What features does a contract management system need, and how do you test them before go-live?

What to expect: a single template library organized by contract type; drafts generated from templates, with agreed fields (counterparty, amount, term) filled in separately; template versions, with old versions retired when a template changes.

How to test: draft a routine purchase agreement from a template. See which parts business users can change, whether edits to the template wording are flagged, and whether legal can see those edits at a glance.

What to expect: every round of edits kept as a version, including drafts returned by the other side, and a comparison between any two versions.

How to test: take a contract that went through three or four rounds, load each round in order, and compare the first and last. Check that added, deleted and reworded clauses are all marked, and that no change to an amount or date is missed.

What to expect: approval paths configured by contract type, amount and other conditions; separate sign-off by legal, finance and the business owner; timeout reminders; pending tasks reassigned when an approver leaves or changes role.

How to test: using your current approval authority table, pick a low-value but unusual case, such as a framework agreement with an exclusivity clause, and check that the system routes it to legal instead of waving it through because the amount is small. Also check whether review comments can point to specific clauses.

What to expect: both e-signature and paper signing recorded; a check before sealing that the version being sealed is the version that was approved.

How to test: change one word after approval, then try to seal, and see whether the system blocks or warns. Ask how a signed paper copy, once scanned, is attached back to the original contract.

What to expect: payment, delivery and acceptance milestones recorded under each contract; reminders before expiry to renew or terminate; amendments linked to the original contract.

How to test: enter the milestones of a contract with staged payments and check who gets reminded, how far ahead, and whether reminders reach the workplace tools your staff already use. Then add an amendment and check its link to the original.

What to expect: contract numbers generated by rule; archive number, storage location and custodian recorded at archiving; configurable register fields that can be exported.

How to test: take the column headings of the register you use today and check each against the system's fields. The contract register template lists the essential fields.

Permissions should follow your organization and contract types: sales staff see their own contracts but not HR contracts. Reporting should consolidate by contracting entity, type, amount and counterparty. To test, log in with accounts from two different departments and compare what each can see.

• Deployment: contract data is sensitive, and many companies require it to stay on their own servers. Confirm that private deployment is supported and who handles upgrades and backups.
• What the quote includes: modules, user count, deployment and integrations all affect price. Check line by line what a quote covers; how much a contract management system costs lists the usual components.

If a system also includes AI features, how it differs from a traditional system at each step is a separate question, covered in AI contract management vs. traditional contract systems.

Zico (FIM) is a contract lifecycle management system covering drafting, negotiation, approval, signing, performance and archiving, delivered as a private deployment. Approvals can be tiered by contract type, amount and business line, with timeout reminders and automatic reassignment when an employee leaves; contract numbers are generated by rule; archiving records the archive number, storage location and custodian; and view and edit permissions can be assigned by organization and contract type. Pricing is quoted per customer.