Ending Contracts

When a contract is ended before its end date:

  • If the new end date is before today, the status of the contract is set to "Expired".
  • If the new end date is today or later, the status of the contract remains "Active" until the end date is passed and a background job changes the contract's status to "Expired". See Setting up a Job to Expire Contracts.
  • The original end date of the contract is recorded in the Original End Date field. The original end date is used when creating a renewal for the contract.
  • Draft renewals associated with the contract are deleted.
  • Change requests with a status other than "Rejected" are deleted.
  • Draft billing documents are deleted.
  • Billing schedules that start after the new end date are deleted.
  • Billing schedules in which the new end date falls, have their End of Period updated to the new end date. If a billing schedule is for a “Recurring Fixed” contract line item and the contract uses proration, the billing schedule's value is recalculated according to the proration policy.
  • If the new end date is before a contract line item's start date, that contract line item is canceled. See Canceled Contract Line Items.
Note:

If the Allow End Contract Line Before Billed To field is enabled, ending a contract early might result in billing schedules that have been billed being deleted. For more information, see Early Termination of Contracts and Contract Line Items.

To end a contract before its end date:

  1. On the Billing Contract Detail page of the contract you want to end, click End Contract.
  2. Enter the new date on which the contract is to end.
  3. Select the reason for ending the contract.
  4. [Optional] Enter additional notes about the reason for ending the contract. When you confirm the action to end the contract, this information is saved in the End Contract Notes field.
  5. Click End Contract.

If your org is configured to end contracts via change requests, and the customer is entitled to a refund because they have been billed beyond the new end date, Billing Central creates a draft credit note automatically when the change request is applied (unless automatic credit note creation is disabled in your org). For more information, see Ending Contracts via Change Requests and Automatic Creation of Draft Credit Notes When Applying Change Requests.

Note:

An error message is displayed if you attempt to end a contract that has "Draft" or "Ready for Review" credit notes or consolidated billing documents linked to it. Ensure that the documents are completed, discarded, or unconsolidated before attempting to end the contract again. A consolidated billing document will trigger this error regardless of whether or not it contains only billing documents related to the current contract.

Editing Custom Fields on Expired Contracts

You might be able to edit custom fields on expired contracts if the Updating Expired Contracts feature is enabled. Billing Central's own fields on expired contracts cannot be edited even when this feature is enabled.