The more robust systems allow you to track dozens of attributes, the important, sometimes critical data contained within your contracts. Without tracking attributes, you will not be able to make full use of your investment in these systems. As an example, if you do not extract and track basic things like the expiration date, how would you know in advance when any of your contracts will expire?

CLM software allows you to choose, define, and track attributes, and associate them with the contractual document. Before you buy a system or even consider a system, be sure of the layout and which attributes you would like to track by each type of contract. This allows you to choose the systems more intelligently, as it guides you to think of how your organization would most effectively use them.

We touched on the notion that extracting these attributes from your older contracts, but consider doing it prior to buying a system. You can gain tremendous insight into what’s really in your contract to aid in the system planning, and the data will be available for upload when the system is installed.