Suffolk University streamlines contract management

The challenge

Previously, the process for managing contracts at Suffolk University was all paper and all manual. For instance, in a standard workflow, the Treasurer’s Assistant or Sheila McGarey, Senior Administrative Associate, Office of the General Counsel, would receive a contract, fill out an Approval Workflow Cover Sheet with key data, record receipt of the contract in a spreadsheet, and circulate the contract with the Cover Sheet to approvers.

Next, a lawyer would review and sign off on the cover sheet, and return it to McGarey, who would provide it to the IT Security or Risk Review Department if necessary. After receipt back from the needed approvers, she forwards it to the Treasurer’s Assistant. That employee would obtain the Treasurer’s approval and signature, and then scan a copy to the contract submitter along with uploading it to a shared drive for access by Treasurer and General Counsel offices as needed.

The University realized that this method was inefficient, with no quick way for employees to access data on the University’s thousands of contracts. Staffers had no means of determining contract urgency, and other employees would call frequently to ask for contract status updates. Automating and digitizing the contract management process was definitely in order. “We wanted to get out of a paper-intensive process, and make it more efficient, with the information readily accessible to everyone involved,” said McGarey.

“[Agiloft] was the best product visually, and it seemed like the easiest to use and the most flexible and intuitive.”

– Sheila McGarey, Senior Administrative Associate

Although the team considered a few software products, it soon decided on Agiloft’s Contract Management solution. According to McGarey, “From our perspective and our needs, Agiloft was much better than the other systems we looked at. We felt it was the best product visually, seemed like it would be the easiest to use, and the most flexible and intuitive — all of which it has proven to be. It had more features than we needed, but we realized that we could always implement those later on. Additionally, we felt it was very reasonably priced.”

The solution

Suffolk University signed the Agiloft contract in late spring and launched the solution in late summer of 2015. Today, 85 employees in 60 different departments use it. Saving money and enhancing her knowledge of Agiloft, McGarey conducted staff trainings and wrote system documentation herself. “I’m an Agiloft advocate,” she said. “It was very easy for me and our end users to learn.”

She has also been able to make minor tweaks to the system herself, while assigning more significant changes to Jack Wicks, an Agiloft Analyst and Implementer. For instance, Wicks configured a drop-down menu of departments to be noneditable by End Users, so they could only submit contracts for their department, and removed the requirement of filling in all fields before allowing contract records to be savable in draft form.

Throughout, McGarey has found Agiloft’s customer service and implementation work to be “outstanding.” “They have always been very quick to respond to requests,” she said. “I’ll say, ‘I don’t need the change this week,’ but most often, it’s done that week anyway. They solve problems and are very considerate and helpful.”

The impact

Overall, Agiloft has streamlined the contract submission and approval process. Now, record keeping is automated and instantaneous, with several steps removed altogether. For instance, McGarey no longer needs to receive, log, and send contracts to relevant approvers, and then return signed documents to submitters. With that freed up time, she can take on new tasks, such as reviewing standard Suffolk template contract submissions. Meanwhile, Suffolk University lawyers now review contracts online, rather than needing to read through paper copies.

Equally important, contract submitters can quickly and easily discover the status of contracts; and all parties can locate historic contract records when needed. “We are really happy with Agiloft,” summarized McGarey. “It’s logical, easy to use, and very flexible. I would give it ten stars.”

“We are really happy with Agiloft. It’s logical, easy to use, and very flexible. I would give it ten stars.”

– Sheila McGarey

Challenges

Inefficient all-manual, all-paper method of handling contracts

No quick way of accessing contract data and status updates

Benefits

Easy-to-use, intuitive, automated system for contract management

Streamlined contract submission and approval process

Freed up time for legal department to focus on tasks

Flexible system, tailored to unique
workflows

Contract data became more readily
accessible

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