Contract Management

Contracts are the starting point and the basis for commercial and legal actions in organizations and company departments. Internal and decentralized decision-making levels require the option of direct access to all of the company's information with the disclosure of any risks.

Handling, management and evaluation of contracts are part of everyday work in many departments, and there also contribute to the risk potential resulting from contracts. Generally the following departments have decentralized involvement with contracts: Legal, investment management, marketing, sales, purchasing, finance, controlling, revision and information technology. Distributed knowledge and decentralized responsibilities represent significant risks to the company.

The study "Contract Management 2006" conducted by Bearing Point GmbH found that contract management is a complex company task that can pose significant risks to companies. This study concluded that the most significant risks and optimization potential center around providing access to current contracts and information on the contracts. Frequent difficulties in finding contracts, content risks, loss of contracts and missed deadlines are seen as significant risks.
Many companies are incapable of generating a satisfactory overview of their internal and external contract relationships by key press at a workstation to realistically assess risks related to contracts. Annual report and financial auditors are faced with this challenge in practice and have been appealing for a remedy.
Legal regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley, European Governance and Basel II, for example, make reference to an online risk early warning system for the disclosure of contractual obligations and for risk assessment.

To successfully overcome these challenges in conformity with the law, it requires specific solution approaches with the goal of identifying and effectively controlling risks, optimizing processes, and realizing increases in efficiency and the necessary document integrity within the context of compliance management.

» Read how you can benefit from IT-based contract and risk management