Contract management is one of your legal team's most time-consuming day-to-day duties. Sometimes the number and types of contracts you have on file can be overwhelming: Vendor contracts, contracts with customers, contracts still being drafted, and contracts due for renewal. It's your team's job to manage all of these contracts, and that's no small task. Fortunately, it can be simplified with the help of an interactive contract management dashboard.
What is a contract management dashboard?
A contract management dashboard is a central dashboard in your contract management software. It lays out all the contracts you have to manage and any tasks the team might have to draft, review, edit, approve, or file. You can add your team to your dashboard, assign tasks, and draft and collaborate on contracts. A good dashboard will also offer KPI reports for an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of your team's workflow.
Why you need a digital dashboard
Today, legal teams spend most of their time online, using software to conduct their daily duties. As remote work becomes more prevalent, contract management solutions have shifted from paper filing systems to digital management solutions. Digital contract dashboards can offer a boost to legal teams of all shapes and sizes. A few reasons to implement dashboard contract management for your in-house legal team include:
1. Helps manage day-to-day workflows
Your legal team will likely use your digital contract management dashboard every day. It will add organization to your workflow, and the team will feel less daunted because everyone will know their most pressing tasks.
Provides a high-level picture of workload
A contract management dashboard helps provide the "big picture." When your tasks are all buried in emails and attachments, it's difficult to see the forest through the trees. A contract management dashboard helps clarify everything with a simplified layout that gives a high-level picture of the workload. It then breaks the workload into smaller, more manageable tasks and contract insights for each team member. You can easily find the contract status, how many projects are ongoing, who is assigned to what, and when those projects are due.
Offers quick access to details you need to understand what's happening
The easy-to-use interface and navigation make it easy for each team member to understand what's going on with the project and what's needed from them. Projects are given a task status so that everyone knows what steps to take next. Activity logs show the team the work done on each project and by who. And when you do have questions or need to answer requests, you can check with team members in discussion threads.
2. Provides easy visibility for other stakeholders
With a contract management dashboard, you can keep stakeholders updated in a way that's clear and actionable. You can justify your contract management actions with a clear work process.
Stakeholders tend to focus on things at a high level. They're looking for actionable insights rather than dwelling on the details. The high-level portrayal of the work from your digital dashboard will make it easy for them to understand what you're working on and what you plan to do next. When they do have questions about specific contract details, you can easily access them.
KPI reports from the dashboard show your legal team's efficiency in graphs and charts that catch the attention of your stakeholders so that they can make data-driven decisions — positioning the legal team as a strategic business partner.
3. Monitors important contract dates
Most contracts are written to cover a certain amount of time. The more contracts you have, the harder it can be to keep track of all of the activation, expiration, renewal, and renewal cancellation dates. Managing these important contract dates feels impossible without some central organization.
A central dashboard makes it easy. Those important dates and contract metrics are plugged into the intake form when each contract is added. The dashboard will send automated notifications to all relevant team members as important dates approach so that nothing falls through the cracks. Every contract is renewed on time or removed if it expires, no matter how many active contracts you have. And by having the upcoming renewal date so easy to access, you'll know when to perform the contract review as a part of your renewal process.
Invest in a comprehensive contract dashboard to improve your workflow
If your legal team manages more than a handful of contracts, you simply can't rely on a few saved emails or stray files on your computer. A shared file server is a start, but with all the demands on today's legal teams, it's not enough. A comprehensive contract dashboard is the best way to keep your contract management elements organized and improve your workflow.
Take a look at Lexion's contract management dashboard for one of the best contract management dashboard examples you'll find. With Lexion, you'll have one central dashboard where you can instantly see all open projects as well as your team's progress. Intake forms are easy to create, so you can start tasks in record time and get approval for tasks with the simple click of a button. Draft management not only allows you to work on your current drafts but view past drafts. KPI reports can help you optimize your team's workflow and show your progress to your stakeholders.
Contact Lexion today to learn more about our digital contract management dashboard as a contract management solution or to request a demo.
