As organizations of all sizes evolve to manage evermore complex and numerous contracts, efficient contract management is crucial. Contracts are vital in establishing and maintaining business relationships, safeguarding legal rights, and maintaining compliance. However, managing contracts manually can be time-consuming, error-prone, and inefficient. That's where contract builder software comes into play. Let's explore seven ways a contract builder can meet your needs as you manage more and more complex contracts.
What Is a Contract Builder?
A contract builder is a contract management software system designed to simplify and streamline the contract creation process. It allows users to create, collaborate on, and manage contracts efficiently, saving time and decreasing the risk of errors. With a contract builder, your organization can automate the entire contract lifecycle, from drafting and negotiation to execution and renewal.
Introducing CobbleStone Software's Contract Builder
The leader of contract management solutions that is trusted in the CLM market is CobbleStone Software. Our contract builder software is a game-changer for organizations looking to optimize their contract management process. With CobbleStone's contract builder, businesses can generate accurate and effective contracts quickly and easily while maintaining compliance and decreasing legal risks.
Key Features & Benefits of CobbleStone Software's Contract Builder
Let's examine the user-friendly features of CobbleStone Contract Insight®, which allow you to create contracts of various contract types more easily.
1. User-Friendly Experience
CobbleStone's contract builder features a user-friendly interface that makes contract creation easy. Its intuitive drag-and-drop functionality allows users to create a document, add that simple contract draft to the system, and use contract templates to automatically add the necessary clauses, sections, and pieces of language. Clause types are recognized by the AI-based system, and if you have a preferred version/wording of that clause, it automatically replaces the one in the introduced document via contract auto-redlining for language consistency across agreements.
This helpful functionality starts the contract process strong, eliminating the need for manual formatting and reducing the risk of errors. For example, users can simply drag a non-disclosure agreement from their computer files and drop it into the system. Next, the "return of information" section is replaced with a preferred version of that clause area, saving time and promoting consistency. This feature is especially beneficial for users outside of the legal department - who may not have extensive legal knowledge or experience.
2. Highly-Configurable Templates
The contract builder supports the management of a wide range of configurable and specific templates that can be further tailored to meet particular business needs. Users can easily modify templates at any time to include relevant terms, conditions, and clauses, virtually ensuring that each contract is unique and aligned with their organization's evolving requirements
For instance, a company can configure a template to include industry-specific language, specific pricing terms, a time-specific term of the contract, or virtually any other part of the contract they need to include. This flexibility allows organizations to create contracts that accurately reflect their business processes and requirements.
3. Clause Library
CobbleStone's contract builder supports a comprehensive clause library, which serves as a repository of pre-approved clauses that your organization can build upon. This feature enables users to quickly search and select the appropriate provisions for their contracts, saving time and fostering consistency across all contract agreements. What's more, CobbleStone® has learned from nearly one million real-life contract clauses (common and situational) so that you can enjoy a robust system that features the clauses that business owners and users like you use on a daily basis. For example, a user can search for a specific clause related to time and materials and easily add it to the contract.
The clause library not only speeds up the contract creation process but also essentially ensures that contracts are drafted using standardized language and terms.
4. Collaboration & Workflows
The contract builder facilitates collaboration among team members involved in the contract creation process - as well as parties agreeing to enter into a contract. It allows multiple users to work on a contract, track changes, and manage workflow tasks together.
Collaboration and workflow tools streamline the workflows, reduce bottlenecks, and promote timely contract execution. For instance, a legal team can collaborate with sales and finance teams to review and finalize a contract using:
- document check-in and check-out functionality to keep things clear.
- clause ownership to make sure off-limits clauses are not edited unless the owner of that clause approves.
- and task escalation in the event that someone on either team is not doing their due diligence in a timely manner.
As such, all stakeholders are involved and informed. The contract builder also provides notifications and reminders to keep everyone on track and ensure that deadlines are met.
5. Version Control and Audit Trail
With CobbleStone's contract builder, organizations can maintain a comprehensive audit trail of all contract versions and revisions. This functionality provides accountability and transparency, making it easy to track changes, identify who made them, and revert to previous versions if needed. For example, if a dispute arises, the audit trail can be used to review the contract's history and determine the intent of the parties involved and where the disagreement started. Numbered version control helps ensure that the most up-to-date contract is always accessible and eliminates the risk of using outdated or incorrect versions.
6. Integration with Other Systems
CobbleStone's contract builder seamlessly integrates and connects with mission-critical and convenient systems, such as:
- CRMs.
- ERPs.
- word processing tools.
- accounting systems.
- these and many others.
System integrations and connectors promote data consistency and eliminate duplicate data entry. They enhance efficiency and reduce the risk of errors caused by manual data transfer.
For instance, customer information from a CRM system can be automatically populated into the contract, saving time and fostering accuracy. Integration with other systems also allows for better visibility and accessibility of contract-related information across different departments and functions.
7. Compliance & Risk Management
Compliance with legal and regulatory requirements is critical in contract management. Thankfully, CobbleStone can help.
CobbleStone's contract builder includes features like automated workflows to remind teams to perform compliance checks, contract approval workflows, alerts for key dates and milestones (obligations), and OFAC compliance checks. These tools help organizations stay compliant and mitigate legal risks.
For example, the contract builder can automatically flag contracts that meet a certain OFAC noncompliance percentage, ensuring that your organization is not associated with less-than-desirable vendors such as fraudsters, those involved with extremist organizations, etc. Additionally, as stated earlier, the contract builder also provides a centralized repository for storing and managing contracts, making it easier to retrieve and review contracts for compliance purposes.
Conclusion
In conclusion, contract builder software, such as CobbleStone Contract Insight, is a valuable tool for organizations looking to streamline their contract management process. By leveraging the power of a contract builder, businesses can save time, decrease errors, foster compliance, and mitigate legal risks. CobbleStone's contract builder stands out with its user-friendly interface, configurable templates, collaboration features, integration capabilities, version control, and audit trails.
However, this is just a small piece of the puzzle. CobbleStone offers so many more features for pre- and post-award contract management, procurement, sourcing, and more.
So, if you're looking to enhance your contract management process, consider implementing a contract builder like CobbleStone's and experience the benefits firsthand.
To get started on an easier way to build contracts with AI-based contract management functionality, book a free demo of CobbleStone Contract Insight today!
*Legal Disclaimer: This article is not legal advice. The content of this article is for general informational and educational purposes only. The information on this website may not present the most up-to-date legal information. Readers should contact their attorneys for legal advice regarding any particular legal matter.
