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Set up a Contract

Modified: 12 Jun 2026 Vista Project Management Help

You must set up contracts to define how one or more jobs may be billed. Contracts provide the opportunity to link revenue that is posted to contracts to costs that are posted to projects.

You will generally create a new contract each time you create a new project. The contract defines how the project is billed and is where the project revenue is posted.
Note: If you create a project (in PM Projects), the system automatically defaults a contract using the same number as the project number. If the contract does not exist in the PM Contracts form, the system automatically creates it (in PM Contracts) with one contract item using the project description and a lump sum unit of measure. Any automatically created contract is pending and not accessible in the JC Contracts form until the project and contract are interfaced using the PM Interface form. For more information about setting up a contract created using PM Projects, see Contract Setup.

The following process covers completing required fields and basic setup. When going through these steps, press F1 in any field to get more detailed information.

  1. From the main menu, select Project Management > Programs > PM Contracts.
  2. In the Contract field, enter a contract number (using the format defined when your system was installed).
    If you initiated this contract from PM Projects, enter the contract number you defined when you created the project.
  3. In the Department field, enter the department or press F4 to select from a list of valid departments.
    If you initiated this contract from PM Projects, the Department, Default Retainage Percentage, and Contract Start Month default from the project. You may override these values if needed.
  4. In the Customer field, enter the customer or press F4 to select from a list of valid customers.
    If you initiated this contract from PM Projects, this field defaults the customer defined for the project. You will typically not need to change this.
  5. In the Pay Terms field, enter the pay terms or accept the defaulted pay terms (defined for the customer in AR Customers).
  6. If applicable, enter values in the Dflt Retainage %, Bill Day, and Margin % fields. See the F1 help for information about each of these fields.
  7. In the Tax Code field, enter the default tax code to use for this contract. This is the tax code that defaults when creating contract items for this contract.
  8. In the Default Bill Type section, select the bill type to use for this contract or accept the defaulted bill type (defined in JC Company Parameters).
    This bill type defaults for each contract item you add to this contract.
  9. In the Contract Start Month field, enter the start month/year or accept the default month/year.
  10. If applicable, fill out remaining fields on the Info tab.
  11. Use the Items tab to set up items on the contract.
    If you initiated this contract from PM Projects, the system automatically sets up a single contract item with a LS unit of measure, and defaults the department, start month, and retainage percent defined for the project, as well as the default bill type defined in JC Company Parameters. You can modify the contract item as needed, and add additional contract items if applicable.
    For more information about contract items, see PM Contract Items Form .
  12. Use the JB Info tab to set up additional information for the contract related to how the contract will be processed using the Job Billing module.
  13. Use the Forecast tab to set up a forecast for the contract. For more information, see About Contract Forecasts.
Now that you have set up the contract and contract items, you can assign the contract items to phases on the project using the Phases tab on the PM Projects form or the PM Project Phases form. For more information, see Set up Phases for the Project.
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