Creating purchase contracts

The Purchase Contracts module is integrated directly into Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, where you can access it using the () icon or from the Purchase Contracts Cue group on the Role Center. You can also use both of these access methods when you create purchase contracts.

This article describes four methods to create a purchase contract. A fifth method is described in the article Creating purchase contracts based on invoice history. No matter the method you choose, the Approval Status of a new purchase contract is set to Approval Needed by default.

To create a purchase contract from scratch

To create a purchase contract from scratch without basing it on an existing purchase document (invoice or credit memo):

1. Search () for and select Purchase Contracts.

   Note

   You can also open this page from the Business Central Role Center. Under Purchase Contracts, click the All Cue to open it. Note that the page is called All when you access it this way, but it's otherwise identical to the Purchase Contracts page.

2. On the action bar, click Create Purchase Contract.

3. Optional: click the three dots () by Apply Contract Template to select a purchase contract template as a basis for the purchase contract.

4. Fill out the mandatory fields and click OK. The following fields deserve special mention:
   

   Field	Description
   Purchaser Code	Enter or select the code of the person you want to approve the contract you're setting up.
   Invoicing Period Code	How often you expect invoices/credit memos relating to this contract to be sent by the vendor. Your selection is used for calculating the Yearly Amount for each line on the Lines FastTab, together with the Quantity and Unit Cost fields. Note To create your own period codes, select the field to open the dropdown menu, and then select + New. On the page that opens, fill out the fields as required. Under Period Date Formula, your entry must be an integer followed by D (days), WD (weekdays), W (weeks), M (months), Q (quarters), or Y (years) – for example, 2W (two weeks). On the same page, you can also specify how often the contract must be reviewed, by editing the Approval Frequency field. If you select Date Formula here, enter the formula under Approval Frequency Date Formula, using the guidelines mentioned above. The value you enter in these two fields is automatically filled out in the corresponding fields on the Approvals FastTab (see step 4 below).
   Contract Start Date	The start date of the purchase contract represented by the line. If a date appears in the Contract Start Date field on the General FastTab, this date is automatically populated to the respective field. If not, you can enter a date manually. Together, Contract Start Date and Contract End Date mark the interval that all linked purchase documents must be posted within. Note If any purchase document linked to this purchase contract line has a posting date outside the start and end date interval, an error message is displayed. Similarly, if you edit the Invoice Date field in the document journal for a purchase document that's linked to a purchase contract line, an error message is displayed in the Comments section of the document journal if the new date is outside the start and end date interval of the contract line.
   Approval Frequency	How often the contract must be approved. The default option is Yearly, unless you've edited this in the Invoicing Period Code field in step 3 – any changes you make to the Approval Frequency and Approval Frequency Date Formula fields under Invoicing Period Code are automatically filled out here. Note If you select Date Formula, the Approval Frequency Date Formula field appears. Here, you must enter a formula in the form of an integer followed by D (days), WD (weekdays), W (weeks), M (months), Q (quarters), or Y (years) – for example, 2W (two weeks). For more advanced formulas, you can also use the mathematical symbols + and –, or you can enter the letter C (current) as a prefix to any of the previously mentioned time units – for example, CM+10D (current month plus ten days).

5. On the Purchase Contract page, on the General FastTab, fill out the fields as needed. The following fields deserve special mention:

6. On the Approvals FastTab, fill out the fields as needed:

7. On the Lines FastTab, enter the lines that you expect to find in the invoices/credit memos you receive from the vendor, by filling out all fields as needed. The following fields deserve special mention:

To create a purchase contract from a document

You can create purchase contracts from a document in two ways: with line recognition disabled or enabled in the relevant template. No matter which of the methods you choose, the following two values are automatically added to the Document Header section of the document journal when you finish the relevant guide:

• In the Type field, the value Purchase Contract is added.
• In the No. field, the contract number is added.

To create a purchase contract from the document journal:

1. Search () for and select Document Categories.

2. Click the PURCHASE code to open the document journal.

3. In the list of documents, select the invoice/credit memo you want to use as a basis for your purchase contract.

4. If there's no template associated with the invoice/credit memo, you must assign one by activating field recognition: on the action bar, click Home > Recognize Fields.

5. On the action bar, click Purchase Contract > Create Purchase Contract to open the Create Purchase Contract page.

   Note

   The following fields on the Create Purchase Contract page are automatically filled out, mostly with data from the header of the selected invoice/credit memo:

   • Description is automatically filled out based on the value of the Line Posting Description field.
   • Purchaser Code is automatically filled out with the Our Contact value.
   • Approval Frequency is automatically filled out with the default option Yearly.

6. If necessary, edit the automatically filled out fields, and fill out the remaining fields as required.

7. Optional: If line recognition is enabled, click the link below the Prices Including VAT field to open the Assigned Amount Lines page. Here you can review the amounts in the document, and edit the related Type and No. fields. It's also possible to create a single contract line with the total amount of the invoice/credit memo, and the specified account type and number. This line can be edited later, if necessary.

8. Optional: Enable the Configure purchase contract as the default account setting to set the created purchase contract as the default account on the template level.

9. Click OK to close the page and create the contract.

If Open Purchase Contract is enabled on the Create Purchase Contract page, the purchase contract opens – allowing you to make any necessary changes and fill out additional fields. For a description of this process, see steps 3-5 in the guide above. You must use this method if you want to create contract invoices based on this contract.

To create a purchase contract from a template

Purchase contract templates are useful when you need the same basic configuration for two or more purchase contracts, such as the cost category code, approval frequency, etc. With a template in place, you can more quickly fill out the remaining fields for each individual purchase contract.

To create a purchase contract template:

1. Search () for and select Purchase Contract Templates.
2. On the action bar, click New.
3. Fill out the fields as needed.

Related information

Create purchase contracts (Continia Learn)
Purchase contract approvals
Creating contract invoices
Approving contract invoices
Viewing the Purchase Contract Archive