by the counterparty through their link, or emailed back to the contract’s reply address — the AI compares it with the previous version. Each change becomes a redline, rated for impact and severity, with a suggested response of accept, counter or reject. Your Negotiation Playbook holds, per clause type, the ideal clause, fallback positions with the approver each needs, and the walk-away line.

Obligations. An obligation is something owed under a signed contract — a quarterly report, an insurance renewal. It is One-time, Recurring or Milestone. Completing a recurring one creates the next. With the Tasks app on, each obligation on a live contract is also a task for its owner.

Services contracts and certificates. On service, maintenance, support, SOW and consulting contracts, a Service delivery card compares confirmed targets with what was delivered over the last three complete months. Vendor certificates (SOC 2, COI, W-9, security audit, insurance) live in a shared register that Safety Hub also reads before a contractor’s work permit is issued.

Example: A facilities team files a two-year cleaning service agreement with Brightway Services, worth $96,000 a year, as CTR-00042. The AI scores it 38 (Medium). The value is below the $100,000 legal-review threshold, so it goes to the default approvers and is approved. The owner confirms two targets on the Service delivery card: 173 hours on site and 20 visits a month (the contract says “40 hours per week”). In March, Brightway’s COI lapses; the day before their next permitted visit, Safety Hub sends an Inbox ask, and the permit can only be issued with a recorded reason. Ninety days before the notice deadline, the owner is reminded and opens the renewal decision packet.

4. Running it

Approving contracts

1. Open My Work → Approvals (the badge shows what is waiting on you).
2. Open a contract, read the AI summary and risk score, and choose Approve or Reject. A rejection needs a reason and returns the contract to Draft.
3. Approvers can also decide from the approval email. The link opens a confirmation page first; nothing is decided by opening the email.
4. Going on leave? Choose Delegate my approvals on the Approvals page, or ask Ask AI, to hand your approvals to a colleague for a date range.

Negotiating with a counterparty

1. On a draft, the negotiation card gives you Download to send, a copyable email, and the counterparty’s no-login link.
2. When their redline comes back, open Redlines and accept, counter or reject each change — on desktop or on the phone.
3. Ask AI can check signability — whether the contract can be signed as-is, with named approvals, or not at all.

Sending for signature

1. Open the contract and choose Place Signature Fields, then add signers in the order they sign.
2. Choose Send for E-Signature. Unsigned contracts are chased on the cadence you set in Notifications.
3. For a paper signature, use Mark as Signed. A signed draft that needs approval is submitted for approval straight away; a contract that still needs approval stays pending until its approvals complete, then goes live.

Deciding renewals

Owners are reminded ahead of the notice deadline. The Renewal decision page shows spend under the contract, open Service Desk tickets with the vendor, linked assets, the vendor scorecard and open obligations, with a suggestion to renew, renegotiate or exit. Record decision logs the choice; renewing is a separate Renew action.

Importing a batch

Choose Bulk Upload, add files, a ZIP or a folder, and pick the side and signed state. On the review grid, filter by folder, fix vendor, type, dates, owner or location for many rows at once (every change is previewed and can be undone), then Commit.

Telling other systems

Contracts sends an event when something happens to a contract, so your ERP, finance system or an integration tool can act without anyone re-keying it:

Event	When
contract.signed	A signature is recorded — also while approval is still outstanding
contract.activated	A contract goes into force: approved, auto-approved, signed with nothing outstanding, or an expired one given a later end date — the event says which
contract.renewed	Someone renews a contract (the event names the new term)
contract.terminated	A contract in force is terminated
contract.expired	A contract in force passes its end date
contract.renewal_due	A contract’s notice deadline (or its end date, when it has none) comes inside the renewal-reminder window — once per term, and again when the contract is extended into a new term (a deadline whose reminder window starts after the previous deadline); corrections to dates inside the current term don’t send it again
contract.obligation_due	An open obligation reaches its due date, or is added or moved to today
contract.approval_reversed	Someone reverses an automatic approval made by a learned approval pattern

An admin subscribes a webhook to them under Admin → Webhooks, or builds an Automation Hub rule on them — the Contract Signed → Tell Finance template sends a person you choose an Inbox note with the contract’s summary. Each event carries the contract’s number, title, type, counterparty, owner, location, status, value, currency and dates, never its description, notes, termination reason or AI summary. Events cover every contract in the organization, including contracts limited to certain locations; a rule can filter on community_id, the contract’s primary location. Filing contracts by an import or a bulk upload sends nothing, but each contract’s later events are sent like any other’s; sample data never sends events. The app’s own Workflow Triggers fire on the same events and take the same conditions.

5. Settings

All settings are at Contracts → Settings, in nine tabs.

Setting	Where	Default	What it changes
Auto-generate contract numbers	General	On	Numbers new contracts in sequence
Contract number prefix	General	CTR	Gives numbers like CTR-00001
Most of our contracts are with	General	Vendors we buy from	Which side new contract forms open on
Who can create contracts?	General	Managers and admins	Who sees New Contract and Bulk Upload
Who can manage every contract?	General	App admins	Grants the contract coordinator role
Who can view contract spend?	General	Everyone with access to the app	Who sees the Spend page and figures
Who can export the register?	General	Managers and admins	Who can export the register and the due-diligence bundle
Who can view portfolio analytics?	General	App admins	Who sees Analytics
Who can see negotiation positions?	General	App admins	Who sees the playbook’s fallbacks and walk-away lines
Require approval for new contracts	Approvals	On	Contracts must be approved before they go active
Default approver roles	Approvals	Admin, Super Admin	Who approves when no workflow matches
Require legal review above (USD)	Approvals	100,000	Adds one legal-review approval above this value, with or without a workflow
Legal reviewers	Approvals	None (any admin)	Who can give the legal-review approval; one approval from this group is enough
Auto-approve below (USD)	Approvals	0 (off)	Approves smaller contracts without a person
Allow approval delegation	Approvals	On	Lets approvers hand their approvals to a colleague
Require all approvers	Approvals	Off	Every assigned approver must approve
Escalate overdue approvals	Approvals	Off	Alerts admins about stalled approvals
Escalate after	Approvals	7 days	How long before an approval counts as overdue
Remind before escalating	Approvals	24 hours	When the approver gets a reminder
Renewal reminder	Renewals & Lifecycle	90 days	How far before the notice deadline (or the end date when there is none) the owner is reminded
Expiration warning	Renewals & Lifecycle	30 days	When a contract turns Expiring and warnings start
Allow amendments	Renewals & Lifecycle	On	Lets contract managers record amendments
Amendments need approval	Renewals & Lifecycle	On	Every amendment must be approved
Allow early termination	Renewals & Lifecycle	On	Allows ending an active or expiring contract early
Score contract risk with AI	Compliance & Risk	On	Whether the AI produces a risk score
Flag high-risk contracts	Compliance & Risk	Off	Marks contracts that reach the risk level below
Alert when risk reaches	Compliance & Risk	High	The level that triggers the flag
Prevent deletion of active contracts	Compliance & Risk	On	Blocks deleting in-force contracts
Restrict contracts with no location to administrators	Compliance & Risk	Off	Hides unassigned contracts from non-admins
Re-verify identity before contract file downloads	Compliance & Risk	Off	Asks for re-verification before a file downloads
AI contract analysis	AI & Agent	On	Turns AI analysis, redline comparison and drafting on or off
AI runs allowed per contract per year	AI & Agent	3	The per-contract AI allowance
Enable Contracts Agent	AI & Agent	On	Contracts in Ask AI
Enable Contracts Admin Agent	AI & Agent	On	Portfolio search and spend questions for admins
Send a weekly digest	Notifications	Off	Monday email of what needs attention
Chase unsigned contracts every	Notifications	7 days	Signature follow-up cadence
Send contracts out for signature	Integrations	On	Turns e-signature on
Default provider	Integrations	Native (Built-in)	Which signing service is used
Track contract spend	Integrations	On	Turns on the Spend page
Require payment terms	Integrations	Off	Makes payment terms required on new contracts

The Notifications tab also has one switch per notification — approval requests, approval decisions, expiring soon, expired, renewal decision needed, obligation reminders, counterparty activity, signature follow-ups and vendor certificate expiry are on; contract created is off.

Rules & Libraries holds Standard Contracts, Playbook Rules, Workflow Triggers, Custom Fields, Drafting Forms, Vendor Certifications, Contract Types and Form Templates, plus Manage workflows for multi-level approvals. A workflow trigger runs on a contract event (signed, terminated, renewed or renewal due) when every one of its conditions matches — the same conditions an Automation Hub rule takes, such as contract type, contract value at least an amount (on a renewal, the new term’s value), counterparty side, primary location, status, auto-renews or currency. Sample data adds three example triggers, switched off: they never run and can’t be switched on — create your own trigger to automate your contracts.

6. More help

• Contracts FAQ — limits, ranges, permissions and what to do when something looks wrong
• Ask AI — the assistant answers questions about Contracts from these articles.