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Contract Management
Contract management is the process of monitoring and managing all of the company’s contracts to ensure that there is compliance with deadlines, deliverables, and all other terms, conditions, provisions and clauses within the organization’s agreements.
Some companies rely upon a single individual to handle the contract management function. This approach may work fine for smaller companies. Larger organizations have trended toward the use of a team of managers. This allows a manager with specialized knowledge in a particular area to manage contracts dealing with the subject matter of his or her expertise. Advancements in technology have driven the creation of contract management software, which provides contract managers with new and effective contract management solutions. Contract management as a profession has also risen to new heights.
A few contract management software features and capabilities which best provide for effective contract management include the following:
- A centralized repository for all of the company’s contracts – this ensures that every contract, including amendments, addenda, and other related documents, are located in one place so that nothing will be overlooked.
- Once all contracts are scanned, they can be searched instantaneously with Google-like Boolean searches through OCR technology.
- Controlled accessibility through easy-to-use permissions.
- Automated reminders of important dates, such as auto-renewals.
- Use of cloud technology.
- State-of-the-art security.
- Easy to implement and easy to use.
- Easy integration with current IT and other software, such as Salesforce and DocuSign.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a contract manager do day to day?
A contract manager tracks deadlines and deliverables, routes new agreements for review and approval, keeps the repository current, and flags renewals and terminations before they hit. They also field questions from sales, finance, and operations about what a given agreement actually permits. In larger organizations the role splits by category, so specialists handle the agreements in their area.
How do you manage contracts without dedicated software?
You can do it with a shared drive, a naming convention, and a calendar, and plenty of small teams do. Keep every executed agreement plus amendments in one folder, record key dates and values in a spreadsheet, and set reminders well ahead of renewal deadlines. The approach breaks down as volume grows, mostly because searching scanned PDFs becomes impractical.
What are common contract management mistakes to avoid?
The most costly ones are storing agreements in personal email or scattered folders, tracking renewal dates nowhere but someone’s memory, and separating amendments from the contracts they modify. Teams also skip recording who approved what, which makes audits painful later. Fixing these usually costs nothing beyond agreeing on one storage location and one owner for key dates.
