Most money is lost on supplier contracts not through bad negotiation but through missed dates: a notice deadline passes, the contract rolls over on the old terms and the chance to renegotiate is gone for another year. SupplierVault takes the dates written in each contract and works out, for every supplier, when to start reviewing, the last day to change volumes or prices, and the last day to give notice. It then shows those dates on the Renewals page, on the Dashboard, in tasks and in your own calendar.
Where to find it
- On each supplier record: open a supplier and choose the "Contract and money" tab. The first section is "Contract, notice & renewal". Click "Edit" on the section to change the fields.
- Across all suppliers: the "Renewals & notice periods" page in the main menu.
- On the Dashboard: the "Renewal decisions needed" banner, the "Renewal decisions due" figure and the renewal radar.
The contract fields, one by one
| Field | What to enter | What it's used for |
|---|---|---|
| "Start" | The date the current contract term began. | Needed for usage forecasts and "Term elapsed". Updated automatically when you record a renewal. |
| "End" | The date the current term ends. | Every renewal date is counted back from this. Without an end date no deadlines are worked out, and the record says "Add the contract end date and notice period to track renewal deadlines." |
| "Cancellation notice (days before end)" | How many days' notice the contract needs to end it. New suppliers start at 90. | Gives the notice deadline. If you leave it blank it counts as 0, so the deadline becomes the end date itself. |
| "Notice to change volumes or prices (days)" | Only if the contract needs earlier notice to change quantities or prices than to cancel. Leave blank if it's the same. | Gives a separate "Change volumes or prices by" deadline. |
| "Start review this many days earlier" | Optional. How long before the first deadline this contract's review should begin. | Overrides your organisation's default (90 days unless changed in Settings). |
| "Auto-renews if no notice is given" | Tick if the contract rolls over automatically. | Changes the wording to "Cancel before auto-renewal by" and "Auto-renews on". |
| "Auto-renewal term (months)" | Shown when auto-renew is ticked. How long each rollover lasts. | Used to show "renews to" the new end date, and to roll the contract forward once its end date passes. |
| "Committed spend" | The value you have agreed to pay under the contract. See the note below on yearly or whole-term figures. | Dashboard committed totals, the Renewals page value column, "Up for renewal · 12 months", reports and drawdown forecasts. |
| "Contract currency" | The currency the contract is priced in. | Shown converted, for example "≈ £95k at 1 USD = 0.79 GBP", using the rates Finance sets in Settings. |
| "Reserved capacity" | Free text, such as "50 licences, 3-year term". | Shown for reference only. |
| "Reserved or licensed per month" | The number of licences or units you pay for each month. | Used with your monthly usage records to calculate "Capacity in use". See Spend and usage. |
| "Capacity in use" | Worked out for you if you record monthly units; otherwise you can type a percentage. | Warnings under 70% (paying for idle capacity) and at 95% or more (close to overage). |
| "Actual spend, last 12 months" | Read only. | Invoices plus orders not yet invoiced. See How figures are calculated. |
| "Price escalator (%/yr)" | The yearly price rise or cap in the contract. | Recorded and shown in the QBR pack. It isn't used in any calculation. |
| "Termination rights" | A short summary, such as "For convenience on 90 days' notice; for SLA breach". | Reference, audit pack and the AI assistant. |
| "Liability cap" | A one-line summary, such as "125% of the charges paid in the contract year". | Reference, audit pack and the AI assistant. |
| "Renewal recommendation" | "Not set", "Renew", "Renegotiate" or "Exit". | Shown on the record and in the QBR pack. Also set when you choose a decision on the Renewals page. |
How the deadlines are worked out
Every date is counted back in calendar days from the contract's current end date.
Worked example. A cleaning contract ends on 31 March 2027. It needs 90 days' notice to cancel and 120 days' notice to change prices or volumes. The default review lead time is 90 days.
- Notice deadline: 31 March 2027 − 90 days = 31 December 2026.
- Change-figures deadline: 31 March 2027 − 120 days = 1 December 2026.
- First deadline: 1 December 2026, because it comes first.
- Review starts: 1 December 2026 − 90 days = 2 September 2026.
Auto-renewing contracts roll forward
When an auto-renewing contract's end date passes without notice served or a renewal recorded, SupplierVault rolls it forward by whole auto-renewal terms until the current end date is today or later. All the deadlines are then counted from that date. The end date you entered isn't changed.
Example: a contract ended on 31 March 2026 and auto-renews for 12 months. On 23 October 2026 its current end date is 31 March 2027, and with 90 days' notice you must cancel by 31 December 2026.
If no auto-renewal term is set, the contract shows "Auto-renewed: set the new end date" instead. Add the term, or record the renewal with the new end date.
Where each contract stands
Each contract with an end date gets a status, shown as a coloured label in the supplier list and on the record.
| Label | When it shows |
|---|---|
| "On track" (green) | The review window hasn't opened yet. |
| "Review now" (amber) | Today is inside the review window. |
| "Act now" (red) | Inside the review window and either the notice deadline is 30 days away or less, or no review has started and the first deadline is 45 days away or less. |
| "Change deadline missed" (red) | The date to change volumes or prices has passed, but the notice deadline hasn't. |
| "Notice missed" (red) | The notice deadline has passed without notice served or a renewal agreed. |
| "Decided" (green) | The review status is "Notice served" or "Renewal agreed". |
| "Ended" (grey) | The end date has passed. |
| "No end date", "Exiting", "Closed" (grey) | No end date recorded, or the supplier is being offboarded or is closed. |
Countdown chips next to each date are green with a tick when done, grey when more than 90 days away, amber within 90 days, red within 30 days, and red with "days ago" once passed.
How to run a renewal
- Start the review. On the Renewals page click "Start review" on the contract's row, or on the record click "Start renewal review". The status becomes "Assessing" and eight tasks are scheduled back from the next deadline (see below).
- Gather the evidence. The tasks cover usage, performance, a market benchmark, budget and legal review. Market prices and the usage figures help here.
- Record the decision. In the register choose a "Decision": "Renew as is", "Renegotiate figures" or "Exit · do not renew". This also sets the contract's Renewal recommendation. Add your aims in "Target figures and notes", for example "Cut commitment to £120k, cap escalator at 2%".
- Close it out. If you're leaving, click "Record notice served" (and then start offboarding). If you've agreed a renewal, type the new end date and click "Record renewal agreed". The new end date must be after the current end date, or you'll see "The new end date must be after the current end date, date." With no date you'll see "Enter the new contract end date first."
When you record a renewal, the new start date becomes the current end date (rolled forward, for an auto-renewing contract) plus one day, the end date becomes the new date, the status and decision are cleared ready for next time, and a line such as "Renewed to 31 Mar 2028 (renegotiate figures)" is added to the contract's history. All the deadlines are then recalculated for the next cycle.
If the recommendation is "Renegotiate" or "Exit", a "Start re-tender in Sourcing" button appears. It opens a new sourcing event already filled in with the supplier's area, budget (the committed value), currency and contract end date (Professional plan and above).
There's also a "Record contract review" button for the regular contract review your tier policy asks for, which is separate from the renewal itself. See Tiering.
The eight review tasks
| Task | Team | Due |
|---|---|---|
| Pull 12-month usage, allocation and spend data | Infrastructure | 60 days before the deadline |
| Performance, risk and governance review | Procurement | 55 days before |
| Market benchmark and alternative quotes | Procurement | 45 days before |
| Budget and forecast figures for the next term | Finance | 40 days before |
| Legal review of renewal terms and notice clause | Legal | 35 days before |
| Renewal recommendation to contract owner | Procurement | 25 days before |
| Decision: renew, renegotiate or exit | Executive (the supplier's business owner, if one is named) | 20 days before |
| Serve notice or agree renewal figures in writing | Legal | 7 days before |
If you start late and some of those dates have already passed, the tasks are squeezed in between today and the deadline, in the same order, so none is due after the deadline. Starting the review twice for the same contract end doesn't create duplicates. Tasks go to the first stakeholder listed for each team; see Tasks and notifications.
The Renewals page
The four figures at the top
| Figure | What it counts |
|---|---|
| "Review windows open" | Contracts inside their review window, plus any with a missed notice or change deadline. |
| "Deadlines in 30 days" | Contracts not yet decided whose next deadline is within 30 days, with how many have no review started. |
| "Missed deadlines" | Contracts where the notice deadline or the change-figures deadline has passed. |
| "Up for renewal · 12 months" | The total committed value, in your reporting currency, of undecided contracts whose notice deadline is within the next 365 days and whose end date hasn't passed. |
Renewal radar
A timeline from about three months ago to twelve months ahead. Each bar is a contract's review window, from when assessment should start to the notice deadline, with markers for the change-figures deadline, notice deadline and contract end. Contracts appear when their first deadline is within 12 months or their notice was missed. Switch to the table view for the same dates as a list.
Renewal register
Every contract with an end date (except suppliers being offboarded or closed), sorted by earliest deadline. Columns: Supplier, Review starts, Change figures by ("Same as notice" if there's no separate date), Notice by, Contract end, Value (committed), Review status, Decision and a Start review button. You can change Review status ("Not started", "Assessing", "Decision made", "Notice served", "Renewal agreed") and Decision right in the table.
Getting the dates into your calendar
Export key dates (CSV)
On the Renewals page, "Export key dates (CSV)" saves a file called renewal-key-dates.csv that Outlook can import (File, Open & Export, Import/Export, from a CSV file). For each contract it creates all-day events for future dates only:
- "start renewal review", with a reminder 7 days before
- "last day to change volumes or prices", reminder 14 days before
- "notice deadline" or "last day to cancel before auto-renewal", reminder 14 days before
- "contract ends", reminder 30 days before
This is a one-off copy; export again after dates change.
Live calendar feed
In the live service, open the account button (top right), choose the "You" tab and find "Calendar feed". Click "Create my calendar link", then "Copy link", "Open in Outlook or Apple Calendar" or "Add to Google Calendar". The feed updates itself; calendar apps usually check for changes every few hours. It includes:
- "Give notice: {supplier}" or "Cancel before auto-renewal: {supplier}", with alerts 30, 7 and 1 day before
- "Last day to change volumes or prices: {supplier}", alerts 30 and 7 days before
- "Contract ends: {supplier}"
- "Start renewal review: {supplier}", alert 7 days before. The date is the earliest deadline minus the contract's review lead time, or your organisation's default (normally 90 days)
- open contract obligations with a due date, as "Our obligation" or "Supplier obligation", alerts 7 and 1 day before
- your own open tasks with a due date ("Task due"), alert 1 day before
It leaves out suppliers being offboarded or closed, and contracts already marked "Notice served" or "Renewal agreed". It only shows suppliers in areas you can see.
Other places renewals show up
- Dashboard: a "Renewal decisions needed" banner listing the four most urgent contracts (red if any is urgent or missed), a "Renewal decisions due" figure with the value at stake, and the attention list (for example "notice deadline missed" or "deadline to change volumes or prices passed").
- Supplier record: the section heading shows the next deadline, for example "Give notice by 31 Dec 2026", or "Notice deadline missed".
- Reports: the "Renewals and notice deadlines" report. See Reports.
- Category plans: "Contracts coming up" for each area.
Good to know
- SupplierVault doesn't serve notice for you. It tells you when, and records that you did.
- Both the live calendar feed and the CSV export include the "start renewal review" date. The CSV is a one-off copy; the feed keeps itself up to date.
- The renewal register shows its first 200 contracts, and the renewal radar its first 25, each with Show more and Show all.
- The Renewals report and category plan renewals count also include contracts whose notice deadline has already passed, so missed ones aren't hidden.
- All values are converted into your reporting currency at the daily exchange rates, or a rate Finance has fixed in Settings. A currency with no rate is counted one-for-one until a rate is added.
Related
- Contract and invoice reader
- Contract obligations and service credits
- Spend and usage
- Offboarding
- How figures are calculated