The process of managing contracts is the collection of strategies, methods, and principles that are employed by companies to streamline their contracting processes. From ensuring that contractual obligations are fulfilled and reporting on contract data There’s a lot of work that is involved in managing contracts, especially after they’ve been drafted and executed.
The contract management process can be broken down into stages:
1. Contract Drafting
Contracts are crucial to the conduct of business and the establishing of boundaries in relationships. However, the contracting process can be lengthy and time-consuming creating roadblocks and delays. Fortunately, the advancement of technology has made the process simpler. Digital collaboration, automated reviews and tracked changes have reduced contract drafting cycles significantly. Additionally special software for managing contracts, such as JAGGAER Contracts can help reduce manual errors through auto-generation.
2. Contract Negotiation
The next step in the contract management process is to negotiate terms and conditions. This can be a complicated, cross-departmental task and may contain multiple versions of contracts. The goal is to find an option that is acceptable for both parties and is also in line with commercial and legal policy. Contract management software can help speed up the contract writing and negotiation process by providing users with templates that have been approved clauses, clauses and other approved language. It can also streamline and automate the review and approval process by facilitating digital collaboration and allowing teams to submit reviews from any location at any time. It’s also simple to use electronic signatures within CPQ to expedite the executing process that has been proven to cut contract turnaround times by as much as 80%.