Contract Management: Advanced Search and Reporting

An organization's success depends on contracts because they establish relationships, specify responsibilities, and regulate processes. However, due to the increasing number and complexity of contracts, it might be difficult to locate specific clauses or gather useful insights from them. That is why effective contract management is a strategic advantage and a necessity. ConvergePoint Contract Management Software's advanced search and reporting features can be helpful in this situation.

Let’s explore how these features transform the contract management process and save countless hours for teams across industries.

The Challenges in Traditional Contract Search

Searching for specific contract information or contract documents is time-consuming and frustrating for organizations still relying on manual processes or legacy systems for contract management.

“Picture a scenario where a legal team needs to identify all contracts expiring in the next 90 days or locate agreements with specific indemnity clauses.”

That's why advanced search in contract management is necessary—it empowers teams to quickly locate critical information and eliminate the inefficiencies of manual searches.

What is advanced search in contract management?

The ability to quickly find specific data, terms, or clauses inside a contract repository by using complex filters and criteria is known as "advanced search" in contract management. Technologies including optical character recognition (OCR), metadata tagging, and natural language processing (NLP) are used by modern contract management software to speed up and improve search capabilities.

Without advanced search capabilities, the team might have to:

• Sift through countless physical documents or spreadsheets.
• Cross-reference inconsistent data entries.
• Rely on team memory or incomplete notes.

Such inefficiencies not only slow down contract processes but also increase the risk of missing critical deadlines or compliance requirements.

On the other hand, contract reporting becomes a daunting challenge, often relying on manual consolidation and prone to errors.

Key Features of Advanced Search

Keyword Search: Users can find contracts that include specific terms or phrases through the advanced keyword search feature.

For example, a legal team can save hours of manual review time by searching for contracts and getting their search terms in just a matter of seconds.

Clause Library Integration: This feature allows users to perform direct searches within pre-approved clauses and templates. This feature is particularly helpful in minimizing errors and inconsistencies by providing that uniform language is used consistently across all contracts.

• Filter by Metadata Search: This feature allows users to focus their search results according to specific requirements and specific parameters such as contract type, renewal dates, and jurisdiction.

For example, a procurement manager may easily find any contracts that are subject to state laws or that expire in the next period.

• Full-Text Search: Full-text search capabilities allow users to locate relevant information within scanned PDFs, images, or other attachments. Even non-editable documents can be searched by using OCR technology, which ensures that no important information is overlooked.

Also read: Search Contract Documents in Contract Management

Understanding Reporting in Contract Management

While the advanced contract search feature helps locate specific details, contract reporting takes things a step further by offering actionable insights. Reporting tools in contract management software analyze contract data to generate summaries, trends, and compliance metrics.

Types of Contract Reports That Add Value:

• Renewal and Expiry Reports: Identify contracts nearing renewal or expiration, allowing teams to act proactively.
• Performance Status: Measure contract value, turnaround times, and milestones to evaluate team efficiency and contract outcomes.
• Obligation Tracking: Summarize key obligations by party or contract type, ensuring all stakeholders fulfill their responsibilities.

Also read: 5 Quick Business Intelligence Tips for Contract Management

Key Features of Advanced Contract Reporting

• Customizable Dashboards

Modern tools like ConvergePoint contract management software offer dashboards that users can customize to monitor metrics most relevant to their roles—whether it’s legal, procurement, or finance. Customized views ensure that each user focuses on the data that drives their decisions.

• Data Visualization

Visual elements like graphs and pie charts make it easier to understand contract data immediately. These visuals simplify complex datasets, making it easier to identify trends and outliers.

Also read: Contract Obligation Management with Reminder Alerts and Notifications

How do Advanced Contract Search and Reporting Work Together?

Advanced search ensures that no piece of data is out of reach, while reporting translates that data into meaningful insights.

For example:

• A procurement manager might use advanced search to identify all contracts with suppliers in a particular region and then generate a report on their collective spend.
• A compliance officer could locate all contracts governed by GDPR and then assess compliance risks via a detailed report.

Together, they streamline workflows and provide teams with the tools they need to stay ahead.

ConvergePoint: The Ideal Solution for Advanced Contract Search and Reporting Features

Not all contract management software solutions are created equal. Finding a specific contract and its supporting documents shouldn’t take more than a few seconds and a couple of keywords.

ConvergePoint Contract Management Software saves your legal, HR, and contract specialists the headache of sifting through file cabinets, folders, and shared drives by offering advanced metadata search and reporting. With these capabilities, our contract management software captures the key fields and information you need and then searches and reports on that captured data.

Built on SharePoint, Contract Management Software is highly adaptable to any type of corporate environment with hundreds to millions of documents, due to its centralized portal. Because all contracts and related data are stored in one central document repository, our software has extensive search capabilities that allow for quick data retrieval. The software also pulls information directly from the repository to give you real-time, ad hoc reports based on almost any contract field.

Benefits of ConvergePoint Contract Management Software Search and Reporting

Find All Contracts in One Central Document Repository

• Avoid large ERP databases and lengthy data conversions.
• Map metadata to your company’s own specific fields and terminology.
• Configure searches to fit the assigned metadata.

Also read: 8 Benefits of Contract Management SharePoint Systems

Export Real-time, Ad Hoc Reports Based Off Data Capture

• Download to file formats such as Excel, PDF, Word, CSV and XML.
• See pre-scanned reports based on contract aging, expiration, and renewal dates, or create your own output based on stored metadata.
• Give administrators reports that enable them to view history, compare details, review specific contract details, see general status overviews and review expiration dates without toggling between various applications.
• View and share changes to contracts with specified users through report outputs.

Quickly Locate Contracts and Supporting Documents

• No longer be forced to remember specific contract names or numbers.
• Use easy-to-navigate search parameters.
• Type in details of a contract into the search field and get instant, relevant results, thanks to configurable metadata capture.
• Forms and fields capture key data about your contracts, allowing for powerful search functionality.
• Track contract updates and histories.

Ready to transform the way you manage contracts? Request a demo today to experience how advanced contract search and reporting can save time, reduce risks, and unlock strategic value for your organization!