Software Implementation

Our Experience IS the Difference - the Novatus Team

Comprised of professionals from contract management, sourcing, procurement and management consulting practices, each Novatus Professional Services Associate has at least ten years of experience working directly with clients from a wide variety of industries. Our senior consultants have decades of direct experience as contracting, procurement, and risk and compliance professionals.  These senior consultants have conducted an average of 60 - 100 client contract management software deployments over the last decade.  This knowledge and expertise enables our team to quickly and effectively implement a working system while advising the client on how to fully leverage the system with its existing resources. Our associates work closely with our clients to assist with driving self-sufficiency, user adoption and the dissemination of contract management best practices throughout their organization. 

Whether your firm is already using a contract management system or starting from scratch, the Novatus professional services team will help you transform your firm or agency into a world-class contract management organization.

Implementation Summary

The Novatus implementation methodology is designed in such a way as to minimize the impact on your internal resources while ensuring your requirements are fully realized within the configured system. Facilitated by a highly experienced Novatus Project Manager, your team of subject matter experts and stakeholders will be led through the requirements gathering and configuration process in a collaborative workshop environment. This highly interactive implementation methodology has several proven benefits:

• ·         Implementation is quick, with configuration completed and a functioning system available within one to four weeks, minimizing the impact on your organization’s resources while delivering a functioning system within a short period of time.
• ·         Best practices and system knowledge, based on years of experience are effectively transferred from the Novatus team to your subject matter experts, system administrators and power-users during the implementation workshops.
• ·         The process is modular and scalable, enabling implementations to be completed in consecutive weeks or staggered over a defined timeframe.
• ·         Workshops are facilitated by an impartial and highly experienced project manager, enabling requirements to be captured quickly and effectively.
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For most of our clients, the system can be fully configured to your specifications, including all features and functionality, in two weeks. However, we are aware that each organization is different with unique organizational, technology and cultural characteristics. Variables such as requirements complexity, project scope (number of departments, enterprise implementation, and multiple regions) and corporate environment can impact the implementation process and project timeframes. With that said, The Novatus professional services team will work closely with your associates to define an implementation approach and project plan that is right-sized to your firm and requirements, enabling you to maximize user adoption and ultimately, the value of your contracts.

Management Repository

Novatus utilizes a proven software and contract management best practices software implementation methodology which has been successful across hundreds of diverse corporations during the last decade.  Our direct experience assures our clients that this proven workshop approach provides full core contract management repository deployment, administrator and end-user training in  5 onsite services days for the average client.  Larger enterprise clients have customized deployments (see Enterprise tab).  Following is a summary of the Novatus Contract Management Repository Software Implementation.

A Novatus professional services associate will work with your subject matter experts and stakeholders, on-site in a workshop environment, to capture and configure your requirements. During the process, the Novatus associate will constructively critique and assess your existing contracting practices, while providing solutions and direction based on best practices and years of direct client experience.  The core contract management repository and all related functionality are fully configured to your requirements and industry best practices.  The contract system is ready for full production use after an average of 5 onsite services days.  Workshop attendees are fully trained in the system administration. Your power users and system administrators will receive hands-on training, enabling your organization to start using the system immediately.   Upon completion of the Contract Management Repository Services engagement your company is working with a fully functioning contract management repository.  As a result of the transformational impact of the repository, many organizations will need time to adapt to the new contract management capabilities. For most of our clients we suggest that after the basic repository is configured and training has been completed for the core users, your organization focuses on using the system for a few weeks before adding additional functionality such as workflows, contract creation and the portal.  This will pay dividends later in terms of user adoption, a better understanding of how your requirements may have evolved and how roll-out the new functionality to the greater firm audience.

Contract Lifecycle

Novatus utilizes a proven software and contract management best practices software implementation methodology which has been successful across hundreds of diverse corporations during the last decade.  Our direct experience assures our clients that this proven workshop approach provides full contract lifecycle (creation, workflow) deployment, administrator and end-user training in  5-10 onsite services days for the average client. The complexity and number of contract templates and/or workflows determine whether it is a 5-10 day engagement.   Novatus can also conduct portions of this part of the engagement remotely from Novatus’ offices.  Larger enterprise clients have customized deployments (see Enterprise tab).  Following is a summary of the Novatus Contract Lifecycle Software Implementation.

The Novatus professional services associate will review your existing workflows and contract templates and prepare them for configuration. If you do not have defined workflows or contract templates, our team will work with your subject matter experts to define and configure them directly into the system during workshops or one-on-one meetings. One completed, the configuration will be tested in real-world scenarios and modified as necessary to ensure efficiency and effectiveness. Contracting workflows are configured, contract templates are formatted, configured and uploaded into the system. Selected individuals learn this process, enabling self-sufficiency.  There are some significant opportunities to dramatically improve multi-department collaboration and implement efficiencies with workflow and contract creation functionality. The key to success in this phase will be automating your existing processes and forms, which may be manual or dependent upon multiple systems. Because the Novatus solution automates and streamlines workflows and contract creation, your existing workflows and contract templates will be re-engineered and consolidated during the implementation. This requires that you are prepared to dedicate the resources required to successfully complete this phase.

Data Migration

Once your organization has completed the base repository implementation, you face the prospect of transitioning your existing contracts into the newly configured system. With contract volumes often in the thousands or tens of thousands, it is critical to create a project plan that defines your parameters and the means by which legacy contracts are efficiently uploaded into the system.  The Novatus team has extensive knowledge and expertise in assisting organizations move from paper or simple database environments to a fully functioning and populated contract management system.

Legacy Contract Management System Transition

Our services team is uniquely positioned to transition the contracts and contract data from your legacy contract management systems into the Novatus solution. Having the necessary technical knowledge and expertise, our team will work with your technical assets to map data and documents from the legacy system to the configured Novatus solution, allowing for a high quality and quick transition with no down time. For most customers, this process can be completed in a very short timeframe, one to two weeks.

General Database Transition

Document management systems, MS Access and other database systems are mapped to the configured Novatus solution and imported

Excel Spreadsheet Transition

If you have data stored in MS Excel or other spreadsheet files, this can be mapped and imported into the Novatus solution.

Paper to Electronic Contract Conversion

As the most costly, labor and time intensive process, this is often the least desirable approach. However, it is often the only alternative for firms starting with paper contracts. In these instances, our team will work with your contract managers to triage your contract portfolio, identifying and prioritizing the most important contracts for upload. A project plan with realistic objectives is defined, creating an auditable and effective approach to populating your contract management database.  In some instances, there may be opportunities to offshore to low cost options or leverage existing technologies to automate the upload process. Our team will provide support in identifying viable options, other vendors and solutions.