Who has access to my contracts in my contract management system?

Generally speaking, almost everyone realizes that they need to automate the management of their contracts!

However, a number of questions often occur.  Here are just a couple of common questions:

• Who will have access to the data/information in the system (internal and external parties)?
• What controls are in place to prevent the misuse of data by those having authorized access?
• Is there a complete audit trail of the activity on the system and can I view/report this information?
• Can I show/prove to auditors who has access to the system, what contracts they can view and what permissions they have?

One way to answer the question is to provide a visual map of the the various groups, permissions and ultimately the documents that a user can access and with what privileges. 

Contract Management Role Relationship Illustration from Contract Guardian

The following are suggestions for your contract management role permissions and names. The role descriptions shown below are just examples. You can create an infinite number or roles and associated permission to match your organizations needs and naming conventions.

• Administrator
• Contract Manager
• Contract Author
• Contract Reader

Learn more about suggested capabilities and features by reading Contract Management Roles Document or call 513.977.4544.

www.contractguardian.com

Related articles

• The Value of Contract Management: Evidence Mounts

Configuring a Contract Management System

Modern Contract Management Solutions typically allow you the user to perform numerous configurations to address your needs.  This is certainly the case with Contract Guardian.  Our system and other products on the market allow you to configure with or without the vendor's assistance.  If you are new to a Contract Management System, we recommend you lean on the vendor for the free assistance that they offer.

Some of the more common configuration components include:

• Roles - this is typically a group of permission that you can assign to a role.  Permissions include item likes Add Agreements, Add Attachments, Delete Agreements, etc.  Some systems have only a few options whereas others offer a more extensive permission list. 
• Groups - this is often a great shortcut for managing security for individual users.  Instead of assigning roles to a user, one assigns them to a Group and then assigns a user to a Group.  Any user that is a member of a group, automatically inherits their permissions.  One can usually be a member of more than one group.
• Contract Types and Custom Fields - No matter how thorough a system, the vendor can never anticipate every contract type or what content you need to capture today or in the future.  Today, the leading contract management systems allow the contract administrator to create any type and specify what information they wish to capture.
• Other configuration items can include: contract statuses, parties and types, attachment types, task types, organization structure and definition, email notification standards, etc.

Since configuration and customization are typically collaborative, we suggest you take advantage of the vendor's service and experience. .

Contract Guardian Presents 3.0 at HCCA Conference 2013

John was busy getting ready for the traffic at the HCCA Conference this year.   The features being presented in Contract Guardian are numerous.  Everyone really like the fact that they can manage their contracts with any mobile device at no additional charge.  Some of the other highlights included:

• Cloud and On Premise Editions
• Extensive enhancements to the security and data center for contract management
• Calendar views with task assignments and scheduling
• Unlimited Contract Types
• Unlimited User Defined Fields for contract types

Contract Guardian Dashboard Provides Snapshot of Contract Activity

The Contract Guardian Dashboard provides a customized window into your contract activity.  In the example below:

• Internal Announcements
• Recent Journal Feeds
• Chart of Upcoming Deadlines
• Pie Chart of Contract Types and counts

Remember, this dashboard is unique for every user based on their security profile.  Here is an overview of the Contract Guardian features in 3.0 

Unlimited Task Assignments with New Feature

Contract Guardian has always had task assignments.  Now, it has been taken it to the next level by creating unlimited task assignments and incorporating them into My Contracts!

Example:  Suppose you need to review an agreement with your department by a certain date prior to submitting it to legal for the next phase of review.  Scheduling this activity is very simple.  While you are looking at the Contract Information, you can:

• Define the event
• Provide the due date
• Trigger a supporting email notification
• Populate the My Contract Tab with this to-do items

Once the event is created it will now show up in the My Contract Tab.

New Contract Guardian Charts Feature

Contract Guardian will be releasing a new charts feature.  This new feature will allow a Contract Manager to select from an inventory of predefined charts.  There will be a number of chart types including a Pie Chart, Bar Chart, Line Chart, and Column Chart.  The charts will be color coded by the selection criteria.  As an example: If Contracts by Department is selected, the color coding is by department and a real time contract quantity is inserted into the chart.  The final image can be placed into any office product for reporting purposes.  This feature will be associated with the Contract Manager's role and it will add to our dashboard summary capabilities within Contract Guardian. 

For additional information on Contract Guardian please contact us at 1-800-887-1834 or visit our website here.

Return from HCCA Conference

Before I picked up the phone and start calling everyone, allow me to say "Thanks!" for all the kind words when visiting our booth.  We enjoyed the opportunity to meet with so many clients in person as well as potentially new clients.  Below is a photo during a break period.