Pharmaceutical specialist Engelhard relies on software for efficient, company-wide contract management

With more than 450 employees, Engelhard Arzneimittel is one of the leading brand manufacturers of OTC (over-the-counter) medicines and is the producer of popular brands such as Prospan® and isla®, among others. As a modern company, it was important to keep adapting all processes and workflows to the digital transformation. "We wanted a central digital management of contracts in the company with simultaneous creation and self-management in the divisions and departments," says Michael Brauers, IT Business Partner at Engelhard Arzneimittel.

In addition, there were other requirements for a suitable solution, which is why a detailed catalog of requirements was first created. For Engelhard Arzneimittel, the must-haves included the central management of contract documents in digital files, so that all employees can access them according to authorization, regardless of time, as well as the legally compliant and audit-proof archiving of all documents. A particular concern of the employees was to be able to keep an eye on contractual deadlines and dates more easily, for example, in order to renegotiate contracts in good time and thus avoid additional costs due to adherence to notice periods. In addition, there was the desire for a user-friendly software design with a web interface that would fit seamlessly into the company's existing SAP environment.

Cross-divisional contract management

At Engelhard Arzneimittel, contract management was a cross-departmental issue from the very beginning. "With cuContract, a system is now in use that is fully integrated into the existing SAP environment and can support the various SAP modules in the individual departments or interact with them," says Brauers.

The contract management system works with contract relevant data from the respective SAP modules - be it master data (e.g. customer or supplier data), authorizations, terms or retention periods. Likewise, these can be displayed from cuContract and the relevant data in the respective SAP modules.

Since contract data is usually sensitive, Engelhard Arzneimittel placed particular emphasis on graduated access restrictions and precisely adjustable access criteria. All entries and changes to a process are logged in an audit-proof manner.

Dates and deadlines under control

For improved workflow and more planning reliability, Engelhard requested automatic deadline and deadline management. According to the project managers, this also represents one of the main added values offered by the system.

Since contracts usually also result in financial obligations, it is all the more important to keep an eye on all the terms and conditions. This includes the agreed service and consideration as well as dates and deadlines that define the services in terms of time. Therefore, the contract management system cuContract includes detailed functions to remind due dates and payment obligations. There is also the possibility to store invoice and payment schedules and to check them against invoices. What would have to be programmed in a document management system is standard in the solution of Circle Unlimited. Today, managers receive timely email notifications when contract or retention periods expire or a notice period is due.

From kick-off to productive use

Following the initial catalog of requirements compiled by Engelhard, experts from Circle Unlimited and the pharmaceutical manufacturer met to determine the company's detailed needs in dealing with contracts. This included creating an authorization concept, breaking down individual types of contracts typical for the company, and quantifying the contracts in the respective departments. Overall, the implementation time of the cuSolution up to go-live took just under six months, a speedy process considering the size of the project. "We received competent support throughout and requests were always responded to quickly. Circle Unlimited stood out overall for its high level of implementation expertise," recalls Dr. Markus Schäfermeyer.

Facilitation in the management

As with any change in familiar processes, some procedures had to be adapted during and after the implementation of cuContract. An internal change management at Engelhard helped to implement the changed process flows. "Some of the employees were still justifiably skeptical because of the initial extra work involved in entering contracts, but we quickly noticed the relief the new system brings in managing and monitoring contracts," says Alexander Schumann, the legal department employee responsible for contract management at Engelhard Arzneimittel. Whereas previously many contracts were only available in paper form and it was also difficult to keep track of deadlines, users now save a lot of time. A uniform folder structure ensures an optimal overview and dates and deadlines are easily kept track of and adhered to. This also applies to archiving deadlines and DSGVO requirements; everything can be defined for the individual contract in the system. The legal department currently manages more than 1000 contracts in this way.

Optimized processes around contracts

Driven by the desire for more efficient processes in the company's organization, Engelhard opted for modern software. Instead of paper-based files and decentralized Excel lists, the more than 450 employees at the company's German headquarters now manage all contracts digitally.

Contracts with regular payment obligations that are no longer required could be terminated or updated. Cumbersome searches for contracts in extensive paper files as well as long search and waiting times are a thing of the past.

Encouraged by the good implementation and the positive response of the employees to the new contract management, Engelhard is planning to implement an automated document generation system in the future. This will enable, for example, contracts, standard correspondence and designed e-mails to be generated independently and in a time-saving manner.