In many organizations, supplier contracts are stored in a folder structure on shared drives or in SharePoint. This works for basic archiving, but doesn’t provide the transparency that procurement needs in practice: metadata is missing, the context often lies with the person who signed the contract, and no one is automatically reminded of deadlines, price adjustments or renegotiations. The result is that even simple questions require manual searches – and valuable insights are lost when roles change.
The platform solves this by establishing a structured and scalable model from the start. Together, we define the dimensions and data points that make sense in your category and supplier universe – whether the focus is price, quality, performance, risk profile, delivery terms or something else entirely. The key is that the structure adapts to your practice and that it can be expanded as more departments and locations are connected. Procurement sets the direction and the rest of the organization can be onboarded at a pace that suits internal needs.
Each contractual relationship gets its own page, where documents, attachments, changes and history are collected in one context. Commercial terms are recorded in fixed, manageable fields so that information does not disappear into the documents. Users only see the fields, selections and sections relevant to their role, increasing quality without unnecessary work – and access rights ensure that sensitive information is only shown to the right people.
When procurement needs to create new contracts or renegotiate existing ones, it’s crucial that the processes are simple for those responsible – yet structured enough to maintain quality. The platform ties document and data together from the start, so all commercial terms are recorded as manageable fields instead of being hidden in the documents.
Contracts can be created directly in the company’s own templates, centrally managed and accessible via Word integration, allowing users to work in a familiar environment without losing systematics. Pricing structures, terms, notice periods and changes are automatically merged into the right places in the contract, and the finished agreement can be generated as a PDF or Word draft – depending on how flexible the process needs to be.
If the agreement is on the supplier’s paper, the document is uploaded and the necessary metadata is registered so that the agreement is still part of the same data model as the company’s other contracts. When everything is ready, the agreement is sent for digital signature directly from the platform and the signed version is automatically archived on the correct agreement page.
For procurement, it’s crucial to stay on top of the deals that affect finance, operations and risk. In many organizations, this relies on manual to-do lists or individual employee oversight, making the process vulnerable – especially as the portfolio grows.
When a contractual agreement is created in the platform, all relevant dates and deadlines are recorded in a structured way: expiration, notice periods, adjustment windows, commitment periods and other commercial milestones. The system uses this information to send timely notifications to those responsible so that tasks are handled before deadlines are missed and opportunities are not overlooked.
Across the supplier portfolio, procurement can quickly see which agreements require action when – without reviewing documents or fragmented lists. This overview makes it easier to prioritize tasks, plan negotiations and assess the impact of upcoming expiries or price changes.
The result is a more stable and predictable management where procurement can act proactively and data-driven – not reactively and based on random follow-up.
We have an overview via the Dashboard and can manage the entire contract process from start to finish
Morten Ingholt
CFO at Universal Music A/S
