How to register Metadata for a Contract

This article explains how to register and manage attributes for a contract in CLM.

🗺️ Overview

Register and manage metadata for a contract in CLM, including which fields are filled automatically, inherited from templates, or need to be completed manually.

🧑‍🦱 Who Can Use This

Depending on access rights or permissions:

• CLM Power User can register metadata during contract creation and view and edit metadata during contract editing (starting from Draft).

• Contract Editors can view and edit metadata during contract editing (starting from Authoring).

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✅ Automatically Filled Fields

Some fields are automatically populated by the system or based on the contract creation method:

• Internal number – automatically generated after saving a draft (read-only, hidden before saving).

• Contract owner – the user creating the contract is automatically set as the owner.

• Template, Contract type – copied automatically if the contract is created from a Template.

• Supplier details (address, email, post code, etc.) – if a supplier is searched by name and selected.

• Default values (where applicable): Unit for initial duration, Has renewal clause, Unit for renewal duration, Unit for termination period, Has no end date.

⚠️ If a contract is created from scratch (without a Template):

• Template field is empty and read-only.

• Contract type defaults to “Other” but can be changed before saving.

✍️ Manually Filled Fields

No fields are automatically filled from documents.
If any details in documents change (e.g., supplier, value, start/end date), users must update them manually in the metadata fields.

Some fields are required depending on the Contract status (e.g., Active).

Supplier Details

To link supplier information:

1. Start typing the supplier name in the Supplier field (search begins after 1 character).

2. Select a supplier from the results.

3. All supplier-related fields (VAT, Address, Country, Contact, Phone, Email) will be auto-populated and stay read-only.

Value and Currency

• Currently, no automatic currency conversion is applied. All values are stored in the currency selected by the user.

⚠️ Only contracts with values in EUR are included in dashboards.

Owner Field

• The Contract Owner field is not editable during contract creation, and editable by the CLM Power User during editing.

• Setting a user as a Contract Owner does not automatically grant them owner access rights.

⚠️ Make sure that the assigned Contract Owner has the correct rights in TradeCore.

🔀 Metadata Dependencies

Some metadata fields in a contract are interdependent. The system automatically enables, disables, or requires certain fields based on user input to ensure logical data consistency.

• Contract Value and Currency

  • If Contract Value is entered, Currency becomes required, and vice versa.

• Has Renewal Clause

  • If Has Renewal Clause - yes, both Renewal Duration and Number of Renewals become required fields.

  • If Has Renewal Clause - no, Renewal Duration and Number of Renewals become disabled and cannot be filled in.

• Has No End Date

  • If Has No End Date - yes, the End Date field becomes empty and disabled, and Has Renewal Clause becomes no.

  • If Has No End Date - no, End Date becomes a required field.

• Start date / End date

  • If Start date and End date both entered - End date should be more than Start date.

Best Practices

💡 Tips for Effective Use:

• Since the system doesn’t auto-update fields based on document changes, manually update key attributes (e.g., Value, Supplier, Effective Dates) when new versions of documents are uploaded or signed.

• Save your changes regularly to avoid losing data during long editing sessions.