CLM system in three steps: upload, sign, get alerted
A CLM system, short for contract lifecycle management, should not need a six-month project before it earns its keep. Agreementsoftware works in three steps that match how a contract actually moves through a growing company: it arrives or gets drafted, it gets approved and signed, and then someone has to remember what it says. This page shows each step, what your first day looks like, and how to bring in the archive you already have.
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Step 1: Upload or draft
Existing contracts come in as PDF or DOCX files. New ones start from a company template: pick the template, fill a short form with the counterparty, fee, term and start date, and get a first draft built from your approved wording. Either way, every agreement becomes a record with an owner, a counterparty, a folder and tags. AI extraction then reads the document and fills the key terms: parties, effective date, term, auto-renewal, notice period, termination, payment terms, liability cap and governing law. Each field shows the sentence it came from, and each field is editable.
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Step 2: Approve and sign
Approval rules send the draft to the right people based on contract type and value. Approvers comment in the thread on the contract, and when the counterparty sends back a marked-up DOCX you upload it as a new version and see what changed. Once approved, the contract goes out for e-signature with a signing order and automatic reminders. The signed PDF and its audit certificate are filed back in the repository automatically. Approval workflows are on Plus and above. E-signature is on every plan.
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Step 3: Track and get alerted
From the extracted term and notice period, the CLM system computes the notice deadline and emails the contract owner 90, 60, 30 and 7 days before it. On Plus and above you add obligation reminders for any other date that matters, and deadlines flow into Slack and into calendars through the iCal feed. The dashboard shows upcoming renewals, value by owner and everything expiring this quarter.
Your first day, hour by hour
Here is a realistic first day for an operations or finance lead setting up alone. It is an illustration of the order of work, not a promise about how long your particular archive takes.
- First hour: create your account, invite two colleagues on Starter or up to nine on Plus, and create folders that match how you already file contracts, for example Vendors, Customers, HR and Corporate.
- Second hour: upload your most important contracts first, the ones with money attached and auto-renewal clauses. AI extraction fills the key terms while you work.
- Third hour: review the extracted fields. Hover over any field to see its source sentence, fix anything that reads wrong, and set the owner on each contract.
- Afternoon: open the dashboard. Every contract with a notice period now has a notice deadline and a set of alerts. This is usually the moment someone finds a renewal that was about to pass unnoticed.
- End of day: turn your most common agreement, often an NDA or an order form, into a template with variables, and on Plus set one approval rule for contracts above a value threshold.
That is the whole point of a lighter CLM system: live in a day, not after a six-month implementation.
Importing an archive
Bringing in the contracts you already have
Most companies start with a shared drive, an email inbox and the sent folder of an e-signature tool. You do not need to clean any of it first.
- Export the signed PDFs from wherever they sit and upload them in batches, folder by folder.
- Start with contracts that renew automatically or carry a notice period. Those produce alerts on day one.
- Keep an eye on your monthly AI extraction allowance: 50 documents on Starter, 300 on Plus, 1 500 on Pro. Contracts beyond the allowance still go into the repository and stay fully searchable, and you can extract them the following month or enter key dates by hand.
- If you kept a spreadsheet of contracts, use it to check the extracted dates rather than retyping it.
- Enterprise includes dedicated onboarding and migration of the existing archive, for companies with thousands of legacy agreements.
Our contract repository software page describes the repository in detail, and our contract management software for small business page covers the spreadsheet move for smaller teams.
See step 3 on your own contract, before you sign up
The contract snapshot demo on the homepage runs the extraction and the deadline arithmetic in front of you. Pick one of four bundled agreements (a SaaS subscription agreement, a mutual NDA, a commercial office lease or a master services agreement) or paste the text of your own contract. You get the key terms, the notice deadline, a renewal timeline and risk notes such as an auto-renewal with a long notice period or an uncapped liability clause. The demo is free and needs no account.
Explore each part of the lifecycle
- The full list of capabilities, and which plan includes each, is on our contract management platform page.
- The alert logic and a worked notice deadline example are on our contract renewal management software page.
- How signing works and why electronic signatures are valid for most business contracts is on our electronic signature software page.
- The broader view of the lifecycle is on our contract lifecycle management software page.
How long does it take to get started?
Most teams have their important contracts uploaded, extracted and alerted within their first day. Larger archives take longer to upload, but alerts start working for each contract as soon as it is in.
Do we need to change how we draft contracts?
No. You can keep drafting in Word and upload the result, or use templates for the agreements you send most often. Both end up in the same repository.
What if the AI extracts a date wrong?
You see the source sentence next to every field and can correct it. The corrected date is the one the notice deadline and alerts use.
Can we use our existing e-signature tool?
Yes. Upload contracts signed elsewhere and they get the same extraction and alerts. The built-in e-signature step simply saves you filing the signed copy by hand.
Can we try it before paying?
No, there is no free plan. The contract snapshot demo on the homepage is free, and plans start at $49 per month or $24 per month billed yearly.
Related pages
Start with the contracts that renew next
Create your account, upload the agreements that worry you most, and let the CLM system compute their deadlines today.