Microsoft Dynamic CRM 2011 : Working with Contracts and Queues - Activating and Renewing a Contract

When a contract is created in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, the system assigns a default status of Draft to the contract. Only contracts in Draft status can be edited; after a contract has progressed to Invoiced or Active status, the fields in the contract are locked. When the contract is Active, service cases can be logged against the contract and a running tally of used cases or time is tracked against the total allotment specified in the contract line.

Given the need for a business to lock down the terms of a contract while still allowing for flexibility as the company’s needs change, the life cycle of a contract can become complicated. Consider the following scenarios for why a service contract might change:

• A company’s internal team takes over support for a software application, so it cancels its support agreement with a consulting firm.

• A customer service manager receives notification from her company’s accounting department that a customer has several past due invoices for support services, so the manager places the customer’s service contract on hold to prevent any new cases from being created until the balance is paid.

• Upon the expiration of a year-long service agreement, a customer decides to renew the contract for another year of service.

Not every contract will follow a fixed life cycle from start to finish, so it’s important to understand how contract statuses are managed in Microsoft Dynamics CRM and what actions are allowed for each status. The following table provides an overview of contract statuses and available actions.

Status	Description	Actions
Draft	The default status when a contract is created.	Can be edited or deleted. No cases can be assigned. Cannot be placed on hold, canceled, or renewed.
Invoiced	Indicates that the contract has been accepted by the customer and has a pending start date. A contract cannot be moved to this status until it has at least one contract line.	Cannot be edited or deleted. No cases can be assigned. Can be placed on hold or canceled. Cannot be renewed.
Active	Indicates that the contract is within the specified start and end dates and is eligible for support cases. Each contract is automatically moved to this status on the specified start date.	Cannot be edited or deleted. Cases can be assigned. Can be placed on hold or canceled. Can be renewed.
On Hold	Indicates that the contract is on hold from Active status, typically for further review or negotiation with the customer.	No actions can be taken against the contract until the hold is released. No cases can be assigned.
Canceled	Indicates that the contract was canceled prior to the end date by the organization or the customer.	Cannot be edited or deleted. No cases can be assigned. Can be renewed.
Expired	Indicates that the contract has passed the specified end date without being renewed.	Cannot be edited. No cases can be assigned. Can be canceled. Can be renewed.

In this exercise, you’ll move the contract created in the previous section to Active status, log a case against it, and then renew it.

Note

SET UP Use your own Microsoft Dynamics CRM installation in place of the CRM sample data shown in this exercise. Use the Internet Explorer web browser to navigate to your Microsoft Dynamics CRM website, if necessary, before beginning this exercise. You need the contract you created in the previous exercise. Also, use a user account that has the CSR Manager security role or another role with privileges to create and edit contracts, contract lines, and cases.

1. In the Service area, click Contracts, and then double-click the contract created in the previous exercise.

2. On the Contract tab of the ribbon, in the Actions group, click the Invoice Contract button.

   Because the start date is in the past, the contract automatically moves to the Active status and allows you to enter cases against it.

   Important

   When you select the Invoice Contract option, the contract’s status is updated to either Invoiced (if the start date is in the future) or Active (if the start date is the current date or a past date). When a contract is in Invoiced or Active status, all fields on the contract are read-only.

3. In the entity navigation pane of the contract, click Cases to view the case manager for the contract.

4. On the ribbon, click the New button to open a new case against the contract.

5. In the New Case form, enter the following values.

   Title	Replace water line for company coffee machine
   Customer	Sonoma Partners
   Subject	Default Subject
   Case Type	Problem
   Case Origin	Phone
   Contract	Annual Service Agreement (created in the previous exercise)
   Contract Line	FY2010-FY2011 (created in the previous exercise)

6. 

7. Click Save to create the case.

8. In the Actions group on the ribbon, click Resolve Case to mark the case as resolved.

   Tip

   Only resolved cases are counted against the total allotment specified on the contract line. For each resolved case, the remaining allotment is recalculated. For example, if a contract line has five cases specified in the Total Cases/Minutes field, it’s possible to log six or more cases against it, as long as no more than five of those cases are in Resolved status.

9. In the Resolve Case dialog box, in the Resolution field, enter Water line replaced.

   

10. Click OK to mark the case as Resolved.

11. Click the browser window’s Close button to close the case window.

12.  In the Contract form, in the entity navigation pane, click Contract Lines. Then click the Refresh button, if needed, to verify that the Allotments Remaining value is updated to 19.

    

13. On the ribbon, click the Contract tab, and then in the Actions group, click Renew Contract to renew the contract for another term.

    The Renew Contract dialog box appears.

    Tip

    You can update the status of a contract from the Contract tab of the ribbon. From this ribbon tab, you can also cancel or place a hold on a contract. The actions that are available vary depending on the current status of the contract.

    

14. In the dialog box, leave Include canceled contract lines selected, and then click OK.

    Important

    When a contract is renewed, Microsoft Dynamics CRM automatically creates a copy of the contract with updated start and end dates. The new contract will default to Draft status and will have the same contract number as the original.

15. Close the draft contract.

    In the Service area, in the Contracts view, note that a new contract in Draft status has been created with the same number as the active contract.

    

16. Double-click the renewed contract in Draft status, and verify that the start and end dates are automatically calculated as an extension of the original contract.

Tip

Microsoft Dynamics CRM creates a link between the original contract and the renewed contract. You can find this information in the Originating Contract field on the Details section of the Contract form.

Note

CLEAN UP Close the contract record.