Free Contract Management Template Spreadsheet

Contract Spreadsheet Template's Field Definitions:

Counterparty Name: The other party to the contract. Some examples include vendors, suppliers, customers, clients, partners, etc. 

Counterparty Street Address: Street address of the counterparty. It is recommended to use the legal notice address from the contract.

Counterparty City: The city of the counterparty. It is recommended to use the legal notice address from the contract.

Counterparty State: The state/province of the counterparty. It is recommended to use the legal notice address from the contract.

Counterparty Postal Code: The postal/zip code of the counterparty. It is recommended to use the legal notice address from the contract.

Contract Title/Name: A short title for the contract used for quick and easy reference. For example, when your organization has a new master services agreement they may title it with a format of “counterparty - type of agreement – date”. For example, “CobbleStone – MSA - 20170604”. This could save time and effort later when searching for contracts.

Contract Effective Date: The start date of the contract term. This could be the date the contract is fully executed, or the effective date may be defined in the agreement.

Contract Expiration Date: The ending or closing date of a contract term. This date could be clearly stated in the contract or it may be derived based on the effective date and the term.

Notify Days to Cancel/Review: This column should be used to set a number of days prior to the contract expiration to review the agreement.  Auto-renew and cancellation terms should be taken into account when establishing the Notify Days to Cancel/Review.

Next Contract Review Date: This date can be established for any additional contract reviews needed of the contract record prior or after the Notify Days to Cancel/Review.

Contract Amount: The total contracted amount or value of the contract.  Adding columns to track the contract annual amounts may be helpful. Any currency is supported.

Internal Legal Contact/Employee: The responsible individual of the contract. If any questions were to arise about this contract, you would ask this person.  Who is accountable for monitoring deliverables, payments, performance, renewals and/or cancellations?

Department: What department is responsible for managing contracts? When running annual budget reports, what department/division should be referenced for the contract? While your organization’s procurement team may have obtained a vendor and established the contract, the Information Technology department may be responsible for the ongoing contract administration and budgeting.  More than one department can be assigned.

Notes: A general note taking section for this contract. This is a great area to call out key negotiation points.  For example, if some contract clauses deviate from your organization’s standard language, note that here. The notes section will help when reviewing contracts down the road.

Limitation of Liabilities:  A provision/clause in a contract that limits the amount of exposure a company faces in the event of a lawsuit being filed or a claim being made. If applicable, the limitation of liability can limit the amount of damage a company is exposed to. Leave this blank if your standard LOL clause is used.  If the contract uses a non-standard LOL clause, copy and paste here.

Confidentiality: Information that is being kept secret or private between the parties. For example, when negotiating an agreement, a counterparty may request some security guidelines that your organization abides by. This may not be something you normally share so you may have them sign an NDA. You could track that they signed an NDA regarding not sharing your company’s security policies here. Leave this blank if your standard confidentiality clause is used.  If the contract uses a non-standard clause, copy and paste here.

Assign Capability: A provision permitting the contract holder to convey their rights, obligations and/or duties to another party and what they can assign. This section can be particularly important in industries with higher merger and acquisition rates.

Status: This field can identify the current state of the contractual agreement. Contract Statuses can be very broad, such as Pending, Active or Closed, or Contract Statuses can be more granular, such as Legal Review, Finance Review, Out for Signature.

Type of Agreement: The legal form type of a contract. Some examples of contract types can be as follows: Master Services Agreement, Non-Disclosure Agreement, Purchasing Agreement, Amendment, Consulting Agreement, etc.

Renewal Notes: If applicable to the contract, this section can track the notes and comments associated with a contract's renewal. For example, your organization may enter into a purchasing agreement with 10 annual renewals. Each year the contract renews, a form must be completed as well as other deliverables.  Describe the requirements/expectations in the Renewal Notes field.