What Happens After Signature: An Integrated Approach to Managing Public Sector Agreements

When it comes to public sector agreements, most agencies focus on the earlier stages of the agreement lifecycle, such as making the form readily available, capturing the necessary data, and signing the form. 

However, what happens after an agreement is signed or implemented is equally important, given the many key considerations for managing the post-signing process. 

For example, OMB/NARA M-23-07 mandates the use of an electronic recordkeeping solution, as well as the sending of all existing paper documents to a Federal Record Center, and eliminating agency-operated storage facilities.

In addition to meeting compliance mandates, many agencies face challenges with post-signature processes like tracking and misplacing documents, limited process visibility, and using static PDFs that trap valuable data. 

Intelligent Agreement Management (IAM), a new category of cloud software that streamlines and automates agreement processes, can help agencies solve these post-signature challenges.  

This blog is part of a series that explains how agencies can easily create and commit to or sign agreements. This third and final blog post highlights the “manage” stage of public sector agreements, which includes the critical elements that happen after signature. 

The importance of managing agreements in the public sector

Many believe that signing or receiving a signature is the final step in completing an agreement. However, the signature is just one part of the overall agreement lifecycle.

When agencies develop effective agreement management processes, they enhance compliance efforts, drive operational efficiencies, and build public trust.

When it comes to traditional agreement processes, agencies often contend with misplaced documents—whether printed or stored on a desktop or shared drive—as well as manual tracking challenges and compliance issues. 

This leads to what we call the “Agreement Trap,” where outdated systems and processes trap information inside static documents and cost organizations time, value, and opportunity. According to a recent Deloitte and Docusign study, the Agreement Trap can result in 6,000 hours of lost time per agency function to organize, store, and manage agreements.  

Best practices for managing agreements

When managing agreements post-signature, there are a few critical elements to note: 

• Centralization and accessibility: It’s vital to have a single source of truth for all agreements that’s centralized and accessible. 

• Regular audits and reviews: A system that facilitates periodic audits is essential to ensure agreements are up to date and compliant.

• Drive data-based decisions: Unlocking the data trapped in static documents and agreements enhances decision-making. 

• Agreement security and privacy: Sensitive information within agreements should always be protected and compliant with data privacy regulations. It’s also important to have access control capabilities in place to create guardrails on who can view which agreements.

The Docusign advantage in managing agreements

The Docusign IAM portfolio helps agencies manage agreements dynamically by uncovering the data hidden within, unlocking value, and eliminating unnecessary risk:

• Docusign CLM: Remove process bottlenecks and blockers with automated workflows that keep agreements moving forward. With pre-configured workflow steps, agencies can easily generate, review, approve, send for signature, store agreements, and more. Agencies can also store all agreements in a searchable repository with permission controls, where they can search and filter agreements by keyword, concept, and meta-data. Agreements are then discoverable, actionable, and secure, which reduces the time spent searching for individual agreements and helps teams quickly identify items that need immediate action.

• Integrations: Seamlessly write-back agreements to systems of record, such as Microsoft, Salesforce, and ServiceNow with Docusign’s 900+ APIs and integrations. This allows agencies to use Docusign without leaving their trusted CRM and productivity solutions.

For any government agreement, what happens post-signature is vitally important for meeting compliance mandates and enhancing overall operations. That’s why Docusign provides a single location with granular security controls and built-in oversight for effectively managing all agreements. 

Docusign is the proven leader in agreement technology for managing and securely storing legal and enforceable agreements. For the fifth year in a row, Docusign has been named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Contract Life Cycle Management. And, in partnership with Statista, Newsweek recently ranked Docusign the most trustworthy software and telecommunications company in the U.S.  

From creating to committing to and managing agreements, Docusign offers an integrated approach for public sector organizations to make agreements the foundation for enhancing mission success.