SharePoint can support contract lifecycle management needs through its strong features. It provides a rich metadata structure to model complex contracts, supports workflow and security requirements, and allows integration with line of business systems. While SharePoint has powerful capabilities, its adoption can be accelerated or slowed depending on how well its flexibility is governed and how legacy systems are addressed. Overall, SharePoint is well-suited to serve as a highly scalable and secure repository for contract information management.
16. CHALLENGE
Can SharePoint support the
industrial strength demands
of an enterprise’s large-scale
contract management activities?
17. ARGUMENT
SharePoint natively provides a
rich feature set that can
help solve a multitude of
critical business problems.
18. POSITIONING
Microsoft has successfully positioned
SharePoint as a strategic information
management platform for
mission critical business applications.
19. QUESTIONS
What is Contract Lifecycle Management
(CLM)?
How can it be impacted by SharePoint?
27. GOALS
1. Streamline the authoring process
2. Ease the mechanics of negotiation
3. Aid compliance tracking
4. Reduce overall contracting costs
28. GOALS
1. Streamlining the authoring process
Use of clause libraries and improved
collaboration slash contract creation time when
compared with old-fashioned emailing of redlined
attachments
Increase contract volume without increasing staff
Reduced contract turnaround time
29. GOALS
2. Easing the mechanics of negotiation
Track revisions, comments, related documents,
and communications
30. GOALS
3. Aiding compliance tracking
Integrationwith transactional systems ensures
that orders use the correct price, and that
companies claim the rebates and volume
discounts to which they are entitled
31. GOALS
4. Reducing overall contracting costs
Features such as automatic reminders of
upcoming expiry dates and tracking of complex
contracts with multiple enrolments, addenda, and
amendments can free up legal resources to
focus on more technical tasks
34. IACCM NACM
International Association for National Contract
Contract & Commercial Management Association
Management www.ncmahq.org
www.iaccm.org
ORGANIZATIONS
38. REDUCING COSTS
Represents a new evolution in application
development and delivery
Referred to as the “information operating
system” by Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft
Allows business solutions to be created in an
accelerated fashion
39.
40. REDUCING COSTS
By leveraging the foundational capabilities of
SharePoint, it is now possible to deliver
solutions with an advanced starting point.
As a platform with feature-rich capabilities,
SharePoint greatly reduces costs when used
to deploy mission critical business
applications.
41. REDUCING COSTS
Core Functionality
Document Management and Version Control
Workflow and Notifications/Alerts
Item-Level Security
Metadata
Collaboration Tools
42. REDUCING COSTS
Web Part Framework
Search
Filtering/Sorting
ContentAggregators
Business Intelligence/KPI/Dashboarding
47. Market Survey
“How Businesses are Using 67%
Microsoft SharePoint in the
Enterprise” Deployed SharePoint
Global 360
enterprise-wide
27%
Utilize > ½ of the documents
stored in SharePoint to
support mission critical
business processes
VOLUME ISN’T AN ISSUE
51. REFLECT COMPLEX CONTRACTING NEEDS
• Reflective
of an enterprise class CLM
system’s metadata requirements
• Provides a platform for a consistent metadata
construct
• Administratively allows for additional flexibility
• Each contracting group is going to have unique needs
53. REFLECT COMPLEX CONTRACTING NEEDS
Web Application
Site Collection
Site
Site Content Type
Site Column
Library
Item
Metadata
List
Item
Metadata
54.
55. REFLECT COMPLEX CONTRACTING NEEDS
An unlimited number of levels can be introduced depending upon your
preferences, though levels of inheritance are tied to site structure and
taxonomy.
Metadata elements can be defined once within a particular level and
then automatically flow, or inherent, downward to child content types.
Each content type can be locked down in accordance with your
requirements.
Each metadata element can have its own attributes such as required/not
required and format type (e.g.: text, integer, choice list, lookup, etc.)
In addition to metadata, additional attributes and functions can be
associated with content types. Examples include standardized document
templates, workflows, retention schedules, and audit policies.
56. REFLECT COMPLEX CONTRACTING NEEDS
Use metadata to…
Drive views
Expose via search
Drive reports
Preserve information
Trigger workflow
Etc.
57. REFLECT COMPLEX CONTRACTING NEEDS
Use content types to…
Maintain consistency across libraries and lists
Isolate workflow, policies, and other settings
Etc.
60. SUPPORTS CONFIDENTIALITY
Secured Content Made Available by Role
Full Audit Trail and Version History
Secured Sockets Layer (SSL) Protection
Authentication Provider Support
Microsoft Based Security Firewalls
68. METADATA, FULL TEXT, AND BEYOND
Ability to search on specific columns
Full text indexing
iFilters for other file formats
Federated searching capability
FAST Search
71. POWERFUL CAPABILITIES WITHIN
Data validation in SharePoint
Integrate workflow and data
Retrieve SharePoint content in LoB systems
Surface LoB data in SharePoint
73. SUITABLE FOR GLOBAL USE
As the largest provider of business
productivity software, Microsoft is the most
well equipped vendor to accommodate the
demands and rigor associated with multiple
languages and localization support.
74. SUITABLE FOR GLOBAL USE
38 Languages
Multiple Currencies
Language Conversion Workflows
Thisis not translation
Content defined in multiple languages and
managed centrally through a publishing process
78. “More inquiries have come
Toby Bell
Vice President, Research
Gartner
into Gartner for SharePoint
than any other product since
Gartner’s inception.”
BUSINESS, END, AND IT USERS ALIKE
79. BUSINESS, END, AND IT USERS ALIKE
Adoption is accelerated when your users
1. Find the software comprehensive and flexible
2. Truly enjoy their work with and utilization of the
software
3. Gain real business value out of it
80. BUSINESS, END, AND IT USERS ALIKE
Adoption is being fueled by
Business Users
Executives
IT Professionals
85. ACCELERATE WITH STANDARD ADOPTION
Governance generally encompasses a range
of best practices and techniques that
speak to the business, functional,
and technical dimensions of properly
implementing any major platform.
94. IN SUMMARY
Scale and volume can flex to accommodate the largest enterprises while the rich
data structures are reflective of complex contract needs.
Security is strong and will support contract confidentiality even with a native
implementation.
Search can satisfy most tasks, although administrative assistance is required for
configuration and the resulting implementation may not narrow down results as
much as desired in the long run.
SharePoint’s native workflow functionality satisfies basic requirements.
Multi-language support is extremely strong and can even justify the project on its
own if a requirement.
Integration to LoB systems can be more manual in the early stages of a project.
This is an area that can be automated in later phases with solid business
justification.
95. BOTTOM LINE
SharePoint is one of the most widely
deployed repositories, given its
showcase characteristics:
being highly scalable,
searchable, and secure.
99. was made possible by the generous
support of the following sponsors…
And by your participation… Thank you!
Hinweis der Redaktion
Welcome!This is my first SharePoint Saturday talk ever
We do offer products and services built on top of and around SharePoint for contract management, proposal management, and othersCM.app.app FoundationBut I’m not going to talk about them
Thank you for coming!
SPOILER ALERT!
NativeWithout any product add-onsNo programmatic customizationsOut of the box
I always think about a technical business problem from these three vantage points
Contract Lifecycle Management
Not just a document repository/legal archive
With the advent of SharePoint 2007…
These other platforms have evolved over timeHowever, they have gradually added base functionality much slower than to the degree seen with SharePoint
The key here is “foundational”—out of the boxYou get so much capability immediatelyWe’re not talking anymore about using SharePoint just as a repositoryEspecially with SharePoint 2010, we’re talking about a true platformIt’s got features that can work independently or togetherIt’s integrated with desktop applications and can be integrated with other systemsThe value of something built on top of SharePoint is greater than the sum of its parts
This core functionality and web part framework translates nicely into the most frequently requested features for a contract management systemMany organizations, even very large ones, are often at a lower level of maturity with their contracting processes and seek to introduce these base capabilitiesTypically they are managing paper files of key contracts, storing portions of them in multiple data stores across the company and/or maintaining information in regard to contract commitments in spreadsheets in ah-hoc databases with the legal department or initiating group level (e.g.: finance, sales, operations, procurement, etc.)If this is your starting point, then SharePoint is a great first stepMany organizations might first focus on business process improvements along with basic repository functionality for storage of both work-in-process documents and executed agreements
It’s usually perceived that these two terms are at odds with each otherSharePoint’s scalability is frequently questioned in considering implementations of mission-critical business applications across large enterprises, especially those global in nature with tens of thousands of employeesWith Contract Management, the scalability concern is linked to the volume of agreements that are processed and storedAnnually, could range from thousands to hundreds of thousands
Early releases of SharePoint appealed to users as a departmental solutionDid not require the robustness of an enterprise-class applicationWith SharePoint 2007, the platform was improved to accommodate large volumes of documents without impacting performanceWith SharePoint 2010, scale is extended even furtherSupport at the database level to programmatically allow the storage of documents outside the databaseIndexing optimization was introduced
To back this up…The use of SharePoint as an enterprise platform is no longer in debate
SharePoint is very modularIntentionally designed for high volume and performanceImportant to note that the installation and design of a SharePoint farm does require careful planning, of course, to scale properly
InfoPathRequests
Who is familiar with what is provided in SharePoint for metadata?Site columnsList columnsTypesAt first glance, SharePoint’s metadata construct may appear to be inappropriately simplistic to support complex CLM requirementsHowever, looking in-depth at the hierarchical structure that Microsoft introduced in SharePoint 2007 (and improved upon even further with SharePoint 2010) demonstrates that it has exceptional versatilityThis is a modern structure
The mechanism is the content typeProvide a hierarchical frameworkInheritance
This is a simplified SharePoint CLM content type hierarchyContent types introduced a standardized way to manage metadata at the highest levelsInherit that information structure at subsequent levelsIntroduce unique information into the structure where and only where neededAs requirements become more specific down the line, additional metadata can be easily introduced at the appropriate levelEnterprise Content Type Hub
Secured Content Made Available by RoleItem level securityFor example, individual documents (contracts) can be secured for specific groups or people and that security can be unique for each person or groupThis may mean that general users have read-only access to templates while contract professionals are provided with the ability to edit the documentsFull Audit Trail and Version HistoryTrack exactly who did what to each documentVersion history can be maintained and routinely pruned to show the evolution of the documents and the changes made to their associated metadataSecured Sockets Layer (SSL) ProtectionDelivery of content via an HTTPS encryption mechanismAllows for heightened security to be employed by encrypting traffic that passes over the networkAuthentication Provider SupportIn addition to natively supporting Active Directory, SharePoint has the ability to leverage additional authentication providers such as LDAP and Forms-Based AuthenticationAllows different but secure login mechanisms to be employed to optimize security for internal as well as your external usersMicrosoft Based Security FirewallsMicrosoft introduced Internet Security & Acceleration Server (ISA) to provide additional levels of protection when exposing content over the public InternetForefront Threat Management Gateway 2010 is the next generation release of ISA ServerUnfortunately it’s been EOL
Usually not for your average administrative userVery robust approvals OOTB
Whereas in SharePoint 2003, searching was restricted to basic indexes of partial document text, SharePoint 2007 introduced increased functionalityResults are always security trimmedSharePoint can search other websites, file systems, databases, and Microsoft Exchange public foldersFAST SearchVisual Best BetsUser context-based search enhancementsMetadata extractionRelevance tuningSearch results refinersDocument previews
In CLM, typical for an organization to want to connect its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) or financial systemsFirst attempt at data integration is typically a link to supplier or customer information to validate against counterparty information for the contracts
Data validation in SharePointPerform a validation of client or supplier data where that data resides in an external LoB system or data warehouseIntegrate workflow and dataData that has been entered in the SharePoint CM system can be automatically posted or sent to the LoB systemAn example of this may be when payment terms are finalized in the CM system. Once finalized, the CM workflow process may automatically post key contractual terms directly into the ERP system.Retrieve SharePoint content in LoB systemsAlso referred to as “document enabling”Allow SharePoint content (the documents) to be displayed from within another LoB systemIdeally, users should be able to click a button or press a keystroke sequence and the document(s) will render.Surface LoB Systems in SharePointAllowsthe LoB system to be displayed, or “surfaced,” in some capacity within SharePointThe advantage of this functionality is that users can access one central SharePoint portal to access many applications.
Includes double-byte character languages such as Japanese and ChineseThis refers to the site navigation, display, and searchingDocuments in any language can always be storedDoesn’t stop with languagesVariations
Question
Business UsersGrassroots demand from users continues to accelerate adoptionSharePoint allows for immediate productivity through its ease of use and flexibilityNote that this can also be a cause for concern if the appropriate information governance procedures are not implementedExecutivesWhile SharePoint is satisfying user demand, it is also recognized by senior management as a strategic platform that companies now leverage to increase profitability and provide a competitive advantageExecutives appreciate the increased user adoption, business problems solved faster than legacy technologies, and reduced costs for product, training, and support. It is more widely recognized that SharePoint is the safe bet saving organizations substantial time and money. With SharePoint’s wide acceptance at the departmental solution level and uncontrolled site collections of information, many executives including CIOs are suddenly realizing that the platform must be taken seriously and as such, a solution worthy of planning and investment. These factors must be considered in regard to the true costs of implementing properly. Yet when looked at over the long term, there is a recognized reduction in costs and a heightened overall return on investment.IT ProfessionalsThere are a number of reasons that IT is now embracing SharePoint in more substantive ways. It begins with the popularity of the product and the fact that it is using the latest and greatest Microsoft technologies. As a result, this feeds the IT professional’s appetite. Beyond its popularity, SharePoint allows IT departments to more easily enable their users to be successful by becoming more autonomous and capable. Finally, the momentum behind SharePoint has introduced a larger pool of SharePoint-savvy personnel, which helps to reduce costs to maintain any application built on a familiar platform.
SharePoint’s blessing, when not managed properly, can also be its curse. Specifically, SharePoint includes a rich and broad range of capabilities—the blessing. The curse comes into play when users, executives, and IT professionals alike are overwhelmed by its capabilities and ultimately implement the product in an ineffective manner. For as much as SharePoint is an OOTB solution that is easy to configure, its breadth and depth require careful planning and strategic investment to ensure that it is well-designed and well-implemented from the outset.In the context of Contract Management, this may mean that a standard set of contract and template libraries have first been established with pre-defined metadata, security, workflow, and reports. Each contracting group can then extend the metadata by adding information that is specific to their requirements.Looked at metaphorically, SharePoint can be considered a block of clay. It is malleable and can take on many different forms with relative ease. In virtually every respect, this is appealing and valid. However, for many, it is better to provide a more finite selection of pre-made plates, bowls, or cups that are made from the clay. This is less overwhelming and allows them to make selections on style and coloring.The introduction of such a framework or structure minimizes that overwhelming sensation of not knowing where to start and in helping users acclimate to SharePoint. Once familiarized, they may then play a larger role in shaping the clay or delivering additional functionality from scratch if appropriate for greater flexibility. This framework or structure is often referred to as SharePoint Governance.
Viral adoption quickly driven the need for governance at the corporate level and some mechanisms for standard deployment practicesGenerally the more decentralized the CM functions are, the greater the need for governanceParticularly if the organizational structure is not reflective of the need for corporate standards and consolidation of information
BalanceIf too constraining, users will usually avoid usageDoesn’t give them the desired functionality to get the job doneToo much leniency and lack of guidance can contribute to “SharePoint Sprawl” or add to end user anxiety about where to begin
Needs to be continually evolvedShould be viewed as an ongoing effort that is continually refined
You may run into potential discordSpecifically, your IT resources are stretched too thinThey might not have the necessary subject matter expertise in CLM even though their technical skills are strong on the SharePoint frontLimited pilot launchIt may be appropriate to ask them for a specific site collection or site dedicated to CMYou can then configure many base functionality and determine if it’s a good fitGarner higher level of executive supportMay be appropriate to have executives meet with IT management and ask for re-prioritizationConsider hosting SharePoint externallyMany vendors, including MicrosoftOffice 365
These are rare, but I do want to mention them
Of course, there is a time when a SharePoint native solution is not the best choice architecturally or from the business user experience perspective
SharePoint is a sure best for a large scale Contract Management project