Get started with Contract Management in SharePoint

A successful approach is to start small and verify the organisation is ready for each step, rather than go for one big product; too complicated and takes too long to establish.
“We want to be confident that the contracts are correct, current and its sensitive information is protected at all times”

Key features in contract management

Content creating: Templates, first draft, co-authoring, reviewing, final
Store securely, permissions and user management Approval workflows Monitoring: Track creation, amendments, approvals, overview of contract stages, alerts of changes as well as automatic reminders for contracts about to expire Contract life cycle management incl. archiving Version management

Methodology

1. Initially - Identify key employees to interview. The investigative work will be carried out in close cooperation with key persons in interviews, workshops and discussions.

2. Current situation analysis - Information gathering via interviews, workshops, screening of current solutions and working methods and other documentation. The purpose is to clarify stakeholders and map the current state.

3. Desired business values and key objectives - Define requirements, actors, systems and integrations. Looking at the aspects of desired works flow and contract management handling. We find the answers to questions such as: What are the needs of collaboration between different stakeholders? What are the stages that need attention from interested parties? When does the stakeholder need to access the contracts and in what format?

4. Needs and GAP analysis - Observing the space between current state and desired state we define together a needs hierarchy that clearly asserts a way forward to successfully establish the solution and its implementation in the everyday work life of the employees.

5. Solution design - Based on the outcome of previous steps we now define activities and to development and implement. The purpose is to get a realistic estimation of the efforts needed.

Deliverables – Clear way forward

• Clearly defined desired business values and key objectives.

• Map of the current situation. A clear view of the starting point in terms of current technical conditions, information security demands, actors involved, migration circumstances, user’s organizational capacity.

• Well defined functional requirements, information security demands, actors involved, migration and technical conditions.

• Defined desired works flow and contract management handling

• Identified a needs hierarchy that clearly asserts a way forward to successfully establish the solution and its implementation in the everyday work life of the employees.

• A solution design with define activities for development and implement. A realistic estimation of the efforts needed to create the Contract Management Solution based on SharePoint.

• A plan to implement contract management with SharePoint.