Set up a framework agreement
A framework agreement (Rahmenvertrag) is a contract price plus a commitment: the customer promises a volume over a period, you promise a price and terms. This article builds one.
Step 1 — Create the price list first
The agreement does not hold prices. A price list does, and the agreement points at it.
- Go to Order Management › Prices › Price lists and create the list, as described in Contract prices for a customer.
- Applies to → Account: the organization. This is what makes the negotiated prices reach that customer and nobody else.
- Logged-in buyers only: on.
- Priority: above your standard customer list, so the agreement wins where the two overlap. Priority sorts lists of equal specificity — it does not replace binding the list to the account.
- Valid from / Valid until: the term of the agreement, exactly.
- Add one entry per agreed article. Where the agreement has a ladder, that is several entries on the same article with different From quantity values.
Step 2 — Create the agreement
- Go to Sales › Framework agreements and select New agreement.
- Fill in:
| Field | What to put in it |
|---|---|
| Reference | Your own contract number, and the customer's if they issued one |
| Account | The organization |
| Price list | The list from step 1 |
| Term from / to | The same dates as the list's validity |
| Committed volume | The number the customer signed up to |
| Volume basis | quantity or value — see below |
| Status | draft until signed, then active |
- Save.
Volume basis is a decision, not a preference. A commitment in quantity (12,000 metres) is measured per article and is the right basis for a single-article agreement. A commitment in value (€180,000 across the range) is measured in money and is right where the customer buys a basket. Mixing them in one agreement — a quantity commitment on two articles and a value commitment across everything else — is legitimate, and it means two agreements, not one with two rules.
Step 3 — Call-off rules
These govern what a buyer may actually order against the agreement.
| Rule | Typical value | What it prevents |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum call-off | 200 m | Fifty single-metre orders at the volume price |
| Maximum per call-off | 2,000 m | The whole commitment pulled in January |
| Call-off interval | Monthly, quarterly | Nothing, then everything in December |
| Over-call-off | block, warn, or allow at list price | The 13,000th metre at the 12,000-metre price |
| Under-delivery at term end | nothing, notify, renegotiate | A discount given for volume that never came |
Over-call-off is the one to think hardest about. allow at list price is
usually right commercially and is the one buyers dislike most, so say it plainly
in the agreement rather than discovering it together in month nine.
Step 4 — Link it to the quote that won it
If the agreement came out of a won quote, set the quote reference on the agreement. It costs nothing now and answers "why is this price €4.80?" in one click a year from now, when the person who negotiated it has moved on.
Renewal
Set a renewal reminder on the agreement, some weeks before the term ends — sixty days is a workable default for an annual agreement, because it leaves room for a negotiation round before the price reverts.
An agreement that ends does not delete anything. The price list's Valid until
passes, the negotiated entries stop resolving, and the customer falls back to
your standard price. That is commercially correct, and it is also precisely when
they will phone. Renew before the date, not after it.
What to check
- Log in as a test contact at that organization and check three articles: one in the agreement, one outside it, and one where a scale rung should apply. See Check which price a buyer sees.
- The agreement's remaining volume shows the full committed amount before any call-off has happened.
- The price list grid shows the account under Applies to, and shows the agreement's end date under Valid until.
- Place a test call-off below the minimum. It should be refused with the rule named, not silently accepted.
Next
- Call-offs against a framework agreement — ordering against it.
- Contract prices for a customer — the price list mechanics in full.