Organizations considering the best ERP for biotechnology may require a solution incorporating extra features, such as contract development and management. This functionality isn't standard in every ERP, but it can be highly valuable when choosing between software solutions such as SAP for life sciences.
Let's look at the added capabilities of an ERP system with in-built contract development tools and why it may be a crucial aspect of your infrastructure upgrade.
How Does ERP Integrate With Contract Development Processes?
Vendors and enterprises can customize ERP features, but a few add-on modules are highly advisable, particularly for companies that develop complex contracts. The core reason why manufacturing enterprises need ERP systems is to deal with logistics, components, supply chains, and relationships with relevant suppliers. Still, if the contracts underpinning those supply chains are substandard, it can create a significant challenge.
An ERP with integrated contract development functions streamlines a host of business processes, such as:
- Designing and implementing new contract templates
- Automating data circulation between depots or supply chain managers
- Centralizing databases to simplify workflows
- Analyzing contract delivery metrics and assessing the impact of outcomes on sales revenue
Contract development and management are intertwined and relate to tasks that involve maintaining vendor relations, pursuing sales contracts, and approving new contractual agreements.
What Are the Benefits of ERP Contract Development Software?
The best-suited ERP solutions with contract development modules will depend on your organization and requirements, but some key functions can make a difference to organizational efficiencies such as:
Developing Customized Contracts
Most companies have boilerplate contract templates, often relating to vendors of a particular size or depending on the contract value. ERP contract development software allows supply chain managers to create bespoke templates aligned to the relevant area of the business and the position of the transaction along the supply chain. Templates make it much faster to onboard new suppliers, with pre-agreed terms that apply to each contract type.
Creating Consistency Between Contracts
Larger firms may have complex supply chains with multiple moving parts, and developing individual contracts for every supplier, vendor, and partner can create inconsistencies. Company-wide contracts standardize aspects such as pricing, discounts, contract non-fulfillment penalties, and other clauses, which are easier to enforce if the terms are invariable across the business.
Accessible Pricing Data
Financial suites integrated within the ERP ensure that managers have transparency and can view real-time project costs, with data collated from across the organization and from potentially numerous contracts. Managers can compare budgets to actual spending and on-time delivery metrics and actively manage ongoing projects which are not meeting the required targets.
Integration With Inventory Management
As mentioned earlier, supply chain control is one of the primary reasons many enterprises upgrade to an ERP, but incorporating contract management can allow greater visibility of the impact of each contract on bigger picture factors–for example:
- Calculating how a contract affects material availability
- Measuring changes in sales revenue
- Extrapolating deliverables from successful contracts to create new project templates
Integrating contract development, contract management, and revenue management with underlying functions such as accounting ensures that organizations have a broad performance overview and can make proactive changes along the way as required.
