A contract type describes how a contract is created, negotiated, signed, stored and tracked in Tomorro. This article gives you a method to design your contract types based on your processes, then check them before making them available to your teams.
Only published contract types are offered to your teams when they create a contract or send a document for signature. As long as a type remains a draft, nobody can use it.
Before you start: the questions to ask
The automations of a contract type are organized in five steps: Creation, Review, Signature, Storage and Tracking. For each one, answer these questions with the teams involved, then turn your answers into settings.
Creation
Who is allowed to start this contract type?
What information is needed from the start, and who fills it in?
Which documents must be attached to the contract?
📌 To configure this step, see Configure contract creation.
Review
Who takes part in the negotiation, and who is responsible for it?
Who can edit the document, and who can only suggest or comment?
Does the contract need to be approved before it is sent to the counterparty or for signature? By whom?
📌 To configure this step, see Configure contract review.
Signature
Who signs on your side, and in what order?
With which signature tool?
Which message comes with the signature request?
📌 To configure this step, see Configure contract signature.
Storage
In which folder should the contract be stored once signed?
How should it be named so it is easy to find?
📌 To configure this step, see Configure contract storage.
Tracking
Which dates need to be monitored (end date, notice period, renewal)?
Who should be notified, and how far in advance?
📌 To configure this step, see Configure contract tracking.
Choosing your smart fields
Smart fields hold the information of your contracts: they fill in the template and feed the conditions, storage and reminders. Choosing them carefully saves you from reworking them later.
✅ Best practices
One field, one piece of information: the same field inserted in several places of the template shows the same value everywhere.
Use a selector whenever the answers are known in advance (Single-choice selector or Multiple-choice selector), and a text field only for free answers.
Use generic names that can be reused from one contract type to another (for example "Purpose of the contract" rather than "Purpose of the services contract").
Check what already exists before creating a field, especially if several administrators configure Tomorro.
📌 To create your fields, see Create a smart field.
Import your signed contracts before creating your templates
Want to centralize your existing signed contracts first? A contract type can be published without a template. You can therefore:
Create your contract types without a template, configuring only the Storage and Tracking steps
Publish them
Import your signed contracts
Add the templates later, when you start creating and negotiating your contracts in Tomorro
📌 To import your contracts, see the Import signed contract collection.
Checklist before publishing
Before publishing a contract type, check that:
The name of the type is clear to the teams who will use it
The right people are allowed to use it
The fields of the creation form are the ones you need, and mandatory fields really are mandatory
The template displays correctly, with the right fields and conditions, if you have one
Participants, editing rights and approvals match your process
Signatories and the signature tool are defined
The storage folder and contract name are configured
The planned reminders are in place
A test contract has been created end to end before opening the type to your teams
📌 To publish and manage your contract types, see Manage contract types.