> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://zenskar.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Contract renewal

When a contract reaches its end date, Zenskar checks it against a renewal policy to decide whether it should be extended, and on what terms.

## Renewal policies

There are three renewal policies:

| Policy                                 | Effect                                                                                                                              | Use case                                                                        |
| -------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Don't renew automatically              | The contract reaches its end date and terminates without further action.                                                            | One-time projects or fixed-term agreements.                                     |
| Renew with same contract terms         | The contract is renewed while preserving all customizations, such as discounts or custom pricing, applied to the original template. | Long-term partnerships with negotiated, non-standard rates.                     |
| Renew without customer-specific prices | The contract is reset to the default values of its parent template before renewal.                                                  | Standardized price increases, or moving a customer back to your standard rates. |

<Warning>
  Individual contracts don't currently have their own renewal policy setting in the dashboard, on either the create or the edit form. Every contract is fixed to "Don't renew automatically" at the contract level. If you want "Renew with same contract terms" or "Renew without customer-specific prices" behavior, set it as your organization's default renewal policy instead, described below, since that's the only place those two policies are usable today.
</Warning>

## The decision hierarchy

Zenskar decides how to handle an expired contract in this order:

1. **Contract-level policy.** Every contract is currently fixed to "don't renew automatically" at this level, since there's no dashboard control to set anything else on an individual contract.
2. **Organization-level policy.** Zenskar falls back to the default renewal policy set for your organization. This is where "renew with same contract terms" and "renew without customer-specific prices" are actually usable today.
3. **No policy found.** If no organization-level policy is set either, the contract isn't renewed.

```mermaid theme={null}
graph LR
    Start[Contract expired]
    PolicyExist{Does contract-level<br/>renewal policy exist?}
    OrgPolicyExist{Does organization-level<br/>renewal policy exist?}
    ApplyPolicy{Apply renewal policy}

    RenewPreserved[Contract gets renewed while<br/>template customization is preserved]
    RenewDefault[Contract gets reset to default<br/>template values, and is renewed]
    NotRenewed[Contract is not renewed]

    Start --> PolicyExist
    PolicyExist -- YES --> ApplyPolicy
    PolicyExist -- NO --> OrgPolicyExist

    OrgPolicyExist -- YES --> ApplyPolicy
    OrgPolicyExist -- NO --> NotRenewed

    ApplyPolicy -- "Renew with same<br/>contract terms" --> RenewPreserved
    ApplyPolicy -- "Renew without customer-specific prices" --> RenewDefault
    ApplyPolicy -- "Don't renew automatically" --> NotRenewed
```

## How to configure organization-level renewal

To set a default renewal policy for your whole organization:

1. Click the menu with your profile name in the bottom-left corner.
2. Go to **Settings → Contracts & Invoices**.
3. Turn on the renewal setting.
4. Choose your preferred renewal policy from the dropdown: don't renew automatically, renew with same contract terms, renew without customer-specific prices, or renew without customer-specific prices with the renewal date aligned to month end.

## Reference

| Detail               | Specification                                                                  |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Processing frequency | Runs on a schedule your organization configures, rather than a fixed interval. |
| Scope                | Contracts that have reached their end date.                                    |
| Default behavior     | No renewal, if no policy applies.                                              |

## What's next

To create a contract, see [how to create a contract via dashboard](/docs/20240301/product-modules/contracts/how-to-guides/create-a-contract-using-the-zenskar-dashboard). Renewal policy isn't part of that form, it's set at the organization level as described above.