Improving Contract Oversight and Management for Cross-Functional Benefit at Bellingen Shire Council

Bellingen Shire Council (BSC) is located in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, with the Bellingen local government area being home to just shy of 13,000 people.

The Gumbaynggirr people are the Traditional Owners and custodians of the land for the Bellingen Shire. The custodians' places and objects are an important part of the rich heritage of Bellingen Shire, providing links to culture, environment and knowledge for local Aboriginal communities.

What did managing contracts look like prior to Unimarket?

BSC has around 150 staff working at the council, with 40 personnel involved in the management of their multiple contracts.

Prior to the implementation of VendorPanel’s Contract Management platform, BSC were predominantly managing contracts through manual processes, namely using spreadsheets, shared online folders and email communications.

Sourcing activity was carried out through Unimarket's Go to Market platform but once the contract was awarded the team would have to export contract details from the platform and manually input details into an excel spreadsheet. This restricted reporting capability as contract data was being overwritten in documentation when changes were made.

BSC understood this process was inefficient and carried many associated risks. As a result, the need for technology was identified, and the council onboarded a low-code platform to streamline and improve their contract management processes.

However, during implementation BSC discovered the platform had several limitations that raised significant concerns for them. Data entry was manual, it was not user friendly and reporting and tracking capabilities were minimal. Council halted the implementation and went back to the drawing board.

Contracts were being managed by multiple different contract managers in siloed documents and communication streams. We had no central source of truth and there was a real a lack of visibility for other team members, especially procurement.

Sarah O'Neill

Procurement Lead, Bellingen Shire Council

The Refined Scope

BSC were seeking to achieve best practice in contract management, and their existing processes and contract management system were not going to help them achieve this. BSC went out to market with an RFP to look at options for a more comprehensive contract solution that could operate as a cross-functional tool.

After reassessing what they needed from a contract management platform, BSC expanded the scope to include cross-functional requirements.

• Procurement needed a tool that would enable compliance, efficiency and oversight while allowing robust reporting on key dates and contract information.
• Projects required a platform that would allow them to accurately track project timelines, milestones and KPIs against the contract.
• Finance wanted oversight of total contract value, renewals and variations. BSC needed their chosen technology to be a long-term solution, with integration capabilities, easy user adoption and the option to grow the existing tech stack, when required.

BSC needed their chosen technology to be a long-term solution, with integration capabilities, easy user adoption and the option to grow the existing tech stack, when required.

It became increasingly evidentthat we needed technology in place to help us improve our contract management process in a way that would benefit wider parts ofthe organisation too. The option to do nothing was no longer viable.” Sarah commented.

Why Unimarket?

BSC went out to market for a solution to meet their redefined requirements. The council did extensive market research and explored multiple supplier responses before selecting VendorPanel’s Contract Management module as their preferred platform.

BSC chose Unimarket's Contract Management offering as it met the requirements of the cross-functional brief and allowed them to get closer to achieving contract management best practice. The platform configuration meant BSC would have robust contract management, consistent project oversight, record keeping and historical data for finance and advanced reporting, should BSC be subject to another audit.

The Contract Management module allowed them to manage all procurement and contract activity on a single fit-for-purpose platform with multiple stakeholders having access to key data, which was a priority for BSC’s Executive team. As the council was already using the Go to Market module, contract information was populated automatically from sourcing and supplier information, maximising oversight and efficiency while minimising risk.

All signed documentation, contract details and history were able to be securely stored on a central platform. This has enabled more efficient handovers, improved visibility and will allow more efficient and complete audit preparations to be done, when required.

With different departments and personnel involved in the contract process or requiring visibility, users have differing amounts of interaction with the system. Unimarket's intuitive system with simple user navigation and powerful workflows meant that the council experienced minimal disruptions during and following implementation.

Unimarket's robust support function also allowed the BSC teams to work efficiently and get the most value from the platform while continuing to work autonomously.

Additionally, Unimarket's open IP meant that the possibility for integration was a viable option for council should they require it down the track.

Implementation

Given that BSC had started implementation with another platform prior to choosing Unimarket, the council were keen to have the technology up and running quickly to avoid further delays and disruptions to operations. Unimarket's fast-to-deploy module was rolled out across multiple departments and users.

Our dedicated implementation team ensured that project timelines and deliverables were agreed upon prior to kick-off, allowing the process to be streamlined and efficient. The project was successfully delivered within BSC’s predetermined eight-week timeframe.

Conclusion

Unimarket’s Advanced Contract Management system has enabled BSC to increase time-savings, efficiency, visibility and probity on all aspects of their contracts, across various parts of the organisation, and will allow more data-driven and positive decision making in future for the council.

It has provided the council with a tool that can empower staff to effectively manage large and small projects and ensure complex and small contracts are financially delivering the best value for money to the council.