This article covers the following topics related to the amendment functionality in Agreements Management:

• Amendment/Renewal Process
• Amendments List
• Amendment Edit Screens
  • Amendment Sent to Sponsor
  • Amendment Submitted for Approval
• Formalizing an Amendment
  • Editing Formalized Amendments
• Amendments in Analytics

 

 

Amendment/Renewal Process

At the expiration date and potentially during the agreement duration, an amendment is used to make changes or renew an agreement. To create an amendment to an existing agreement, visit Amendments > Amendments and use the action menu on the right right to select "Start Amendment".

This will open an interface to name the amendment. Example names are “Renewal 2018” or “Contact Information Update 2018.”

To create a new amendment, select “Continue". To cancel the amendment process, the admin can select “Cancel". After the amendment is created, the user will be taken to the amendment. (See Amendment Edit Screens below for more information on this interface.)

 

 

Amendments List 

All amendments are available to see in the Amendments List located at Agreements > Agreements > Amendments tab, including those in the process of approval, renewal, and those that have been formalized. The list is sortable and filterable like the Agreements and Proposals lists.

Amendments are processed in four stages with related statuses:

1. The first stage of the process starts with the creation of the amendment.
   • Pending - The amendment has been created, and has yet to be marked as recommended or not recommended for renewal.
2. The second stage is when the proposed amendment is reviewed and evaluated by a sponsor or admin for whether the linked agreement should be renewed and/or updated.
   • Pending Sponsor - The amendment was sent to the sponsor to ask if they recommend or do not recommend the agreement for renewal, but a response has not yet been received.
   • Renew - Either a sponsor or an admin has marked this amendment as recommended for renewal. The amendment is now eligible to be reviewed for approval.
   • Do Not Renew - If an amendment is not sponsored for renewal, this status is applied.
3. If an amendment is recommended for renewal and an approval step is required by workflows, then it next moves to the approval stage:
   • Pending Approval - The amendment has been sent for approval, but a response has not yet been received.
   • Approved - The amendment has been approved and is eligible to be formalized.
   • Rejected - The amendment was rejected during the approval review.
4. The last stage is when an amendment has been approved (or if approval was not required) and the details of the amendment are ready to be applied to the linked agreement.
   • Formalized - The amendment has been formalized and the details from the amendment have been applied to the linked agreement.

On the amendments list, each amendment has an action menu available on the far right side of the page. The options available in this menu are dependent on the status of the amendment:

• Send to Sponsor - Once an amendment is created, it needs to be first sent to the designated sponsor to ask if they do or do not recommend the agreement for renewal. This option shows when an amendment is in either "Pending" or "Pending Sponsor" status, and disappears once an amendment has been moved to the "Renew" status.
• Submit for Approval - Once an amendment has been recommended for renewal, the option to "Submit for Approval" appears. This option shows when an amendment is in "Renew" or "Pending Approval" status, and disappears once the amendment has been moved to the "Approved" status.
• Formalize - Once an amendment is in an "Approved" status, then the option appears to "Formalize" the agreement. This option disappears once option has been selected and the amendment has been moved to a "Formalized" status.
• Edit - Selecting this option opens the Amendment Edit screen interface, allowing for changes to the amendment, managing the renewal status, and seeing the approval history. This option is always available.

 

 

Amendment Edit Screens

When an amendment is first created or when the option "Edit" is chosen for an amendment from the amendments tab, an edit screen opens. In this screen, the tabs available are Renewal, Overview, Details, Attachments, and Approval History. Renewal is the only tab that is unique to the amendment process. If an administrator makes changes on any of the screens on the amendment, he or she must select “Save” for the changes to be recorded. 

Renewal - A sponsoring contact or administrator must recommend renewal on an amendment before the amendment can be sent for approval. (See Amendment Review Email Notification to Sponsor below for more information.)

• • • • The button "Send to Sponsor" can be used to send an email to the sponsor of the agreement with a link for them to indicate if they do or do not recommend renewal of the agreement. See Amendment Sent to Sponsor below for more information on the next steps.
      • An admin can also set a recommendation on this page by selecting either "I recommend Renewal" or "Do Not Renew" and then clicking "Save". Note: If the admin makes a decision to recommend to renew or not renew, the following email notification will be sent to the sponsor. 
        

        Subject: Amendment Sponsor Review

        Dear [first name],

        A recommendation has been submitted on the following amendment:

        Sponsoring Contact(s): [Full name]
        Department(s): [Department name]
        Partner(s): [Institution]
        Location(s): [Location]
        Start Date: [Start date]

        Login to the administration portal.
        Then click here to review the amendment.

        Thank you,
        [Institution name]

      • If an admin or sponsor chooses "Do Not Renew", that will become the new status and no further action will be taken on this amendment. If the choice is reversed, the amendment edit screen must be updated to "I recommend Renewal" so that the approval and formalization processes can continue.

 

 

Amendment Sent to Sponsor

When the button "Send to Sponsor" is clicked, then an email will be sent to the sponsor of the agreement. This email will includes a summary of the amendment with any changes that have been made. The Sponsoring Contact will need to login to submit a renewal recommendation. 

Subject: Amendment Sponsor Review

Dear [first name],

The amendment listed below have been submitted for your review:

Sponsoring Contact(s): [Full name]
Department(s): [Department name]
Partner(s): [Institution]
Location(s): [Location]
Start Date: [Start date]

Login to the administration portal.
Then click here to review the amendment.

Thank you,
[Institution name]

When the sponsor logs in, they will see the Renewal tab and have the option to recommend renewal or to not renew. Once the select an option, they can click "Save" to record their recommendation and progress the amendment to a "Renew" status.

Similar to the administrator’s view of the amendment, the sponsoring contact has the same tabs to review prior to submitting their renewal recommendation, including:

• Overview - The amendment summary details are displayed in this section. 
• Details - Any questionnaire that is assigned to the amendment based on the Amendment workflow rules will display in the details section.

After an amendment is recommended for renewal, the option to "Send for Approval" becomes available. See Amendments List above for more information on the steps of the amendment process.

 

 

Amendment Submitted for Review

When the option to "Submit for Review" is selected from the action menu, then an email will be sent to any approvers that have been designated to review the amendment through workflows. This email will includes a summary of the amendment with any changes that have been made. The approver will need to login to submit a renewal recommendation. 

Subject: AMENDMENT Submitted for Approval

Dear [first name],

The amendment listed below have been submitted for your review:

Proposal Name: [Proposal name]
Agreement Types: [Agreement type]
Sponsoring Contact(s): [Full name]
Department(s): [Department name]
Partner(s): [Institution]
Location(s): [Location]
Start Date: [Start date]

Click here to review

Best,
[Institution name]

When the approver logs in, they will see the Approval tab and have the option to Reject or Approve, as well as add comments about their decision.

Similar to the administrator’s view of the amendment, the approver has the same tabs to review prior to submitting their approval decision, including:

• Overview - The amendment summary details are displayed in this section. 
• Details - Any questionnaire that is assigned to the amendment based on the Amendment workflow rules will display in the details section.

After an amendment is approved, the option to "Formalize Amendment" becomes available. See Amendments List above for more information on the steps of the amendment process.

 

 

Formalizing an Amendment

Once an amendment has been approved or if no approvals are required, the status will change to “Approved”. Approved amendments can be formalized and the option to formalize an amendment will appear in the actions menu once an amendment is approved. 

Choosing the option "Formalize Amendment" will open up a window to enter details about the formalization.

• Signed Date and End Date - Prior to marking the amendment as finalized, the administrator is given the opportunity to populate a signed and agreement end date. The dates entered here will become the updated agreement dates.
• Attach Document - To attach the final/signed copy of the amendment, drag a file to the “Drop signed copy of amendment here” section. Attachments will show in the section below with the attachment type of “Fully Executed Amendment”

To finalize the amendment process, select OK. To cancel and leave the amendment in the approved state, select Cancel. Once OK is selected, the details from the amendment will become the agreement details.

Once an amendment is formalized, it will become part of the agreement, available for review when viewing the agreement by navigating to Approval History > Amendments Log. The main agreement will automatically be updated with the details from the amendment. Note that the signature section of the agreement does not update with the amendment details.

 

 

Editing Formalized Amendments

Amendments can be edited even after they have been formalized. Some edits may impact requirements that are set through workflows, so additional notices will display in these cases:

• When editing any field in an amendment, admins can choose between saving and reprocessing the amendment through requirements such as approvals or saving edits directly to the amendment and linked agreement. This will allow the flexibility to correct small errors without triggering a workflow, while also giving administrators the control to reprocess approvals
• When making changes to agreement type, location, or sponsoring college or department, a prompt will appear to indicate this may change required questionnaires applied by workflows and offer the options to proceed or revert without saving

After making any changes and saving, a window will appear offering users the option to either:

• Save and Reprocess - This will rerun any requirements that apply from workflows, including associated approvals and notifications. This option is useful for when changes necessitate completing an approval through institutional processes again.
• Save Edits Only - This will save the changes to the amendment and agreement without triggering any approvals or notifications. This option is useful for minor changes, such as spelling corrections or adding notes.

 

 

Amendments in Analytics

Report on changes to agreements using Analytics! To do this, create a query and select Agreements > Agreements as the data source. Then select fields to query, such as this example:

Then, in the filter section, select a status or statuses that are specific to amendments to narrow the report to only showing the relevant data. In the below example, a filter is applied to only show "Agreement Status Equals Formalized", which will limit the results to showing formalized amendments.

This functionality is useful for reviewing and reporting changes to agreements that have happened, showing the dynamic and exciting changes in relationships between your institution and others.