Keep At Least the Process of Agreement Drafting Online

Monday, May 16, 2011
All agreements, whether between people, companies or countries, are kept on paper. The invention of paper was a truly astronomical event (2,000 years ago in China!). Today in the 21st century, even with the advent of the word "paperless," we still like our agreements to be on paper.

But then, agreements are created on a computer, and the paper versions usually only involve direct signatures. Many corporate presidents sign multiple agreements everyday, often without checking the contents. (Or in Japan and Korea, where the seal is the formal mark, the president's proxy spends the day stamping papers.) Today let's try to visualize the first half of the process, where agreements are created on computer.

<Tasks>
1. Draft Agreement, 2. Check Draft, 3. Revise, 4. Legal Check, 5. Print & Sign

[Signing Agreement: "4. Legal Check" screen]



<Process Data Items>
  • title
<<Agreement info>>
  • Agreement file (file)
  • Agreement with (string: text box 2 lines)
  • Summary of Agreement (string: text box 3 lines)
<<Approval check>>
  • Supervisor (user)
  • Supervisor check (select: OK / No)
  • Legal check (select: OK / No)
  • Correspondence (discussion)

With this kind of workflow you can escape the pre-modern process of "sending around papers to acquire consent." It's eco-friendly, too. The agreement document is automatically recorded as a digital file, so it makes searching for past paperwork efficient, which should improve re-usability.
The below workflow can be used when you want to keep a record of finalized agreements.

<Tasks>
1. Draft Agreement, 2. Check Draft, 3. Revise, 4. Legal Check, 5. Print & Sign, 6. Record Follow-up

<Added Process Data Items>
  • Date agreement was signed on (date)


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