Can ICT “capture” contracts and contracting?
Carolyn Paris
As organizations evolve in the IT-rich environment, contracts and contracting become ever more important, and the capture of the related information in the “database version of the enterprise” likewise becomes more critical. But where do we stand in terms of contract information capture? Is this a missing piece of management information systems? Reviewing the history and current status of contract management software is a vehicle for conceptualizing contract and contracting from an IS (information systems) perspective and reaching some working conclusions about what IT can and cannot do in terms of supporting contract activity and capturing contract information. This presentation provides a look at contracting from an organizational perspective, an overview of elements of IT support of contracting, a review of some generic barriers to IS implementation and a tentative proposal regarding the categorization of contracts for IS purposes.
