Collaboration functionality is often touted as a significant advantage of Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) solutions, enabling seamless internal and external cooperation during the contract process. However, external collaboration, in particular, has its challenges. While it may seem impressive in demos, the reality is that it often requires the other party to change their established processes and work on a platform chosen by you. In practice, people are generally reluctant to change and may prefer to work on the contract in their own environment until they are satisfied, ultimately emailing it back. The functionality may not get used as much as hoped for.

This post is part of a series of posts aimed at providing practical options for organisations that don’t want, can’t use, or cannot obtain a full CLM solution and are looking for guidance on what they can do with the tools they have and some reasonably priced add-ons. For more background and context, please see this introductory post.

In such cases, it becomes essential to establish clear ground rules and effective collaboration practices between the parties. Etiquette for amending and marking up contracts, along with robust document comparison options, can significantly enhance the collaborative process.

Microsoft provides document compare features within Word, and tools like OnePlace Docs and Litera Compare can offer additional assistance in this area.

While external collaboration may present challenges, internal collaboration often underpins the request for a CLM tool. The promise is to create an environment where users can easily comment and annotate a document, work through and resolve issues, and share the finalised document with the other party without exposing internal positions and negotiations. Sending out documents with unintentionally left-in markups is a common concern that needs to be addressed. We’ve all done it!

Getting started

Fortunately, these challenges are manageable and can be resolved satisfactorily by understanding how Microsoft’s comment and track changes functionality works, along with versioning functionality and practices. Although it may take some time to become comfortable with versioning in Word within Microsoft 365, helpful guidance is available to aid users in navigating this process effectively.

If you want better CLM outcomes and want to look at your options and get a practical assessment of which options will best suit you, get in touch. We can recommend and introduce you to full CLM solutions or help with more targeted interventions, depending on your needs.