Importing and Exporting the Clause Library

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to import and export the Clause Library and its data.

Mass Upload of Clauses

Administrator users in SAP Ariba Contracts can bulk upload clauses and their associated content into the Clause Library using a Microsoft Excel document. This document contains the clauses along with their associated rules and information. Users can also download clauses and related information from SAP Ariba, make updates outside the solution, and then upload the revised content back into the system.

For example, an organization may already have a library of clauses with associated attributes and related information that they want to upload to the Clause Library folder within SAP Ariba. Administrators can create a folder structure containing the clauses and an Excel document with information about the clauses, then generate a .zip file. This .zip file can be imported into SAP Ariba Contracts.

Procedure

To mass upload clauses to the Clause Library follow the steps below.

  1. Create a set of files in Microsoft Word .docx format corresponding to the clauses and organize the files in a folder or set of nested folders.
  2. Use the Clause Library Export operation to create a clauselibrary.zip file with a ClauseLibrary.xlsx Excel document to use as a template. Alternatively, create the ClauseLibrary.xlsx file, and add a row with the column headers listed in the previous section.
  3. In the ClauseLibrary.xlsx document, create a row for each folder and clause, and specify the path and description for the folder or clause, and details such as the path, base language, editors, and clause type for clauses.
  4. Create a .zip file named clauselibrary.zip that contains the folders, clauses, and your ClauseLibrary.xlsx document. Note: The Excel document and the content to upload must reside in a folder called clauselibrary (case sensitive). That folder must be directly in the root of the .zip file.
  5. Navigate to your Clause Library in SAP Ariba Contracts and select Import. Browse or drag-and-drop the updated clauselibrary.zip file to SAP Ariba Contracts.
  6. On importing, the folders, clause files, and items attributes are created or updated as indicated in the .zip file.
  7. Verify that the folders, clause files, and items attributes as indicated in the .zip file are created or updated in the Clause Library. You can open a clause to view its details and verify that the attributes match the ones you specified in the Excel document for that clause.

Clause Library Import and Export

If you are the Clause Library Project Owner, or if you are on the Clause Library team and a member of the Contract Administrator group, you can export the Clause Library to a .zip file. This procedure allows you to use a Clause Library that has been developed in another environment without having to manually re-create it. For example, you can build your Clause Library in a test environment, export it, and then import it into a production environment when it is complete. You can also export the Clause Library from your production environment and import it into your test environment to test changes.

You can perform a full export or import of all of the clauses in the Clause Library, or a partial export or import of selected folders. You can only export or import clauses in folders and won’t be able to export or import individual clauses, although you can move them manually.

When you export and import the Clause Library, keep in mind the following:

  • Folders and clause documents are exported and imported in the order in which they appear in the source Clause Library. If you re-order content in the destination Clause Library, and then re-import the source Clause Library, you will lose that new ordering.
  • SAP Ariba Contracts does not export or import the translations of folders and clauses during Clause Library export and import.
  • Be sure to save all clause document changes before attempting to export or import clauses. During Clause Library export and import, you will not be notified if you have unsaved changes to clause documents, and those unsaved changes will be lost. Clause Library export and import is intended to help you populate your destination Clause Library; it is not designed for managing changes to individual clauses.

Since contract workspace templates use clauses, there is a relationship between the template and the clauses in the Clause Library. To maintain this relationship during Clause Library export and import, be sure to export the Clause Library from the source environment and import it into the destination environment before exporting and importing the associated templates. Otherwise, links between templates and clauses will be lost.

Note

It is recommended that you import clauses in Published status. Clauses must be published to be used in a template. Links between templates and clauses imported in Draft status will be lost.

Clause Library Export

To export the Clause Library follow the steps below.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the Clauses tab on the Clause Library page.
  2. Do one of the following to begin export of either the full Clause Library or selected folders:
    • To export the full Clause Library, choose Actions→Export→Clause Library.
    • To export a top-level folder and its contents, select the folder and choose Export→This folder and content. The folder itself and all of its contents are exported in a .zip file.
  3. Choose the Include Supporting Documents check box to include supporting documents in the export.
  4. Select Export.
  5. Choose Save and save the exported .zip file to the location of your choice.

Note

By default, an exported .zip file for the entire Clause Library is named ClauseLibrary.zip, while a ZIP file for a folder export is named for the folder, for example, ServiceAgreements.zip. You can rename these ZIP files as needed.

Play the video to learn how to export the Clause Library.

Clause Library Import

To import the Clause Library follow the steps below:

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the Clauses tab on the Clause Library page.
  2. Begin the import for either the full Clause Library or selected folders:
    • To import the full Clause Library, select Actions→Import Clause Library content.
    • To import a folder and its contents, select the folder into which you want to import it, then choose Import→Clause Library content.
  4. Select the appropriate radio button to import the clauses in Published status, Draft status, or the status in which they were exported.
  5. Choose Browse and navigate to the location of the Clause Library .zip file you want to import.
  6. Select Import.

You might be importing clauses into an empty Clause Library. However, if you are importing clauses into a Clause Library with existing content, it is important to understand how imported clauses interact with existing clauses in the destination library:

  • Clause Library import replaces any clause that has been locked by its owner.
  • Clause Library import replaces any clause that has an Approval task in a pending state, and issues a warning for every attempt to replace a clause with a non-approved Approval task during import.
  • Existing clauses that are replaced during Clause Library import are updated with a new version. This new version indicates that it was created from a bulk import, has the status specified at import (Published, Draft, or the status exported from the source Clause Library), and maintains any existing links to templates and supporting documents.
  • If you import a new version of an existing folder, you must import it to the same location in the folder structure. For example, if you are importing a new version of the Agreement folder, which is currently located in Clause Library→Service Agreements, you cannot import it into the Clause Library folder. You must import it into the same folder, Clause Library→Service Agreements.

Lesson Summary

  • Admin users can bulk upload clauses and rules to SAP Ariba Contracts using a structured Microsoft Excel document.
  • Export and import the Clause Library as a .zip file to move content between test and production environments efficiently.
  • Maintain clause-template links by importing clauses with Published status; Draft status links are lost upon import.
  • Clause Library import replaces locked clauses and those with pending approval tasks, updating them with a new version.

Learning

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