Robust contract data management, contract analytics, and contract data security provide the necessary insights and protection for organizations to cut contract lifecycle times with enhanced control, governance, security, and visibility. Organizations can transform contracts into powerful, data-driven sources of business intelligence that support contract strategy, contract management KPIs, and goals with the help of leading contract management software. Here’s how.
Leading-edge contract management artificial intelligence such as CobbleStone Software's proprietary contract intelligence engine with machine learning - VISDOM AI - can be utilized for future-minded contract data extraction and contract data classification.
AI-based contract management software is crucial in helping organizations swiftly import contract records, request records, and other contract and related data into their contract management system more time-efficiently and with fewer data entry errors.
With VISDOM AI, contract documents can easily be uploaded to an organization’s CobbleStone Software system. Once these documents are processed (undergo an OCR process), users can determine the type of record they want to create from a list of various options, including contracts, vendor/customer records, requests, purchase order records, employee records, and eSourcing records.
Organizations using this VISDOM functionality choose a contract type for a given document and, upon processing the document through VISDOM’s data extraction interface, can see field mapping of key data such as key dates, record details, clauses, contact information, addresses, confidentiality notes, and renewal notes auto-extracted from that document. Thus, organizations reduce time wasted on manual data entry and can instead focus on value-driving contract strategy.
VISDOM data extraction is extremely helpful for organizations that must manage legacy contracts but lack adequate resources to import bulk data. The abovementioned process applies, permitting organizations to keep both legacy contracts and newly added contracts in a consistent format in a centralized repository.
Watch the video below to learn more about VISDOM artificial intelligence.
Contract data cannot be used for the abovementioned helpful processes and contract data analytics if reliability and security are compromised. Therefore, organizations must establish measures to fastidiously protect data. Organizations need to be equipped with the best tools to identify sensitive data such as payment card information (PCI) and personally identifiable information (PII) so that contract compliance issues and increased contract risk are avoided.
Luckily, CobbleStone Software's VISDOM AI can help users of CobbleStone's leading source-to-contract management software platform - Contract Insight® - identify and safeguard sensitive contract data types such as names, email addresses, phone numbers, dates, counterparty names, locations, and other critical information. This robust data protection functionality helps organizations configure which sensitive data should be withheld from a contract.
VISDOM users can choose data types and configure rules for access to those data based on contract types. Once these rules are put in place, they can be automated with the help of VISDOM, promoting heightened contract security, decreased financial losses, an enhanced reputation for organizations, and the reduction of time wasted performing tedious data import analysis.
With contracts and related documents stored within shared drives, it can grow challenging for organizations to keep tabs of document versions and updated contract details due to inadequate and error-prone searching methods and the lack of audit trails. A contract data management process that maximizes a searchable and user-friendly contract repository promotes transparency and visibility into document versions and provides organizations with improved contract tracking and contract status updates. CobbleStone Software can provide this useful functionality.
For the improvement of contract search processes, Contract Insight offers several options. Quick Search in Contract Insight allows organizations to easily browse through their contract management software system for documents that feature specified keywords. View the 'Searching in Contract Insight® Tutorial' video below to learn more.
Users can leverage Contract Insight Simple Search to browse a specific contract data category - such as counterparty name, department, or account number - to narrow down search results. Simple Search is more granular and specific, and is thus beneficial for when users already know specifics about a given contract or record.
CobbleStone users can also search for system reports with ad-hoc report searches to see reports containing specified contract data or counterparty information - for example: service contracts over $10,000.
With contract search data at a glance, organizations can supercharge their data-driven contract management processes.
Organizations using CobbleStone Software can configure reports based upon key dates, contract financials, and categorized data fields with configurable ad hoc reports.
Contract management reports provide Contract Insight users with transparency of contractual relationships across contract portfolios. These reports feature comprehensive, full audit trails.
Convenient and user-friendly ad-hoc reporting tools allow users to generate reports - or saved searches - based on out-of-the-box or user-defined fields. Users are able to make changes to contract records straight from the ad-hoc report view page in Contract Insight, allowing them to maximize data fields for improved, streamlined contract data management.
Contract Insight ad-hoc reports include:
CobbleStone users can review reports on their contract management system dashboards or report lists, or they can configure them to be sent via email on a scheduled, recurring basis.
With the help of contract management reports that help users quickly access important data about their contracts, organizations make the most of contract data for smarter source-to-contract management processes.
CobbleStone users can utilize out-of-the-box and user-configured dashboards for more personalized, data-driven contract management processes!
Dashboards can be set to appear by contract status, and system administrators can assign specific dashboards to specific user groups. Organizations can also configure reports to be sent to employees via automated email in spreadsheet form – even if the employees set to receive the emails are not licensed users – so contract parties and contract stakeholders can easily view essential contract data.
In addition to legacy dashboards, CobbleStone users are encouraged to leverage Executive Graphical Dashboards. Readily-available system-defined Executive Graphical Dashboard types include the following:
The 'Contract Insight Contracts KPI' Executive Graphical Dashboard is displayed below.
CobbleStone users can - of course - create their own Executive Graphical Dashboards and configure the display of contract analytics for their organization's needs.
Visually engaging and user-friendly dashboards promote efficient contract data management and, consequently, well-governed contract lifecycle management.
Organizations can position themselves for long-term success with contract data management processes that are founded upon the goal of efficiently and effectively gathering quality contract data and analyzing them quickly and accurately to make informed, intelligent business decisions.
With the aid of a contract management solution that equips organizations with the right tools to extract, search, protect, report, and analyze data effortlessly in one central location, organizations can experience more control over contracts, an expedited contract lifecycle, and boosted contract management ROI. The solution organizations of all industries need is Contract Insight by CobbleStone Software.
Contract Insight's source-to-contract management software provides comprehensive contract tracking, configurable email alerts, calendar notifications, contract workflow management, contract writing, authoring of contract templates with dynamic clauses, robust security options, revenue and cost management, full-text indexing and searching, custom reports, document version control, smarter contracts with artificial intelligence and machine learning, electronic signatures, and more. Additionally, it seamlessly integrates with CobbleStone Vendor Management Software.
Discover why thousands of contract managers trust CobbleStone Software with their contract management needs. To learn more about CobbleStone’s unparalleled contract management software, book a free demo with a Contract Insight expert today!
To stay up to date on best practices, industry news, and CobbleStone Software updates, be sure to subscribe to our blog and YouTube Channel.
Are you interested in future-minded contract management software tools? In our blog - 6 Critical Contract Management Tools for 2021 – learn how to leverage industry-leading CLM software tools for streamlined, user-friendly, and low-friction contract lifecycle management success!