In our last post, we introduced you to CLM, short for Contract Lifecycle Management, which is arguably one of the most uninspiring acronyms in the Supply Management space, but also one of the most important as it overlaps S2C (Source-to-Contract), P2P (Procure-to-Pay), and, as a result, S2S/S2P (Source-to-Settle/Source-to-Pay) as well as intersecting with risk management, performance management, change management, and supplier (relationship) management. In other words, CLM touches almost every aspect of Supply Management and is taking a central place in your Supply Management organization. But where exactly does it start and where exactly does it end?

The short answer is that it starts with data and ends with data. For example, in order to identify contract opportunities, spend, product, and service data is needed. To create good specifications, good data is needed. Authoring requires contract clauses in a clause data library. Contract Management requires term and obligation data. Performance management requires performance data. Risk Management requires event data. And so on.

However, in between, it includes the usage of that data in various obligatory, performance, organizational, and strategic processes designed to extract value from the contract. These processes make use of an extensive data repository and support organizational commercial performance management (that takes CLM to the next level).

The repository will contain clauses, templates, contracts, supporting documents, amendments, and metadata. This will support the authoring, negotiation, signing, and implementation of the contract, where the implementation will require monitoring, management, and corrective action. It will also track, and support expiry, closure, review, and, where appropriate, renewal. And, collectively, each of these activities will be seamlessly blended together to support Commercial Performance Management.

How? That’s what the first-of-its-kind co-authored CLM series by the doctor, the prophet, and the maverick will answer over on Spend Matters Pro [membership required], after it presents The CLM Wheel, which is the first accurate graphical representation of the continuous CLM process at a high level. Go check it out and then we can begin to address the question, which will involve first going back to the beginning in our next post.