| Charles Petrie, from Stanford, released a
short article entitled “The Problem of Coordination,” which highlights 4
categories in which businesses find it difficult to connect:
- Interoperability
- Agent Communication
- Semantic Unification
- Coordination
Though this article refers to a specific type of business,
its principles are just as applicable to any business, especially when collaborating on a
contract. Contract collaboration and management is difficult in any business, and the
negotiations can go on for weeks, months, or even years. In seeking to manage contract
deliberations, organization of personnel, documents, and software can make or break a
clean operation.
Using Petrie’s model, this article explores how the
right contract management software is the solution to the problem of coordination.
Interoperability
Interoperability is defined by Petrie in the question
“Can you read my data?” Search “contract management software” in
Google, and in .44 seconds you will be introduced to millions of products indexed for your
specific search-18,400,000 to be exact. The only problem is that they are not all
compatible.
The most commonly used business software is MS office
software, which coordinates email with other applications targeted toward common business
needs: spreadsheets, word processing, presentations, etc. The problem cited by Petrie and
applied to contract management is that businesses which work together need to have the
right contract management software, which will aid collaboration within these commonly
used business applications. The solution is surprisingly simple.
Agent Communication
Again, some questions: “What is the protocol? How will
you find me?” In contract management, generally a draft is drawn after much
negotiation and deliberation. The man or woman who is “lucky” enough to draft
the contract must draw from up to thousands of documents of drafts and notes. This draft
will quickly multiply into an almost unmanageable number of drafts and documents.
The old way to handle this document influx was either to
file them in a drawer, paperclip them together, or pile them on your desk. This is
virtually impossible to handle because it takes up so much space and is so difficult to
organize. What most people don’t understand is that if you are saving these drafts
electronically, you still have the same problems. It is almost impossible to manage all of
the drafts, and you may overload your desktop.
The other way protocol becomes a problem is that the
editorial cycle is really not a cycle at all but a cyclone of drafts whirling back and
forth in no particular order. The likelihood of always finding the most recent draft right
away is about the same as reaching out into the cyclone for a specific thing and finding
it in the first grab. In other words, you may send several drafts to several people before
any of them send their collaborative efforts back. When they open and save your drafts to
a drive, they are not only needlessly taking up too much space on the drive, but they have
also just downloaded a pile of drafts that they now need to sift through in order to make
their changes. Now, imagine what will happen to you when they send all of their drafts
back-the cyclone image comes to mind again.
How can the right contract management software solve this
problem? The answer, again, is surprisingly simple. The right contract management software
will have Digital Thread technology, which connects the who, what, when, where, and how of
each draft, even creating a “family tree” of the drafts or a flow chart to help
you to see exactly where you are in the protocol. No matter what order the drafts whirl by
in, they will always be tracked, saving you time and storage space and protecting the
integrity of the contract protocol.
Semantic Unification
“What do you mean by ______?” Semantics is a
nightmare in contract management. The precision in wording is an important service to any
business, and creating the right wording produces a solid contract. It also produces the
most drafts. One word can be deliberated over for hours, days, or weeks. Drafts will go
back and forth, and a quick and easy way to review changes as small as word choice in a
document that could range from 10 to 1,000 pages long.
Document Signature is a feature that is almost a necessity
to keep up with semantic changes. It produces a window attached to any document you open
that lets you know that changes were made and who made it. It’s that easy.
Coordination
“What do I do now?” This question probably cycles
through every professional’s mind, no matter how briefly, at least a few times a day.
In contract management, the question might be altered to “How do I go about
implementing all of these changes?”
This simple answer is probably the most surprising. You
need the contract management software that will record changes and merge them for you. You
are involved in so many drafts and changes that you can barely keep track of them, but
with the right contract management software, all of the changes are tagged and tracked,
almost like a DNA strand. The changes from various drafts can then be merged within
seconds, giving you the ability to review the merge when it happens and use it to produce
your final draft.
In collaborating any project, whether a contract, a budget
report, a presentation, or even a memo, these four problems of coordination always loom
over professionals’ heads. Contract management software answers back to the rescue of
every collaboration committee. Narrow the search using the answers provided in this
article and you will find the right contract management software for your company and
finally find the solution to the problem of coordination. |
