Amending and renewing a contract

What is this page about: How to change a published contract, what a working version can and can't change, how to handle a mid-term price change, and how renewal extends the schedule. It also covers what to do when a period that's already been invoiced is wrong.

# On this page

• Change a published contract
• What a working version can change
• Changing a price or quantity mid-term
• Fixing a period that's already invoiced
• Renew the contract
• Best practices
• Related articles

# Change a published contract

Every change to a published contract goes through a working version:

1. Open the active contract and click Edit. This opens a working version alongside the published one, and the contract's version number goes up.
2. Make your changes (see below for what's editable).
3. Click Publish to apply them. The change is logged on the Activity tab.

To abandon the change, click Discard draft and confirm. The contract goes back to the last published version, and nothing from the working version carries over.

If the change would affect invoices that already exist, publishing is refused with "Cannot publish because the changes would affect existing invoices:" followed by the invoices concerned. Already-invoiced periods are never rewritten.

# What a working version can change

On the contract: Contract period (start and end date), Renewal date, Description, Reference, PO number, Net terms, Invoice lead days, Payment to, Contract ARR and custom properties.

On lines already published: custom properties only. Price, quantity and dates are locked, and a published line can't be deleted.

On lines you add in the working version: everything. A new line is fully editable until you publish.

# Changing a price or quantity mid-term

Because a published line's price, quantity and dates are locked, a working version can't change them. There are two ways to make the change:

• Reset the contract. Choose Reset from the contract's ⋮ menu. The contract goes back to Draft, so everything on it can be edited, and you publish it again afterwards. Reset is available on an Active contract with no edit in progress, for users who can edit contracts.
• Terminate and create a new contract. End the current contract on the date the new terms start, and create a new contract with the new price or quantity. See Contracts for how termination works.

Before you reset: Reset archives the contract's draft invoices and detaches every invoice from the contract, posted ones included. Note which periods have already been invoiced before you reset. After you publish again, check the Invoices tab and remove any new draft for a period you've already billed.

# Fixing a period that's already invoiced

Posted invoices are locked, so correct the invoice rather than the contract:

• Reset the invoice. On an Open invoice, choose Reset from the invoice's ⋮ menu. It goes back to Draft, so you can correct it and post it again. The contract still counts the period as invoiced.
• Reverse and reissue. For German entities, Reset is locked once the invoice has been emailed or its e-invoice is in progress. Use Reverse and reissue instead, on an unpaid Open invoice. The new draft copies the original, so correct the period on it before posting.

Issue customer credit credits the customer but doesn't correct the period: the original invoice stays linked to it. See Invoice Generation for both invoice actions.

# Renew the contract

1. Open the active contract and click Renew.
2. Pick 3 months, 6 months, 1 year or 2 years, or edit the new end date and renewal date yourself.
3. Confirm.

Renewing moves the contract's end date and renewal date forward and adds the new periods to the Invoices tab. The contract keeps the same ID and stays Active, and its version number goes up.

Light checks the new dates and rejects a mistake with one of these messages:

• "Next end date cannot be before the current end date"
• "Next end date must be in the future"
• "Next renewal date must be before next end date"

If contract lines carry revenue release schedules, renewing also extends them. See Revenue Schedules and Deferred Revenue.

# Best practices

• Plan changes around what's already invoiced. Existing invoices never change when you publish.
• Use Discard draft as soon as you decide against an edit, rather than leaving a working version open.
• For a price change, choose between Reset and terminating early before you start. Reset keeps one contract; a new contract keeps the old terms intact for history.
• Correct a wrong invoiced period on the invoice itself, with Reset or Reverse and reissue.
• Use the quick renewal options when you can, so the new end and renewal dates line up.

# Related articles

• Contracts
• Creating and publishing a contract
• Verifying the invoice schedule
• Invoice Generation
• Revenue Schedules and Deferred Revenue

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