Case study: Complex solution development incorporating document automation

Across the development and construction industries, manual production of high volumes of consultancy agreements (including negotiation, internal business approvals and execution) results in inefficiencies, with inconsistent outcomes and no audit trail.

The brief

Lander & Rogers was instructed by a ASX100 listed development and construction company to streamline and automate its Professional Services Agreement (PSA) contract creation and execution process.

The client wanted a document automation solution that would:

• save time spent by project teams in creating, negotiating and executing large volumes of PSAs
• upskill project teams’ knowledge of standard contract terms through built-in guidance in contract preparation
• increase consistency in commonly negotiated amendments to standard contract terms
• streamline approval workflows
• incorporate e-signature for speed in execution
• capture data relating to commercial terms with supply chain partners to enable further standardisation

The challenge

The main challenge of the project was to deliver all project requirements in a sophisticated, easy to navigate and agile document automation software solution. The solution needed to seamlessly generate a suite of complex and sophisticated PSAs by non-technical personnel through providing step-by-step guidance and, in turn, removing the risk of error.

Additionally, the contract automation solution was required to capture key data and information at the initial stages of the project, which would then automatically filter down through to sub-contracting documents and remove the need to input data multiple times throughout the life of the project.

Another significant challenge was to develop and integrate complex electronic signature (e-signing) capabilities such as the ability to automatically manage an entire range of convoluted scenarios (with each business unit within the organisation having its own execution policies).

The solution

Led by the firm's Real Estate & Projects construction team with support from iHub, Lander & Rogers developed a sophisticated self-service, cloud-based contract drafting and management system for the client. The software solution incorporated embedded guidance, an approval workflow system, e-signature workflows and contract risk profile data analytics capability, allowing for contract management automation.

The client has experienced significant benefits from the document automation project including:

• process improvement
• increased productivity from reduced administration and streamlined approval processes
• enhanced consistency across the business
• reduction of errors and costs

The sophisticated solution also automatically captures rich data sets, which will provide considerable opportunities for additional standardisation and further business transformation.

Implementing the automation solution has provided the client with a 350% time saving (Word document method vs. automated method), translating into significant cost savings given the high volumes.

A spokesperson for the client said: "We have used the contract automation on two projects so far and have found the platform…to be very effective in reducing the time required to prep subcontracts. What typically may have taken three to four days to prepare all contracts for a project, is now taking three to four hours."

To learn more about how the iHub by Lander & Rogers can optimise your contract creation and execution processes, improve efficiency with other legal automation, or for information on other business transformation solutions, please contact Joel Kennedy.