How To Build A Scalable Contract Playbook

Content

• What is a contract playbook?
• Elements of a contract playbook
• Why is a contract playbook necessary?
• How do you create a scalable contract playbook?
• Steps to create a scalable contract playbook
• Inventory existing contracts
• Define contract types and templates
• Establish approval workflows
• How does a contract management system help with a contract playbook?
• Conclusion
  
  

Every player on the team must adhere to the same rules and strategies to win the game. Or else it’s utter chaos and less-than-desirable results. The same applies when managing business contracts. All the stakeholders involved in the process are working towards the same goal of a beneficial contractual relationship and greater returns. But are they following the same playbook?

Developing, negotiating, and reviewing contracts without a coordinated approach can make it more difficult for organizations to accomplish their purpose. That is why creating a scalable contract playbook is necessary to streamline all legal procedures.  

What is a contract playbook?

The contract playbook outlines the organization's standard contract terms, processes, and best practices for managing contractual agreements. 

It offers guidance on how companies should manage the contract lifecycle's drafting, negotiating, reviewing, and approving stages. Thus, everyone, from contract managers to the legal team, is on the same page regarding the approach, strategy, and guidelines.

A contract playbook can help businesses draft legal agreements that meet industry, legal, and organizational requirements for various business purposes.  

Elements of a contract playbook

1. Standard templates

These are pre-approved contract forms that include essential terms and conditions specific to the organization. Businesses can tailor these templates to different contracts, such as vendor agreements, client contracts, or employment agreements. By using standard templates, organizations can ensure consistency and reduce the time spent drafting new contracts from scratch.

2.  Defined roles and responsibilities

A contract playbook should clearly outline the roles and responsibilities of each party involved in the contract management process. It includes identifying who has the authority to negotiate, approve, and sign contracts. They must specify who is responsible for contract review, compliance, and renewal. Thus, there’s no overstepping or duplication of tasks.

3. Risk assessment and mitigation strategies

Risk assessment is a crucial component of contract management. A contract playbook should include guidelines for identifying potential contract risks, such as ambiguous language, inadequate performance metrics, or non-compliance issues. Additionally, it should outline strategies for mitigating these risks, such as indemnification clauses, insurance requirements, or dispute resolution mechanisms.

4. Compliance requirements

Compliance with laws, regulations, and company policies is essential for contract management. A contract playbook should include a section that outlines the compliance requirements that contracts must adhere to. It can specify data privacy regulations, anti-corruption laws, etc.

Why is a contract playbook necessary?

The playbook aligns the entire organization’s agenda for the contracting process. Thus, the legal, sales, procurement, and finance teams work together rather than hinder each other’s efforts. Every challenge the contract lifecycle presents will have tried-and-true answers.

Consistency: By establishing standard contract terms and processes, a contract playbook ensures that all contracts are consistent and aligned with your business objectives.

Efficiency: With a contract playbook, the team can save time by referencing pre-approved language, clauses, and templates rather than starting from scratch for each new contract.

Risk mitigation: A contract playbook can help identify and mitigate potential risks by including provisions to address common issues and protect the organization's interests.

Compliance: By incorporating legal and regulatory requirements into the contract playbook, they can ensure that all contractual agreements comply with relevant laws and industry standards.

Scalability: As business grows, a contract playbook can scale to accommodate new contract types, stakeholders, and complexities, providing a flexible framework for managing contracts effectively.

How do you create a scalable contract playbook?

As business expands, the number and complexity of contracts will also increase. A scalable contract playbook allows organizations to manage a growing volume of agreements without compromising quality or compliance. It enables them to quickly adapt to changes in regulations, market conditions, or business needs. 

A contract playbook can take any form; companies can create them in Word, Excel, OneNote, or even SharePoint. The primary concern is that all the involved parties must have access to it to ensure successful implementation.

Steps to create a scalable contract playbook

1. Inventory existing contracts

The first step towards creating a playbook is reviewing current contracts to identify standard clauses, terms, and templates. It will help businesses understand what elements can be standardized and included in the playbook. 

They can analyze every stage of the contract lifecycle to determine what works and doesn’t work for the business. Businesses can identify clauses, language, and formats that perpetuate quicker approval and signing. Thus, they can establish patterns for negotiation, review, and approval. Companies can develop a playbook that addresses their unique needs and streamlines the contract management process by understanding the current contract landscape.

2. Define contract types and templates

Standardizing contract drafting can go a long way toward mitigating risks. Businesses can do that by identifying the most common types of contracts and the key terms and clauses in their legal process. For example, organizations may have separate templates for service agreements, non-disclosure agreements, and software licenses. Legal professionals can create templates and clauses specific to their needs by identifying these common contract types.

When drafting template contracts, include all necessary clauses, such as payment terms, intellectual property rights, indemnification, and dispute resolution. They can create a library of standardized clauses covering a wide range of topics. Organizations can also include fallback positions for the negotiation process.

3. Establish approval workflows

After executing a legal agreement, there’s not much ground for businesses to backtrack on their promises. For this reason, companies need to confirm a contract's legitimacy, compliance, and quality before they sign it.  

They require thought-out approval workflows for contract creation, review, and signing. Organizations can assign roles and responsibilities to reviewers and approvers to ensure accountability at every stage. They can identify and involve parties from the legal, procurement, finance, and business divisions. Thus, only competent agreements make it to the final stage after vetting from relevant stakeholders.

How does a contract management system help with a contract playbook?

Contract management software, like Dock 365, can do a lot to guarantee the easy implementation of a contract playbook. They offer automation tools to bring consistency and accountability at every stage of the contract lifecycle. Thus, businesses can guarantee the accessibility and implementation of contract playbooks across the board. Here's how Dock 365 helps: 

1. Automated workflows

Dock 365 allows users to create customizable workflows that automate the contract creation, review, and approval process. Thus, they can route the contracts to relevant reviewers and approvers without hurdles or delays. Businesses can utilize automated alerts and deadlines to guarantee agreements get to the right person at the right time. By incorporating contract playbook templates into these workflows, legal professionals can ensure that all contracts adhere to predefined standards and guidelines.

2. Version control

With contract management software, users can track changes in real-time and maintain a complete audit trail of revisions. It ensures that only approved versions of contracts are used, minimizing the risk of errors and inconsistencies when implementing contract playbooks. Thus, if any individual makes inappropriate changes to the document there’s accountability. 

Additionally, audit trail analysis aids businesses in gauging the relevancy and acceptability of contract terms and conditions. It helps to devise better drafts and templates for future negotiations.

3. Collaboration tools

Contract management software enables seamless collaboration among team members involved in the contract negotiation. They provide a centralized platform for sharing comments, feedback, and approvals. Thus, businesses can ensure contract playbook implementation across all agreements. 

Dock, built on Office 365, offers collaborative tools like Teams, Outlook, Word, and SharePoint for a seamless contracting process. It also allows integration with popular ERP and CRM systems like Salesforce, Business Central, Oracle NetSuite, and Microsoft 365 Dynamics CRM to connect teams across the organization. Thus, sales, finance, and procurement teams can self-serve contracts using playbook guidelines.

4. Pre-approved templates and clause library

With Dock 365, companies can create standard contract templates and clauses that have been reviewed and approved by the legal department. These templates contain all the standard terms, language, and format to ensure compliance and competence. The clause library is a collection of individual contract clauses that can be easily inserted into your contracts as needed.

Using pre-approved templates ensures that all contracts adhere to your organization's standards and compliance requirements. It helps maintain consistency and reduces the risk of errors or omissions.

Conclusion

Most organizations don’t have a full-fledged legal department to oversee all their contracting needs. They can’t get involved in every contract-related task to ensure compliance and validity. In such cases, a contract playbook helps to guarantee the contract lifecycle moves forward according to the legal’s discretion without their active involvement.

A contract playbook is an all-inclusive manual listing every clause, template, and procedure a company uses in its contracts. By creating a central repository for all your contract information, you can ensure that everyone in your organization is on the same page when negotiating and managing agreements. It saves time and reduces the risk of errors. Thus, legal professionals protect your organization from legal disputes and compliance issues.