SoftbooqContract Lifecycle
Softbooq PlusThe contract raises its own invoice when the milestone lands.
Draft from a template, send for signature, and let completion, renewal and billing follow the terms you actually agreed - rather than a reminder in somebody's calendar and an invoice raised when it is remembered.
01
From draft to signed
The paperwork stage, where the cost of doing it loosely only appears much later.
Templates with variables filled in
A library of your own contract templates with the variable parts prompted for, so a new agreement is consistent rather than a copy of whichever one was nearest.
Fill the variables, not the document
Party, dates, values and terms captured as fields, so the same clause cannot end up with two different numbers in it.
Signature by tokenised link
The counterparty signs through a link that requires no account, and the token is verified rather than trusted.
Who signed, and when
A signature timeline kept with the contract, so the question of whether it was executed has a documented answer.
02
The contract as a billing instruction
This is the part that separates contract storage from contract management.
A completed milestone raises the invoice
Mark a milestone done and the invoice is generated for the agreed amount, rather than waiting for someone to notice the trigger passed.
Payment schedules become invoices on their dates
Staged payments defined once and raised when due, so a schedule agreed in January still bills correctly in September.
Recurring billing set up from the contract
A retainer or subscription agreement produces the recurring invoice series directly, so the billing matches the paper.
Delivery advances the contract
Completing the linked project task marks the milestone complete, which is what triggers the invoice - so billing follows the work rather than a status meeting.
03
Living documents
Contracts change, expire and renew, and all three are places money quietly leaks.
Auto-renewal where the terms allow it
A contract set to auto-renew is extended by its own term the night it ends, rather than lapsing because nobody was watching the date.
Expiry reminders and archiving
Reminders 30, 7 and 1 day before a contract ends, and contracts that end without renewing marked expired rather than left cluttering the active list.
Every version kept
Each revision retained, so what was agreed at a given date is retrievable rather than reconstructed from an email thread.
See exactly what changed
Two versions compared side by side, so a redline conversation is about the actual differences.
Amendments approved in their own right
A variation is recorded and approved as an amendment rather than edited into the original, which is the difference between a contract and a document.
Leases linked to their contracts
A lease shows the agreement that created it, so the accounting treatment and the paper are one click apart.
The details that took the longest
Small decisions you only make after getting them wrong.
Every one of these is a specific behaviour, chosen for a specific reason. They are the difference between software that demos well and software that survives a year of month-ends.
An amendment is not an edit
A variation is recorded as its own approved object rather than changed into the original text. Editing a signed agreement in place destroys the only record of what the parties actually agreed to, which is the entire point of having one.
The invoice is raised by the milestone, not by a person remembering
Completion generates the billing. Milestone-based revenue is lost in the gap between delivery and somebody noticing they were entitled to bill for it, and that gap is measured in weeks in most businesses.
Renewal is a scheduled process, not a diary entry
Auto-renewal and expiry reminders run on the server every night, whether or not anyone opens the app. A contract that ends on a quiet day renews or expires all the same, and the reminder does not live in the calendar of someone who left.
Nothing is an island
What reaches Contracts without anyone typing it again.
Every one of these is a real data path, not a promise of "full integration".
Before you ask
Questions people ask about Contracts.
- Can contracts be signed electronically?
- Yes, through a tokenised link the counterparty can use without an account, with the signature timeline kept on the contract.
- Does it invoice automatically?
- Yes. A completed milestone generates its invoice, a payment schedule raises staged invoices on their dates, and a retainer can create a recurring series.
- What happens when a contract nears expiry?
- Reminders go out 30, 7 and 1 day before it ends. A contract set to auto-renew is extended by its own term; one that is not is marked expired.
- Can I see what changed between versions?
- Yes. Every version is retained and two can be compared side by side.
- How are changes to a signed contract handled?
- As amendments, approved in their own right, rather than edits to the original document.
Where to look next.
All 18 modulesSee Contracts with your own numbers in it.
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