Contract Migration Steps and Best Practices

Automating your contract management process can help to streamline your workflow. The manual and outdated way of managing contracts is a thing of the past. It is now time to upgrade to a modern and efficient Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) System. In this blog, we will explore the contract migration steps and best practices that will help you easily navigate the transition. So, get ready to boost your contract process, save time, and drive growth for your business. Let’s get started!

What is Contract Migration? 

Contract migration involves transferring your existing or new contracts to a Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) System or updating them to a high-quality program. It helps you to centralize your documents and relevant information in one system, making it accessible to internal teams and giving your business a competitive advantage. 

In addition, contract data migration allows you to maintain a complete database of all metadata and makes it searchable in the CLM system. Furthermore, the tracking and reporting features will assist your organization in protecting intellectual property value. 

Why is Contract Data Migration Needed?

It is important to track and store the contracts from employees, partners, customers, users, etc. But legacy storage systems like Excel sheets and cloud folders are unable to manage the requirements of modern businesses. 

To quickly access your documents and related information, it is necessary to have a CLM system. Contract data migration makes it easy to store all your legal documents in one place, making the process efficient across teams. 

How to Prepare for Contract Migration? 

Before contract data migration, you need to consider certain things to streamline the process. Here is what you can do to prepare yourself to migrate smart contract: 

• The first step to getting ready is to set realistic goals for your contract migration. Identify whether your project is big or small. This will help you to design an estimated timeline for the whole process. 

• The next step is to understand if you want to work on the contract data migration over time or all at once. Both processes have their own advantages, but the final decision comes down to what is best for your company. 

• Many things can affect your contract data, so you should note the issues you face. For instance, some contracts may have errors, which makes it important to manually go through the data after migration. This can help you to plan for strategies to overcome certain challenges. 

• During contract migration projects, data loss is a common problem. It can happen despite your effort to make that information as safe as possible. Make sure to back up your data beforehand to avoid any loss. 

• Hiring trainers can help to prepare your team for smart contract migration. This can help to boost your business’s efficiency and streamline the processes.  

• Contract data migration can be complex. Therefore you may need a dedicated team to manage and control the situation to make things easy. 

Contract Migration Steps

Contract migration consists of organizing, tagging, structuring, etc. Here are some of the steps that are involved in making the process effective:

1. Organize Inventory

During the first step, you will have to find and compile all the contracts that you want to migrate. This can help to speed up the transfer process and prevent data loss.

2. Digitize Your Contracts

To transfer your data to a new CLM system, you must first digitize it. Digitization into a new format makes your papers more searchable and reportable, whether you have paper contracts or PDF files saved on computers. In addition, using high-quality CLM software is essential for the digitization process to be successful.

3. Decide the Types of Data Points

Choose the data points you need to collect; these can include service charges, renewal timelines, and contract types. These tags make it easier to identify the contracts you need once they are in the system.

4. Upload and Structure Contracts in the New CLM System

The new CLM software incorporates the contracts and associated data after uploading them. You can organize and store your contracts to best suit your company’s needs. Furthermore, customized structuring allows you to manage your contracts and how they are stored effectively.

Best Practices for Successful Contract Migration

You can streamline the contract data migration by following the best practices, such as: 

Data Cleansing

The ideal time to clean up your data before importing it is when you migrate to a new contract management system. Additionally, this can help you to get rid of any records that no longer apply to your related retention policies.

Improve Your Processes and Contract Templates

Review and update your current contract templates and workflow processes. This offers data uniformity and elimination of errors in both. 

Use Structured Metadata 

Your metadata migration will be simpler if it is more organized. The system will be able to recognize and accurately categorize this structured metadata. In addition, it will also make it easy to determine how you will arrange contracts in the future.

Determine How Users Will Interact With Contracts

You should decide how your users will interact with your contracts. For instance, are you interested in combining your contracts? Having clarity on this can make simplify the transfer of current contracts and streamline the future system.

In addition, consider your workflow design, as it determines the success of the contract migration process. It will also impact your company’s ability to fulfill its contractual obligations. 

Summing Up

Contract migration is a continuous process that requires careful planning, collaboration, and execution. With the right approach, you can confidently navigate the complexities of the process and achieve your migration goals.

You can transform your company’s approach to contract data migration with an intuitive contract management platform. This platform will empower your company to manage contract data with ease and precision, reducing the risk of errors and ensuring a successful migration every time.