Enter General Details for a Sales or Purchase Contract

Security Note: You need the Allow contract maintenance security right in the Contracts domain security rights group for this activity.

Activity Steps

  1. Open the Sales Contract or Purchase Contract.
  2. Select the top-level node for the contract.
  3. Select a Contract Category from the Contract Category list items defined in the List Editor if required.

    Note: Contract categories can be used to limit access to contracts through domain security. See Domains.

  4. Update the Sales Contract or Purchase Contract name if required.
  5. If this contract needs to be linked to a service or freight contract operated by the company, or if financial details are to be tracked by the company's ERP system, set up the contract for invoicing and financial management:
    1. Update the Buyer and Seller if required.

      Mining companies often have complex structures of holding companies and parent companies. A single implementation of the software may encompass several companies or operations. For accounting and cost distribution reasons, it is important to identify which operation is making the sale.

      If the buyer company is an internal company, the district specifies the buyer. Each contract must be assigned to one district (accounting unit) for the purpose of generating accounting and financial information.

      If the buyer is an external organisation, if a district is entered, this is the selling company's district.

      If the buyer and the seller are both from the internal company, the district must be specified because it specifies the buyer's district, distinct from the seller's district.

    2. Select the District and the District Address to be used for identifying the state/province for tax calculations if applicable. If a matching address has been set up for the District, the address is in a tooltip on the District Address field. Hover the mouse pointer over the field to display the tooltip. Select from:
      • Business Address (default)
      • Postal Address
    3. Select the default Accounting Group for invoices related to the contract. Default: As specified for the buyer of a sales contract or the seller of a purchase contract. Select from the accounting groups defined on the Chart Of Accounts screen.
    4. If a different organisation should receive the invoices, select the Invoice Targets. If a different organisation is not specified, the Buyer is the default invoice target for sales invoices and the Seller for purchase invoices. Select from the organisations and companies defined on the Organisations panel of the Solution Explorer.

    Note: The company, district, accounting group and material are used to link invoices to the chart of accounts. These details in the contract must match accounts in the chart of accounts to create journal entries to post to the company's ERP system (general ledger).

  6. Complete the remaining fields in the Contract Details field group as required.
    • Document Reference—Reference to the contract documentation, that is, the legal paperwork.
    • End User—Organisation or company deemed to be the end user of the contracted material, even when sold via traders. The end user, especially when materials are sold via traders, can vary between despatches. Select from the organisations and companies defined on the Organisations panel of the Solution Explorer.
    • Contract Basis—Select from the Contract Basis list items defined in the List Editor.
    • Material—If a material type is specified, only products and brands with that material type (or none) can be selected as Allowed Qualities for the contract products and quotas. If Use Strict Product Validation is checked, the material type also limits the possible contract products, and price series in quotation pricing. Select from the material types defined on the Material panel of the Solution Explorer.
    • Contract Status—Select from the Contract Status list items defined in the List Editor.
    • Contract Pricing Basis—Type of pricing applied to the contract. Select from:
      • Product Pricing—Used when the entire product is sold and there are qualities on the entire product that determine the pricing, and price adjustments are based on the amount of material received (for example, coal, iron ore, gold). If selected, a Quotation Pricing node is in each set of contract terms.
      • Analyte Pricing—Used when there are specific analytes in the product, and the amount of actual analyte determines the pricing, and price adjustments are based on the analyte grade and the amount of material received (for example, copper or zinc concentrates where a higher concentration returns a higher price). If selected, a Payable Analytes node is in each set of contract terms.
    • Default UOM—Default unit of measure for the amounts of material associated with the contract. This UOM can be overridden for individual quotas or despatch orders. Select from the Mass units defined in the Unit Conversion Editor.
    • Default Fulfilment Type—The default point in the logistics process at which despatch orders are deemed to be fulfilled. The Despatch Fulfilment Type can be modified for each Despatch Order. Also important is the Final Assay Location in the assay rules of the applicable contract terms. If analyte settlement rules are configured, a final assay location can be specified for each analyte. If no assay exchange is required, the Default Final Assay Location determines the location at which final analyte values are to be recorded. See Enter Assay Rules for a Set of Contract Terms. Select from:
      • By Loading Transactions (default)
      • By Unloading Transactions
      • By Split Quantity
      • At Border
      • At Arrival At Destination
      • Average of Loading and Unloading

      Note: For descriptions and the impact of the Despatch Fulfilment Type, see Despatch Orders.

    • Commitment—Select from the Contract Commitment list items defined in the List Editor.
    • Contract Term Reference Date—Date used to determine the relevant set of contract terms. Select from:
      • Bill Of Lading Date—If not available, then the planned despatch date of the despatch order.
      • Invoice Date—If not available, then the planned despatch date of the despatch order.
      • Planned Despatch Date
      • Current Date
      • Destination Arrival Date—The first available date out of: ATA at destination, ETA at destination, estimated arrival based on the travel and duration time of a route that matches the planned loading and unloading locations or quota contractual source and destination, bill of lading date of the despatch order, or planned despatch date of the despatch order.
      • Fulfilment Date—If not available, then the planned despatch date of the despatch order.
    • Apply Bricks—Whether bricks can be used to store and use contract terms at the contract level. If checked, brick configuration can also be added to each group of contract terms. See Bricks.
    • Use Strict Product Validation—Strict product validation ensures that:
      • Contract products must be of the defined Material.
      • When entering quotation pricing, only those price series that have a material type that matches the defined Material for the contract will be available for selection.
      • If Allowed Qualities are specified for contract product or quota, despatch orders must have a Quality specified.

      Strict product validation does not limit the Nominated Product of despatch orders. To restrict the possible nominated products of despatch orders, specify the Allowed Nominations for the contract product.

    • Description
    • Person In Charge—The person in charge of contract execution. Select from the users with appropriate domain access defined on the Supply Chain panel of the Solution Explorer. You can enter text to filter the displayed user names.
    • Trader—The trader responsible for contract negotiation and administration. Select from the users with appropriate domain access defined on the Supply Chain panel of the Solution Explorer. You can enter text to filter the displayed user names.
    • Ship To / Receive From—Organisation or company that is to receive (for a sales contract) or send (for a purchase contract) the material. Can be overridden on despatch orders. Select from the organisations and companies defined on the Organisations panel of the Solution Explorer.

      • Note: The Ship To / Receive From, Bill To and Pay To organisation or company cannot be deleted if a contact belonging to that organisation or company has been added to the contract.

    • Ship To / Receive From Address—For a sales contract, the address to which to ship the material associated with the contract. For a purchase contract, the address from which the material associated with the contract is sent. Select from:
      • Business Address—Default if a Ship To / Receive From organisation or company is selected.
      • Postal Address

      Note: For the Ship To / Receive From, Bill To and Pay To addresses, if a matching address has been set up for the Organisation or Company, the address displays as a tooltip on the Ship To / Receive From, Bill To and Pay To field. Hover the mouse pointer over the field to display the tooltip.

    • Bill To—Organisation or company that is to receive the invoices associated with the contract. Can be overridden on despatch orders. Select from the organisations and companies on the Organisations panel of the Solution Explorer.
    • Bill To Address—Address to which to send the invoice associated with the contract. Select from:
      • Business Address—Default if a Bill To organisation or company is selected.
      • Postal Address
    • Pay To—Default Pay To organisation on invoices. If not specified, the Seller of the contract is used as the default Pay To organisation on invoices. Can be overridden on despatch orders. Select from the organisations and companies defined on the Organisations panel of the Solution Explorer.
    • Pay To Address—Address to which to send invoice payments associated with the contract. Select from:
      • Business Address—Default if a Pay To organisation or company is selected.
      • Postal Address
    • Broker—Select from the organisations and companies defined on the Organisations panel of the Solution Explorer and that have the Organisation Role of Brokers.
    • Required Mass As Content—Whether to enter the required mass as the required content mass of the main analyte in the contract product. Only applicable for contracts with analyte pricing. Default: Unchecked.

      • If checked, a Required Content Mass and Content UOM can be entered for contract products, quotas and despatch orders. The required mass is calculated based on the target value of the main analyte in the applicable specifications. If the basis of the main analyte is dry, the target value of the moisture analyte in the specifications is also considered. Alternatively, if a required mass is entered, the required content mass is calculated.

      If unchecked, a Required Content Mass and Content UOM cannot be entered.

    • Ignore Credit Control—Whether to exclude this contract's despatch orders from the credit control set up for the organisation. Disabled if the organisation is not under credit control, or if the user does not have the Allow the user to disable credit management for a contract user group security right. Default: Unchecked. If unchecked, despatch orders for the contract are included in the credit control set up for the organisation. If checked, when a despatch order is created for the contract:
      • No credit line is assigned to the despatch order.
      • A credit line cannot be selected manually.
      • If the Despatch Order status definition exists, the despatch order is set to the initial status.
      • Changing the despatch order status manually is not affected by credit validations.
      • The Submit for Credit Approval and Deny Credit right-click menu options are not available on the Despatch Orders node.
      • The despatch order does not affect the credit exposure of any line of credit.

      Note: Any despatch orders that already exist for the contract before Ignore Credit Control is checked are still included in the credit control. Checking or unchecking Ignore Credit Control only affects new despatch orders. On the Details tab of the Despatch Order, there is a read-only checkbox (also called Ignore Credit Control) that is checked if the despatch order was created when the contract was excluded from credit control.

    • Credit Line—Default credit line for all despatch orders created for the contract. Select from the lines of credit set up on the Credit Management tab for the Organisation.
  7. Complete the following fields in the Contract Dates field group as required.
    • Start Date—The start and end date period is only an indication of when the specified rules of the contract apply. There is no actual validation on the date period. Shipment of products can still occur outside of the defined period. Default: The first day of the current month.
    • End Date
    • Date Approved
    • Date Assigned
  8. To define the mass basis for contract quantities and analyte quantities:
    1. Select the Basis tab.
    2. Select the Mass Basis to be used in the contract. For example, if Dry, dry quantities are entered for the contract, quotas and associated despatch orders. Select from the analyte measurement bases defined in the Basis Editor.
    3. To add another analyte measurement basis to be used in certificates:
      1. Right-click in the Contract Bases table and select New from the menu.
      2. Select the Name of the basis to be used from the analyte measurement bases defined in the Basis Editor.

        After the name has been selected, it is no longer editable.

        The Basis Symbol of the measurement basis displays.

        Note: The order of bases is important. For example, to enter despatch certificates for molybdenum, a typical configuration would be to have the bases in the order: Wet, Dry+Oil, Dry. When the moisture value is entered in the certificate, the Dry+Oil mass is calculated. Then the oil value can be entered to calculate the Dry mass.

    4. To override the default mapping to invoice mass fields:
      1. Check Mapping Invoice Mass Fields.

        Many mass bases can be defined in MineMarket; however, invoices only support three mass fields: Gross, Wet and Dry. Mapping the invoice mass fields overrides the default data source for the invoice mass fields.

        Only applicable if multiple mass bases are defined for the contract.

      2. Select the Invoice Mass Field for each mass basis. The mass field on invoices that displays the mass derived from certificates with this mass basis. Select from:
        • None
        • Gross Mass
        • Wet Mass
        • Dry Mass
  9. Click Save.