Comparing Amendment Types

The amendment process of a contract enables the contract project owner to make changes to the contract documents, and the workspace itself. For example, they can add a new Statement of Work to an agreement, or change the language or expiration date of the workspace. Amending a contract allows you to specify the types of changes you are making as well as restrict access as needed for different amendment types. An amendment unlocks the contract workspace for editing by creating a new version for it.

The table below lists the amendment types available in the SAP Ariba system and defines their characteristics.

Administrative amendments allow you to update non-contract details, such as adding a team member, uploading a supplemental document, or modifying a description field. However, they do not alter the contract terms. If you select this amendment type, the Contract Status field does not change (the value stays Published).

Out of the box fields that become editable through an administrative amendment are:

• Name
• Description
• Owner
• Access Control

Instead of republishing the workspace after making changes, you will complete the amendment. However, completing an administrative amendment triggers project state change notifications, just as if the workspace were published. Any events normally triggered by workspace publication will also occur. Additionally, completing an administrative amendment increments the workspace version number.

Play the video to learn how to create an administrative amendment for a contract workspace.

If a customer uses contract line items documents to store their pricing in a contract workspace, they can perform Price Update amendments to modify the pricing information there.

This amendment type is used to update pricing only in the Contract Line Items Document without changing the workspace status. A change in the status of the contract workspace usually requires a lengthy approval flow, but in this case, it is avoided as the status does not change to Draft Amendment. The contract status remains as Published but the version will say (editing).

Play the video to learn how to create a Price Update amendment for a contract workspace.

Performing an Amendment amendment, also known as a full amendment, indicates that changes are required to the main contract workspace attributes and documents. This type of amendment allows you to change any part of the project. This may include changes to the commodity or item coverage, changes to the pricing terms, or verbiage added to the contract by adding separate addenda documents with additional clauses to the contract workspace.

If your SAP Ariba Contracts solution is integrated with SAP Ariba Procurement solutions, each Amendment or Renewal amendment of a contract workspace that contains a Contract Terms document also triggers a new version of the corresponding contract in SAP Ariba Procurement solutions. Contract Term Attributes during a renewal amendment indicates the contract period for which the contract is applicable.

Play the video to learn how to create an Amendment amendment to a contract workspace.

A Renewal Amendment indicates that the contract workspace is being amended simply to change the active dates for the contract, such as the effective date, the expiration date, and the reminder settings. This could represent situations where the contract was extended with the same terms as the previous version.

If you want to extend contracts that are in expired status, you can choose Renewal amendment to update the expiration date and publish the contract immediately without having to first create an Administrative amendment.

Practice creating a renewal amendment by completing the Creating a Renewal Amendment exercise below.