The Challenge

The collaboration efforts of Omega Consulting and DataFlip worked with a client that is an American Trade Association located in Washington DC. During the first half of 2022, DataFlip and Omega Consulting analyzed their legacy Document Management System. This included approvals along with routing and storage systems and migrated it to SharePoint Online and Power Platform.

We started by understanding the gap between the features provided by the legacy system and what the Association required for their current operations. This process allowed us to create a relationship with its users and understand their needs as we designed the new system. We emphasized a straightforward technological architecture and improving the experience for the end users, unifying the experience and tools used for managing long-term documents with the way in which they currently collaborate. Then we worked with their IT and Legal departments to find ways to digitalize the process of managing documents and reduce the time spent by the Legal department in the classification, monitoring and renewal of contracts.

Solution

We opted for taking advantage of the existing investment in DocuSign and Microsoft 365. These technologies allowed us to leverage tools already in use by the Association, and in turn increase acceptance by its users.

The solution implemented by DataFlip and Omega Consulting worked during the signing process tracking signatories, and then moving the completed documents to a dedicated SharePoint library, where an AI enhanced process detects and fills missing metadata.

During this process, we notify the users in charge of each contract of any missing information through an integration with Microsoft Teams. Documents with an expiration or renewal date are added to a calendar for easy tracking. All documents are secured against unauthorized changes, their permissions are customized to the needs of the different departments and have full audit capabilities.

Benefits

The solution removed a legacy system, leveraged a known user-interface, and reduced the work of classifying and maintaining contracts for the legal department. For end users, it removed the need to manually store and index documents, provided notifications of the status of any pending contract, and delivered a single search experience.

Technical Outlook

Conclusion

In collaborating with DataFlip, Omega Consulting was able to expand the capabilities of the client while simultaneously retaining their familiarity with known technologies.

Source: Contract Management Automation case, courtesy provided by DataFlip.