Before evaluating vendors, define your requirements across these functional categories:
Repository and search. How many contracts will the system manage? What metadata do you need to capture? How will users search for contracts — by party, date, type, clause, or full text? What retention and disposition rules must the system enforce?
Workflow and automation. What are your contract approval workflows? How many approval levels are typical? Do workflows vary by contract type, value, or risk? What actions need to be automated — routing, reminders, escalations, renewals?
Template and clause management. How many active templates do you maintain? Do templates include conditional logic? Do you maintain a clause library? How often do templates change, and who has authority to modify them?
Negotiation and collaboration. Do you negotiate contracts within the platform or through Word and email? How many counterparties do you negotiate with simultaneously? Do you need version comparison, redline tracking, and comment threading?
Reporting and analytics. What reports do you need — contract status, cycle time, obligation compliance, risk distribution, renewal pipeline? Who consumes these reports — legal, procurement, finance, executive leadership?
Compliance and audit. What regulatory frameworks must the system support? What audit trail requirements apply? What access control and data residency requirements exist?
Prioritize requirements as must-have, should-have, and nice-to-have. The must-haves are non-negotiable. The should-haves are important but open to alternative solutions. The nice-to-haves are differentiators between otherwise equivalent platforms.