01 the business
Hotel management company
9 properties, 400 active contracts
Signed contracts go into a folder and are opened again only when something goes wrong. Supplier contracts auto-renew because the notice window passed. Duties such as insurance certificates and service reports are missed.
02 before
The problem
Signed contracts go into a folder and are not opened again until something goes wrong. Auto-renewals roll over because the notice window passed unnoticed. Duties like insurance certificates, rent reviews or service reports are missed because nobody owns the calendar.
- Renewal dates are tracked in nobody's calendar.
- Notice windows are missed.
- Obligations have no named owner.
03 the build
What the AI does
- Step 1: Collects signed agreements from DocuSign, Google Drive or SharePoint as they land.
- Step 2: Extracts parties, term, renewal dates, notice periods, price changes and named obligations into a register.
- Step 3: Assigns each obligation to an owner based on the contract type and department.
- Step 4: Sends reminders by email, Slack or Teams ahead of each notice window, with the clause quoted.
- Step 5: Posts a monthly summary of upcoming renewals and overdue duties to the finance and operations leads.
paused: waiting for a person to approve
How it was put together
- Collected signed agreements from the e-signature tool and shared drives.
- Extracted parties, term, renewal dates, notice periods, price changes and obligations into a register.
- Assigned each obligation an owner by contract type.
- Sent reminders ahead of each notice window with the clause quoted, plus a monthly summary.
04 human in the loop
Where a person stays in charge
The contract owner checks the extracted dates and terms for each new agreement before it goes live in the register. Decisions to renew, renegotiate or give notice stay with that owner.
- The contract owner checks extracted dates before an agreement goes live in the register.
- Renew, renegotiate or terminate decisions stay with the owner.
- Each register entry links to the clause it came from.
05 rollout
From kickoff to live in 5 weeks
- Weeks 1–2Gather the contract folder and agree owners by type.
- Weeks 3–4Extract and check the existing contracts.
- Week 5Switch on reminders and new-contract intake.
06 after
What changes
Renewal and notice dates stop sneaking up on you. Each obligation has an owner and a reminder, and you can see every live commitment in one register instead of a folder of PDFs.
Assume 400 contracts with $3 million of annual value, where missed notice windows let 3% of value renew on worse terms.
$3,000,000 × 3% = $90,000 a year exposed to unwanted renewals and missed price reviews.
What to measure
- Contracts in the register with checked dates.
- Notice windows missed.
- Obligations completed on time.
- Spend renegotiated at renewal.
07 evidence
What the research says
The average business loses almost 9% of contract value each year through poor contract management; the best lose about 3%, the worst 15% or more.
Gartner research put the average cost of poor data quality at $12.9 million a year per organisation.
Gartner, Data quality: why it matters and how to achieve it (opens in a new tab) · 2020
08 lessons
Mistakes to avoid
- Trusting extraction without checks. Dates must be confirmed once.
- Reminders too late. Notice periods can be 90 days or more.
- No owner. A reminder without an owner is noise.
09 questions
Common questions
- Does it need a contract management system?
- No. It can keep the register in a spreadsheet or work alongside a tool such as Ironclad.
- How big is the value at stake?
- WorldCC's 2025 research found the average business loses almost 9% of contract value each year through poor contract management.