Master Contract Manager ™

The main responsibilities of contract managers include overseeing the entire contract lifecycle and ensuring compliance with legal and company standards. They negotiate terms, draft agreements, and monitor the execution of contracts. What’s more, contract managers also identify and mitigate risks to safeguard the organization’s interests. They are also in charge of safely maintaining all contractual records and developing and implementing company-wide procedures and policies.

1. Contract drafting, evaluation, negotiation, and execution

Contract managers cover a variety of industries from government to technology to any company that has a large number of contracts. Regardless of organization type, one consistency is that contract managers are the primary individuals responsible for the creation and management of all contracts those organizations use. To successfully oversee contracts from drafting all the way to execution, contract managers need to be skilled in numerous areas. For example, some of those areas are legal compliance, negotiation, and relationship management.  Contract managers often serve as the key point of contact between a business and third parties to ensure timely review and approval of any variations. Furthermore, they also provide recommendations and negotiate contracts directly with customer attorneys or purchasing staff. Together, they craft a final document that is satisfactory to all parties. Streamlining communication and monitoring processes are very important for success in an organization. Fortunately, having a contract management tool that will automate processes and keep all conversations and edits in one place improves a contract’s lifecycle and a contract manager’s efficiency.

2. Maintaining contractual records.

Good contract managers know that even a signed contract is still very much an active, live document. Keeping thorough records of all documents that an organization has, even after a contract is seen through to execution is essential for the efficiency and compliance of an organization. Importantly, record management also mitigates risk by serving as an audit trail and evidence that is easily accessible. A contract manager needs a good filing system. In the past, this meant physical file cabinets or extensive email folders. Of course, in today’s digital world, those tools aren’t efficient enough for the rapidly increasing pace of business. Organization at work is simpler when using a contract lifecycle management platform that has a secure cloud-based contract repository as well as OCR for easy search capabilities. Maintaining complete records on the entire procurement and contract administration processes helps when other departments need relevant information. Additionally, this process is made much simpler through digitization. Another benefit of digitization is the length of storage. In the past, as file cabinets filled up and active and archived files were stored in different locations, management for records was more complicated. With a contract lifecycle management platform, all documents are stored forever allowing a contract from decades ago to be found in mere seconds.

3. Developing and implementing procedures and policies

Policies and procedures ensure employees carry out an organization’s vision every day. Also, established procedures for anyone involved in the contract process reduce organizational expenses. It also increases efficiency, as well as sets a precedent for decisions down the road. Furthermore, having policies in place to deal with independent contractors, customers, and employees helps in several ways. Simply put, company-wide contract management procedures help to maintain best practices, provide a baseline for accountability expectations, and protect against legal, regulatory, and liability issues.

To sum up, a contract manager is responsible for :

Overseeing the entire contract lifecycle: This includes drafting, evaluating, negotiating, and executing contracts. They serve as the key point of contact between the business and third parties for timely reviews and approvals.

Maintaining contractual records: Good record-keeping is essential for organizational efficiency and legal compliance. Contract managers use digital tools to store all documents securely, making it easy to access them for audits or other needs.

Developing and implementing procedures and policies: These ensure that company-wide contract management aligns with the organization’s goals and legal requirements. Policies set standards for accountability and mitigate legal risks.