COLLABORATIVE DECISION MAKING IN CONTRACT DOCUMENTS

• US 20140047330A1
• Filed: 08/09/2012
• Published: 02/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Yan, Nancy
• Application Number:
  US13/571,282
• Publication Number:
  US 20140047330A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/273
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04803 Split screen, i.e. subdividing the display area or the window area into separate subareas
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/101 Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/18 Legal services

Abstract

A method implemented at least in part by a computing device for presenting a contract document for collaborative decision making comprises displaying a contract document, providing an interface adjacent the contract document for initiating a collaborative discussion activity, receiving a designation of at least one clause of the contract for collaboration and at least one recipient to be invited to participate in the collaborative discussion activity, receiving a call for a decision to be made relating to the at least one clause of the contract, sending the call for the decision to the at least one recipient in a communication, and updating a database to store at least the communication, an identity of a sender and the at least one recipient and any discussion or decision received in response to the communication.

Claims

1. A method, implemented at least in part by one or more computing devices, for presenting a contract document for collaborative decision making, the method comprising:

displaying a contract document;

providing an interface adjacent the contract document for initiating a collaborative discussion activity;

receiving, within the interface, a designation of at least one clause of the contract for collaboration and at least one recipient to be invited to participate in the collaborative discussion activity;

receiving, within the interface, a call for a decision to be made relating to the at least one clause of the contract;

sending the call for the decision to the at least one recipient in a communication; and

updating a database to store at least the communication, an identity of a sender and the at least one recipient and any discussion or decision received in response to the communication.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a decision comprising an approval of the at least one clause of the contract, and automatically updating the contract to include the at least one clause.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a request to re-open decision making, and prompting at least one recipient for a decision.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending the recipient a reminder communication if the recipient'"'"'s response to the communication is not received within a desired time period.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein receiving a designation of at least one clause of the contract comprises specifying a clause with the displayed contract document by highlighting the clause and dragging the clause to a field of the interface adjacent to the contract document.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication to the at least one recipient comprises voting buttons.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication to the at least one recipient comprises pro and con tables.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying SWOT analyses for use in decision making.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting at least one polling question to the recipient.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one recipient comprises multiple recipients, further comprising receiving responses from the recipients and displaying a tally of the decisions in the responses.

11. One or more computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions for causing a computing device to present a contract for collaborative decision making, the instructions comprising:

receiving a designation of at least one clause of a contract stored in memory;

receiving a designation of at least one recipient;

initiating a communication related to the at least one clause of the contract to the at least one recipient;

prompting the recipient for a decision related to the at least one clause of the contract;

receiving a response to the communication from the recipient, the response including a decision; and

storing the communication, response and decision.

12. A method of presenting on a display a user interface for collaborative decision making on a contract, the method comprising:

presenting the contract document such that a user can designate a clause of the contract document; and

in response to input from the user, initiating a separate discussion panel visible adjacent the contract document.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the input from the user is actuating a discussion button or icon.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising displaying a topic field in the separate discussion panel for the user to specify a topic.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising displaying a content field within the separate discussion panel for the user to specify a contract clause for discussion with recipients.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising displaying a recipients fields within the separate discussion panel for the user to specify one or more recipients of a communication initiating a collaborative decision making session about the contract clause.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving an input from a user to generate an activity and generating the activity, the activity being a separately trackable event.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the activity is automatically updated with any decisions made by recipients.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the activity is automatically updated and displayed with decision history.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein, following communication of decision and updating of the activity, further comprising presenting recipients with a control actuatable to re-open a decision.