Agreement Lifecycles
This article outlines the different statuses of the Agreement Lifecycle in the Digital Bible Library (DBL), as well as key actions and best practices for tracking and maintaining agreements to ensure content licensing is properly managed.
Agreement Statuses
Every agreement in DBL moves through a series of statuses. These indicate its current state and which actions are required from Contributors and Distributors.
- Primary Action refers to the main step needed to advance the agreement, typically initiated by the requesting party (e.g., a Distributor sending an agreement request).
- Pending Action highlights any outstanding tasks that another party must complete (e.g., a Contributor reviewing a draft agreement).
- Awareness Action provides informational updates about the agreement’s status but does not require direct action (e.g., a notification that an agreement is eligible for renewal).
Status |
Description |
Primary Action |
Pending Action |
Awareness Action |
| In Progress | Agreement is in drafting or under review. Requires mutual acceptance before activation. | Needs Review - Distributor sent a request for agreement. | Review Pending – Contributor must review and return draft. | None |
| Active | Agreement is fully approved and in effect. | None | None | None |
| Expiring Soon | Agreement is within 90 days of expiration. | None | None | Renewal Eligible - Indicates renewal action is available |
| Expired | Agreement is no longer active past its expiry date. By default, filtered out of the list. | None | None | None |
| Denied | Draft agreement was rejected by one organization. Denied agreements are filtered out of the request list. | None | None | None |
Drafting and Submitting Agreements
To create a new agreement, Contributors must define content usage terms and submit it for review by a Distributor. Distributors can only request agreements but cannot create them directly.
For details, see Drafting an Agreement.
Reviewing and Approving Agreements
After submission, agreements must be reviewed and approved by both the Contributor and Distributor to take effect. If denied, the requesting organization must adjust the terms or submit a new request.
For approval guidelines, see Approving an Agreement (Contributor) and Approving an Agreement (Distributor)
Managing Active Agreements
Once an agreement is active, it remains in effect until it is renewed, modified, or expires. License Managers should regularly track agreements to ensure continued content access.
For tracking tools and renewal actions, see Tracking Agreements.
Renewing and Expiring Agreements
Renewing an Agreement
Renewals ensure uninterrupted content access. Contributors can extend agreements without modifying terms or create a new agreement with updated conditions.
For renewal steps, see Managing Agreements.
Handling Expired Agreements
Expired agreements are archived but remain available for reference. Content access is lost for expired agreements, but a new agreement can be created and approved to restore access.
Archiving Agreements
Agreements that are no longer needed can be manually archived to remove them from active lists while keeping them available for future reference.
For archiving instructions, see Managing Agreements.