Customer Success Story
Efficient contract management at io-consultants: more speed and transparency, less effort
Thanks to Shareflex Contract for optimised workflows, time savings and increased traceability.
Time-consuming contract management at io-consultants
The company io-consultants GmbH & Co. KG operates internationally and maintains numerous locations worldwide. As a service provider that plans and implements large construction projects on behalf of its clients, it is essential for the company to have many things contractually fixed in order to be legally protected. With a four-figure annual contract volume, these processes take up a lot of time, as contracts need to be drafted, created, adapted, signed and finally managed. All of these processes were becoming increasingly complicated and time-consuming for io-consultants. A solution was needed.
Intranet and filing system no longer sufficient
‘There is a cardinal sin in quality management, and that is waste,’ says Susanne Hayek, Quality Management Officer at io-consultants, whose responsibilities include internal workflow optimisation. ‘And this is especially true when it comes to the factor of time.’ For example, it used to take a lot of time to search through old contract data across departments when it was needed again after years, says Hayek, explaining why io-consultants was looking for a new digital contract management solution. ‘We had created an intranet and a filing system,’ recalls Hayek, ‘but that was no longer sufficient for us.’
io-consultants GmbH & Co. KG is an international consulting and planning company headquartered in Heidelberg with offices in Berlin, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Kaiserslautern, Leonberg, Munich, Bethlehem (USA), Dubai, Lodz and Singapore. Since 1958, the company provides integrated services in the areas of production, logistics and architecture, as well as SAP and cloud solutions. Interdisciplinary teams of engineers, computer scientists, architects and business economists develop tailor-made solutions for clients in various sectors, including life sciences, retail and manufacturing. As a general planner, io-consultants supports its clients from the initial strategic idea to the realisation of complex industrial projects along the entire supply and value chain. With more than 60 years of experience, io-consultants has successfully implemented numerous projects worldwide, managing project budgets in the billions. In Germany, the company employs around 270 people at 7 locations.
Requirement: contract-related documents on one interface
“It quickly became clear that we needed a contract management system in which all contract-related documents – from the preparation of quotations and customer correspondence to the drafting, finalisation and audit-proof archiving of contracts – could be displayed on a single interface.” Susanne Hayek describes one of the criteria: “The solution had to be designed in such a way that several people could work with it at the same time. This is because at io-group not just one, but several departments are involved in contract management.”
DocuSign-compatible and SharePoint-based: Shareflex
The many departments involved in contract management at io-consultants include finance, sales, specialist departments and others. However, in addition to improved clarity, there were other requirements that the future contract management tool had to meet: compatibility with the DocuSign signature software was necessary in order to be able to sign documents in a legally compliant manner. And the new solution had to be based on Microsoft SharePoint. ‘That’s why we chose Shareflex in the end.’
Preventing anyone from being forgotten in the approval process
‘Many areas are involved before a contract is signed,’ says Susanne Hayek, explaining the complexity of contract management, especially in the area of project planning in the real estate industry. She goes on to list other advantages of digital contract management: ‘With such a solution, you can prevent, for example, an important person from being forgotten when approving a document, or a contract from not being found at all.’ Hayek explains that Shareflex is a great tool for automating and documenting all these things.
Shareflex allows you to serve your clients in a transparent, reliable and fast way
She sums up: ‘Shareflex makes our internal forwarding and approvals through the various levels and departments really easy to track.’ There is also the speed factor. ‘Particularly in the bidding phase, which is a very critical moment, you can’t send contract documents by post or email.’ The aim is to use a digital tool to provide customers with a comprehensible, reliable and fast service.
A special aspect that convinced io-consultants of Portal Systems
And how did io-consultants come across Portal Systems? ‘We surveyed the market and compared different vendors,’ says Hayek. ‘Portal Systems had a special offer. They said: If you have special requirements, we will program it for you.’ That is rather rare.
Most departmental customisation requests come after go-live
After 18 months of going live, io-consultants is still in the customisation phase because ‘there are always new requests from the departments.’ For example, when the Finance & Controlling department realises that an automated workflow will make its work easier, ‘Portal Systems is still on the case and continues to support us,’ says Susanne Hayek. In fact, most of the customisation requests came after the system went live, she describes her experience.
io-consultants gathers input from key user group
Susanne Hayek describes the project work with Portal Systems: ‘We started internally, and there was a key user group that tested the blank software.’ The first change requests quickly became apparent: ‘For example, one person needed more contract forms, because there are not only contracts, but also framework contracts, individual contracts, non-disclosure agreements, addenda, stage orders and much more.’ This is very complex because there are different contractual relationships between them, adds Hayek. ‘We then collected the input and discussed with Portal Systems whether this would work. After that, we worked together to figure out how we could implement and display an assignment in a workflow, for example.’
Impressed with Portal Systems’ implementation skills
Susanne Hayek is fascinated by the ability of her Portal Systems consultant to precisely implement the desired optimisations. ‘It is amazing how someone can think his way into a system, understand new requirements and implement wishes accordingly,’ says Susanne Hayek enthusiastically. ‘In any case,’ she says, ‘support is always available quickly if something should come up.’
‘My contact at Portal Systems receives the requirements I collect internally from me at second hand. As he listens, he keeps the technical feasibility in mind, summarises everything and then tells me how he would implement the requirements and how many working hours it would take.’
io-consultants books 40 hours of support per year
The team at io-consultants has booked 40 hours of support per year from Portal Systems. ‘We don’t always use it at the same frequency,’ explains Susanne Hayek. ‘When something is being implemented, we naturally talk more often. But we mainly communicate via email and an Excel list in which we record, for example, what type of document or process the request concerns and what we would like to have.’ Then there is a short meeting and the request is implemented in the development environment. Here, the IT department and Susanne Hayek check the implementation – and if everything works as desired, the changes are rolled out across the entire company.
Connectivity with Shareflex enables work in one tool
And were there any particular sticking points during the implementation? ‘The interconnections were a challenge,’ says Susanne Hayek, and explains: ‘For example, we have master data that is automatically imported from another system into the contract data in Shareflex. Then you add further data, and everything moves on to the next department, where additional information such as project numbers is added to this project.’ All the work happens in one tool, summarises Hayek, so these interconnections are very helpful.
Many positive changes since the introduction of Shareflex
The QM representative of io-consultants has noticed significant positive changes since the introduction of Shareflex Contract. With the automatic forwarding of specific tasks to the mailboxes of the responsible employees, workflows are now controlled efficiently. In addition, approval levels have been added that require an electronic signature for contracts with a certain volume.
Shareflex® Contract
Contract Management with SharePoint and Microsoft 365
With Shareflex Contract, you can organise your digital contract management and keep track of all deadlines.
- ✯ Manage all contracts over the entire life cycle
- ✯ Integrated workflow and permission management
- ✯ Audit-proof archiving
New workflows facilitate work at io-consultants
Susanne Hayek is particularly impressed by a newly introduced process: ‘We also employ subcontractors, such as consultants,’ she explains. ‘This requires different types of contracts, but in any case a sub-commissioning.’ Shareflex had only been used as a filing system in such cases, i.e. documents were sent by email to the team assistant, who then filed them in Shareflex. ‘But that was not enough for us, because Shareflex can do much more.’
Example: complex workflow for subcontractor contracts
The new workflow in Shareflex now works as follows: ‘If we want to hire a subcontractor, we can write to our procurement department from within Shareflex and say: We need 5 quotes. Please send out requests for quotations. For each response, the procurement department then creates a potential subcontract.’ From these, she continues, the business unit then selects a subcontractor for whom a contract document is prepared. ‘In my opinion, this is a very complex workflow that is fully mapped in Shareflex and where everyone knows what they have to do.’
Increased acceptance of Shareflex by experiencing the reduced workload
‘In the beginning,’ says Hayek, ‘we had a lot of resistance because it was another new tool. However, acceptance increased very quickly as employees experienced the reduced workload.’ A major advantage of Shareflex is that it is SharePoint-based, including integration with DocuSign signature software. Then there is the search function: ‘If management asks how many contracts we have signed in a year, I can quickly filter out the relevant information. I even know how many of those contracts we have won. The list is quickly generated and with just a few clicks you get an overview of the contract statistics you want. This also helps to identify any bottlenecks in the contract drafting process.’
io-consultants: around 1800 customer contracts in two years
In two years, io-consultants has processed a total of 1800 customer contracts with Shareflex. ‘This doesn’t include subcontracts or framework agreements,’ says Susanne Hayek. She cannot put an exact figure on how much time the new digital solution saves, but ‘we quickly realised that we spend a lot of days searching, especially our legal department.’
Around 250 trained Shareflex users
Almost 250 people use Shareflex – to achieve this, a kick-off meeting, numerous handouts and short videos in Portal Systems’ media library were provided to teach the team how Shareflex actually works. And: ‘In Shareflex, we have a start page where we can link to PDFs, videos and explanations, for example,’ explains Hayek. In addition, a Q&A session is held every 14 days for the team assistants, ‘so that we can quickly clarify questions or show something.’
Further collaboration with Portal Systems is firmly planned
Plans are in place to continue working with Portal Systems. ‘Of course, we will continue to use Shareflex,’ Susanne Hayek concludes. Now it’s time to fine-tune the system. ‘I’ve been saying for half a year now that we’ve reached the plateau and there’s nothing more to come. But there is always another department that wants a different workflow or optimisation.’ There is almost always room for improvement. Even if it’s just a reduction from 3 clicks to 1, which saves time and reduces the potential for errors.
Any questions? I will be happy to answer them personally!
Patrick Carl
Chief Sales Officer
Email: info[at]portalsystems.de
