GNM_SLM_Sales_Contracts_FS

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• 1. .Introduction

     1. Purpose

GNM authorises 3rd parties to reuse GNM content by means of individual licences and longer term redistribution contracts. Contracts tend to be for a year or multiple years, and the customer is either sent the content or they can choose it themselves subject to any rights restrictions.

• 1. Scope

This document is intended as a high-level document outlining how Customers’ syndication contracts (aka redistribution contracts) are recorded and managed within SLM. It does not include the details of any one-off licenses or the automated interfaces between SLM and Oracle AR which are described in separate documents.

This is not a detailed functional specification from which the system could have originally been developed.

Separate Technical specifications document the implementation of these functions.

• 1. .Contract management

All contracts for the re-use of GNM content are recorded in SLM, linked to the relevant customer. These contracts are maintained by the Rights department, with the Account managers from the Syndication department also having access.

• 1. Customers

In order to record a contract with a customer the customer record must exists in the SLM database. The process of recording new customer details is described in another document in this set.

• 1. Creating a contract

A new contract is created by firstly identifying the customer, or creating a new customer, and then entering the contract details in the Redistribution contracts screen for that customer.

Contracts can be setup to define what content needs to be sent to them, or to define the contract terms that need to be agreed and invoiced against, or a combination of the two.

Contracts are composed of the following elements:

• • Duration & terms (including any special terms, as well as internal notes about the contract);

  • Client services (how the client proposes to use the content);

  • Contract periods (usually distinct annual periods under the contract;

  • Content (in some instances the content used by the client is recorded against the period);

  • Invoices (invoices GNM raises for each contract period);

  • Documents (a store of all relevant contract paperwork);

  • Delivery (products to deliver, delivery methods, and the data to send);

  • Owners (who at GNM should get the renewal alerts);

  • Alerts (who at the client should get corrections, clarifications and legal notices); and

  • Contacts (client contacts, with their role and whether they receive emailed contracts).

Syndication sales contracts do not need to be approved in SLM in the way supplier contracts need to be approved in RCS.

• 1. Reviewing contracts

Redistribution contracts can be viewed via a number of different menu options:

• • Find a customer screen – to see the redistribution contracts for a specific customer;

  • Current contracts – to see only current contracts;

  • Contracts not received – to see contracts whose paperwork has not been returned;

  • Renew contracts – to see a list of contracts awaiting renewal;

  • Invoice estimates due – for contracts where invoice estimates need to be replaced with actuals fees to be invoiced;

  • Contracts handled by – to see all contracts handled by a particular account manager; and

  • Content that has been resold under a reseller contract can be linked to the contracts periods in which it was sold, and for non-resller contracts the content used by the supplier can be linked to the contract period.

Each of these menu options calls the same screen, but only shows the applicable contracts.

• 1. Renewing contracts

     1. Renewal alerts

If flagged as such, the owners of a contract are emailed when the renewal date is approaching.

They will continue to get these email alerts until either the contract is renewed or the user checks a box against the contract to acknowledge the alert and supress it thereafter.

• 1. Renewing contracts

A queue of contracts whose latest period is due for renewal is provided to help users manage renewals. The process of renewing involves setting the dates of the new period and the new fee, and the system should do the rest.

Invoices can be scheduled for the contract period, based on the agreed fees for each product.

• 1. Contract term sheets

Redistribution contracts are generated by the system for issue to the customer. They are sent as PDF attachments to an email. The contracts should be signed by the customer and returned, countersigned at GNM, scanned, and stored in the database against the contract. A copy of the signed document may also be reissued to the contributor.

The contract clauses used to generate term sheets are maintained in the SLM database.

When new periods are added to contracts (i.e. when they are renewed) the term sheet is not reissued. Term sheets are only issued when the original contract period is setup. If a separate document is agreed between the parties as part of the renewal process then this is scanned and then loaded into the database and linked to the contract.

End of Document