Contract statuses and lifecycle

Contract statuses are Draft, Sent, Signed, Active, Expired and Terminated. The order is Draft → Sent → Signed → Active → Terminated. A contract can only be changed while Draft or Sent, and active or signed contracts cannot be deleted.

• Draft – every new contract starts here. It can still be changed freely.
• Sent – the contract has gone to the customer. It can still be changed.
• Signed – the system records the signing date and who marked it as signed. From here it can be activated.
• Active – the contract is in force. Use Activate on the detail page to make a signed contract active.
• Terminated – end an active contract with Terminate; a reason is required. Termination cannot be undone.
• Expired – this status appears in the filter, but the system does not set it automatically when the end date passes. The list shows a past end date in red.

Steps cannot be skipped: only a draft can be sent, only a sent contract signed, only a signed contract activated, and only an active contract terminated.