Document policies and procedures
Successful contract management programs include well-defined and documented policies and procedures that are regularly reviewed and updated. Undefined or undocumented contract management policies and procedures lead to inconsistencies and expose the organization to financial or legal risk. It's a best practice to store these documents in a centralized location for easy access to those involved in contract management. Creating a dedicated contract page on the organization’s intranet, for example, would be a great resource for users. Well-defined policies and procedures can also lead you to a contract management technology solution.

Ongoing training

Consistency and comprehension of the current process is key to successful contract management. How do you achieve consistency and comprehension? Ongoing training on policies, processes, systems, and associated regulatory requirements, if applicable, is necessary for continued success.

Often, health care organizations turn contract management technology support and training over to their IT department for their dedicated users. Although technology is IT’s specialty, they may not be as knowledgeable of your organization's contract management practices. It’s best to train those involved in contract management at your organization on process and system contemporaneously.

Partnering with your contract management technology solution provider for educational services is one way to design and deliver training focused on an improved process and associated system. Regularly scheduled training on processes and systems will encourage continued compliance with policy and regulatory requirements.

Dedicated system and administration
Implementing a contract life cycle management technology solution to execute your organization’s defined processes is a necessary step in contract management. Just as a contract management program requires ownership, so too does administration of the system. Management and oversight of the contract database ensures that the right controls are in place to successfully execute the defined contract management practices.

The individual dedicated to system administration should work closely with the contract program owner to maintain consistency and help identify ways to optimize the capabilities of the system. Organizations may engage the technology solution provider directly to provide a resource for long-term or short-term assignments as it relates to system administration or to assess and recommend improvements to optimize the use of the database.

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