Contract management takes place within several industries, in varying departments. Contracts are executed for many reasons, such as maximizing financial or operational performance. Every company can benefit from automating the process of contract management. Overall, it provides more efficiency and clearer communication between the customer and business.

One way we recommend operating your contract management process is through Microsoft SharePoint. The platform allows for endless customization and configuration possibilities, many of which work seamlessly with contracts. Here, we have listed some reasons why we recommend using SharePoint to manage your documents.

By digitalizing the contract management process through SharePoint, you are able to automate any number of workflows. One workflow that we recommend implementing is the contract approval process. This provides visibility into contracts’ status for those responsible for approving them, as well as those waiting for approval.

There are several other ways to automate workflows as well. These all depend on the processes an organization follows. For example, you can add a “request change” feature which allows users to suggest changes and edits for contract documents. Also, users can automatically notify those responsible for implementing changes when a change is requested.

SharePoint is a great place to simply store contract documents. The platform allows you to organize files by sub-site, document library, folder, and more. Every type of document has its own specific place. SharePoint also allows you to control user access based on sites. Therefore, only selected users can upload, edit, and save contract documents within SharePoint. Additionally, if you opt for SharePoint Online, users are able to access the contract documents from anywhere.

Another feature that we recommend adding to SharePoint is a discussion board. In other words, create a discussion board specifically for working on contracts. When multiple users are working on the same contract, they are able to post comments and feedback on the dashboard for others to read.

By adding templates to SharePoint, users are able to write contracts quickly and easily. We recommend uploading templates for each contract type. Users are able to customize these templates to mimic their company’s writing style and common contract types. Once the templates are uploaded, they will be readily available on SharePoint so that users are able to easily access them.

SharePoint’s advanced search functionality allows users to search specific queries to find exactly what they are looking for. For example, a user would use advanced search if he or she does not remember the exact title of a contract they are looking for but knows one phrase that is included in the title or other specific information, such as the author. An advanced search would allow for them to find the contract, as opposed to having to scroll through a long list of documents in a file library. Additionally, users are able to export these searches to Excel.

Microsoft SharePoint has numerous other features that may suit your company’s contract management needs. The features you choose to add to your SharePoint platform all depend on the processes your organization follows. If you would like some additional insight into SharePoint’s contract management capabilities, we recommend working with a SharePoint consultant.