This document is intended for Gatekeeper users who wish to utilize the Auto-Archive feature.
What is the Auto-Archive feature?
The auto-archive feature automatically changes the 'Status' of a contract record to 'Archived' once they have surpassed their end date. It can be used in conjunction with the Contract Owner field to notify the owner X days before the Contract end date that it will be archived, allowing for further review by the Contract Owner. A Job is then run once per day, globally across Gatekeeper to automatically archive the contracts.
What happens when a Contract has been Archived?
It is best to look at your archived contracts as a holding area, as when we archive a contract, we are not 'deleting' it from our Gatekeeper instance. We are simply sitting it aside, as it is no longer required. This can be applicable to contracts that have surpassed their end date that we do not want to renew, a contract that had never been intended to be fulfilled, or simply just to remove any testing data.
When a contract has been archived, the following will occur:
- All meta-data is still available on the archived contracts, including any uploaded files.
- It is removed from your Pipeline and Live Contracts lists. This reduces your Pipeline & Live contract quantity. If applicable, this will keep you below your plan quota (Starter & Pro customers only)
- The contract is no longer reported on in any Dashboards within Gatekeeper. This is particularly handy when the end date of a contract has been passed, and we end up with an inflated number of contracts in our 'Overdue' column of the dashboard.
- The contract is removed from reports. Similar to removing the contracts from dashboards, it also removes the contracts from being displayed in reports, so as not to cause inflated figures and values.
- They will no longer appear in workflows as Workflows are generally configured to ignore archived contracts.
Can I still view Archived Contracts?
Yes. Archived Contracts can be viewed by selecting 'Archived Contracts' from the Contract Status sub-list.
Can I restore an Archived Contract?
Yes. To restore an archived contract to either Pipeline or Live status, first using the above method to view archived contracts, then:
Contracts > Select Archived Contracts in the Contract Status sub list (as above) > Select the required contract > Select Edit > Change the status to either Pipeline or Live
Prerequisites
There are 2 prerequisites to using the Auto-Archive feature:
Contract End Date (Mandatory)
To turn on the auto-archive feature, first we need to make sure the contract has an end date set. For further information on setting an end date against a contract, please read the article Contract Expiry Dates.
Contract Owner (Optional)
As well as automatically archiving a contract once the end date has been reached, we have the option to turn on a notification to the Contract Owner. The notification relies upon a Contract Owner being set, without this, it will not notify the Contract Owner when the contract reaches its end date yet will still archive the contract.
If a Contract Owner has been set. they will receive a notification email X days before the Contract end date, which will notify you that the contract is flagged to be automatically archived, allowing you to check and make changes if required. The user can change the notification days as required.
For further information on setting Contract Owners, please read Adding a Contract via the User Interface.
Locating the Auto-Archive feature for existing Contracts
The auto-archive feature is located within each individual contract, and be accessed through:
Contracts > Selecting a Current Contract > Renewal > Edit
Turning on the Auto-Archive feature
Gatekeeper has 3 methods of activating the Auto Archive feature:
Method 1 - Existing Contracts
On an existing contract, go to Contracts > Selecting a Current Contract > Renewal > Edit
Once the end date has been set, select the box next to "Auto-Archive"
If a Contract Owner has been set, we have the option to notify them X days before setting the contract to Archived.
Method 2 - New Contracts
When creating a new contract, the Renewal phase is exposed as part of the Add Contract wizard. Select the check box next to Auto-Archive to turn the feature on.
For further information on creating a contract, please read the article Adding a Contract via the User Interface.
Method 3 - Bulk Update using the Export/Import Feature
If you need to set the Auto-Archive feature in bulk, you can utilize the Export/Import functionality to do so. Before attempting this, please familiarize yourself with the article Contract Data - Bulk Import / Export.
Once you have exported your Contract Records, locate the column labelled "Auto Archive" and change the value to "Yes"
When completed, re-import your data. This will set the notification day period to its default value of 10 days for the imported records.