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Beverly Dunn
0

eSignatures Part 2:

 

Benefits of Electronic Signature

 

  • Increased Revenue – The ability to close a contract in real time increases the probability that it will close by 50 percent, resulting in incremental business.
  • Improved Efficiency – Physically moving contracts for signature through a workflow greatly increases cycle times. Electronic signatures reduce this cycle time by up to 90 percent, from days or weeks to minutes— resulting in higher transaction volumes.
  • Reduced Cost – It costs more than $170 to process a paper transaction. An electronic signature solution can reduce this cost by up to 90 percent.
  • Security and Compliance – Electronic signatures carry the same legal effect as physical signatures and since approval workflows, signature limits, and verifications are built-in authentication and security are actually improved. Audit expense is also reduced because all contracts are securely stored.
  • Go Green – A fully paperless process that does not involve paper, toner, packaging, shipping, and fuel makes a terrific contribution to reducing your carbon footprint.

 

Who should be using eSignatures in your organization?

 

  • Legal – Largely responsible for contract execution and risk management, legal is often the primary beneficiary of electronic signature programs.
  • Sales – Numerous studies have shown a direct correlation between reduced contract cycle time and increased revenue and close rates.
  • Procurement – Reduced cycle times and electronic, searchable contracts result in improved visibility and better supplier relationships.
  • Finance – Contracts stored electronically means better audit trails, records retention, and reduced regulatory and audit risk.
  • Administration – No longer a need to store and archive paper contracts as they are stored electronically.

 

Door Opener

 

The Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) of 1999 and the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN) of 2000 for foreign commerce clearly and uniformly made the act of an electronic signature legal and binding.

 

Ensuring these elements are in place with an audit log that collects evidence of the
identification of the signers and the actions they take creates a very powerful alternative to the paper process, and actually reduces the legal contract risk.		These acts opened the door for widespread electronic signature adoption.
  • Contracts executed with electronic signature carry the same weight and legal effect as traditional paper documents and handwritten signatures.
  • A document or signature cannot be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form.
  • The electronic signature must demonstrate the signer’s intent to sign, and must be the act of the signer.
  • The signature must be affixed to the agreement in a tamper-evident manner, and the document content itself must also be tamper evident.
  • In order to qualify as an electronic signature, the system used to capture the electronic transaction must maintain an associated record or note reflecting the fact that it was executed with an electronic signature.

 

If you don’t have it (but now you want it!)…...contact me today for more information!!

 

Ariba Contract Management™ has partnered with DocuSign, a leading eSignature provider, to provide the leading enterprise-class electronic contracting solution. Tight integration permits users to electronically sign documents while never leaving the Ariba Contract Management solution. The solution also provides PDF generation capabilities if necessary, allowing concatenation of many documents into a single PDF. Finally, the functionality is fully configurable and can be turned on or off where required—allowing you to effectively perform change management and assure a successful rollout.


The basic process that users follow to electronically sign a document in Ariba Contract Management starts with a task that prompts the user to identify the appropriate signers for the contract. This task sends the document and signer list to DocuSign automatically. Subsequently, DocuSign sends notification emails to the signers to invite them to sign. When the document is fully signed, the PDF is secured, and sent back to Ariba and automatically uploaded as a new version. This lightweight solution does not require the user to have login outside of Ariba Contract Management or perform any activities or tasks in DocuSign.

 

 

THE BUSINESS CASE FOR CONTRACT MANAGEMENT AUTOMATION
If you are using Ariba Contract management….you know why it is important.
If not, here are some great reasons to consider this for your next organizational initiative.
The Aberdeen Group cited the following savings benchmarks for organizations implementing contract management solutions:

In some cases, turnaround time for document signing has gone from 24 days to 24 hours.

 

When documents need to signed before checks can be cut, that can make a pretty big difference.

  • 55 percent additional spend brought into compliance
  • One to two percent increase in revenues
  • Reduce contract negotiation cycle time up to 50 percent
  • Reduce administrative costs of contract creation and negotiation 25 to 30 percent
  • 25 percent improvement in timely contract renewals
  • 25 to 30 percent improvement in realizing rebates and discounts
  • Significant reduction in auto-renewing (evergreen) contracts

 

What’s next ???

 

Electronic Signatures represent a quantum leap opportunity. Significantly improve the efficiency and speed at which your contracts are executed with a 100 percent electronic document repository for improved visibility and storage. Roll out the functionality improving security and authentication when you are ready to assure adoption and success. Contact me for more information!!!

 

Part 1 of eSignatures:

Ariba Knowledge Nuggests: eSignatures Part 1 of 2 - Definition, Legality, Security

_________________________________________________________________

 

This has been another Knowledge Nugget post brought to you by Beverly Dunn.

For more information or details please feel free to contact me!

565 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: best_practices, contract_management, invoice, esignatures, knowledge, ariba_knowledge_nuggets, knowledge_nuggets, customer_success, contract_processes, security
Beverly Dunn
0

eSignatures:

Go ink- and paper-free with electronic signatures, and watch your savings, revenue, and productivity grow.

 

You put a lot of effort into developing each trading partner deal, and into the contract that will seal it. You've also put a lot on the line by relying on wet-ink signatures for execution. Any delay can put even the best deal in jeopardy. Copying, distributing, and overnighting cost time and money. And signing
mistakes can really slow things down, or cause problems later on if not caught now.


Incorporating electronic signatures into your contract management process is a step toward more control and a completely paperless contract lifecycle. Copying and shipping costs will be a thing of the past. You'll cut the time it takes to execute a contract from days - or weeks - to mere minutes. And the
process easily meets audit and regulatory requirements.


The results you can achieve are compelling: A 50% higher probability of closing a deal. Up to 90% greater workflow efficiency. Lower paper costs of more than $170 per transaction. And by eliminating all that paper, toner, packaging, and shipping, just think how much greener you'll be.

 

Definition of an electronic signature
The legality of an electronic signature
An electronic signature is a fast, secure, and easy way to sign a contract. It can be defined as a process that attaches an encoded signature to an electronic document, verifying the identity of the signer and signifying an approval to terms. An electronic signature needn't resemble what would commonly be recognized as a signature. It can be any sound, symbol, or process adopted with the intent to sign a document.Yes. They carry the same legal effect as physical signatures while raising the standard for authentication and security. The enforceability of e-signatures in the U.S. was ensured in 2000. That's when the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN) was signed into law, establishing that the use of electronic means to create and sign documents would not jeopardize their validity or enforceability.
*Ariba has partnered with electronic signature leader DocuSign to design a low-touch, high-value solution.

 

How do electronic signatures work?


It's easy. First, each system user is identified and provided with a unique and secure electronic signature. Then, when you're a requestor, you use a simple drag-and-drop tool to identify the signers needed on a given contract, and where they need to sign. With one more click, you send the contract and signer list to Ariba's partner, DocuSign. DocuSign sends emails to ask signers for their signatures. Automated triggers, set to the update interval of your choice, keep you informed about process status. Once everyone has signed, a final PDF version of the contract is secured, returned, and uploaded.


When you're a signer, you open the DocuSign email, review the contract, and follow the guides to see where you need to sign. Just click on each location to e-sign your name. When finished, click "done" to send the contract back to the requestor. Fully executed copies are automatically stored in the Ariba system, and a tamper-proof master copy is stored in DocuSign's SAS70-compliant datacenter. Each signer receives a notification and a link to the signed document, as well as a Certificate of Signing as evidence of the process.

 

But….what about security?

 

Yes, electronic signatures are far more secure than any paper-based process. Leveraging the latest application security, infrastructure protection, and DocuSign's unique contract execution process, you have the peace of mind that documents and customer data are secure and safe during and after the signing process. Documents are digitally sealed and all communication is transmitted over SSL 128 bit encryption. Plus, the service includes a 100% audit trail of the entire process, ensuring compliance and reducing the risk of fraud or lost records.

 

50% higher probablility of closing a deal


Up to 90% greater workflow efficiency

See what all the excitement is about...

Ken Miklos, Ariba Contracts Sr. Solutions Marketing Manager says on Ariba Exchange:


I had an interesting conversation this week with Bob DeSantis, the VP of Sales at DocuSign. His company has now executed just short of 50 million signature events electronically on behalf of their customers which include many large, global organizations like Cisco Systems, BP, and Expedia. Of these, exactly zero have been successfully challenged (or challenged at all for that matter) in court. Bob went on to explain that eSignatures are actually more safe and secure than traditionally wet ink signatures since the signature process takes place in a completely secure environment vs. by fax, mail or email...all of which are very much not secure channels.

 

Yet, while all acknowledge the value, legality and the response that, "our legal group won't accept an electronic signature" is still the most common retort when I talk to folks about eSignatures...although this is changing.

 

What is your company's viewpoint? Educate stakeholders with the white papers, case studies, and a savings calculator at www.ariba.com/esignatures.

 

Part 2 of eSignatures:

Ariba Knowledge Nuggets: eSignatures Part 2 of 2 - Benefits & Who should use it

_________________________________________________________________

 

This has been another Knowledge Nugget post brought to you by Beverly Dunn.

For more information or details please feel free to contact me!

647 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: best_practices, contract_management, invoice, esignatures, ariba_knowledge_nuggets, knowledge_nuggets, customer_success, solutions, contract_processes, security
Ken Miklos
0

Contracting trade association IACCM tasked their users with defining 'Contract Management'.  Not surprisingly, the resulting responses were varied proving that business organizations as well as impacted functions define the business dicipline in very different ways...a challenge that must be at least addressed if not overcome when considering automation.

 

Here was the winning response: http://bit.ly/cGrkxA

 

Have a different opinion?  We'd love to hear from the Ariba community using the comments link below.

617 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: contract_management, iaccm
dreid
2

Hello Contract Management community!

 

Ariba Contract Management users (that's you!) have traditionally been focused on external contracts - either as a buyer or seller....  Makes total sense, because those are the obvious ones, and often the ones that make the headlines. But we understand that there are other types of contracts.  Some people call these "Corporate" contracts, or "Inside" contracts... that is a contract that doesn't deal with either a buyer or a seller.  Examples are IP contracts, HR contracts, and myriad other use cases (don't want to give them all away in my intro!).  Ariba is introducing a new "bucket" for contracts called "Internal Contracts" in 10s2, and we are curious what you might use them for.  We have gotten feedback over the past year from User Groups, one-on-one interactions and (!!!) even a defect or two...    But we'd like to hear what you are thinking of using this functionality for.

 

We are especially interested in this from a business case and privacy perspective.

 

No one wants to just read my blurb, so I recorded a Video to show you what I am talking about.  In this short video, I walk through the new functionality. Have a look and of course, if you have any feedback on how this may (or may not) help with how you use Contract Management, please post it in the comments.

 

 

Thanks for your input as always!

 

-Dan Reid

Senior Product Manager, Contract Management

387 Views 2 Comments Permalink Tags: 10s2, video, contracts, hr, demo, inside, internal, awesome
CRobinson
0

Streamlining Contracting Policy and Process

Webinar Q&A Session

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

 

During Tuesday’s webinar, Tim Cummins, CEO of IACCM, and John Busch, Director of Contract Management at Health Care Services Corporation, discussed practical use cases for making your contracting processes more effective and efficient through streamlining contract management policy and process.

 

If you missed the event, be sure to watch the replay!

The outstanding questions from the event are listed below with more to follow!

 

________________________________________________________________

 

Q: ­Please expand on "Strategic ownership of contracting competence" from slide 16.  FYI...I work on the sales end of the business.­

 

A: We are seeing growing awareness from executive management that contracting is a key business discipline which must achieve greater balance between downside risk and upside opportunity. Establishing the right structures and relationships to enable flexibility for the business is critical when the economic conditions remain so volatile. Greater innovation and creativity in the way that contract terms are developed and managed is seen by management and academics as a core area of competitive advantage. The big problem: who ‘owns’ this competence? Who can they turn to who will actually drive improvement? The current ‘owners’ are generally associated with the current ‘problem’.

 

Answered by Tim Cummins, CEO, IACCM

________________________________________________________________

 

Q: ­How do you quantify the benefit of risk mitigation or avoidance?  I.e. - what's the value of unknown damages that did not occur...­

A: As I highlighted on the webcast, I would suggest this is the wrong question. You can never really make sense of the value of avoidance, because you don’t know what you were avoiding! So think the opposite – what is the price associated with avoidance? And is it a price worth paying? These risk terms are like an insurance policy – you pay your supplier for having these terms; whether or not they would pay out is questionable. Have you tested how much you are paying for having this insurance? When you think of all the contracts you have in place, is the premium worthwhile?

 

Answered by Tim Cummins, CEO, IACCM

________________________________________________________________

 

Q: ­What does the panel feel are the risks of automation and how are they best addressed? ­

­

A: The big challenge is to gain wide stakeholder acceptance. Without this, your benefits will be limited. But overall, the issue is more ‘what do you risk by failing to automate?’ and the answer is competitiveness, ease of doing business, good business controls, revenue ….

 

Answered by Tim Cummins, CEO, IACCM

___________________________________________________________

 

Q: ­Managing and reporting on contracts requires a tremendous amount of data/information.  How do you ensure the quality of your contracts data? ­

A: You are right to raise this question. One thing is to make sure that your internal measurements do not result in distortions. But more broadly, this is a great question for your RFP to potential suppliers. They should tell you how, in the context of your business, their product and services will drive accuracy of data and reporting. You might also want to use networking sites – such as IACCM – to get input from others who have already implemented.

 

________________________________________________________________

 

Q: ­Is it common to have multiple templates depending on complexity and risk? As a best practice, is it best to have a template with multiple options (to address complexity) or is it preferred to have multiple templates?  ­

A: This depends somewhat on the nature and complexity of your business. In general, I prefer the idea of templates related to the type of acquisition (e.g. products, services, solutions, software) and then standard terms with fall-back options related to each template.

 

Answered by Tim Cummins, CEO, IACCM

________________________________________________________________

 

Q: ­Is it possible to get a standard template for all kinds of services? We buy security service, fleet car service, recruiting service. The terms and conditions are very different.­


A: I wonder whether the terms are different because they need to be, or because of traditional authoring? I suspect the core contract could be very similar and that the main variations would appear in the Statement of Work / Service Level Agreement. You should develop a matrix with agreement type / term and condition title and then validate whether you can in fact use the same term (and term options) in each, or whether they really require differences. For example, why would definitions, termination, payment, liabilities, indemnities vary significantly between these agreements?

 

Answered by Tim Cummins, CEO, IACCM

________________________________________________________________

 

Q: ­What is a good strategy to develop a good relationship between the law department and procurement? ­

 

A: Our research has shown that there is often a poor relationship. Lawyers tend to show limited respect for Procurement and Procurement see lawyers as arrogant. But it is like any relationship problem – we need to work it out. If we cannot, it will limit our ability to provide value. So a good place to start is to think about the legal perspective. What worries them? What are some of their problems? How might you help fix those problems? For instance, most law groups have too much work and would welcome getting rid of some low value activities, especially if in return they were more involved in some of the high value areas. I’d be happy to discuss with you – and also with your law department!

 

Answered by Tim Cummins, CEO, IACCM

________________________________________________________________

 

Q: ­We have a variety of major projects, some using the client’s templates and others using our own (but with different flow downs from the prime contract).  Any recommendations on having common templates for these different situations? ­

 

A: This is of course a common challenge. In a project business, you will generally be forced to operate with variable terms driven by negotiation. So you may have to think more in terms of standard principles and practices, more than standard wording. Try to operate within boundaries of practice, especially for those terms that require underpinning process or resources.

 

­Answered by Tim Cummins, CEO, IACCM

________________________________________________________________

 

Q: ­What tool sets (issue lists, risk wheels, models) do you give your contract negotiators? ­

 

A: We see a wide variety of ‘play books’ being developed. You may want to look at the results of our ‘most admired companies for negotiation’ study / interviews.

­­

Answered by Tim Cummins, CEO, IACCM

________________________________________________________________

 

Q: ­How long is a reasonable time to expect to get Legal and business to buy-in on the concept of contract templates? ­

 

A: You must build a benefit case that is sensitive to different stakeholder interests. If you tackle this with a standard presentation you will likely fail. This is a marketing job. And it will require an executive sponsor. That sponsor must be sold the benefits first. Do you have someone who is a likely supporter?

 

Answered by Tim Cummins, CEO, IACCM

________________________________________________________________

 

Q: Can you outline what are Major legal terms you recommend included in a contract?

 

A: There are checklists available related to the terms you should include in different forms of contract. You can also see models on some of the websites, such as WhichDraft.com.

 

Answered by Tim Cummins, CEO, IACCM

________________________________________________________________

Stay tuned for more questions answered by the event panelists.

507 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: best_practices, contract_management, legal, ariba, new_normal, iaccm, best_in_class, contract_processes
Justin Fogarty
0

I'm attending Docusign's 2010 ESIGN Summit in San Francisco today. Impressive roster of speakers, including:

 

  • President Bill Clinton address and Q&A (via satellite)
  • Gary Thomas, 2011 first vice president, NAR
  • Aaron Levie, co-founder and chief executive officer, Box.net
  • Tom Gonser, founder and chief strategy officer, DocuSign

 

Along with a small army of other bloggers and Twitter-savy people, I'll be sharing some of the take-aways, insights, questions, and perhaps even...unveilings. I will post to the blog here on Exchange either later today or tomorrow. But if you'd like to follow along in real time, the Twitter hashtag #esign2010 is the best way to see what's happening.

 

Any questions you'd like to ask about esignatures (technical, security, etc) or Docusign? Post them in the comments and I'll do my best to track down answers.

396 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: contract_management, esignatures, docusign, security
dreid
4

All,

 

It is that time again; time to start the planning and prioritization of the features to be included in the next Upstream Release.  We have identified the top candidates for the next release after 10s2 and we would like feedback from the user base on which features are the most important.

 

 

This year, we will be conducting the survey with the aid of Ariba Exchange to allow for discussions about the proposed functionality.  If you have not yet joined, please do so as we will distribute the survey within the solution specific communities!

 

The survey will be available on June 28th, and we will be accepting responses until July 9th.  The easiest way to get the survey is to email me directly at:  dreid@ariba.com.

 

 

This survey is not limited to OnDemand customers only. We would like to hear from all users of Ariba’s Upstream Solutions.  We will institute cumulative voting so customers can provide value to their votes.  Each submitter of a response will have a number of votes that they can distribute across the features anyway they choose. For example, each submitter could put one vote on each feature, or the submitter could put more votes on fewer features to give those features greater importance.

 

 

We will use these responses to help us narrow down the list of features to build a release plan for the next release.  Your opinion on where we go with the Solution is very important in this process.

 

 

If you have any issues or questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at dreid@ariba.com.

 

 

Thank you!

 

 

Dan Reid   

460 Views 4 Comments Permalink Tags: contract_management, customer, survey, feature, feedback
Ken Miklos
0

Tim Cummins of IACCM (here's a link to his blog: http://tcummins.wordpress.com/) led a thought-provoking breakout session at Ariba LIVE Amsterdam yesterday.  Among many topics, Tim and those in attendance discussed:

  • Why flexibility is critical in contracting.  Tim referred to an actual business case where an organization leveraged a fallback clause in a commonly-challenged indemnity clause as a negotiating chip resulting in over 50 million EURO in savings in a single year.
  • How and why it is critical that procurement considers building solid relationships...and is not focused solely on cost containment/savings.
  • The sell-side view of contracting.  After all, as Tim correctly points out, procurement doesn't exist in ANY organization without a revenue-generating business.
  • And how contract management automation can help to achieve these objectives.

 

I spoke with Tim after the session and am excited to report that he has agreed to periodically chime in here on the Exchange with his thoughts going forward.  Stay tuned.

 

If anyone would like Tim to elaborate on any of the topics above or on something else in the world of contracting, feel free to respond to this thread which we'll use for content ideas going forward.

527 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: best_practices, contract_management, aribalive, iaccm
Ken Miklos
0

The use cases and benefits of online communities continue to expand.  I attended a session at IACCM Americas (www.iaccm.com/americas) Day 3 where Corp Counsel for a High-Tech company discussed the value an internal online community has delivered to their legal team.  Since such a large volume of knowledge is regional and resident within individuals in the legal function, their community has been invaluable in information sharing.

 

Adoption was a stated hurdle.  The presenter observed to make it work, contributors must use the site and be incented to do so.  Due to its success thus far, her legal group is now offering the community to a wider audience more company-wide.  Finance, pricing, delivery, and others can most definitely benefit.

 

It sure beats endless searching through email folders that max out your mailbox storage space!

649 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: best_practices, contract_management, legal, iaccm
Ken Miklos
0

IACCM Americas Conference

Posted by Ken Miklos Mar 23, 2010

A couple hours into the IACCM Americas Conference: 'Contracting as a Corporate Competence' and already some great insights for contracting professionals.

 

Dalip Raheja, CEO of The Mpower Group observed that implementation and process alone will NOT deliver business results.  In Dalip's words, you most focus on the vowels: (A)doption, (E)xecution, (I)mplementation, (O)ptimization, (U)tilization.

 

Also in the introductory presentations, Kate Vitasek of the University of Tennessee and author of 'Vested Outsourcing' (http://ow.ly/1q0be) shared some insightful thoughts on the topic vested outsourcing.  For one, Kate says that outsourcing to experts, then telling them how to do something is a counterproductive business model.  She shared the 5 rules of vested outsourcing detailed in her book:

 

1) Seek an outcome-based vs. transaction-based business model

2) Focus on the what not the how

3) Have clearly defined and measurable outcomes

4) Assure that pricing model incentives are optimized for cost/service trade-offs

5) Understand insight vs. oversight governance structures

549 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: best_practices, contract_management, iaccm, outsourcing
Ken Miklos
0

The final posting in our Contract Management best practices series...

 

Data and Process Integration

Base Line

Contracts solution is stand alone.

Advanced

Share contract base data (suppliers, users, categories, etc.) with other third party systems.  Compliance and comparison performed via reporting.

Best In Class

Data and processes in contracts solution integrated with other third party systems including base data, sourcing, procurement, compliance, payment, sales request, etc.)

 

Types of Contracts Electronically Supported and Managed

Base Line

No electronic contract solution for any type of contract.

Advanced

Electronic contract system for at least one type of contract.

Best In Class

Electronic contract system for all organizational contracts.

 

Invoices for Goods/Services Covered in Contracts

Base Line

Paper invoices are manually created and mailed

Advanced

Some invoices are created electronically from the contract to reduce errors / double entry.

Best In Class

Many / most invoices are created from contract by suppliers / customers and electronically sent for auto matching to the contract prior to payment.

564 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: best_practices, contract_management, contract_processes
Ken Miklos
0

Part 2 in our series on contracting processes best practices...

 

Contract Execution Method

Base Line

Original documents are manually signed (wet ink signature) and mailed.

Advanced

Original documents, stored electronically, are emailed or faxed, printed to paper and signed.

Best In Class

Documents are created, stored, transmitted, and executed electronically in a 100% paperless process.

 

Contract Storage, Searching, Reminders and Metrics

Base Line

Paper contracts are stored in file cabinets and must be manually searched.  No reminders electronic or otherwise or contract metrics.

Advanced

Electronic storage with electronic searching of contract header data and electronic reminders of upcoming contract expiration.  Some minimal contract metrics available.

Best In Class

Electronic storage with electronic searching of contract header data and document free text searching with electronic reminders of milestone events such as expiring certifications, contract renewals, etc.  More complex contract metrics available.

 

Legal Team Involvement in Contract Changes / Edits

Base Line

Legal team required for all changes for all contracts.

Advanced

Legal team advice is in contract MS Word file (must be removed before executing) or stored in separate offline document.  Legal team often relied upon for routing changes.  Use common clauses in MS Word files.

Best In Class

Legal team advice is accessible from MS Word file, but not a part of the file.  Standard pre-approved language and fallback / alternate clauses available permitting legal to intervene on exception basis only.

560 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: best_practices, contract_management, legal, esignatures, best_in_class, contract_processes
Ken Miklos
0

This posting is the first in a series in the coming weeks on contracting best practices.  These are observations of Craig Myers, Sr. Manager of Ariba Consulting.  Craig has worked with dozens of companies of all sizes in contract management and certainly has seen the wide disparity in capabilities making contract management a competitive differentiator for those best-in-class.

 

Consider where your organization rates and please chime in with your thoughts and observations.

 

Contracting Processes (Including Editing and Amendments)

Base Line

No formal written contracts processes, thus often use “third party paper” instead of your own contract template and/or MS Word file.
Advanced
Have written contracts processes, but often not followed by users or groups, and often still use “third party paper”.
Best In Class
Have electronic contracts policies (with checklist/tasks) that are followed by all groups and regions.  But still may have to use “third party paper”.

Approval Workflow
Base Line
Contract approvals are manually done by paper signatures.
Advanced
Contract approvals are static electronic, but are often not followed or approvers do not approve quickly.
Best In Class
Contract approvals are dynamic electronic, with clause level approvals, with automated escalations if approvals are delayed.

Contract Template (MS Word File) Used to Create/Amend Contracts
Base Line
Separate MS Word file used for different contract types, with manual MS Word file update of each different Word file.
Advanced
Correct MS Word files is electronically selected for use with different contract types, with manual Word file update of each different MS Word file.
Best In Class
Correct MS Word file is electronically selected for the correct contact type.  Contract template MS Word files are electronic mass updated for changes common clauses.

524 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: best_practices, contract_management, best_in_class, contract_processes
Beverly Dunn
0
Ariba Knowledge Nuggets Signing a contract.jpg

 

 

Effective contract management has emerged as a crucial function to improve profitability, support compliance and manage risk. Yet, many companies continue to struggle to locate their existing contracts let alone manage them. And onerous legal procedures and shifting regulations make it difficult to create best-value agreements that simultaneously maximize profits and minimize risks.  Ariba Contract Management solutions are designed to help you overcome these challenges by providing full visibility into contracts, enhancing compliance and reporting, and streamlining the contracting and administration processes.  

 

 

 

Here are some FAQ to help you maximize your contracts tool: 

 

Question.jpg How can I change the process status of my contract on the Overview page?

 

It is not possible to change the process status of a contract workspace manually. This setting is defined by the template creator at the template level. After creating a task within the workspace template and setting Field Setting for the template to Process Status, the template creator selects a particular status (executed, executing, etc.) After this task is completed within a given workspace, the process status of the project changes. All projects inherit this setting from the template used, so there is no way to change it within an existing project.When this task is completed, the contract process status changes accordingly.

 

Contract - visual.jpg

 

 

Question.jpgWhy am I unable to delete my contract workspace?

 

A number of factors can prevent users from deleting contract workspaces. Any of the following conditions could prevent you from deleting your workspace:

 

Non Test Projects:

  • The workspace is published
  • The contract is a parent agreement
  • Tasks are not completed

 

Test and Non Test Projects:

  • Approval tasks within the project are submitted or completed
  • The workspace is published
  • You are not the owner of the Contract Workspace
  • The project contains a reference to an object in Ariba Buyer, such as Ariba Contract Compliance (ACC) object or requisition

 

** Please note that system parameters can determine whether you can delete workspaces. Changes to site parameters require a request in writing by Site Sponsorscookie-monster-computer-internet-delete-cookies1.jpg

 

Question.jpgThe site seems to be running slowly, and I keep seeing a blue progress bar go across the screen.

                What can I do to speed processing?

 

This can often be corrected by, simply deleting cookies and temporary Internet files. To do this, open the Tools menu of Microsoft® Internet Explorer®. Go to the General tab, click the Delete Cookies button, and click OK. Then, click the Delete Files button beside it, check the box in the pop-up that appears, and click OK again. Restart your Internet browser. Note that the previous steps are for Internet Explorer® version six. If you have version seven, you see one Delete button on the General tab in the Browsing History section.  Click this button to delete both temporary Internet files and cookies.

 

 

 

 

Question.jpgI am working on a Main Agreement/Addendum with Desktop File Sync enabled. After changing and updating it on the site, the Outline View does not match the document. What can I do?

 

In this situation, you can try the following options:

 

With DFS enabled, go to the Documents tab of your workspace, click the document in question, and select View Details.

· Go to the Outline View tab.

· Click the Actions button at the top of the page.

· Select Fully Synchronize document.

This forces the system to rebuild the Outline View based on what it finds in the Microsoft Word copy of the document.

If the outline view still does not match the document, you can try the following:

· Save the Word document on your computer in a location outside of the DFS folder using File>Save As.(You may want to slightly change the title, to avoid confusion.)

· Go to the Documents tab of your project.

· Click the document, and select Replace Document.

· Browse to the correct version of your document on your computer and replace the existing document with the new version.

· Generate the document.

 

Question.jpgHow do I add bookmarks to my document in Microsoft Word ?

First, highlight the text that you would like to bookmark. Then, open the Insert menu at the top of the page and choose Bookmark. Enter a name for the bookmark according to the following guidelines:

 

 

 

Bookmark table.jpg

Note that these names are case sensitive. The <uniqueID> is replaced by whatever name you choose to give it (alphanumeric characters only).

 

 

 

Question.jpgIs it possible to assign someone who is not a user of the site as an approver/reviewer?

Yes. To do this, users can add an email reviewer. To start, create the task as you normally would. If this is the first-time assignment of tasks to this person, use the link for new email reviewer to create an email reviewer account for them. Please, note that this is not a user account to log into the site –- it is only for email reviews.

 

Contract Reviews.jpg

 

 

If this person has previously assigned tasks, find their email reviewer account by using the drop-down menu for Reviewers and choosing search for others. Then, search for them by name. Note that the account type displays as “email reviewer.”

Review.jpg

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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1,162 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: ariba_knowledge_nuggets, main_agreement, leading_practice, nugget, bookmarks, best_in_class, desktop_file_sync, reviewer, non_test_projects, contract, knowledge_nuggets, addendum, contract_workspace, approver, faq, agreement, edit, approval, customer_success_manager, customer_success, delete_cookies, test_projects, customer_success_team, practice, contract_review, success, best, risk, contract_management, best_practices, customer, knowledge, ariba, review
Ken Miklos
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IACCM Conference

Posted by Ken Miklos Jan 13, 2010

Ariba is excited to continue our sponsorship of the International Association of Contract and Commercial Management (IACCM) Conference.  This year's conference will take place in Orlando FL, March 23-25, 2010.  The conference theme is "Contracting as a Corporate Competence".  According to IACCM's CEO, Tim Cummins, "Extracting value from trading relationships, while effectively managing risks, has become increasingly important in these tough economic conditions.  As a top practitioner, you need to assist management in achieving this balance.  Knowing how you must change and what you must change makes you an invaluable stategic adviser."

 

The conference is a great way for contracting practitioners to learn about this topic and much more from experts, peers, and thought leaders and share their own experiences.

 

To view the agenda and register, go to www.iaccm.com/americas.

483 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: best_practices, contract_management, risk, iaccm
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