Contract Redlines
From version confusion to clear collaboration in contract redlining
Contracts Redlines in Venminder, streamlines collaboration and version control, eliminating the reliance on emails and spreadsheets. Makes redlining simple - send, track, and audit in one place.
Industries
SaaS, Fintech, CLM
Services
Product Design
Date
March - August 2024
Team
Product Manager, Engineers, Leadership
Context
What does the company Venminder do?
Venminder is a vendor risk management platform that centralizes vendor data, contracts, and compliance, helping organizations efficiently assess risk and manage third-party relationships.
Problem Statement
Contract owners struggled with manually tracking contract redline version, leading to confusion, inefficiency, and lack of accountability.
Users were managing contract redlining through email and Excel leading to frustrations.
Manual reviews → time-consuming and error-prone.
Compliance/legal teams lacked visibility → high audit risk.
Clients frustrated with slow process.
User Personas
Contract Owners
Manages versions, sends for review, and tracks progress.
Needs real-time updates, and streamlined collaboration.
Redliners & Commenters
Downloads, redlines, and re-uploads the contracts.
Needs a simple, efficient process to access the documents and provide feedback.
Approvers
Reviews the completed contract and approves it.
Need a clear overview of the history to make quick, informed decisions.
Design Process
User Research and Insights
User interviews reveled these key challenges
Proposed User Flow
Before - linear flow, no accountability
After - hub and spoke flow, where the contract owner is responsible for coordinating with different teams and getting approval from leadership.
Design Iterations
Option 1: Table
Pro: Highly organized, familiar and easy-to-scan layout
Con: Lacks visual hierarchy and can feel overwhelming when managing multiple versions
Option 2: Email Chain Format
Pro: Easy chat style. Version of the file is clear.
Con: Difficulty retrieving older conversations. Current status is unclear.
Option 3: Activity and Status
Pro: Clear overview of progress. Focus on the latest file. Predefined list of approvers
Con: No flexibility for changing the approvers.
Testing and Pivot
User testing revealed two crucial needs:
List of the names of the redliners in order
Multiple files in one contract
Final Solution
A centralized hub for managing contract redlines. Contract owner can send contracts for redlining or comments to internal and external stakeholders. Recipients are notified via email and can access the contract within the platform to make changes or leave comments. After redlining, they can re-upload their version for review.
User 1: Contract owner uploads and sends for review
Upload and assign contract → clear routing ensures the right reviewer sees it first.
User 2: Redliner reviews
Upload new redlined file → system auto-tracks it as the next version.
User 3: Vendor reviews (external)
Approve or upload new version → simplified view reduces turnaround time
User 4: Leadership Review
Centralized version history → improved visibility, reduced risk, and faster decision-making.
Key Features
Each section of the page was designed to streamline the workflow, making it more efficient for users and reducing the time spent searching for trails.
1
Status
Whom it has been sent to and whom it is pending on, ensuring that all users know the contract's progression at a glance.
2
Version Tracking and Activity Stream
Real-time activity log provides full visibility into all contract actions, such as uploads, redlines, comments, and approvals. The system automatically tracking every version, showing who sent it, who reviewed it, and when.
3
Approvals
Customizable list of approvers that can be added as required. Tracks final sign-offs, providing transparency into who has approved the contract and which version.
4
Latest version
Highlights the latest files, making it easy for the user to know which file they need to work on. It has the next steps button which is the only button the user needs to interact with.
Impact and Outcome
Administrator, VRM
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