The sidebar contains the navigation menu. The menu is organized into sections:
Home and Dashboard
Records: Requests, Organizations, Assignments, Contacts, Contracts, Documents, Tasks, Custom Objects (if any)
Tools: Advanced Search, Reports, Data Extraction (for accounts which have this service)
The items that appear in the menu may vary depending on the logged-in user's security role and license type. So, for example, only accounts which have paid for Requests see Requests under Records, and users with a Submitter license will see Requests but nothing else. And, if your record layouts include Custom Objects (a.k.a., Line Items) you may see additional menu items in the Records section.
At the bottom of the navigation menu are icons to access Application Settings, change to Full Screen mode, and Log Out.
To minimize the navigation menu, displaying only icons, click the
icon in the toolbar next to the Contract Logix logo. When minimized, a user can hover over an icon to see the associated label.
To restore the navigation menu to the full width, click the 
at the top of the menu.
To change the layout option so that the navigation menu appears at the top of the screen:
Click on your name or avatar to display the User Preferences menu.
Select User Preferences.
Slide the Menu on Top switch to the
position.