In any business transaction, contracts are integral documents. Contracts include essential information about the relationships between the business stakeholders such as customers, suppliers, employees, partners, and the business organization itself. One organization may hold a lot of contracts thus making it difficult for them to monitor each. Having many contracts can be very challenging in terms of keeping track of where they are placed, as well as who is accountable for them. For this reason, following a contract management process can be very helpful to business organizations. In this article, the basics of contract management will be discussed. Generally, contract management process is the systematic way of administering the creation, implementation, and analysis of contracts to lessen problems and boost the operational and economic performance of an organization. Moreover, contract management makes sure that a contract's weaknesses are identified and improved. A contract management process has four basic components. The first component is a well-structured process of creating and implementing a contract. The next component is automated alerts. An automated alert is one way through which administrative processes are managed better. Another part is a preset workflow which is used during the analysis of contracts. Lastly, a contract management includes a list of an organization's performance indicators depending on the nature of their business. All these four components contribute to each stage of the contract management process below: 1. Contract Request This is the first stage of contract management. Contract request involves bidding for a new contract, getting it into the lineup of requests, and delivering it to the correct personnel. 2. Contract Authoring From the name itself, contract authoring is the creation of a new contract. At this phase, business organizations utilize authoring tools provided by contract management programs. They can choose their preferred language from a collection of approved terms and phrases. 3. Contract Negotiation After writing the contract, the next step is to negotiate it with contract stakeholders. It is done by sending a copy of the contract via email or fax. This stage of the contract management process usually takes time to finish as it needs a couple of discussions. 4. Contract Approval Contract Approval follows after a successful contract negotiation. Most of the time, contracts, especially those that are highly-negotiated need multiple approvals from various departmental entities of an organization. In the process, factors such as the type of contract, number of existing agreements with a specific stakeholder, amount of dollar, terms and conditions are being considered. 5. Contract Implementation This step simply involves the execution of the terms and conditions listed in the contract. 6. Contract Compliance Management The contract management process does not end with the implementation of the contract. Business organizations should always make sure that both contract parties are able to comply with the obligations stated in the contract. 7. Contract Amendment Market and relationship status may change over time. For this reason, a contract may need to be amended or updated based on these changes. 8. Contract Auditing and Reporting At this stage, business organizations audit and report the performance of their contract in terms of its profitability and operation. 9. Contract Termination or Renewal Depending on its performance, a contract may be terminated or renewed. Contract management is a complex process. For this reason, purchasing a contract management program application such as Reniew can be of great help. For as low as $150 a month, you can accomplish all the tasks in the stages of contract management easily, conveniently, yet accurately. If you are looking for information regarding contract management process click on the link. Or you can visit Reniew website at http://reniew.com/ for a contract renewal software.
Related Articles -
contract management, contract management process,
|