Optical Character Recognition represents an advanced software functionality that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to transform a scanned contract or document, previously in image form, into a usable dataset. OCR has brought about a profound transformation in the realm of Contract Management Systems.
There exist two categories of Contract Management System (CMS) software: one equipped with OCR capabilities and the other lacking such features. Which type of CMS are you utilizing?
A CMS endowed with OCR treats a scanned contract or document no differently than one created on your computer and saved with a designated file name. It is the preferred choice of CMS software for companies dealing with the conversion of old paper files into valuable digital copies or handling contracts generated by legal professionals or other external parties.
Key Points:
- Optical character recognition, commonly referred to as OCR, serves as a vital tool for extracting textual content from various digital file formats, including PDFs, Microsoft Word documents, and JPGs.
- OCR proves particularly beneficial for converting physical documents that have been scanned into digital image formats into searchable and usable text-based data.
- Contract management software leverages OCR technology to systematically capture and categorize all pertinent information within a contract, transforming it into a valuable digital resource.
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With OCR capabilities, your legal team can effortlessly store and retrieve critical information contained within contracts and accompanying documents, facilitating seamless document management and quick information retrieval.
What is the process like for legacy contracts without OCR?
For the legal team, the conventional approach to handling contracts involves dealing with static documents like PDFs or physical files, which can be a laborious task in terms of comprehending the content they contain.
To decode and grasp the contractual information, legal teams have been burdened with the responsibility of thoroughly reviewing each contract and manually inputting its data into a spreadsheet. This antiquated procedure has impeded the progress of both legal and business teams when it comes to monitoring and analyzing contracts over an extended period.
The advent of OCR contract management has revolutionized this process, rendering contracts more dynamic and interactive. The integration of OCR technology into contract management empowers legal and business teams to swiftly search for specific values and clauses within contracts, eliminating the need to create new contract versions every time edits are required.
This substantial transformation has substantially diminished the administrative workload associated with contracts for businesses, guaranteeing that companies can continue to derive value from their contracts post-signature.
Are you experiencing any of the potential challenges outlined below within your legal team? If so, we highly recommend continuing to read to explore potential solutions.
- Are you currently facing any challenges handling metadata entry for your documents?
- Do you encounter any issues with data extraction, classification, or tagging of documents?
- Are there any usability issues or difficulties in using your current document management system?
- Do you experience data validation challenges or concerns about missing information during document uploads?
- Do you face any challenges in tracking document history, access, and modifications for compliance and security purposes?
Why is OCR important in contract management?
The significance of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) in the realm of contract management holds substantial implications for legal teams. To appreciate the full extent of these advantages, it is imperative to understand the practical implications for legal and business professionals.
First and foremost, OCR eliminates the necessity for labor-intensive manual data entry and exhaustive contract reviews. This liberates valuable time for legal personnel, empowering them to concentrate on high-priority tasks of utmost importance.
Moreover, the eradication of administrative tasks and manual data input facilitates expedited and more precise contract analysis. Consequently, this expedites the sales cycle and the critical contract execution process, reducing potential delays.
However, the paramount advantage of OCR lies in the enhanced control it offers over legacy contracts. Through the conversion of legacy PDF contracts into machine-readable agreements, organizations can harness their contracts more effectively, gaining valuable insights and maintaining meticulous version control.
Enhancing Document Management Efficiency with the ConvergePoint software's OCR Capabilities
The ConvergePoint software offers a range of features to support legal teams in their document management and contract handling. With our platform, users can seamlessly upload documents to our Active Document Library directly from the Repository Portal, simplifying the process by enabling them to input all the required metadata effortlessly. Using AI capabilities, users can even upload documents that have been trained, thus boosting efficiency.
If your legal team wants to upload Active Contract documents, the software provides multiple options, including the convenient 'Convert to OCR' feature, which is available when ConvergePoint OCR is enabled. Simply select this feature, choose the file, and upon upload, a new window opens, allowing users to complete the form with ease. All mandatory fields are clearly marked with an asterisk, ensuring thoroughness, and saving progress is a breeze. In case any vital information is missing, the ConvergePoint system issues a warning message, enabling users to promptly correct the omission and successfully complete the process.
Benefits of OCR in the ConvergePoint Contract Management Software:
Enhanced Document Management:
The OCR functionality enhances document management and automation, improving data accuracy and compliance while offering a user-friendly interface for efficient document uploads and management, particularly for contracts.
Efficient Document Upload:
Users can effortlessly add documents to the Active Document Library from the Repository Portal, streamlining the process, reducing manual effort, and ensuring proper document organization.
Metadata Entry:
Users can input metadata for uploaded documents, making it easier to search, categorize, and retrieve documents, ensuring they remain well-organized and easily accessible.
AI Integration:
Our AI feature allows for the upload of documents with trained data, automating data extraction, classification, or tagging processes, ultimately saving time, and reducing errors.
OCR Conversion:
The option to convert documents to OCR format is beneficial for making scanned or image-based docu ments searchable, improving document usability.
User-Friendly Interface:
Our step-by-step process, from file selection to metadata entry and saving, provides a user-friendly interface, reducing the learning curve and enhancing user interaction with the system.
Data Validation:
The system performs data validation by checking for required fields marked with an asterisk, ensuring essential information is not overlooked during document uploads, and improving data accuracy and compliance.
Error Handling:
The warning message for missing required field values serves as an error-handling mechanism, guiding users to correct any missing information, and preventing incomplete or inaccurate document uploads.
Compliance and Standardization:
Enforcing required fields and metadata entry helps maintain compliance with document management standards and organizational guidelines, ensuring documents are consistently categorized and tagged.
Audit Trail:
The system captures and stores metadata and user interactions with documents, creating an audit trail for tracking document history, access, and modifications, crucial for compliance and security.
Conclusion
Contract lifecycle management (CLM) software streamlines the entire contract journey, starting from request, through execution, and renewal. The ConvergePoint software's CLM Platform seamlessly handles both newly created and historical contracts, establishing a secure, easily searchable database of invaluable information, which can be harnessed to provide your business with data-driven insights.
Within this comprehensive process, our software incorporates robust OCR for Contract Management technology, enabling the efficient capture and indexing of the wealth of data within your contracts, transforming it into usable digital information. Across various industries, we have assisted legal professionals in digitally revolutionizing their contract management and processes, making them more automated, simplified, and data focused.
Request a demo and discover how our OCR for Contract Management solutions can aid in your digital transformation of contracts, helping you mitigate risk, enhance compliance, and expedite business finalization with the support of our experienced legal team.