What Have We Actually Promised? How to Track Contract Obligations
The service is running. The team is busy. The client seems happy.
Then an email arrives asking for a report nobody realised was due.
The work may be getting done, but the contract includes more than the service your team delivers. Reporting, insurance, approvals, notifications and recordkeeping can all need separate attention.
To track contract obligations, review the governing documents and record each requirement with its source, responsible owner, deadline or trigger, and completion evidence. Review that register regularly and update it when an approved variation changes the agreement.
For Australian government suppliers, this gives operations, finance and management a practical answer to a question that should never depend on one person's memory: what have we actually promised?
What is a contract obligation?
A contract obligation is something a party must do, provide or refrain from doing under an agreement.
For a supplier, that may include delivering services, meeting performance standards, submitting reports, maintaining insurance, obtaining approvals or notifying the buyer when certain events occur.
The buyer may also have obligations, such as providing access, supplying information or reviewing deliverables. Those requirements matter because your team's work may depend on them.
A useful obligations register makes both the supplier's responsibilities and relevant buyer dependencies visible.
Where do you find your contractual obligations?
Start with the executed agreement and the documents that form part of it.
Requirements may appear across:
- The main contract terms.
- Statements of work and service specifications.
- Delivery and pricing schedules.
- KPI and reporting schedules.
- Tender commitments incorporated into the agreement.
- Approved variations and other incorporated documents.
Check how the agreement identifies its governing documents and resolves inconsistencies. Do not assume every statement in the original tender response became a contractual requirement.
Bring unresolved questions to the contract owner. Where the meaning or effect of a clause is unclear, obtain appropriate advice before turning an assumption into a delivery instruction.
How do you turn contract clauses into trackable actions?
Write each register entry so the person responsible can understand what needs to happen.
“Comply with reporting requirements” is too broad to manage. “Submit the quarterly performance report using the required template by the scheduled deadline” gives someone an action to own.
Preserve the clause reference beside that plain-English description. The register helps your team work with the agreement; it does not replace the original wording.
The Australian Government's Contract Management Guide recommends that management plans reference relevant clauses and supporting information, helping avoid contradictions when documents change. Although written for Commonwealth officials, the principle is useful for suppliers organising their own delivery responsibilities. Source: Australian Government Contract Management Guide
What should a contract obligations register include?
| Field | What it helps your team understand |
|---|---|
| Obligation | What action or outcome is required? |
| Source | Which clause, schedule or approved variation establishes it? |
| Owner | Who is accountable for completing it? |
| Deadline or trigger | When does the requirement become due? |
| Dependencies | What information, access or approval is needed first? |
| Evidence | What record demonstrates completion? |
| Status | Is it upcoming, in progress, blocked or complete? |
| Escalation | Who needs to know if delivery is at risk? |
Assign an individual owner wherever practical. A department name such as “operations” makes it harder to tell who needs to act.
Which obligations are easiest to overlook?
Pay particular attention to requirements that sit outside everyday service delivery.
Recurring obligations
These repeat throughout the agreement: monthly reporting, review meetings, inspections or periodic evidence submissions.
Record the frequency and how the due date is calculated. Set preparation reminders early enough to collect inputs and obtain internal approval.
Event-triggered obligations
These arise when something happens, such as a delivery issue, a proposed personnel change or another event specified in the agreement.
A calendar alone cannot manage them. The team needs to recognise the trigger and know whom to tell.
Approval requirements
Some actions may require approval before they proceed. Check the agreement for requirements concerning subcontractors, personnel, scope changes or other controlled decisions.
Record what needs approval, who can approve it and where the decision will be retained.
Expiry and notice windows
An expiry date and an action deadline are different things.
Insurance evidence may need updating before a policy expires. An extension decision or notice may be required before the contract ends. Record both dates where relevant.
Worked example: “Keep the insurance current” is not a complete task
Imagine a fictional service agreement requires a supplier to maintain specified insurance and provide updated evidence before the existing certificate expires.
A register entry that says “insurance renewal — finance” leaves important work unresolved.
A more useful entry looks like this:
| Item | Example |
|---|---|
| Obligation | Maintain the required cover and provide updated insurance evidence |
| Source | Relevant insurance clause and schedule |
| Owner | Operations manager |
| External dependency | Broker supplies the updated certificate |
| Internal preparation date | Contact the broker four weeks before expiry |
| Contract deadline | The evidence deadline specified in the agreement |
| Verification | Check the named entity, cover details and policy dates against the requirements |
| Completion evidence | Updated certificate and record of submission |
| Escalation | Notify the contract manager if renewal or evidence is delayed |
This example is illustrative. The four-week preparation date is an internal planning choice, not a standard contractual requirement.
Receiving a certificate is one step. Checking it and providing it to the required recipient may be separate steps.
That distinction is what makes a register useful.
When should you mark an obligation complete?
Mark it complete when the requirement has been satisfied and the necessary evidence has been retained.
Depending on the agreement, that evidence might include a submission receipt, inspection record, approval, delivery confirmation or acceptance record.
Use statuses that reflect what has actually happened. “Prepared”, “submitted” and “accepted” may describe different stages.
For example, a report saved in a shared folder has been prepared. It has not necessarily been submitted. A submitted deliverable has not necessarily been accepted.
How often should you review contract obligations?
A weekly review is a practical starting point for active contracts. Increase the frequency around mobilisation, major milestones or emerging issues.
Review:
- Obligations coming due.
- Overdue or blocked actions.
- Items awaiting buyer input or approval.
- Completed work with missing evidence.
- New events that may trigger notification requirements.
- Approved changes that affect existing obligations.
Keep the register current when an approved variation changes scope, dates or reporting requirements. Retain the source of the change so the team can trace the current instruction.
Scale the process to the contract's complexity. A straightforward agreement may need a modest register; a portfolio involving several teams needs clear shared ownership and visibility.
When a client requests a change to the agreed work, see how to manage contract variations, costs and approvals.
How Doreva Contracts helps keep obligations visible
See the Doreva Contracts product walkthrough with app screenshots for the upload, review and deadline-tracking workflow.
Doreva Contracts gives Australian government suppliers one place to manage obligations, deadlines, documents, approvals and renewals.
Use it to assign responsibility, track upcoming dates and keep relevant documents with the contract record.
For the insurance example, your team can keep the certificate alongside the agreement, assign the renewal responsibility and track the approaching date. For reporting obligations, it can see who owns the next submission and what needs attention.
Your team remains responsible for checking the contractual requirements and confirming completion. Doreva helps organise the work and keep it visible across the people involved.
Start your 14-day Doreva Contracts trial with one active agreement. Begin with its next ten obligations and give each one an owner, a deadline or trigger, and a clear completion requirement.
If you are still setting up a newly awarded contract, follow our first-30-days contract management checklist.
The next time someone asks, “What have we actually promised?”, your team should be able to open the contract record and show them.