Contract Management
In Business
As the world economy recovers from recession, pressure to extract greater value from contracted relationships to avoid unnecessary costs and risks or to deliver customer projects profitably, has placed Contract Management at the centre of business strategy for the world's leading companies.
Contract visualization
An emerging trend in Contract and Commercial Management is the practice of Contract Visualization. This is the practice of translating key contract terminology, often written in Common Law language, in to plain English so that the intention and meaning can be easily understood by non-legal specialists in the business who may be allocated responsibility for compliance to certain commitments or obligations.
Contract wording may often be drafted in Common Law legal language which is designed to remove the legal ambiguity around how particular terms and conditions are defined. Referring to Common Law is useful to avoid or reduce the impact of disputes or litigation however, it is often difficult for business managers to understand. This is important because much of the post-award contract management activities, like managing contract-related milestones, obligations and performance, are carried out by non-legal staff in Procurement, Commercial departments, HR and Finance.
Contract Visualization aims to translate common law terminology in to standard business language that can be understood by business managers who need to manage contract-related milestones and obligations.
