Collaborative contract management system, apparatus and method
First Claim
1. A system for the collaborative creation, negotiation, and management of contracts, comprising:
- a database implemented in a memory and comprising a plurality of electronic contract documents, each electronic contract document associated with a contract category of a plurality of contract categories;
a plurality of user terminals;
a communication means for coupling the plurality of user terminals to the database; and
means for providing at the plurality of terminals a graphical user interface (GUI) with graphics representing an association between the plurality of electronic contract documents and the plurality of contract categories.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A collaborative contract management system integrates the collaborative creation of contract documents, the collaborative negotiation of the contents of those documents, and the management of executed contracts, thereby enabling multiple parallel users to work collectively on the creation, negotiation, and management of contracts. The multiple parallel users communicate with a contract server to access a database containing electronic contracts documents arranged into a plurality of files based on a contract status. A graphical user interface presented through a display at any active user terminal includes graphical representations of the files. The multiple parallel users can easily navigate through the database using the graphical user interface to create and view contract documents, view relationships between contract documents, track versions of contracts, access documents for editing, copying, or annotating during negotiation, track executed documents, and otherwise manage executed contracts.
79 Citations
44 Claims
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1. A system for the collaborative creation, negotiation, and management of contracts, comprising:
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a database implemented in a memory and comprising a plurality of electronic contract documents, each electronic contract document associated with a contract category of a plurality of contract categories;
a plurality of user terminals;
a communication means for coupling the plurality of user terminals to the database; and
means for providing at the plurality of terminals a graphical user interface (GUI) with graphics representing an association between the plurality of electronic contract documents and the plurality of contract categories. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8)
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5. The system of 4, wherein the electronic contract documents associated with the executed contracts category comprise:
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an electronic word processing document that can be edited by a word processing application; and
an image document representing an executed contract corresponding to the electronic word processing document.
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9. A system for the collaborative creation, negotiation, and management of contracts, comprising:
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a memory;
database implemented in the memory for storing a plurality of electronic contract documents associated with an organization, each electronic contract document associated with a contract category of a plurality of contract categories, the plurality of contract categories comprising at least a contract forms category, an active contracts category and an executed contracts category, the plurality of electronic contract documents comprising a contract form document associated with the contracts forms category, an active contract document associated with the active contracts category and an executed contract associated with the executed contract category;
a plurality of user terminals;
each of the plurality of user terminals for providing a graphical user interface (GUI) including graphics representing an association between the electronic contract documents and the plurality of contract categories;
a contract server connected to the database, the contract server for communicating with the plurality of user terminals and providing access to a selected electronic contract document in response to user commands entered through an input device connected to an active user terminal; and
a communication network for connecting the contract server with the plurality of user terminals. - View Dependent Claims (10)
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11. A contract management server comprising:
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a memory comprising a plurality of electronic contract documents, each electronic document associated with a contract category of a plurality of contract categories; and
a processor for generating graphics instructions to provide a graphic user interface when received at a user terminal, the graphical user interface (GUI) comprising graphics representing an association between the plurality of electronic contract documents and the plurality of contract categories. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method for collaboratively creating, negotiating, and managing contracts associated with an organization, the method comprising:
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storing a plurality of electronic contract documents, each electronic document associated with a contract category of a plurality contract categories; and
providing a graphical user interface (GUI) including file graphics representing the plurality contract categories to a user. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A graphical user interface for use in a system for collaborative creation, negotiation, and management of contracts, comprising:
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file graphics representing a plurality of contract categories of contracts of an organization and comprising a contract forms category, an active contracts category and an executed contracts category; and
document graphics representing a plurality of electronic contract documents, the graphic user interface indicating an association between each of the electronic contract documents and a contract category of the plurality of contract categories. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39)
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40. A system for managing executed contracts, including:
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a database for storing records;
a plurality of records representing executed contracts stored in the database;
at least one record of the plurality of records containing control fields representing events of an executed contract; and
,a computer-executable notification process for accessing the at least one record and causing notification of events in response to information contained in the control fields. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44)
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Specification