Stop Struggling and Reach for a Contract Management Lifesaver
By Karen Howe
Those rings attached to the back of a boat that you toss to a struggling swimmer, they’re lifesavers. And if you’re struggling to keep cool during a heat wave, air conditioning is a lifesaver too, isn’t it? Of course, this summer the real lifesavers are the medical personnel keeping the sick alive during this pandemic. So, no, the “lifesavers” I’m going to talk about here aren’t in that same class, but if you’re struggling with managing your contract load, these “ contract management lifesavers” could mean the difference between the success or failure of your organization to respond to the challenges of doing business in a volatile environment.
Let’s say you’re a contract manager, it’s Monday morning and you fire up your email only to find a flurry of questions from management. There’s a board meeting later in the day and you need to get them answers fast to a bunch of contract-related questions. Without a good contract management solution, it could be a real struggle to get those answers in time, if at all. But with data-driven contract management software like Contract Logix’s, you could be done well before your morning coffee break. Here’s how it’s a real contract management lifesaver.
1. Do you have a list of contracts that are expiring and/or renewing this month?
Sure thing. Right on the Contract Logix Home page is a report that shows you at a glance all the contracts expiring and renewing in the next 30 days. Just click and you have a PDF or Excel spreadsheet ready to go. Lifesaver!
2. Can you get me the total value of all our active contracts?
Yes! Simply open the Contracts grid and filter to show the Active and Executed contracts (takes only seconds), then export to Excel with a click. Contract Value is one of the default columns and you can easily get the sum total. Another lifesaver!
3. How about a list of all contracts that have a No Assignment clause?
Easy. With Contract Logix’s Quick Search feature and documents that are automatically OCR’d (i.e. all the text is indexed and searchable) when uploaded to our dynamic and digital contract repository, you can quickly locate all contracts with a “no assignment” clause, display the list in a grid and export the grid as a PDF or Excel spreadsheet. Three questions down, just two to go…
4. We’re re-evaluating our relationship with Vendor X, can you provide a breakdown of all contracts we have with them by stage, status, value, etc.?
No problem. Just filter the Contracts grid on Vendor X and group or sort by any data point, including contract type, status, value or whatever you need. Then just click to export the results to PDF or Excel. Can’t you almost taste that iced latte?
5. Oh, and while you’re at it, can you get me a breakdown by department of all the requests that came in for new contracts in the last quarter?
Piece of cake. Again, it’s just a matter of taking the Requests grid (all the requests that come in through the system), filtering by date, grouping by department, then exporting to Excel or PDF.
And just like that, you’ve given management everything they asked for and come out looking like a contract management super-hero!
Takeaway
As contract professionals, what with increased demands for more detailed, relevant, and accurate information about the contracts your organization manages, you may be struggling to stay afloat. This summer why not ask for a demo of Contract Logix’s modern, data-driven contract lifecycle management solution or talk to one of our contract specialists about how we can help. It could be a real contract management lifesaver!