Create a Contract to agree terms with a freelancer, collect their acceptance or signature, and set up how they get paid, all in one record. This article covers creating a Contract, saving a draft, how invoicing works, and what you can and can't change later.

Who can do this: Teammates whose role lets them create Contracts. Some templates are available only to admins.

Availability: Every account that uses Contracts. Your admins set up the Contract templates you can choose from.

Your workspace may use a different name for Contracts (for example, Engagements) or for your freelancers (for example, Talent or Partners). The steps are the same.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Before you start

  • Choose the right template. The template decides the Contract type, the type of fee, any review workflow, and who accepts the Contract and later changes to it. You can't switch templates after you create the Contract. To see what each template type is for, read How to Create and Manage Contract Templates.
  • Check that the freelancer is in Worksuite. You select them on the Contract form. If they aren't there yet, you may be able to add them from the form (see step 3). If not, add them first, as described in Adding & Inviting Talent to Worksuite.
  • Start from the Contracts page. You can also create a Contract from a freelancer's profile, but that shorter form doesn't let you save a draft for most Contract types.

Create a Contract

  1. Go to Contracts → All Contracts and click New Contract.
  2. Select the template from the list. The Contract form opens.
  3. In Partner, search for the freelancer and select them. If they aren't in Worksuite yet and you see Add a new partner, select it and enter their Name / Company and Email.
  4. Fill in the Contract details, such as the name, entity, Start date, End date, description and any custom fields.
  5. Complete the rest of the form for your template. Depending on the type, this can include Tasks and their fees, a budget, and the Invoicing section.
  6. Click Save and make live to send the Contract now, or Save Contract to keep it as a draft.

On Fixed Rate Contracts, the form has two steps. After the Contract details, click Next to open the Summary. It shows the total fees, the number of invoices, and the first and last invoice amounts. Then click Save and make live or Save Contract. To stop before the Summary, click Save draft.

A draft shows the status Draft in your Contracts list, and your freelancer doesn't receive anything yet. To send it later, open it and click Make live.

When you make the Contract live, it moves to Under review if the template has a Contract workflow. Otherwise it goes straight to your freelancer and your team to accept or sign. Once everyone has accepted or signed, it becomes Live, or Scheduled if the start date is in the future. Your freelancer can then invoice against it.

How invoicing works on your Contract

The template type decides how invoices are created. On Task-Based and Time and Material Contracts, you pick an option in the Invoicing section of the form. Fixed Rate Contracts always invoice on a schedule. The invoicing method can't be changed once the Contract is live, not even with a change request.

Option on the formHow it works
Fixed Rate Contracts (no option to choose)Worksuite creates invoices on a schedule (weekly, every two weeks or monthly) for the rate you set. Your freelancer doesn't need to submit them.
Manual Task-based invoicingYour freelancer submits an invoice for each Task when it's complete.
Automated cumulative invoicingWorksuite creates one invoice for the sum of all Task fees once the Tasks are complete. It leaves out amounts that were already invoiced, so the work isn't billed twice.
Manual Invoicing (Time and Material Contracts)After a timesheet is approved, an invoice needs to be created manually for its Task.
Fixed Rate Contracts invoice directly from the Contract, without a Task. Task-level fields, such as a client or project field, don't appear on those invoices. Put that information in the invoice description or line items instead.

What you can't change after you create a Contract

Once a Contract is created, these stay fixed: the template (and with it the Contract type and type of fee) and the freelancer. Once it's live, the entity, the currency, the invoicing method and the start date are fixed too. Some custom fields can also be locked by your template.

To change any of these:

  1. Create a Contract on the correct template with the right details.
  2. Remove the old Contract if it's a draft (Remove Contract), cancel it if it's sent but not live yet (Cancel Contract), or end it if it's already live (Set end Contract date or Terminate Contract).
If the template is right, open the old Contract's Actions menu and click Duplicate Contract. The copy opens for you to correct before you save it.

Cancel the old Contract as early as you can, ideally before its review steps finish. The replacement Contract goes through the review steps again.

Other changes to a live Contract, such as a new end date, fee or PO number, go through a change request. See How to Submit and Track a Contract Change Request.

Get notified before a Contract ends

An admin can set this on the template, in the Expiration & Renewal section:

  • Change Contract status to "Ending soon" marks the Contract as ending soon a set time before it ends, so your team can plan an extension or renewal.
  • Renew the Contract automatically starts a renewal a set time before the current Contract ends. A renewal approver on your team approves it.

See who changed a Contract and when

Open the Contract and go to the Activity log tab. Each entry shows the date, the person who made the change, and the old and new values, such as a rate or budget. Status changes appear there too, so check what each entry describes.

Troubleshooting

There's no option to save a draft

You started the Contract from a freelancer's profile. Go to Contracts → All Contracts, click New Contract and select the freelancer on the form.

I can't find the freelancer on the Contract form

They aren't in Worksuite yet, or they're archived. Add or restore them, then start the Contract again. If Add a new partner isn't offered, your role can't add talent, or your account requires talent to finish onboarding before they get work.

The Contract was cancelled after its classification questions

Some templates include classification questions. Open the Contract's Activity log to see what happened. A cancelled Contract can't be reopened. If the answers were wrong or the person's situation has changed, create a new Contract and have the freelancer answer the questions again. If you think the outcome itself is wrong, contact Worksuite Support to have it reviewed.

I need to change a Task template

Task templates are set up by Worksuite. Contact Worksuite Support with the template names and the fields you want to add, hide or show.

A colleague can't see or edit my Contract

See Why Can't I See or Edit a Contract?.

I get an error when I save the Contract

See Errors When Creating or Saving a Contract.

Support/Resources

Still have questions about creating a Contract? Click Support in the bottom-left corner of Worksuite to contact our Support team, or email support@worksuite.com. Including a link to the page you're on and a screenshot helps us answer faster.