Contracts lets you build a document with fillable and signable fields, then send it out for electronic signature. You can track a sent contract's status from send through completed signature, and VipeCloud stores the finished document once every signer has completed it.

This section is inside the Contract Builder, opened from the previous step.

The right side of the builder lists the parties on the contract, with First Party added by default. Click the + next to First Party, then click Add Second Party if the contract needs a second signer - for example, when your company and the customer both need to sign.

To add a field to the document:

Most Commonly Used Field Types

Other Field Types

Click the Contract Type dropdown near the top of the builder to choose a type. General is the only system type available by default.

To add your own type, click Manage Types, enter a name under Your Types, and click Add.

Contract Type also lets you filter your sent contracts by type later - for example, pulling up every outstanding FDD you've sent.

Franchise brand accounts come with a set of contract types already built into the Contract Type dropdown - FDD, FDD Receipt, Franchise Agreement, and others - that carry compliance behavior behind the scenes. Select one of these when it applies. Don't create a custom type with a matching name through Manage Types - only the built-in options trigger the automation below.

Flagging a contract as FDD sets the FDD Sent Date automatically on the linked contact once the document is sent. That date field is then locked: once it's set, only an admin can change it, and they have to give a reason when they do.

Setting the FDD Sent Date also starts a 14 full day cooling-off period. Day 15 is when the wait ends.

This lock-and-reason behavior isn't unique to this one field - it's part of VipeCloud's broader field governance system, which can be turned on for any custom field, not just fields tied to franchise compliance.

Flagging a contract as FDD Receipt works the same way, but on the other end of the process. Once the contact completes and signs the FDD Receipt document, VipeCloud automatically sets the FDD Receipt Date on their contact record. That's the same field the FDD Sent - In Review stage gate checks before letting an opportunity move forward, so getting the FDD Receipt signed is what clears that stage.

While a contact is inside the cooling-off period, sending a document flagged as Franchise Agreement to that contact is blocked - VipeCloud shows an alert and stops the send.

Pipeline stage gates work similarly from the Opportunity side: a stage can be set to block an opportunity from entering or leaving until a related field condition is met. A franchise pipeline typically uses this to require the FDD Receipt Date before an opportunity can leave an FDD review stage, and to require today's date to be on or after the 14-Day Cooling Off End Date before an opportunity can enter a Closed Won stage.

Two reports under Reports > Governance track this automatically. The Change Audit Trail logs every change to a governed field across the account, and can be filtered to show FDD compliance events only - useful since governance tracking isn't limited to franchise fields, so this filter keeps compliance changes separate from everything else you're tracking.

The Stage Gate Violations report flags any opportunity currently sitting in a gated stage that wouldn't pass its rule if checked right now. This report is normally empty - a violation usually means an admin override or a manual data change happened after the opportunity moved.

Click Edit Folders & Sharing to add the contract to a folder or share it with your team. New contracts are placed in the My Templates folder by default.

Click Save & Return to Contracts at any point to save your changes and go back to the Contracts list without sending.

Each contract you send counts as one document against your plan's monthly contract limit, whether or not it's ever signed. Your remaining count for the month is shown at the top of the Send Contract window.

Click Sent Contracts on the Contracts page to see everything you've sent. Each contract moves through these statuses:

Use the All Sent Contracts dropdown to filter by Viewed But Not Started, Started But Not Completed, Completed, or Deleted. You can also filter by Contract Type to pull up a specific set of sent contracts, such as every outstanding FDD.

Once every party has signed, VipeCloud saves the completed document to your Signed Contracts folder, attaches it to the contract's primary contact, and emails a copy to you and every signer.

Every step of a contract's progress is logged to the Activity feed on the primary contact's record, including Contract Sent, Contract Viewed, Contract Started, and Contract Signed, each with a timestamp and the document name. This gives you a running history of a signer's engagement without needing to check Sent Contracts.

Once a contract is signed, the completed document also appears in the Content section of the contact record, alongside any other files attached to that contact.

The signer gets an email titled "[Document Name] - Signature Requested By [Your Name]," with any note you added and a Review And Sign button. The email also warns the signer not to forward it, since forwarding could let someone else access the document.

When the signer clicks Review And Sign, the document opens with their assigned fields ready to complete. Date fields fill in automatically with the current date. To sign, the signer clicks their Signature field, then types or uploads a signature and clicks Sign And Complete.

After signing, the signer sees a confirmation page and receives an emailed copy. Once every signer has completed their fields, you and all signers receive a final email with the fully signed document attached.