Drawing up contracts: How modern companies work more efficiently

Let's take a look at the process of generating a contract using automation:

Step 1: Prepare and plan the contract

The first step is to create contract templates that meet your needs. To do this, you confirm the types of contracts used regularly in your company and the templates you will need on a daily basis.

You then create query forms for each of the different types of contracts. When creating an employment contract, for example, the query form has to include query information such as contract term, salary, notice period, probationary period, bonus, Christmas bonus, other benefits, and so forth.

Templates are very helpful for preparing contracts, as they speed up the contract generation process and reduce errors. This saves you a lot of time during the drafting phase. This also allows all employees to create a contract by simply filling in the missing contract-specific details.

Step 2: Select the type of contract and the information required

Once you have created all the templates required, you can use them to draw up any new contract. First, select the contract type, for example, an employment contract, rental contract, leasing contract, subscription contract, contract for work and services, or an NDA.

Next, you can update the query form and add the specific standard information, such as notice period, penalties for violations and non-compliance, or regulations regarding remote work for an employment contract.

Step 3: Populate the contract template

Now select the contract template you want. For example, in your list of contract templates, you will find employment contracts for a full-time position, for a part-time position, or employment contracts for different departments. Once you have picked the right template for your needs, you can start transferring the data. The placeholders will be replaced by the information you stored previously, such as the contract partners and salary level, and the contract is generated and named automatically. The contract is then generated in the corresponding contract record, for example, the employee record.

Step 4: Carry out the review and risk assessment

Legal review

After the contract is generated, the legal department should review the contract for legal correctness, consistency, and completeness. You can configure the workflow to route this task automatically to the legal team.

Risk assessment

When requesting information in the second step, an initial assessment of the risk associated with the contract is also performed using predefined parameters. If it turns out that an accurate risk assessment needs to be performed (e.g. when the amount of the contract is very high), the system automatically creates a corresponding task in the workflow for the legal team.

Step 5: Get the digital signatures

The final step is to collect digital signatures. After the legal department has reviewed the contract and, if necessary, performed a risk assessment, a task is created for the contract signers. You add the signers, including their email addresses, in the contract management software. The software then automatically launches the signing process with the connected signature system of a trust service provider such as DocuSign.

The connected signature system sends an email to the signer asking them to sign the contract. The signer can then use the signature system to add their digital signature with time stamp. Once the signing process is complete, the signature will be displayed in the contract software.