--- title: Working with Underpinning Contracts slug: neurons-for-itsm/admin-user-help/enu/latest/working-with-underpinning-contracts createdAt: 2026-07-14T19:16:50.630Z --- - [About Underpinning Contracts](docId\:VlTjOw5gANzKvtXCXRMW_) - [Process for Working with an Underpinning Contract](docId\:VlTjOw5gANzKvtXCXRMW_) - [Viewing Underpinning Contracts](docId\:VlTjOw5gANzKvtXCXRMW_) - [Creating an Underpinning Contract](docId\:VlTjOw5gANzKvtXCXRMW_) - [Adding the Acceptance and Completion Targets for an Underpinning Contract](docId\:VlTjOw5gANzKvtXCXRMW_) - [Associating Tasks with the Underpinning Contract](docId\:VlTjOw5gANzKvtXCXRMW_) ### About Underpinning Contracts ITIL defines an underpinning contract as a contract between you (an IT service provider) and a third party vendor. The third party vendor provides goods or services that support delivery of an IT service to your customers. The underpinning contract defines targets and responsibilities that the service provider uses to determine service level targets and service level packages. For example, you are an IT service provider and you have end user customers that you provide services to. One of these services may be mobile communications. You may provide these services yourself or a third party may provide the services to you and you in turn provide them to the end user customer. An example of an underpinning contract is between you (the IT service provider) and AT\&T (the third party vendor) who provides you with mobile communication services.  When an end user customer needs a new mobile phone, they work with you, the IT service provider, and you, in turn, work with the third party vendor, in this case AT\&T. The relationship between you and the third party vendor is called an underpinning contract. :::hint{type="info"} Keep the service level agreement that your organization has with the end user customer in mind when creating an underpinning contract. For example, if the service level agreement between you and the end user customer says that mobile phone services will be fixed in 2 days, be sure that the underpinning contract between you and the third party vendor is less time than that, to ensure that you meet the service level agreement with the end user customer. ::: Underpinning contracts are similar to operational level agreements, but while operational level agreements are generally within groups in the same parent organization, underpinning contracts are generally between the organization and outside, third party vendors. ### Process for Working with an Underpinning Contract The process for working with underpinning contracts is as follows: 1. Determine which underpinning contracts your organization needs. 2. Create vendor records for each vendor that you contract with. Refer to [Creating a Vendor](docId:06HsEVqADouAcfOl1QmTD). 3. Create an underpinning contract and subscribe to it. Refer to [Creating an Underpinning Contract ](docId\:VlTjOw5gANzKvtXCXRMW_). 4. Add the acceptance and completion targets for the underpinning contract. Refer to [Adding the Acceptance and Completion Targets for an Underpinning Contract](docId\:VlTjOw5gANzKvtXCXRMW_). 5. Associate tasks from the task catalog with the underpinning contract. Refer to [Associating Tasks with the Underpinning Contract](docId\:VlTjOw5gANzKvtXCXRMW_). At this point you have created an underpinning contract between you and a third party vendor. To use the underpinning contract, do the following: 1. Create an incident. Refer to [Creating an Incident](docId\:aKRuODYqj2wVb_C6AyOLg). 2. From within the incident, click the **External Task** tab. (Do not click the **Task** tab because that is for internal tasks. Underpinning contracts only work with third party vendors, so you must use the **External Task** tab.) 3. Create a new external task. Refer to [Creating an External Task](docId\:br6gJTzJEuDHyQd862kFG). 4. Click **Save**. ### Viewing Underpinning Contracts 1. Log in to the application as a service owner. 2. Open the **Underpinning Contract** workspace. The list of underpinning contracts appears. 3. Double-click an item from the list to view details. Each underpinning contract record has the following tabs: - **Service Level Target**: Lists the associated service level targets. These items automatically appear according to the defined vendor and service level target. Refer to [Working with Service Level Targets](docId\:KJJgSzIFHX1lS4mU_bQom). - **Task Catalog Item**: Lists the associated external task catalog items. Refer to [Working with the Task Catalog](docId:9-af7v3MzWm-bO5Y54C0V). ### Creating an Underpinning Contract Before you begin, create one or more vendors (refer to [Creating a Vendor](docId:06HsEVqADouAcfOl1QmTD)) and one or more teams (see [About Creating Teams](docId\:rHIuXkfVZigdX2BDot3xu)). 1. Log in to the application as a service owner. 2. Open the **Services** workspace. The system displays a list of services. (You can also log in as an administrator and go to the **CI Service** workspace.) 3. Open the service to associate the underpinning contract to. 4. Click the **Service Agreements** tab. The system displays a list of agreements. 5. Click **New Record Menu > New Underpinning Contract**. The system displays the **Edit Underpinning Contract** dialog box. 6. Enter information into the fields. | Field | Description | | ------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Title | Automatically populated by the system and cannot be modified. The title appears when the **Vendor** field is populated. | | Description | A brief description of the underpinning contract. | | Service Interruption Procedure | A description of what happens when service is interrupted. Usually includes a phone number or other contact method. | | Penalty Description | A description of any penalties related to service disruption, if the third party vendor does not deliver a service on time. | | Attachments | Attachments related to this underpinning contract. Click **Paste from clipboard** or **Add** to add an attachment. | | Status | The initial status. Select from the drop-down list. The default value is draft. The underpinning contract is only active in published status.
**NOTE**: Do not initially select the status of published. You change the status to published in step 15 below, after you have set the completion and acceptance service level targets. | | Service | Automatically populated based on the parent service. | | Hours of Operation | Automatically populated based on the selected service. You can also select an option from the drop-down list. | | Compliance Target (%) | The percentage of completion that is required to fulfill the target. | | Vendor | The vendor. Select from the drop-down list. You must create or link the vendor under the **Vendor** tab before you can create this underpinning contract. Refer to [Creating a Vendor](docId:06HsEVqADouAcfOl1QmTD). | | Contact Name | Automatically generated by the system based on the vendor that you selected. | | Contact Email | Automatically generated by the system based on the vendor that you selected. | | Contact Phone | Automatically generated by the system based on the vendor that you selected. | | Start Date | The start date of the underpinning contract. | | End Date | The end date of the underpinning contract. | | Review Date | The date when the underpinning contract is reviewed. | | Team | The team within your organization that is responsible for this underpinning contract. Select from the drop-down list. | | Owner | The owner. Select from the drop-down list, which is populated based on the team that you selected. You must create or link the team under the **Team** tab before you can create this underpinning contract. Refer to [Working with Teams](docId\:rHIuXkfVZigdX2BDot3xu). | 7. Click **Save**. The underpinning contract now appears in the **Service Agreements** list in draft status. 8. Highlight the new underpinning contract and click **Go to**. The system opens the underpinning contract. :::hint{type="info"} Do not double-click the underpinning contract to open it, as this only displays part of the information associated with the underpinning contract. You must click **Go to** to see all of the information associated with the underpinning contract. ::: 9. On the bottom, under the **Service Level Target** tab, double-click the **CompletionSLT** entry to open the **Edit Task Completion Target** dialog box. 10. Enter information in the **Target Duration** fields. 11. Click **Save**. 12. On the bottom, under the **Service Level Target** tab, double-click the **AcceptanceSLT** entry to open the **Edit Task Acceptance Target** dialog box. 13. Enter information in the **Target Duration** fields. 14. Click **Save**. 15. In the main part of the underpinning contract area, in the **Status** field, select **Published**. 16. Click **Save**. ### Adding the Acceptance and Completion Targets for an Underpinning Contract 1. Log in to the application as a service owner. 2. Open the **Underpinning Contract** workspace. 3. Open an underpinning contract. 4. At the bottom, click the **Service Level Target** tab. The system displays the completion and acceptance targets. 5. Open the acceptance target. The system displays the **Edit Task Acceptance Target** dialog box. 6. Enter information: | Field | Description | | --------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Name | The name of the task acceptance target. | | Description | A brief description of the task acceptance target. | | Target Duration | The amount of time in which the third party vendor has to respond to the task and to accept the work assignment. Specify the number of days, hours, and minutes. | | Hours of Operation | The hours of operation for the third party vendor. Select from the drop-down list. | | Compliance Target (%) | The percentage of tasks that must be accepted within the target duration to be compliant. | 7. Open the completion target. The system displays the **Edit Task Completion Target** dialog box. 8. Enter information: | Field | Description | | --------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Name | The name of the task completion target. | | Description | A brief description of the task completion target. | | Target Duration | The amount of time in which the third party vendor has to complete the work assignment. Specify the number of days, hours, and minutes. | | Hours of Operation | The hours of operation for the third party vendor. Select from the drop-down list. | | Compliance Target (%) | The percentage of tasks that must be completed within the target duration to be compliant. | 9. Click **Save**. ### Associating Tasks with the Underpinning Contract You must create the tasks in the task catalog before you can associate them with the underpinning contract. Refer to [Working with Tasks](docId\:E40F2rOCtrsKVpTf1AwPc). 1. Log in to the application as a service owner. 2. Open the **Underpinning Contract** workspace. 3. Open an underpinning contract. 4. At the bottom, click the **Task Catalog Item** tab. The system displays the tasks associated with this underpinning contract. 5. To add a new task, click **New Task Catalog Item - External Task**. The system displays the **New Task Catalog Item - External Task** dialog box. 6. Enter information. Refer to [Creating an External Task Catalog Item](docId:9-af7v3MzWm-bO5Y54C0V) for complete information about this. 7. Click **Save** to save the underpinning contract.