Glossary
Understand the terms in your vendor contracts
Look up the words that decide what a renewal costs and when you can still leave. Each entry gives the definition first, then what to record.
Renewals
Ordered by deadline- TCNotice window closed
Tessellate CRM
Oct 17, 2026, 11 days ago
- NAGive notice
Northwind Analytics
Nov 21, 2026, in 24 days
- QAEnds unless renewed
Quorum Advisory
Dec 27, 2026, in 60 days
- QAEnds unless renewed
Quorum Advisory
Mar 27, 2027, in 150 days
All terms
- Annual contract value (ACV)Annual contract value is a contract's average yearly value: the total contract value divided by the number of years.
- Auto-renewal clauseAn auto-renewal clause renews a contract for another term unless one side gives notice before a deadline.
- Co-termingCo-terming aligns several contracts or add-ons with one vendor so they all end and renew on the same date.
- Committed spendCommitted spend is what you are contractually bound to pay vendors, whether or not you keep using what you bought.
- Early termination feeAn early termination fee is what you pay to end a contract before its term is over, often a share of the remaining fees.
- Evergreen contractAn evergreen contract has no end date. It runs until one side ends it, usually by giving notice.
- Fixed-term contractA fixed-term contract runs for a set period, such as one or three years, and ends or renews when that period is over.
- Minimum commitmentA minimum commitment is the least you agree to pay or use over a period, whatever your actual usage turns out to be.
- Notice deadlineThe notice deadline is the last day you can give notice to stop or change a renewal: the end date minus the notice period.
- Notice periodA notice period is how far ahead of a contract's end you must tell the vendor you are leaving or changing terms, such as 30, 60 or 90 days.
- Per-seat pricingPer-seat pricing charges a fixed fee for each user or licence, so the bill grows with headcount.
- Price uplift clauseA price uplift clause sets how much a vendor can raise the price at renewal, as a percentage cap, an index or a new list price.
- Ramped pricingRamped pricing charges a different amount in each year of a multi-year contract, usually rising from a discounted first year.
- Rolling contractA rolling contract renews itself in periods, often month to month or year to year, until one side gives notice.
- Shadow ITShadow IT is software a team buys or signs up for without central approval, often on a card, so nobody else knows it exists.
- Termination for convenienceTermination for convenience lets one side end a contract without the other being at fault, usually with notice and sometimes a fee.
- Total contract value (TCV)Total contract value is everything a contract commits you to pay over its full term, including one-off and recurring fees.
- True-upA true-up is a periodic payment that settles the difference between what you committed to and what you actually used.
- Usage-based pricingUsage-based pricing charges for what you consume, such as API calls, storage or compute hours, so the bill moves with usage.
- Vendor ownerA vendor owner is the person accountable for a vendor relationship: whether to keep it, renew it and what it is worth.
- Vendor registerA vendor register is one list of every vendor a company or team uses, with what each does, who owns it and what contract applies.