Uploading Assembled Documents

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to inspect the functionality for loaded assembled documents.

Main Agreement Upload

After you have configured the styles in the Microsoft Word file, save it. Then upload it into the SAP Ariba Contracts template or contract workspace as the Main Agreement or Contract Addendum. When uploading the file, be sure to select the document type of Main Agreement or Contract Addendum, as appropriate. Once uploaded your assembled document will be in a Draft status.

Note

Any file loaded as a document type of Document is not going to allow you to view the clauses in the Outline View.

During the upload process, the system reads the Microsoft Word document and organizes the content accordingly. Any content with an applied style that has a prefix ignore will not be displayed in the Outline View. Finally, view the document in the Outline View to make sure it looks as you expected.

Contract owners may change the language within the Main Agreement as they deem necessary until the contract workspace is published. They can substitute clauses, make additions or deletions. Other users can review and/or approve these changes if the contract includes Review and/or Approval tasks.

Below is a side by side representation of a Main Agreement in a styled Microsoft Word document and the Outline View.

Screenshot of parallel view of the styled main agreement and outline view of the same document.

Editing and Re-Uploading

You can edit the Microsoft Word document as necessary then save it to your computer. When ready to re-upload, utilize the Drag and Drop feature to upload the revised document. When the system detects that a new document has been uploaded, it will ask what you would like to do to with it.

There are three options:

Review uploaded document
Update with uploaded document
Discard uploaded document

The Review Uploaded Document option brings you to the redlining view of the Review Changes screen. You can then:

Choose Next/Previous to toggle and review the changes.
Select Process Changes to accept and commit these changes into the document in SAP Ariba Contracts.
Choose Reject Changes to reject and discard these changes.

The Update with Uploaded Document option bypasses the redlining view of the Review Changes screen. With this option all changes will automatically be processed and accepted into the document within SAP Ariba Contracts.

The Discard Uploaded Document option just cancels the upload of the document. No changes will be processed and the document stays the same as it was prior to the drag and drop.

Play the video to learn how to upload and manage assembled documents.

The Outline View

SAP Ariba Contracts displays a snippet (the first 200 characters) for each clause in the Outline View and will indicate the type of clause. Remember that a clause displayed in the Outline View does not necessarily come from the Clause Library.

Customers can choose different methods of finalizing their contract documents depending on personal preference, the number of Legal resources, and the maturity of internal policies. Some prefer to use a standard agreement online, which they won’t modify after upload, or will modify it offline. Others, will use the SAP Ariba Clause Library to dynamically update their agreements by importing pre-created clauses.

As the Clause Library is maintained by administrators, which have direct access to it, contract owners use the Outline View of their assembled documents to check for alternative clauses or to import new ones.

Screenshot of the Outline View and the Actions button menu which allows you to substitute, promote to section, view versions, delete.

Action	Steps to Perform Action
Add a new clause or several new clauses to the document.	Choose Actions→Add Clause(s) to access the Clause Library. Expand the folders in the Clause Library and select the check boxes for the clauses you want to include.
Edit a clause.	Download the document to your system, edit it using Microsoft Word or any other OpenXML editor, and upload it back or drag and drop it back into the drag-and-drop area in the top left corner of the Document screen.
Substitute a clause.	Select the clause and choose Actions→Substitute to select a substitute clause from the Clause Library. When you substitute a clause, the document on your desktop and the Outline View update.
Move a clause.	Select the clause and drag and drop it to the new location.
Delete a clause.	Select the clause and choose Actions→Delete to delete a clause. SAP Ariba Contracts replaces this clause with the text Clause intentionally deleted.
View versions of a clause.	Select the clause and choose Actions→View Versions to view the versions of a clause. You can select the clause name and Replace Document to replace one version of a clause with another.
Convert a clause into a section.	Select the clause and choose Actions→Promote to Section to convert a clause into a section heading.
Filter clause display.	Select the Clause Type menu and choose a clause type. This filters the clauses you see in the Outline View. You can choose All to show all clauses.

The Clause Library

If owners prefer to update their agreements via the system, they can leverage the clauses stored in the Clause Library. Ideally, clauses in the Clause Library have been pre-approved by the organization for use in contract documents and marked as:

Preferred
Alternative
Fallback

When clauses are used in a Main Agreement or Contract Addendum, the system tracks which clauses are used as is from the library or if they came from another source. This allows approvers to focus on the non-standard language used in contracts rather than having to review all the text in contract documents. This streamlines the approval process and makes it easier to pass organization-wide standards down to the contract creators. In the system the Clause Library is managed as a contract library project, providing clause authors with access control and an organized folder structure for storing clauses.

Use of the Clause Library provides many benefits. It allows your organization to:

Create consistent contracts, while using pre-approved clauses.
Require clause-level approvals to use a clause from the Clause Library, to edit a clause in the Clause Library, the contract project template, or a contract workspace.
Report on clause level usage and editing.
View helper text or negotiation tactics that cannot be seen by your counter party.

Lesson Summary

Configure and Upload: Save the styled MS Word file and upload it as Main Agreement or Contract Addendum in SAP Ariba Contracts.
Document Management: Edit, review, and update uploaded documents using Drag and Drop and redlining view for changes.
Clause Library: Use the Clause Library for pre-approved clauses, tracking usage, and streamlining the approval process.
Outline View: Check clause types and snippets in Outline View, which aids in finalizing and reviewing contract documents.
Benefits: Leverage the Clause Library for consistent contracts, clause-level approvals, and usage reporting.

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