Contract Lifecycle Management: Frequently Asked Questions
Contract Lifecycle Management – FAQ’s
Still have questions about contract management, SharePoint, ConvergePoint, getting started, or our reputation? Check out the Frequently Asked Questions compilation below.
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Introduction to Contract Lifecycle Management, SharePoint, and ConvergePoint
What is Contract Lifecycle Management?
Contract Lifecycle Management is different from your typical “contract management” effort, in that it is an end-to-end approach ensuring the entire process, from the concept of a new relationship, to the renewal or retirement of a contract, is managed, while taking into consideration all variables that occur during a relationship with another party.
This means being able to manage everything from the request for a new contract or amendment, any approvals that must go through before making its way to legal, being able to modify the content of the document, communicate with the initial requestor and/or third party, as well as add additional reviewers and approvers before receiving a signature. This also means being able to effectively manage the contracts and supporting documentation, by storing all aspects of the lifecycle in one central repository. Once a contract is active, being able to keep track of important milestones, obligations, tasks to comply with each contract, and renewals, finalizes the contract lifecycle in full-circle.
Incorporating a tool to manage all of this, while also providing business intelligence and easy search-ability allows you insight about your contracts, to see where your bottlenecks are and allows you to improve all of your processes surrounding contracts.
What is the best way to manage the contract lifecycle?
Most companies we speak with today are using shared drives for storage, email for communication, “compare versions” in Word for version control, and spreadsheets to track important data. Although they have been getting by for years this way, they need a tool to automate the process and an easier way to locate information pertaining to their contracts, and they need it in one place. Using an automation program like ConvergePoint is the best first step. Finding one that incorporates best practices in contract management.
What is Microsoft SharePoint?
SharePoint is a web application platform in the Microsoft Office server suite. 80% of Fortune 500 companies have it , but most are not using it to its full potential to create websites, or store, organize, share, and access information. For more information, visit Microsoft.
What is ConvergePoint’s Contract Lifecycle Management offering?
ConvergePoint offers a user-friendly Contract Lifecycle Management software built on top of the SharePoint platform, allowing you to keep your documents maintained securely on your server, while extending your investment in SharePoint, and leveraging familiar tools like Microsoft Word and Outlook, meaning you do not have to learn any new tricks like HTML for editing documents. Whether you have a small legal team, or a multifaceted organization with a variety of contract approval routes, our system can be scaled to your needs with SharePoint’s flexibility and metadata.
Key Areas of Focus in the ConvergePoint Contract Management Software
What kind of contracts can be managed with the ConvergePoint software?
Contracts of any nature can be managed with ConvergePoint’s Contract Lifecycle management software. Whether it is buy-side, sell-side, human resources agreements, options contracts, and more. You can add supporting documentation, organize by distinct features of your contracts, and even make requests for internal contracts that legal can store templates for within the system!
How can this help my overall compliance efforts?
Managing your contracts in one place, with optional audit trails surrounding commentary, notes, discussions, modifications, approvals, tasks associated with the active agreement, and renewals, you can easily find information you need for audits without scrambling through emails and folders, and better maintain your contractual relationships.
What makes ConvergePoint the smart choice for Contract Lifecycle Management?
ConvergePoint boasts a MYRIAD of benefits. We’ve used Myriad as an acronym, because the benefits wrapped in each of these cases are endless:
M- Microsoft
Continue using Microsoft and don’t worry about having to learn HTML. ConvergePoint extends features of Word, Outlook, and other programs so that you can easily adapt to your new way of staying organized while integrating features like alerts, version history and control, and tracked changes.
Y – Your Data, Your Control
Keeping your documents and data on your server ensures you will never have to play tug-of-war with your data or receive them in an unorganized manner should you choose to move away from SharePoint or ConvergePoint in the future.
R- Ready to Go
Our solution is TURN-KEY, meaning after it is installed, your users can get started! All of the functionality is ready for use as displayed in our live demonstrations.
I- Intuitive
Adding ConvergePoint to your SharePoint instance allows your organization to get more use out of SharePoint in a user-friendly and intuitive way. Place links strategically in team and department pages or on your SharePoint Intranet. You can even use your existing branding so ConvergePoint camouflages into your design.
A- Active Directory Integration
Because ConvergePoint natively integrates with Active Directory, you don’t have to waste time creating user names or passwords, or resetting passwords as a part of maintenance. This also means that as members are added to active directory groups, they will be granted access accordingly to the documents meant for their eyes.
D- Dynamic Workflows
The ConvergePoint solution is scalable. We work with legal teams that have only 1 person managing the contract lifecycle, to teams of over 500 users. No matter how many users, or how many approvals you need, ConvergePoint can be scaled to meet your organizational needs down to a departmental level.
To review some of the features of our Contract Lifecycle Management software, download the product information flyer here.
How can ConvergePoint make a difference in my organization’s contract management efforts?
ConvergePoint makes getting started an easy process by first migrating your legacy contracts into the system with a quick and easy to use tool. Keeping all of your documents and data in one place eliminates the need to search through multiple folders, years of emails, and messy spreadsheets to find the information you are looking for. Get automated reports, or use the advanced keyword search to find what you are looking for!
Getting Started with ConvergePoint
How can I see a demo of your software?
We conduct all of our demos live, through GoToMeeting, and are happy to work with your schedule to set one up. Fill out the contact form here, and you will be contacted by a representative within one business day who can meet with you to help determine what resources and next steps will benefit you most.
What does your Contract Lifecycle Management software cost?
We license per central-admin server. Typically, this means one-cost across the board. We have different licensing models, which can be discussed with your ConvergePoint account manager. Fill out the contact form here, and you will be contacted by a representative within one business day.
What is it made of and how is it installed?
ConvergePoint’s software is made of site collections and WSP files. Installation is a quick process which takes 2-4 hours, and can be done remotely.
Do I need SharePoint in order to use ConvergePoint?
Although we can host the solution for you, we find that clients using an on-premise version of SharePoint (2010 or 2013 versions of Foundation*, Standard, or Enterprise), to gain the most benefit. *Foundation is a free version of SharePoint’s on-premise platform.
Relationships
What kind of support do you offer?
ConvergePoint offers each of our clients with a designated US-based IT project manager that provides the installation as well as training and support. We also offer super user access to a support portal with documentation and training materials, and unlimited email support.
Do you have clients in my industry/state that are using your contract management system?
We are currently serving clients that are headquartered in more than 36 US states, multiple countries, and in a variety of industries. We are happy to provide references as a last step before making your purchase.
What are some of your clients saying about you?
We maintain a close relationship with our clients and prefer to put you in touch with a reference that matches your industry, size, need, or is headquartered near you. But as an example, here is just one of the many testimonials we have received on our outstanding customer service:
“I just wanted to let you know that our [ConvergePoint IT Project Managers] have provided us with an extremely high level of support over the past few weeks. I think you already know that we went into production with ConvergePoint much earlier than we in IT had planned. We did this in order to support our executive business users who wanted the solution up and running as quickly as possible. You know that kind of accelerated implementation has problems from our side. I never could have solved them without the exceptional support that I received from your support staff.”
T.C.
Portal Program Manager
New York State chartered stock commercial bank
insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation