Skip to content
Aavenir Atlas early access is open Contractflow on the ServiceNow Store since 2019 Runs on ServiceNow, or standalone ProcureTech100 2025/26 Pioneering Digital Solution ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certified, SOC 2 Type 2 compliant

Glossary

What is contract management?

Contract management is handling contracts from drafting and negotiation through approval, signature, tracking and renewal, to get their value and limit risk.

Schedule a Demo All Glossary Terms

Stages of contract management

  • Request and intake
  • Drafting from templates and approved clauses
  • Review and negotiation
  • Approval and signature
  • Storage in a searchable repository
  • Tracking obligations, performance and amendments
  • Renewal, extension or termination

Why it matters

Contracts set the rights a business can enforce and the duties it must meet. When leaders know what is in their contracts, they can claim credits and discounts they are owed, avoid unwanted renewals and keep their own commitments. When they do not, rights go unused and obligations are missed, both of which cost money. Good contract management software cuts drafting effort and keeps every term findable.

How Aavenir handles it

Contractflow runs intake, drafting, Word redlining, AI review, approvals, signature and renewals on one record. Aavenir AI reads every draft against your playbook, and a person approves every change. After signature, Obligationflow tracks obligations and Aavenir Atlas answers questions across the portfolio.

Signs contract management needs work

  • Contracts stored in inboxes and shared drives
  • Renewals noticed only when an invoice arrives
  • No one can say what a supplier owes under its contract
  • Legal reviews every contract from scratch

Keep reading

Contract lifecycle management Contract lifecycle management is the process of managing a contract from the first request through drafting, negotiation, approval, signature, obligations and renewal or expiry, on one record that every team can see.Read more Contract obligations Contract obligations are the duties each party agrees to perform under a contract, such as paying on time, meeting service levels, keeping insurance in force, sending reports or protecting data.Read more Contract renewal Contract renewal is extending a contract for a new term, either automatically under an auto renewal clause or by a decision and new agreement before the current term ends.Read more

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Common questions

What is the difference between contract management and contract lifecycle management?

They are often used as synonyms. Contract lifecycle management stresses managing every stage on one record, from request to renewal, usually with dedicated software. Read about contract lifecycle management.

Who is responsible for contract management?

Legal usually owns drafting and risk, procurement or sales own the commercial terms, and business owners deliver the obligations. Software gives them one shared record. Clear ownership of each stage avoids gaps. See Contractflow.

What happens after a contract is signed?

Obligations must be tracked, performance checked, invoices compared with agreed rates and renewal decisions made in time. This is where much of a contract's value is won or lost. Each of these steps needs an owner. Read about contract obligations.

Have a question we have not answered? Ask the Expert

Schedule a demo

See your contracts run on one record.

  • 1 A 30 minute walkthrough Built around your team, whether that is procurement, legal, IT or finance.
  • 2 Your contracts, not ours Bring a few sample agreements and watch Aavenir AI extract and review them.
  • 3 ServiceNow or standalone We show the deployment that fits the systems you already run.

Prefer to talk first? Contact the team.