Sophisticated and expensive Contract Management software is not always the answer and at times a SharePoint based Contract Management Solution can provide the bulk of the business value.

The Business Problem - Contract Management

Most customers have well defined contract signing processes that allows the organization to keep control without too many administrative issues. The main problems seem to surface when trying to manage the signed contract throughout its lifecycle. In addition, we find that contracts consist of a combination of a Master Agreement, Product Schedules, Non Disclosure Agreements (NDA) and Service Agreements making it difficult for customers to act on the critical dates or easily view important compliance information hidden in the contract text. Typical problems identified by customers include:

·     Financial losses: Some services agreements have auto renewal clauses, so not having the ability to act on expiration dates could mean paying for services that are no longer required. The opposite is also true and critical equipment that needs service coverage may no longer be covered if the contracts are not renewed.

·     Access to Key Information: Most contracts have numerous stakeholders that need access to key information often hidden in lengthy legal text. Such information can include price escalation information on renewal needed for forecasting or penalty clauses. Not having easy access to vital information can result in costly management mistakes.

·     Lost documentation: The typical organisation loses between 5% to 10% of all contract documents.

·     Lack of visibility: Without a organized system, it may be difficult to obtain a 360 degree view of large suppliers. Not having the full view of active contracts can result in duplications resulting in unproductive time. E.g. It is often easier to sign a new NDA than trying to establish if the previously signed NDA is still applicable.

·     Searching:   It can become difficult or even impossible.  

Description of the SharePont Contract Management solution

.

The SharePoint Contract Management solution developed focuses on solving contract lifecycle management problems after the contract is signed by all parties.  The system focuses on providing basic contract management tools which provides tremendous value to customers by overcoming the above pain points.  Key features include: 

·      Electronic storage of signed agreements in a secured and organized storage system.

·      Automatically trigger and assign Review Tasks based on expiry dates and other configurable rules and processes.

·      Intelligent escalations based on rules and working hours.

·      Searchable views containing all contracts, important clauses, terms and their status.

·      Audit reports available on the decisions made, approval cycle times and outcomes.  

·      Automated approvals capable of following complex business rules and automatic notifications to vendors or stakeholders on the review status.

.

...

Reporting and Tracking within SharePoint

.

Our SharePoint Contract Management Solution has real time reporting capabilities which can pinpoint the status of any contracts. It is also possible to produce customized lists containing process information allowing users to apply filters or export into Excel for further manipulation or reporting. A few of the Out of the box reports include:

• Single view of all contracts with filter functionality
• Process Statistics
• Renewal Process Instance Report
• Approval Audit Trails

All captured contract information resides in SharePoint and can be exported to Excel

.

Technology Utilized for Contract Management Solution

.

·     SharePoint 2007 for the Contract Management repository

·     InfoPath 2007 and ASP Forms for the user interface template

·     K2 blackpoint or blackpearl to complete the SharePoint Contract Management Template