A contract deviation is a difference between the contract's terms and actual performance or transactions - a supplier invoice at a rate different from the contracted price, a rebate not paid, a delivery outside SLA. Deviations are the primary signal Contract Performance Management surfaces.
Categories of deviation
Pricing deviations (invoice price versus contracted price), volume deviations (purchases versus committed volume), performance deviations (SLA versus actual service), and administrative deviations (missed windows, unreceived reports).
The management workflow
Detecting deviations requires structured contract data plus live transactional data. Managing them requires a triage workflow - some deviations are correctable, some are compensable, some are simply acceptable given commercial context.
