Contract: business details, clauses and PDF templates

Goal. Prepare the contract the client signs: the legal identity shown on every contract, the standard clause-based contract and, if the business already has its own PDF contract, import it as a template with the case data placed on top.

Prerequisites. The Administrator role. It opens from "Settings" › "Contract". Generating and signing a case's contract is described in "Contracts" of the "Sales" category.

"Business details" tab

These details are filled in once and appear on every contract: header, payment plan and signatures.

• "Who is your business?": "Legal name", "Signing representative" and "Header tagline".
• "How do clients reach you?": "Contract email", "Website" and "Location / domicile".
• "How do clients pay you?": "Payment methods (plan table)" and "Payment instructions", for example the Zelle email and what to put in the memo.
• "Save identity" confirms with "Identity saved".

"My contracts" tab

The CRM picks on its own which contract to use for each case according to the service: an active PDF template that includes the service or, when none applies, the "Standard contract".

The standard contract

It comes ready for the industry; nothing has to be written from scratch, only edited where wanted. Opening it shows the "Contract clauses" in the order they appear in the PDF:

• "Identification of the parties (automatic: business + client)" and "Acceptance signature (automatic)" always open and close the contract.
• "Scope of services" and "Payment plan" are automatic blocks: the first lists the services with the contracted ones checked and the second the total amount, the installment plan and the payment instructions. They only allow renaming, moving or removing.
• Text clauses open with "Edit": title and body, one paragraph per line; "1." numbers, "- " makes bullets and an all-caps line is a subheading. The "Highlight in a box (for important notices)" box emphasises them. "Save clause" confirms with "Clause saved".
• "Add clause" creates a "New clause"; "Move up" and "Move down" reorder; "Delete" asks to confirm 'Delete clause "…" from the contract? Contracts already sent do not change.'.

On the right, the "Live preview" shows the contract with sample client data; on a phone it opens with "View contract".

PDF contract templates

"Import my PDF" or "New template" open the designer in three steps: "Upload your PDF", "Place the data" and "Save & activate".

1. Type the name under "What do you want to call this template?" and use "Upload PDF contract" with the contract the business already uses, up to 10 MB.
2. With "Add variable", pick the data point and drag it to the exact spot on the PDF where it should print: "Client name", "Client email", "Client phone", "Case number", "Date", "Service", "Quoted services", "Total", "Deposit", "Balance", "Business name", "Legal name", "Representative", "Business email", "Website", "Address" and the "Client signature area", which marks where the client signs for the e-signature service. "Add clause" brings in a clause from the standard contract.
3. Under "Which services use this contract?" check the services; with none, the template is "Generic (all services)". Turn on "Ready to use?" and click "Save template": "Template saved".

Each template shows "Active" or "Disabled" and offers "Open the designer", "Preview", "Replace PDF" and "Delete", which asks to confirm "Delete the template and its PDF? Contracts will be generated from clauses again.". Up to ten templates are allowed.

Troubleshooting

• "Check the fields: something is invalid." The email or the website does not have a valid format.
• "The clause needs a title." Fill in the title before saving.
• "That automatic block already exists in the contract." "Scope of services" and "Payment plan" can only appear once.
• A case's contract does not use my PDF. The template is "Disabled" or does not include the case's service; check it in the designer.
• "Maximum of 10 templates. Delete one to create another." Delete a template you no longer use.