End-to-end solutions

The Legal Ops trend is to adopt end-to-end contracting solutions. End-to-end solutions automate process inefficiencies that would otherwise remain manual. Contract drafting, negotiation, contract-files management and numerous other stages in managing a business transaction or a relationship contain plenty of such manual process inefficiencies.

Two key parameters accelerate a transaction, or fill gaps in any contract lifecycle:

• Collaborative contracting: inefficiencies in contracting and contract management exist because colleagues use different IT workspaces, and neither workspace is well-fit for the other. Contract stakeholders live in parallel worlds (and are not inclined to switch workspace, so collaboration may remain challenging).
• Plug-and-play integrations: the easier communication and decision-making and the smoother the flow of contract data and files, the faster contracting processes are completed.

Since 2013, Weagree has prioritised collaborative contracting and plug-and-play integrations. Both parameters are clearly visible in the SharePoint-integration we launched in 2017, and further improved in 2020 and earlier this year.

Let’s look into a mature, reliable integration between SharePoint and contract automation or CLM solution such as Weagree, an integration that also accelerates collaborative contracting:

1. Flexibility: every colleague is free to work on either side: SharePoint or Weagree. Files are stored on SharePoint, and updates can be accessed and opened from within Weagree (one click).
2. Online and offline: all contract files in Weagree can be opened in a SharePoint-browser or directly in Word (no need to first save a contract file in a downloads folder and no need to upload it back onto SharePoint or Weagree). This is probably one of the most attractive features of Weagree’s SharePoint-integration.
3. User-friendly filing: adding new files to a contract repository or folder is largely automated. Also, from within Weagree, files can be renamed, categorised and organised more easily than on SharePoint.
4. Preconfigured sites, folders and paths: to improve transaction management, Weagree offers various options to guide and support an end-user. This prevents that contracts or contract-related files are stored on the wrong SharePoint site or in a subfolder path where no one would find it back.
5. Adequate authorisations: who may decide where to store contract files (which SharePoint site, which folder path) can be configured flexibly or strictly, granting extensive or no freedom for end-users, distinguishing for the type of users. Yet, admin-determined default storage parameters do not remove a user’s flexibility or freedom to carefully structure transaction files themselves.
6. Tooling to correct errors: while not all stakeholders care as much about a neat and organised contract repository, Weagree makes it easier to maintain the highest standards. Despite various safeguards against carelessness or human errors, Weagree’s SharePoint-integration contains numerous features to correct them. After all, transaction files should never get lost.
7. API-determined SharePoint settings: the above collaborative contracting-oriented features and safeguards may also be set from within other IT solutions: after all, a sales department would work from within Salesforce or SAP, a procurement department may prefer Dynamics CRM, or an R&D-organisation another application. And Weagree enables all these other end-to-end solutions to have SharePoint Site or folder path determined from there.

Oh, and if you had any hesitations about security: our SharePoint integration means that your IT security policies as configured in Microsoft applies in Weagree.