While there are many contract management systems available today, not all truly address the entire lifecycle of contract management. Most every system has a back-end repository or contract library where you can see what contracts are expiring or who the parties are, etc. Of course, Ntracts includes a repository and do have customers that use the product in this capacity only today. The repository is their foundation they can build on as their processes mature and/or business changes.
So what’s lifecycle contract management? We are not only managing the back-end of the contracts via the repository but Ntracts does much more. The drafting, red-lining and back-and-forth a contract goes through in its creation is where a lot of the heavy lifting occurs. It’s time consuming and fraught with inefficiencies.
With Ntracts you can store your contract templates in one place and have all subsequent agreements draw off this single template. What’s more, we can define what data goes where in your agreements and all of the associated variable language that might go into a given agreement. As the contract progresses through your workflow, that data can be populated and merged into that contract template. Additionally, you can define countless variables to make sure the appropriate language is changed in the agreement as needed. Our goal is to provide you a draft agreement 90% complete before any human interaction is needed.
The back-and-forth of a contract, gathering information and deciding what the terms are is also tracked in Ntracts. Not only can we make sure we have every approval required for a contract to move toward signature, we know who’s desk the contract is on at any given time. At a macro level, Ntracts can provide you quantitative data to show how long your contracting process takes and where your roadblocks are.
Once a contract is completed and in the repository, there’s still a lot more that needs to happen beyond just being alerted of when that contract might expire. Many contracts contain data that we’d like to manage ongoing. For example, we often see SLA’s or spending and quantity thresholds that need to be monitored. Ntracts offers a contract performance management module where users (procurement, sales, etc) can be alerted as the parameters of an agreement are nearing designated thresholds.
The best part about Ntracts; our customers can implement a lifecycle contract management solution, certain parts of it or just start with a contract repository and add on more as their needs change.
