Use cases by role
If legal landed on you without being a lawyer
In many companies contracts are handled by whoever handles other things. You need not be a lawyer, you need to not lose the thread.
It happens in almost every mid-sized company: there is no legal department, there is someone — from admin, purchasing, management — who also handles contracts. The job is not interpreting clauses; that is what the adviser is for. It is making sure nobody finds out too late about something that was written down.
What gets lost, by frequency
| What | Why it gets lost | What it costs |
|---|---|---|
| Annexes and amendments | Signed separately, months later | Arguing from a version no longer in force |
| Notice periods | They are on nobody's calendar | A renewal nobody wanted |
| Contracts of whoever left | They were in their email | Discovering them when the supplier claims |
| What others signed | Everyone signs their own | Not knowing what the company is committed to |
Important
The second row costs the most money and is the least visible: **a contract with automatic renewal renews itself, and the notice period expires before the contract does**. By the time someone remembers to look, the window not to renew has passed — not by weeks, sometimes by months. Which is why the date to record is not the contract's end: it is when the decision has to be made.
The minimum that holds this up
- 1
One single place holding them all, signed
Including those someone else signed. Split across five inboxes, they do not exist.
- 2
Each contract with its annexes inside
A contract without its amendments tells a false story.
- 3
Two dates per contract: decision and end
The decision date is the one that warns; the end date only informs.
- 4
And who owns each one
Not whoever signed it: whoever will look at it when the time comes.
Watch out
What surprises people the first time they tidy this up: **commitments nobody remembered turn up**. A maintenance contract signed six years ago still being charged, an exclusivity arrangement limiting who you may buy from, an extension accepted by email. It is not negligence: it is what happens when everyone keeps their own. The first inventory is uncomfortable and it is the one that saves the most.
Where your part ends and the adviser's begins
Worth knowing
None of this replaces legal advice, nor tries to: **whether a clause suits you is decided by your adviser**. What is described here is the administrative part, which is the one that goes missing on its own and causes most of the frights.
›Should I keep the drafts too?
The signed version and the annexes, always. Drafts only when they explain something.
›What about contracts from years ago?
Those still in force first. The rest get added over time.
›Who should have access?
Fewer people than you think, and by design: not everyone needs to see everything.
A real case
The situation
A company finds a maintenance contract has auto-renewed for a third year.
What you do
- Records the decision date rather than the end date, and gives each contract an owner
What you get
The warning arrives with room to decide, which is the only thing that prevents an unwanted renewal.
The situation
Legal lands on you without being your job and nobody knows where to start.
What you do
- Inventories what contracts and deadlines exist
What you get
The starting point exists.
The situation
A deadline passes unnoticed.
What you do
- Records deadlines with warnings
What you get
The warning arrives with room to act.
The situation
Something is signed without knowing what it commits to.
What you do
- Checks with the adviser before signing
What you get
The decision is taken on a basis.
The situation
Contracts are spread across drawers and inboxes.
What you do
- Gathers everything into one file
What you get
It is found without searching.
The situation
A formal request arrives and nobody knows what exists.
What you do
- Checks the file before answering
What you get
The response is prepared informed.
This article answers
- I handle contracts and I am not a lawyer
- tracking contract renewal dates
- a contract auto-renewed
- where to keep company contracts