How Contract Management Settings Affect Contract and Compensation Entry

Use the combination of the two settings on the General tab of the Contract Management settings form to establish the extent to which you want expected compensation amounts to be controlled by contract amounts and to indicate how compensation amounts and contract amounts can be spread across lower levels of the project work breakdown structure (WBS) in the Projects hub.

You display the Contract Management settings form in Settings > Project > Contract Management.

The two settings are the following:

• Project Entering Method: Select At All Levels of the Work Breakdown Structure or At Lowest Level Only.
• Synchronize Contract Values to Project Compensation: Select Yes or No.

The available combinations of these two settings define the scenarios described below.

Entry Method = Lowest Level Only / Synchronize... = Yes

This combination of settings provides a high level of accountability by enabling the option to synchronize compensation to contract amounts and by forcing contract detail amounts, if entered, to be entered for lowest level WBS elements and to sum up to the project level contract amounts.

This combination has the following results in the Projects hub:

• If any contract amounts have been entered for a project, compensation amounts cannot be entered.
• Compensation amounts can be entered prior to the entry of the first contract amount but will be overwritten if you synchronize them with contract amounts.
• An Include in Fee check box column is available in the Contract Management grid on the Contract tab. If that check box is selected for one or more contracts, the compensation amounts are automatically set to the corresponding contract amounts and thereafter kept in sync.
• Contract amounts are entered at the project level in the Contract Management grid. If the project has lower WBS levels, you can also use the Contract Details grid to spread those contract amounts across WBS elements at the lowest level of the WBS.
• If you enter compensation or contract amounts for lowest level WBS elements, Vantagepoint rolls up lower level amounts to higher levels. Lower level contract amounts must sum up to the contract amounts entered at the project level in the Contract Management grid.

Entry Method = At All Levels... / Synchronize... = Yes

This combination of settings also provides a high level of accountability by enabling the option to synchronize compensation to contract amounts, but in contrast to the combination described above, it offers more flexibility in the entry of contract detail amounts.

This combination has the following results in the Projects hub:

• If any contract amounts have been entered for a project, compensation amounts cannot be entered.
• If compensation amounts have been entered prior to the entry of the first contract amount, Vantagepoint provides the option to set the contract amounts to the corresponding compensation amounts.
• An Include in Fee check box column is available in the Contract Management grid on the Contract tab. If that check box is selected for one or more contracts, the compensation amounts are automatically set to the corresponding contract amounts and thereafter kept in sync.
• Contract amounts are entered at the project level in the Contract Management grid. If the project has lower WBS levels, you can also use the Contract Details grid to enter contract amounts for any WBS elements at any level.
• Vantagepoint does not automatically roll up lower level compensation or contract amounts to higher levels in every case. If you first enter an amount for a phase, for example, and then enter amounts for tasks under that phase, the phase amount you entered is not updated as you enter task amounts. However, if you first start entering amounts for tasks, the amount for the phase is automatically set to the sum of its task amounts. Vantagepoint also does not require that the sum of entered lower level amounts equal amounts entered at higher levels, nor does it require that lower level amounts sum up to the contract amounts entered at the project level in the Contract Management grid.

Entry Method = Lowest Level Only / Synchronize... = No

This combination of settings provides a lower level of accountability. There is no option to have Vantagepoint synchronize compensation to contract amounts, and rules for entering contract detail amounts, while restricting entry to lowest level WBS elements, are less restrictive than when synchronization is applied.

This combination has the following results in the Projects hub:

• Because compensation amounts and contract amounts are not synchronized, both can be entered, and there is no defaulting of values from one set of amounts to the other.
• Because there is no synchronization, the Include in Fee check box column is not available in the Contract Management grid on the Contract tab.
• Contract amounts are entered at the project level in the Contract Management grid. If the project has lower WBS levels, you can also use the Contract Details grid to spread those contract amounts across WBS elements at the lowest level of the WBS.
• If you enter compensation or contract amounts for lowest level WBS elements, Vantagepoint rolls up lower level amounts to higher levels. However, lower level contract amounts are not required to sum up to the contract amounts entered at the project level in the Contract Management grid.

Entry Method = At All Levels... / Synchronize... = No

This combination of settings provides a lowest level of accountability. There is no option to have Vantagepoint synchronize compensation to contract amounts, and rules for entering contract detail amounts are less restrictive than in any of the other scenarios.

This combination has the following results in the Projects hub:

• Because compensation amounts and contract amounts are not synchronized, both can be entered, and there is no defaulting of values from one set of amounts to the other.
• Because there is no synchronization, the Include in Fee check box column is not available in the Contract Management grid on the Contract tab.
• Contract amounts are entered at the project level. If the project has lower WBS levels, contract amounts can also be entered for any WBS elements at any level.
• Vantagepoint does not roll up lower level compensation or contract amounts to higher levels. It also does not require that the sum of entered lower level amounts equal the amounts entered at higher levels.
• Vantagepoint does not automatically roll up lower level compensation or contract amounts to higher levels in every case. If you first enter an amount for a phase, for example, and then enter amounts for tasks under that phase, the phase amount you entered is not updated as you enter task amounts. However, if you first start entering amounts for tasks, the amount for the phase is automatically set to the sum of its task amounts. Vantagepoint also does not require that the sum of entered lower level amounts equal amounts entered at higher levels, nor does it require that lower level amounts sum up to the contract amounts entered at the project level in the Contract Management grid.