Enterprise: ERP, CRM and SAP · Enterprise scenario · Proposed architecture
From contract to obligations and renewal (Contract-to-Obligation)
Dates, pricing mechanism, obligations and notice periods are extracted from the approved contract and annexes with their source clause, legal and the business owner review them, obligations are assigned to owners, invoices and service KPIs are compared with the terms, and the renewal decision is opened on time.
Who it is for: Companies with long-term service, procurement and enterprise sales contracts
Systems: Contract archive, CRM, ERP / SAP, Task and approval system
Problem
Contracts sit in the archive as PDFs. Notice periods, indexation dates and obligations are tracked from memory or in a separate spreadsheet. Auto-renewal dates are missed, and invoice prices are rarely checked against the contract.
How it works today
After signing, the legal department uploads the contract to the archive. The business owner copies the key terms into their own spreadsheet, and contract records are opened by hand in the ERP and CRM. When an invoice arrives, the price is checked only if something looks wrong, and the renewal decision is often made in the last week.
What this scenario changes
An approved contract in the archive starts the process. AI extracts dates, the pricing mechanism, obligations and notice periods with their source clause, and legal and the business owner approve them. Obligations are assigned to owners, and ERP and CRM records are aligned with safe writes. Invoices and service KPIs are compared with the approved terms, a renewal or termination approval is opened before the notice period, and all decisions are kept in the audit history.
The integration method is chosen based on the SAP version and the available interfaces.
Process stages
- Contract intake: Bring the approved contract and annexes into the process. Result: Contract version recorded
- Term extraction: Extract dates, price, obligations and notices with their source clause. Result: Structured terms and clause references
- Legal and business review: Confirm the extracted terms match the text. Result: Approved terms for a specific version. Approval: Legal and business owner
- Obligation assignment: Give every obligation an owner and a date. Result: Obligation register
- ERP and CRM alignment: Create the contract records in both systems exactly once. Result: Linked contract records in the ERP and CRM
- Invoice and KPI control: Compare invoices and service KPIs with the approved terms. Result: Match, or a mismatch resolved by the owner
- Renewal or termination: Decide before the notice period. Result: Approved renewal or termination notice. Approval: Business owner and legal
- Audit history: Keep decisions and correspondence traceable. Result: Full contract history in the archive
Participants
- Contract archive
- Integration layer and AI
- Legal and business owner
- Obligation owners
- ERP / SAP
- CRM
- Counterparty
The role of AI
Structures the contract text: extracts dates, the pricing mechanism, obligations and notice periods, and shows the source clause for each. Prepares a summary for the renewal decision. It does not give a final legal interpretation.
Rule-based automation
Annex consistency, version, invoice and KPI comparisons run as rules against the approved terms. ERP and CRM writes are idempotent with an operation ID, and on a timeout the target system is checked first. Timers track the notice dates.
Human approval and exceptions
Legal and the business owner approve the extracted terms. For a conflicting annex, the legal department decides which clause applies. The obligation owner resolves invoice and KPI mismatches. The business owner decides on renewal or termination together with legal.
Frequently asked questions
Do you have a ready-made SAP integration?
This page shows a proposed architecture and a synthetic demo. How the contract record is stored in the ERP and the integration method are chosen in the project based on the SAP version, active processes and available interfaces.
Does AI interpret the contract legally?
No. AI structures the terms and shows the source clause for each. Legal and the business owner approve the extraction, and the legal department decides on conflicting clauses.
What happens if a new contract version is uploaded?
The earlier approval is tied to a specific version. If a new version is detected, the terms are extracted again and sent for approval again; system records are not updated with the old approval.