Putting contract management on automatic pilot

The Challenge

In 2016, Aviation Technology Services (ATS) decided to enhance data security to safeguard its more than 9,000 contract documents from the possibility of being improperly accessed by employees or contractors. The first step was to locate thousands of contract documents — many with different naming conventions — residing in several ad-hoc file systems. Then the documents needed to be arranged into a complex structure of group codes to ensure that only people with the appropriate permissions would receive access to their relevant contracts CLM platform. System security needed to be several layers deep: primary and secondary groups, as well as location-specific permissions, each associated with the individual user record. As a follow-on measure, the CLM needed to check for any overlap with the contract classification, which was a separate parameter.

It didn’t end there. The CLM platform required special admin functionality including “Grant Access to Individuals” and “Additional Group Codes with Access to this Contract.” To safeguard these layered functions, special notifications would need to be triggered every time a modification took place.

“Agiloft offered us an extremely capable system — deep, modular and multi-layered. Additionally, if I had a question I would send it off and the Agiloft response turnaround was impressive. The professionalism and efficiency made Agiloft an easy choice.”

– Beatrice Steinfatt, Sr. Contracts System Administrator

With over 20 years of contract management experience, Beatrice Steinfatt, Senior Contracts System Administrator, knew what was needed for the new CLM platform. She made a complex list of haves and then cross-referenced those against the requirements of their IT department. The end result was a long list of functionalities with proven security and stability. Based on extensive research, they narrowed the list of vendors down to Agiloft and a few others.

Agiloft stood out from the rest. Its sales team responded immediately to questions and requests for information, and it presented an attractive pricing model. Steinfatt shared, “Agiloft offered us an extremely capable system — deep, modular, and multi-layered. Additionally, if I had a question I’d send it off and the Agiloft response turnaround was impressive. The professionalism and efficiency made Agiloft an easy choice.”

The Solution

ATS had an unconventional vision for their CLM platform. They needed a CLM that could facilitate data confinement in a complex web of information. It takes a unique CLM to allow for relational data to drive functional data without compromising integrity. Even more so when access conditions shift and expand with personnel changes and new contracts. The Agiloft Project Manager explained, “We designed Agiloft to be flexible and fluid with extensive customization — that’s just the nature of the product. We can customize it easily. ATS took it and made it their own.” With Agiloft, they achieved their aim. Steinfatt agrees, “In this industry there is a lot of contracted technical staff who need unfettered access to the system to do their job, but they must not be privy to sensitive information. It was absolutely paramount that the layers of security work as designed. [The Agiloft PM] had the system expertise to execute and he was absolutely on top of everything. He always had excellent input and feedback and was very patient in explaining the complex choices. We are very happy with the support we received and the stability of the Agiloft system.”

“We needed a unified approach that was consistent and measurable and scalable across the organization. And another goal that we wanted to accomplish was to integrate this with our selling process. We felt strongly that sales and legal needed to work closer together,” said Lees.

The Impact

Prior to mplementing the Agiloft CLM Platform at ATS, contract expirations often went unnoticed, and if a team underwent an audit for contract compliance, it could take days or weeks to locate all the relevant documents. Today, Steinfatt can provide necessary records within minutes. “What I am hearing across the board is that the Agiloft system makes everything much easier. It is always the cost of a missing contract, or a missed contract deadline that we are concerned about,” she said.

“We designed Agiloft to be flexible and fluid with extensive customization — that’s just the nature of the product.”

– Agiloft Project Manager

To streamline contract auditing, they utilized Agiloft’s functionality to create a standardized file naming convention and record classification system. As a result, when someone asks to view all contracts that contain a particular condition, Steinfatt no longer needs to search each record. Instead, she can query the system which quickly returns all the relevant items. It’s just one of many dynamic features in the Agiloft CLM Platform.

Challenges

High risk for breach of sensitive data
and information

More than 9,000 contract documents
with various naming conventions

No standard mechanism for reporting across multiple locations, departments, and facilities

Differing demands: IT required system with proven stability; Contract managers required complex functionality

Benefits

Proven data protection and stability delivered by Agiloft Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) Platform”

A flexible, rigorous, and secure CLM platform facilitating data confinement for a complex web of information

Centralized command and control center for all communications related to documents

Streamlined contract management with
intelligent reporting

Customization included functional data inputs driven by relational security protocols

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