Why Office 365 and SharePoint Are Perfect for Contract Management: 7 Key Advantages

What Is SharePoint Contract Management and How Does It Work? 

SharePoint Contract Management is an innovative solution that utilizes collaborative capabilities of Microsoft Office 365 and SharePoint Online for the effective and efficient management of contracts. These tools have a global reputation for being used for the storage of huge amounts of confidential information, which makes them suitable for managing the contract lifecycle.

SharePoint Contract Management allows for improving visibility and accountability in the process of contracting thanks to a proactive contract dashboard that displays lifecycle status, upcoming important events such as expiration and automatic renewal of the contract, and remaining tasks. Savable search filters that can be customized provide fast access to needed contracts, clauses, and documents despite the time pressure caused by the negotiations stage. Workflow automation ensures standardized approvals, negotiations, and reviews and routing the contracts to the appropriate person.

The main benefit of the approach is that all of the above tasks are managed in one system and not in separate emails and drives, thus, saving time and money.

What Are the Key Advantages of a SharePoint and Office 365-Based Contract Management System? 

Here's how a CLM with SharePoint stacks up against a standalone third-party CLM before we delve into the specific advantages:

1. Single Login 

With the CLM from Dock 365, a single login into your Office 365 ecosystem will do. It comes with a single sign-on via Azure Active Directory to provide profile-based access to Office 365 apps instead of managing different credentials on different platforms. 

2. Centralized Repository

As Dock 365 uses SharePoint and Office 365, it allows users to have everything related to contracts stored in one central place. Contract documents, milestones, and other files will be available for searching and filtering from any device and location.

Dock Contract Management System - Contract List

3. Always Available and Reliable.

Office 365 guarantees 99.99% uptime with financial backing, and contracts remain accessible even during any outages or disruptions via SharePoint Backup and Restore.

4. Co-Authors Contracts and Collaborates Internally and Externally. 

Employees will be able to work on the same contract at once irrespective of their location and device used, check-in/check-out ensures the version control, and vendors or suppliers will be provided guest access for reviews.

Dock Contract Management System - Vendors List 

5. Interactive Reports via Power BI. 

The integration of Power BI allows users to have a full 360-degree view of performance information, creating interactive reports with the ability to track KPIs and analyze the state of the contract life cycle.

Dock Contract Management System - Reports

6. Enterprise-Grade Security.

Multi-factor authentication, encrypted e-mails, data loss protection, and audit logs make Office 365 and SharePoint one of the most secure environments for contract management.

7. Easy to use

The simple and visually pleasing interface of SharePoint, coupled with numerous online resources, reduces the need for lengthy training on the software and focuses more on business objectives.

Why Is Microsoft Office 365 the Best Option for Cloud-Based Contract Management Productivity? 

The Dock 365 application updates itself with new versions of Office 365 programs, which makes the software up to date all the time. The Dock 365 application can be accessed via cloud service and works for smartphones and tablets, too. It can be installed on 5 computers or laptops. 

The Dock 365 company creates intranet solutions that will add to Microsoft Office 365 and SharePoint, increasing employees' productivity and collaborative contract management. 

What Are the 7 Key Features of Microsoft Office 365 for Contract Management? 

1. Business-class email: Mailbox capacity of 50 GB, Exchange technology, custom domains, integration with Outlook, and anti-malware services, which can be accessed from any browser and any device.
2. Online meetings and video conferencing: Up to 250 participants in meetings that include screen sharing, audio/video, whiteboarding, surveys, polls, and collaboration using HTML5 browsers.
3. Private social networking and collaboration: Private networks for internal communications, collaboration, and decision-making within an organization.
4. Streamlined IT management: Information is protected through secure hosting at globally distributed data centers with uninterrupted backup and disaster recovery.
5. Online document storage and file sharing: 1 TB of cloud storage for each user with offline synchronization capability.
6. Round-the-clock tech support: Global network of experts with 1-hour turnaround time for critical incidents.
7. Financially guaranteed SLA: 99.9% uptime guarantee with financial coverage.

How Does Standard SharePoint Compare to a SharePoint-Based Dock 365 CLM Solution?

Standard SharePoint does not contain those capabilities that the software Dock 365 brings that eliminate guesswork in the process of contract management. In case if your company uses standard SharePoint intranet portal for documentation management, then you will face difficulties customizing contract workflows.

What Security and Accessibility Features Does SharePoint Provide for Contract Management?

The Dock 365 contract management system based on SharePoint technology offers advanced security capabilities. Permissions can be set at the file, folder, library, or site level so that confidential contract details remain accessible only to authorized users. Role-based access control is especially useful in cases where contract data contains commercially sensitive information, personal identification numbers, or regulated data.

Curious what this looks like inside your own Microsoft 365 tenant? Book a demo with the Dock 365 team and see it running against your actual contracts.

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