Sunday, December 30, 2007

Contract Notifications

New Feature
Contract Notifications can be setup at the contract level by adding personnel to a contract. These individuals will receive a notice when the contract falls within the contract expiration grace period. Users can also be added to a contract type. Using this feature when a contract is added to a contract type, the users associated with a contract type are added to the contract notification feature. The application can be configured so a user receives e-mail notifications and/or is allowed to view the contract when the user signs onto the application.

If you would like to discuss these or other features, please visit www.contractguardian.com to learn more about our Contract Management Managed and Hosted Services. You can also contact John Reuter at 513.977.4591 or e-mail me at jreuter@rippe.com

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Contract Manager Requirements


A number of people have asked me for the typical definition of a Contract Managers responsibilities. That being said, here are a few of the common comments in addition to the appropriate education and experience:



        • Administers ongoing contracts and supports new business activity for a variety of contract types.

        • On less complex contracts, reviews proposal terms, conditions and special provisions to evaluate and make determinations of risks and other factors.

        • Provides on-site advice and assistance to the Project Manager and the project management team on contract management and policy compliance matters.

        • Ensures contract documents are consistent with agreements reached at negotiations.

        • Acts as a liaison between Project Manager and the client preparing and disseminating information regarding contract status, compliance, modifications, and contract notice requirements.

        • Evaluates contract performance to determine necessity for amendments or extensions of contracts and compliance to contractual obligations.

        • Leverages the Numerous Benefits of e.ssential Contract Guardian. (Ok, I made that up)

        Monday, October 22, 2007

        Contract Guardian VISTA Look


        Rippe & Kingston Systems has created a VISTA look for Contract Guardians application. This new theme and skin layout has been added to the available themes and layouts already available for each client to choose. Please contact John Reuter at 513.977.4591 for a complete demonstration of the theme and the contract management application. See www.contractguardian.com for additional information.

        Saturday, October 13, 2007

        Storage on Trial


        If your organization is faced with a lawsuit, you could bear the burden of retreiving documents quickly. One of the biggest costs involved in e-discovery during litigation is restoring backup tapes and searching through myriad files to find the few pieces of relevent information.


        A company should look at the applications that generate the most critical business records - financials, executive email and of course CONTRACTS. Contract Guardian dramatically mitigates that risk with the use of electronic vaulting (VAULT400)of all information that can be retreived from anywhere at anytime. This includes restoring to specific dates in time and not just current records. No concerns of locating tapes, tapes going bad etc. In addition, the journaling option provides a nice submissable log of relevant conversations and comments. If you would like to learn how our Managed Services can help you with your contracts Click Here.

        Wednesday, September 19, 2007

        Why Contract Management


        When speaking with clients, I frequently ask them what are the driving forces behind contract management. Below is a list of the top responses:


        • Contracts in a Centralized database

        • Locate Contracts Immediately

        • Provide Access to all Responsible Parties

        • Advance email Alerts

        • Control Contractual Obligations

        • Minimize Risk of Non-compliance

        • Maximize Revenue Collections and Eliminate Wasteful Spending

        • Eliminate the Risk of Missing Warranty Expirations

        Sunday, September 16, 2007

        e.ssential™ Contract Guardian Press Release

        e.ssential™ Contract Guardian Delivers Better Control Over Contracts

        LANSA Partner Releases New Web-based Solution for Contract Management
        Downers Grove, Illinois, USA – June 5, 2007 – With compliance and risk management high on executive agendas, effective contract management is emerging as a business imperative. The contract management process is now easier to manage with a new product from LANSA solution partner Rippe & Kingston Systems, Inc. – e.ssential™ Contract Guardian.

        Rippe & Kingston’s contract management solution accelerates companies to contract management excellence by streamlining the entire contract life cycle process. Built into the product are a powerful search engine as well as reporting, querying, journaling capabilities and a complete contract management portal. Other features include a highly intuitive browser-based user interface, open application architecture and integration methods and numerous extensive levels of security. Contract Guardian is available both as a hosted solution and in-house environment.

        The e.ssential™ Contract Guardian solution will allow organizations to:
        • Scan and store contract documents in a searchable centralized database
        • Locate contracts immediately, eliminating the need for copies and manual distribution
        • Advance email alerts for expiration, critical dates and automatic renewal of contracts
        • Control contractual obligations while preparing for audits and accreditations
        • Minimize risk of non-compliance by reducing payments on expired contracts
        • Maximize revenue collections and eliminate wasteful spending
        • Eliminate the risk of missing warranty expirations and service/maintenance requirements
        "Contract Guardian is delivered to the user’s desktop via a browser-based portal," says Thom Davidson, senior partner at Rippe & Kingston. "We are especially pleased by the simplicity of use requiring virtually no training. It is that intuitive!"

        E.ssential™ Contract Guardian is written in LANSA and supports multiple platform (Windows, System i, UNIX and Linux) and multiple databases running on those platforms. It can also be extended to incorporate additional functionality as required.

        "Rippe & Kingston’s new Web-based solution for contract management will be a great asset to companies faced with record keeping compliance requirements," said John Siniscal, president of LANSA Americas. "Moving paper contracts into a searchable database will ensure they are available and accessible for contract administrators and others responsible for their performance. Manual filing systems are an accident waiting to happen, which companies can’t afford in the current regulatory environment."

        About Rippe & Kingston Systems, Inc.
        Established in 1976, Rippe & Kingston and its over 100 certified professionals in their organizations is dedicated to improving and simplifying their clients business processes through a broad range of services and LANSA-based applications. Rippe & Kingston is an IBM Premier Partner and an LANSA Platinum Partner with clients in 42 states and seven countries. Their application products include the award winning LMS V, which is the number one solution for law firms in the world running on the IBM iSeries, METHOS for plant and facility maintenance and their complete e.ssential™ Portal Solutions and services offerings. For more information, please visit www.rippe.com or www.contractguardian.com.

        About LANSA
        LANSA is a leading provider of application development, modernization and integration software. LANSA's powerful suite of cross-platform development tools lets organizations overcome the complexity inherent in creating and maintaining business applications. LANSA’s integrated tool set is also the technology foundation for a wide range of business solutions from LANSA and over 300 Business Partners. Established in 1987, LANSA supports thousands of companies around the world with its products and services. For more information, please visit: www.lansa.com