Installing Contract Writing

Installation overview for Contract Writing 3.6

Appian Government Contract Writing (CW) is built on the Appian process automation platform and helps contracting professionals manage and streamline the procurement writing process.

Installing Contract Writing 3.6 consists of eight main steps.

Before starting the installation, review the System Requirements for Contract Writing 3.6 to confirm all minimum requirements are met.

System Requirements for Contract Writing 3.6

• Appian platform version: 26.6 or later.
• Database: A supported business data source.
• Web browser: A supported web browser.
• GAM Acquisition Central: Government Acquisition Management (GAM) Acquisition Central UAM 26.3.1.5 or later, which includes both the core application and User Access Management (UAM), must be installed in the target environment before installing CW 3.6. See the UAM installation documentation for instructions.
• Requirements Management 2.9 (for creating modifications from requirements): To create a contract modification directly from a requirement, you must have RM 2.9 installed and set up in the target environment. This requirement applies only to organizations that use the create-modification-from-requirement feature.
• Government Clause Automation 4.0 (for mass modifications): To create mass modifications, you must have Government Clause Automation (GCA) 4.0 installed in the same environment, with active clauses in GCA associated with active awards in CW. This requirement applies only to organizations that use the mass modifications feature. There is no required deployment order between the CW 3.6 and GCA 4.0 packages.

Version-specific upgrade considerations for CW 3.6

Certain versions of Contract Writing require running process models to maintain data integrity and backward compatibility for new features.

Depending on which version of CW you are upgrading from, install specific earlier versions of CW in sequential order before upgrading to CW 3.6.

Upgrading Contract Writing from 1.6

If you are upgrading from CW 1.6, perform the following steps in order.

1. Install CW 1.7.
2. Install CW 2.1.

3. Install GAM Acquisition Central. Follow the instructions for the installation option that matches your needs:

   • Option 1: If you have vendor data in your CW solution, install GAM Acquisition Central 1.0 first and then install CW 2.5.

     Caution:  GAM Acquisition Central 1.0 must be installed before the reconciliation and migration step.

     • Run the reconciliation and migration process from the Contract Writing Vendor Data Reconciliation and Migration site. See Run reconciliation and migration for more information and troubleshooting scenarios.

     Note:  The reconciliation process migrates vendors from CW to GAM Acquisition Central and retrieves the GAM Acquisition Central ID for each vendor record.

   • Option 2: If you don't have any vendor data in your CW solution, install GAM Acquisition Central 1.3.

     • Follow the instructions on this page to install CW 3.6.

After successful completion, CW 3.6 is ready to use.

Upgrading Contract Writing from 1.7 to 2.0

To upgrade from CW 1.7, 1.8, 1.9, or 2.0, perform the following steps in order:

1. Install CW 2.1.

2. Install GAM Acquisition Central. Follow the instructions for the installation option that matches your needs:

   • Option 1: If you have vendor data in your CW solution, install GAM Acquisition Central 1.0 first and then install CW 2.5.

     Caution:  GAM Acquisition Central 1.0 must be installed before the reconciliation and migration step.

     • Run the reconciliation and migration process from the Contract Writing Vendor Data Reconciliation and Migration site. See Step 5: Run reconciliation and migration for more information and troubleshooting scenarios.

       Note:  The reconciliation process will migrate vendors from CW to GAM Acquisition Central and retrieves the GAM Acquisition Central ID for each vendor record.

   • Option 2: If you do not have any vendor data in your CW solution, install GAM Acquisition Central 1.3.

     • Follow the instructions on this page to install CW 3.6.

After successful completion, CW 3.6 is ready to use.

Upgrading Contract Writing from a version earlier than 3.2

If you are upgrading from a version earlier than CW 3.2, you must complete the document migration to document record types as part of your upgrade path. The document migration is a one-time process that converts all documents in Contract Writing to Appian document record types, which is required for smart search and AI Chat features.

After installing CW 3.6, complete the following document migration steps before using the application.

Determine the expected document count

Before running the migration, determine the total number of documents that CW expects to migrate. A system administrator must run the following rule to calculate the expected count.

To determine the expected document count:

1. From Appian Designer, search for and open the AS_GCW_UT_getExpectedMigratedDocCount_wrapper expression rule.
   1. Run the rule and wait for evaluation to complete.

   Note:  The rule takes approximately 30 seconds per 10,000 documents in the system. Do not close the rule until evaluation is complete.

   

2. Record the returned value for use in the verification step.

The returned value represents the total number of documents that CW expects to migrate.

Run the document migration process

After determining the expected document count, run the migration process model to move all documents to the document management record type's document folder.

To run the document migration:

1. From Appian Designer, search for and open the AS GCW Migrate Existing Documents to New Doc Record Type process model.
   1. Start the process model for debugging.
   2. Monitor the subprocess AS GCW Move Document to Document Record Type Folder.
   3. When the subprocess concludes, compare the value of pv!totalMigratedDocCount with the expected document count noted in the previous step. The two values must be equal.

   

Delete legacy procurement folders (optional)

CW 3.6 no longer requires procurement folders for document storage. If your implementation does not extend procurement folders, you can delete the legacy folders after the migration completes.

To delete legacy procurement folders:

1. From Appian Designer, search for and open the AS GCW Delete Folders and Documents after Doc Migration process model.
   1. Start the process model for debugging.
   2. Monitor the process until completion.

Upgrading Contract Writing from CW 3.3 to CW 3.4

If you are upgrading from CW 3.3, CW 3.4 introduces User Access Management (UAM) integration. The upgrade requires a one-time group migration to align the CW group structure with the UAM permission-driven model.

After importing the CW 3.4 application, complete the following steps:

1. Run the AS GCW Remove Role Groups From Permission Groups process model. The one-time migration removes legacy role sub-group memberships from permission groups.

After the migration completes, proceed to Step 7: Configure User Access Management for CW 3.6.

Upgrading Contract Writing from CW 3.4 to CW 3.5

If you are upgrading from CW 3.4, User Access Management (UAM) integration is already configured, so the one-time group migration is not required.

After importing the CW application, run the UAM process models to register any new CW groups and refresh the role-permission mappings. See Step 7: Configure User Access Management for CW 3.6.

Preserve your AI contract text generation setting before upgrading

CW 3.5 makes AI contract text generation easier to manage by moving the setting into the AI Contract Text Generation toggle on the Contract Writing Settings site Integrations tab, so you can control it directly from the interface instead of editing the AS_GCW_AI_ENABLE_AI_ASSISTANCE_CONTRACT_TEXT constant. CW 3.5 enables the new toggle by default.

To carry your current setting forward, record the constant value before you upgrade:

1. Before upgrading to CW 3.5, go to Appian Designer.
2. Search for and open the AS_GCW_AI_ENABLE_AI_ASSISTANCE_CONTRACT_TEXT constant.
3. Record the constant value (true or false) for reference after the upgrade.

After the upgrade, restore this setting in Step 8: Enable AI Contract Text Generation for CW 3.6.

Upgrading Contract Writing from CW 3.5 to CW 3.6

If you are upgrading from CW 3.5, no data migration or group migration is required. After importing the CW 3.6 application, run the UAM process models to register any new CW 3.6 groups and refresh the role-permission mappings. See Step 7: Configure User Access Management for CW 3.6.

Troubleshooting upgrade issues for CW 3.6

Certain data stores referencing older custom data types (CDTs) may not publish correctly immediately after an upgrade. CDT publishing can take up to 24 hours in some instances. Process model errors may occur if you install the next version of CW before CDTs have finished publishing.

For example, installing CW 1.7 and then immediately installing CW 2.1 may cause process model errors due to CDT publishing delays.

If CDT publishing errors occur, wait 24 hours for the CDTs to finish publishing, or restart the application server before proceeding with the next CW installation.

Get technical support for CW 3.6

Contract Writing customers can sign in to Appian Community to open support cases. All users of Contract Writing can also contact Appian Support at support@appian.com.

Step 1: Download the CW 3.6 software package

To install Contract Writing 3.6, download the software package that contains the following files:

• scripts/01.ContractWritingv3.6.0.sql: SQL script for creating the database objects required by Contract Writing.
• ContractWritingv3.6.0.zip: Application package to import into the Appian environment.
• ContractWritingv3.6.0.properties: Import customization file for configuring the Contract Writing application package.

To download the Contract Writing software package:

1. In My Appian, go to the SUPPORT tab.
2. Click the DOWNLOADS tab.
3. Click SOLUTIONS.
4. In the grid, find and open Contract Writing 26.6.3.6.
5. Under Downloads, click Contract Writing Components and agree to the License Agreement.
6. Click Contract Writing Components to download the ZIP file.
7. Unzip ContractWritingv3.6.0.zip to access the installation files.

Step 2: Deploy plug-ins for CW 3.6

Contract Writing requires the following plug-ins to be deployed and configured in the target system before the application files can be imported. The steps for deploying plug-ins differ depending on whether you have Appian Cloud or a self-managed environment.

Appian Cloud environments

To deploy the plug-ins in an Appian Cloud environment for Contract Writing:

1. In the target environment, sign in as the deployment user.
2. Go to Admin Console > Plug-ins.
3. Click ADD PLUG-INS.
4. Search for and select Appian Solutions Plugin.
5. Click DEPLOY.
6. Repeat the search and deploy steps for each remaining plug-in:
   • Content tools
   • Document page counter
   • HTML to PDF Conversion
   • PDF tools
   • PDF Utilities
   • Rich Text Editor Component
   • Zip Utility
   • Advanced Document Templating
   • Advanced Call Web Service
   • Text File Utilities

Self-managed environments

To deploy the plug-ins in a self-managed environment for Contract Writing:

Download the following plug-ins from the Appian AppMarket:

• Appian Solutions Plug-in
• Content Tools
• Document page counter
• HTML to PDF Conversion
• PDF Tools
• PDF Utilities
• Rich Text
• Zip utility
• Advanced Document Templating
• Advanced Call Web Service
• Text File Utilities

1. Follow the Deploying Plug-ins instructions to deploy each plug-in.

Step 3: Create the database objects for CW 3.6

Contract Writing requires database tables, views, and other objects in the business data source. Create these objects by running the provided Data Definition Language (DDL) script.

To create the Contract Writing database objects:

1. In the business database, run the ContractWritingv3.6.0.sql DDL file from the downloaded software package.

Step 4: Import the CW 3.6 application

After creating the database objects, import the Contract Writing application files into the target environment.

To import the Contract Writing application:

1. In the target environment, sign in as the deployment user.
2. Go to Appian Designer.
3. Click IMPORT.
4. Click UPLOAD and choose the ContractWritingv3.6.0.zip file from the downloaded software package.
5. Select Include related import customization file and click UPLOAD. Select the ContractWritingv3.6.0.properties file from the downloaded software package.

1. Click INSPECT to verify that no import issues exist.

1. Select IMPORT.

1. Review the import results to confirm the Contract Writing application imported successfully.

Step 5: Run reconciliation and migration for CW 3.6

After importing the Contract Writing application, run data reconciliation and migration for the GAM Acquisition Central integration.

To run the Contract Writing reconciliation and migration:

1. Navigate to the Contract Writing Vendor Data Reconciliation and Migration site.
2. Click START to run the process.
3. Upon successful completion, proceed to Step 6: Set up AI Doc Builder for CW 3.6.

See GAM Acquisition Central Integration Setup to finish setting up the integration.

Troubleshoot reconciliation and migration errors

If errors occur while running the Contract Writing reconciliation and migration process, check the process instance, fix the identified issues, and re-run the process.

Common reconciliation errors for CW 3.6

The following table outlines the two most common types of errors encountered during Contract Writing reconciliation and migration.

Error Type	Message	Description	How to Resolve
Data error	"There are some incorrect values passed to the vendor data. Correct them and try again."	Vendor data contains missing required fields or duplicate entries, preventing the Contract Writing reconciliation and migration process from completing successfully.	1. Check the process instance to identify the specific data issues. 2. Verify that all required vendor fields contain valid values. 3. Remove any duplicate vendor entries. 4. Re-run the reconciliation and migration process.
Authentication failure	"Authentication failed. Contact your system administrator or try again later."	The user lacks proper permissions to run the Contract Writing reconciliation process, or the API key configured in the connected system is invalid or invalid.	If the user lacks permissions: 1. Verify that the user has the required group memberships. 2. Contact your system administrator to grant the necessary access. If the API key is incorrect: 1. Go to Appian Designer > Applications and select AS GCW Full Application. 2. Under Object Type, select Connected System. 3. Select AS GCW CS GAM Suite Management. 4. Verify the API key in the Value field matches the key generated during setup. 5. If incorrect, paste the correct API key and click SAVE.

Step 6: Set up AI Doc Builder for CW 3.6

AI Doc Builder lets contracting personnel generate supplemental procurement documents directly within Contract Writing using templates. AI Doc Builder setup is optional and only required if your organization plans to use AI-powered document generation.

To set up AI Doc Builder for Contract Writing, configure group memberships, update the template tag constant, and configure the record context.

Configure group memberships for AI Doc Builder

To configure the correct access for AI Doc Builder in Contract Writing, add the following groups:

1. Add AS GCW All Business User to the AS AIDB Users group.
2. Add AS GCW Contract Writing Settings Site Access to the AS AIDB Manage Templates group.

Configure the template tag for CW 3.6

The template tag determines which AI Doc Builder templates are available in Contract Writing. To configure the template tag:

1. In the properties file, update the value of AS_GCW_AIDB_TEXT_TEMPLATE_TAG_CONTRACT_WRITING to contract-writing.
2. When creating templates, create a tag with the same name as the value in the constant.
3. Apply the contract-writing tag to all templates that should be available in the Create Document action within Contract Writing.

Configure the record context for AI Doc Builder

To configure the record context for AI Doc Builder in Contract Writing:

1. Navigate to the Solutions Hub.
2. Go to AI Document Builder > Functionality > Record Context Configuration > Customize.
3. Call the rule AS_GCW_AIDB_CONFIG_recordContextSearchSelect in the customization.
4. Configure the record field map for requirements and evaluations if they are present in your environment.

Step 7: Configure User Access Management for CW 3.6

Contract Writing 3.6 integrates with User Access Management (UAM) to provide centralized role and permission management. After completing the previous installation steps, configure UAM to register your CW groups and populate the role-permission mappings.

To configure UAM for Contract Writing 3.6:

1. Run the AS UAM OTP Add Adm to GAM Groups Wrapper process model. The process grants the UAM Business Admin security group administrator access to the CW groups.

1. Run the AS UAM Nightly Sync Process process model. The sync reads the @UAM\ROLE and @UAM\PERMISSION tags in CW group descriptions to register each group as a role or permission in UAM.

1. Run the AS UAM Initialization Wrapper process model. The initialization uses the CW configuration mapping rule to populate the UAM relationship tables for permission sets, role-permission set mappings, and permission-permission set mappings.

After all three process models complete successfully, UAM is configured for Contract Writing. You can manage CW role and permission assignments through the UAM interface.

Deploy CW 3.6 to higher environments

When promoting CW 3.6 from a development environment to test or production, complete the following steps in order:

1. Deploy the UAM application to the target environment first. The CW deployment depends on the UAM Business Admin group, which causes the import to fail if UAM is not present.
2. Deploy the CW 3.6 application updates, including the tagged groups and configuration mapping rule.
3. If upgrading from CW 3.3, run the AS GCW Remove Role Groups From Permission Groups process model (first deployment only).
4. Run the three UAM process models in sequence: AS UAM OTP Add Adm to GAM Groups Wrapper, AS UAM Nightly Sync Process, and AS UAM Initialization Wrapper.

Step 8: Enable AI Contract Text Generation for CW 3.6

Contract Writing 3.6 controls AI contract text generation through the AI Contract Text Generation toggle on the Contract Writing Settings site Integrations tab, which replaces the deprecated AS_GCW_AI_ENABLE_AI_ASSISTANCE_CONTRACT_TEXT constant. CW 3.6 enables this toggle by default.

If you upgraded from CW 3.4, set the toggle to match the constant value you recorded before upgrading, because the previous value does not persist through the upgrade:

• If the recorded constant value was true, leave the AI Contract Text Generation toggle Enabled.
• If the recorded constant value was false, set the AI Contract Text Generation toggle to Disabled.

To set the AI Contract Text Generation toggle:

1. Sign in to Contract Writing and go to the Contract Writing Settings site.
2. Select the Integrations tab.
3. Find AI Contract Text Generation and set its toggle to match your previous configuration: Enabled to allow AI-generated contract text, or Disabled to turn it off.

Configure CW 3.6 after installation

After installing Contract Writing 3.6, setting up AI Doc Builder, and configuring UAM, complete the following configuration steps to prepare the application for use:

• CW Quick Start User Guide: Learn how to create solicitations and awards. This includes using the SF1447 form type.
• Procurement AI Copilot Module Overview: Use the Ask AI option on Document Smart Search results to chat with multiple documents at once.
• CW Settings Site: Configure application settings including the AI Document Builder toggle, the AI Line Item Generation toggle, task categories, review workflows, and AI Doc Builder templates. The AI Line Item Generation toggle is enabled by default and controls whether the GENERATE USING AI action is available on the Line Items tab, so you can manage AI token usage.
• Managing Line Items and Funding: Generate line items with AI, and import or export line items in bulk using Excel.
• GAM Acquisition Central Integration Setup: Complete the GAM Acquisition Central integration configuration.
• UAM Overview: Learn about the UAM three-tier access model and how to manage roles, permission sets, and permissions for Contract Writing.

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