Table of Contents

Contract Journals

Contract Journals in the 3PL system combine multiple contract fields into a single journal line, making it easier to create and manage contracts. The journal's Edit in Excel functionality allows you to efficiently upload contract data with Excel.

Use journal templates and batches

There are several contract journal templates. Each journal template is represented by a dedicated page with specific functions and fields designed to support those functions:

  • New Contract: Used for creating new contracts with fields focused on contract setup like source type, validity dates, and pricing details
  • Price Change: Specialized template for price adjustments with fields focused on unit prices
  • Maintenance: Contains fields for maintaining and updating existing contracts
  • Discount Change: Template designed for managing contract discounts, typically used to manage customer discounts on contracts that are valid for All customers

To setup journal templates and batches

Before using contract journals, you need to set up journal templates and batches:

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature. icon that opens the Tell Me feature, enter Contract Journal Templates, and then choose the related link.

  2. On the Contract Journal Templates page, choose the New action to create a new template.

  3. Fill in the following fields:

    • Name: Enter a unique identifier for the template
    • Description: Enter a description of the template's purpose.
    • Application Area: Select the application area this template is used for.
    • Type: Select the type of Journal, choose from New Contracts, Maintenance, Price Change or Discount Change.

  4. After creating the template, you can create batches:

    • Choose the Batches action.
    • Choose New to create a new batch.
    • Enter a unique name and description for the batch.

Journal Types

The system supports four types of contract journals:

1. Contract Journal (New contracts)

Used for creating new contracts with predefined rates and terms.

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature. icon that opens the Tell Me feature, enter Contract Journal, and then choose the related link.

  2. On the Contract Journal page, fill in the fields as described in the following table.

Tip

You can use the Edit in Excel action to efficiently fill in multiple contract journal lines. This allows you to copy and paste data from Excel or quickly enter multiple lines directly in Excel.

Field Description Apply Grouping
Contract No. The contract number being created, when no value is specified a number will be assigned from a No. series. Contract Header
Contract Source Type Select Customer, Vendor, Customer Price Group, Vendor Price Group, All Customers, or All Vendors Contract Header
Contract Source No. The specific customer, vendor or price group Contract Header
Contract Description A description of the contract Contract Header
Contract Valid From Date The start date when the contract becomes valid Contract Header
Contract Valid To Date The end date when the contract expires Contract Header
Contract Fuel Clause Code The fuel clause to apply to this contract
Line Description Description of the specific journal line Contract Line
Line Area Type The area type for this line (e.g., ALL, PORTPORT) Contract Line
Line Area Code The code identifying the specific area for this line Contract Line
Detail Line Service No. The service number for this line Contract Detail Line
Detail Line From Quantity The starting quantity for this service line. Used together with To Quantity to define graduated price ranges - for example, setting From Quantity=1 means this price applies when quantity is greater then 1 unit Contract Sub Detail Line
Detail Line To Quantity The ending quantity for this service line. Use together with From Quantity to define graduated price ranges - for example, setting From Quantity=1 and To Quantity=100 means this price applies when quantity is between 1-100 units Contract Sub Detail Line
Unit Price The price per unit for the service Contract Detail Line
Unit of Measure Code The unit of measure for the service Contract Detail Line
Min. Amount Minimum amount for the service Contract Detail Line
Max. Amount Maximum amount for the service Contract Detail Line
Det. Line Valid From Date Start date for this specific service line
From/To Fields The From and To fields (such as Address, Post Code, Port) work together to define Area codes. For Area Codes, you can use the Determine Area Codes functionality to automatically populate valid combinations based on your selection. This helps to find existing areas or generate areas when needed.
Note

The Apply Grouping column indicates how journal lines are grouped when creating contracts:

  • Contract Header: Fields marked with "Contract Header" are used to group lines into separate contracts. Lines with the same Contract Source Type, Contract Source No., and Contract No. will be combined into one contract.
  • Contract Line: Fields marked with "Contract Line" are used to group lines into separate contract lines within a contract. Lines with the same Line Description, Line Area Type, and Line Area Code will be combined into one contract line.
  • Contract Detail Line: Fields marked with "Contract Detail Line" define the service-specific details like pricing and units. Each journal line becomes a separate contract detail line, unless graduated pricing is used.
  • Contract Sub Detail Line: When graduated pricing is used (Detail Line From/To Quantity are specified), multiple journal lines with the same service details but different quantity ranges will be grouped into one contract detail line with multiple sub detail lines for the graduated prices.

The sorting of the lines in your journal might influence the grouping.

  1. Review the changes and choose the Create Contracts action to create the contract.

2. Contract Journal (Prices)

Used for modifying existing contract prices. The journal provides a convenient way to review and implement price changes across multiple contracts. Key benefits include:

  • Review proposed price changes before applying them
  • Work with multiple batches to organize different price adjustment scenarios
  • Use Edit in Excel functionality to efficiently handle price increases that vary by:
    • Geographic areas
    • Service types
  • Validate and verify changes before posting to ensure accuracy

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature. icon that opens the Tell Me feature, enter Contract Journal (Prices), and then choose the related link.

  2. On the Contract Journal page, choose the Suggest lines action, to

    • Select the contracts and lines to adjust
    • Set the New Valid From Date and New Valid To Date for the changes

  3. Implement the price increase by filling in the New Unit Price field. Most other fields are not editable in this journal.

    • New Unit Price: Enter the new unit price for the contract line
    • New Base Amount: Enter the new base amount for the contract line
    • New Min. Amount, New Max. Amount: Enter the new minimum and maximum amounts for the contract line.

  4. Review the suggested price changes. When satisfied with the changes, set the Status to Completed to indicate the lines are ready.

  5. Choose Implement Price Changes to implement them.

Tip

You can also start the price adjustment process directly from the Contract page:

  1. Open the Contract you want to adjust
  2. Choose the Adjust Prices action
  3. The system will create a new journal batch and pre-fill it with the selected contract's lines
  4. Continue with steps 4-6 above to implement the price changes
Note

The price change functionality described above is currently only implemented on FMS contracts. In previous versions, price changes were implemented by copying the contract detail lines. In FMS Contracts using the price change is registered in detail line prices, preserving the full price history for each detail line in the contract.

3. Contract Journal (Maintenance)

The maintenance journal is used for implementing new contracts and during initial system setup. This journal type allows you to change contracts, including area codes, quantity calculations, table filters and other contract criteria.

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature. icon that opens the Tell Me feature, enter Contract Journal (Maintenance), and then choose the related link.

  2. On the Contract Journal page, choose the Suggest lines action.

    • Select the contracts and lines to adjust

  3. The journal lines are now created according to the filter criteria specified. Apply any changes in the journal lines.

  4. Implement the changes with the Implement lines action.

4. Contract Journal (Discounts)

Used to implement discounts for customers on general contracts that apply to all customers. This allows you to create customer-specific exceptions to the standard pricing.

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature. icon that opens the Tell Me feature, enter Contract Journal (Discounts), and then choose the related link.

  2. On the Contract Journal page, choose the Suggest lines action.

    • Select the contracts and lines to adjust
    • Set the New Valid From Date and New Valid To Date for the changes

  3. Fill the New Det. Line Discount % field.

  4. Review the changes and choose the Implement Discount Changes action to apply the discounts.

Journal Line Status

Each journal line has a status that indicates its current state:

  • Open: The line is ready for processing
  • In Progress: The line is being processed
  • Skip: The line has been marked to be skipped
  • Review: The line needs review
  • Reviewed: The line has been reviewed
  • Completed: The line has been processed successfully and is ready to be implemented in a contract
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