If you’ve been following along with us over the past few months on the blog, you already know all about the benefits of using a solution like Pathways for managing your contracts, agreements and transactions. If you’re new to our blog, when we talk about contract management, we’re talking about streamlining and standardizing the creation, negotiation and execution of contracts and agreements. It’s designed to help organizations reduce manual effort in managing contracts, increase visibility of process and data, and minimize the risk of non-compliance. 

Every feature of a solution like Pathways is designed to simplify and streamline your transaction processes, but today we’re going to focus on template libraries, in Pathways referred to simply as The Library. 

But What Is The Library?

Template libraries provide an extra layer of control by allowing users to store their most used transaction processes, documents, contracts, and custom forms for re-use within their system. By having a centralized repository of documents and templates available for selection, users are able to efficiently create contracts or transaction processes with pre-approved materials and language that comply with company standards. 

Template libraries make it easier to keep track of contractual documents using automated workflows, ensuring consistency across all of an organization's processes while saving significant time and effort.

No System? No Standard

Businesses often experience various pain points when looking to manage their contracts and transaction processes manually. A template library in a CLM system like Pathways can be extremely beneficial in solving these issues by standardizing origination and making the entire process more efficient. We often find companies hold a set of contract templates for commonly used contract types, but they’re traditionally managed across disparate systems such as shared drives and spreadsheets. This manual, disconnected approach introduces a number of operational challenges.

No Central Storage.

Contract templates are hard to locate without a central repository, making it difficult to find the document you need quickly, or for multiple team members to be able to access the same resources. With a template library built-in to your contract management system, all contracts are stored in one secure location where all users have easy access to relevant documents without having to search through multiple folders or computers.

Hard to Update

Conducting periodic checks for outdated templates and resources can be tedious and burdensome, especially if there are many documents that need to be reviewed fixed or updated and they're stored in multiple computers with multiple owners. Template libraries make it easier by allowing users to set up automated notifications to review old templates. This helps businesses stay compliant with ever-evolving regulations and standards while minimizing effort required for updates.

Unrestricted Permissions

A system with no permissions structure can lead to multiple versions of templates being used across different departments within an organization. With a template library inside a CLM system, access permissions can be restricted so only approved templates are accessible by users as needed, ensuring that all processes use the same standardized templates and language regardless of user.

Tracking Trouble 

Tracking deviations from the standard contract is also made simpler with template libraries. Companies have full visibility into which versions of the contract have been used throughout negotiations and execution stages – helping them minimize risk associated with non-compliance resulting from errors or misunderstandings during contract management.

What Are The Benefits?

A template library in a CLM system is invaluable for businesses that are looking to streamline and reduce manual effort in their contract process. Not only does it provide a centralized storage for contract templates which can be easily located with minimal effort, but it also offers several other benefits, including increased efficiency, standardized workflows and processes, and access to pre-approved language and terms.

Pre-Approved Processes

By having a template library in place, businesses are able to quickly create, manage and execute more transactions while dramatically reducing the risk of noncompliance. This streamlined process saves companies time and money since they do not have to hire additional legal staff or assign extra resources to manage contracts. Moreover, since the agreement standardization process is simplified, there is less manual effort required in managing transactions, leaving more time spent on other priorities within an organization.

Set Standards

With template libraries in a CLM system, standardized rules and applications can be applied across different documents as well as teams – enabling more efficient processes and improved accuracy when creating new transactions. Companies can remain compliant without putting unnecessary burden on the legal team or any other department responsible for contract management.

Equal Access

Having access to pre-approved contracts and supporting materials inside a CLM system ensures users are utilizing the latest version of approved co-lateral available – eliminating risk of error during document drafting. Users can easily review updated versions before selecting them for inclusion in their transactions so both parties have full visibility into which exact version of the agreement was used throughout negotiations and execution stages.

Template libraries provide businesses with increased efficiency, standardized workflows and processes, and access to pre-approved supporting documents in a contract and transaction management system like Pathways. Through automation capabilities, security controls, scalability options and various pricing models available, companies can tailor their template library to suit their specific needs.
Consider getting started with Pathways, a solution built thoughtfully for growing companies that are looking for their first #contractlifecyclemanagement solution.