Most teams don’t set out to create a messy contract process. It usually happens gradually.
One exception here, a workaround there, and suddenly no one is fully sure which rules apply or who’s responsible for what. Writing a contract management policy is often the moment a team decides to bring some order to that reality.
However, a good policy doesn’t try to overcontrol contract work. Rather, it sets clear expectations around how agreements move from draft to signature and what happens after they’re signed.
When it’s done well, teams spend less time second-guessing the process and more time moving deals forward with confidence.
Not sure how to create your own?
In this guide, we'll break down how to create a contract management policy that’s practical, easy to follow, and built around how your team actually works.
Start by defining why you’re creating a contract management policy in the first place.
The goal is to set clear rules for how contracts are created, reviewed, signed, and managed across the contract lifecycle. This helps teams understand how agreements create legally binding obligations and why consistency matters.
Before writing rules, get clear on which agreements the policy actually applies to. Most businesses use more contract types than they realize, and leaving this vague leads to confusion later.
Defining the scope upfront creates greater consistency and helps teams understand when they need to follow the contract management process.
Think through the contracts that shape day-to-day work, long-term commitments, and regulatory exposure. Focus on agreements that carry clear contract terms, ongoing responsibilities, or legal and financial risk.
Common categories to include:
You can also note which low-risk documents fall outside the policy. Being specific here reduces guesswork and keeps contract management focused on the agreements that have the most impact on your organization.
Before locking in rules, take a moment to document how contracts actually move through your business today. This step surfaces gaps, delays, and handoffs that tend to cause friction later. A clear map also makes it easier to align procedures across teams.
Key stages to outline:
Mapping this flow gives you a realistic baseline. From there, you can tighten procedures and remove steps that slow everything down.
Contracts move faster when everyone knows their role. If ownership feels vague, decisions tend to stall, and contracts get stuck in limbo. So, this step is about making it obvious who does what at each point in the process.
Look into how a contract typically flows between parties and stakeholders. For example, a sales agreement might be kicked off by a sales lead, reviewed by legal, checked by finance, and approved by a manager before it’s signed.
However, ownership shouldn’t stop once a contract is signed. Someone still needs oversight for renewals, obligations, and follow-ups. That might be an operations lead tracking deadlines or a legal stakeholder stepping in if terms change.
Once ownership is clear, the next step is bringing consistency to how contracts are written.
Standardized contract drafting reduces confusion, shortens review cycles, and makes contract terms easier to manage over time.
Start by identifying which templates already exist and which ones need work. If reliable templates don’t exist yet, this is the moment to develop them. Approved language, consistent formatting, and clear fallback positions help keep contracts aligned with internal expectations.
Clear review and approval rules keep contracts moving through workflows without confusion or delay. The goal is to stay consistent while giving teams a clear way to assess risk and responsibility at each step.
This section is about removing any doubt around how agreements get signed and where they live afterward.
Decide who can sign contracts, when that authority applies, and where it’s limited. Keeping signing authority tight helps the business stay in control and comply with internal rules.
It’s also worth calling out the technology teams should use. Requiring an approved signing method avoids side deals, lost files, and confusion around final versions. One shared approach keeps everything clean and traceable.
Finally, be clear on contract storage. Signed contracts should land in one place, under clear conditions, with access limited to the right people.
Once an agreement is executed, the real work shifts to managing it over time. A clear plan for post-signature management helps teams stay on top of obligations, avoid missed deadlines, and spot opportunities early.
This part of the policy should explain how contracts are monitored and who is responsible for keeping them active and accurate, especially as agreements grow more complex.
Key areas to define:
Risk and compliance run through the entire life of a contract, not just the review stage. So, this part of the policy should explain how contracts are handled in a way that supports good practices without slowing everything down.
For example, certain agreements may need tighter controls because of data access, financial impact, or regulatory rules.
Others may carry a lower risk but still require clear records and approvals. Calling this out helps teams understand why some contracts move faster than others and what the result should look like when the process is followed.
It’s also helpful to explain how contract compliance is checked over time. That could mean periodic reviews, audit trails, or access controls that limit who can edit or view sensitive contracts.
Before the policy goes live, take time to review it with the people who will actually use it. Keeping the process open encourages better feedback and helps catch gaps that might slow adoption later.
Legal, sales, finance, and operations teams often spot different issues, and that shared knowledge strengthens the final version.
For instance, a quick walkthrough with stakeholders can reveal where instructions feel unclear or where extra guidance would help. Adjusting the policy before rollout saves time and avoids frustration once it’s in use.
When you roll it out, focus on clarity rather than formality. Explain how the policy fits into everyday work and where teams can find answers if questions come up.
At the end of the process, the real benefit is a policy people understand and follow.
A contract management policy gives structure to how agreements are handled, but writing it is only part of the work. The bigger question is how easy it is for teams to actually follow once real contracts start moving.
If the process feels disconnected from daily contract workflows, the policy tends to fade into the background.
That’s where having the right system makes a difference. Aline supports the full contract lifecycle in one place, so the guidelines you set translate into real action.
Drafting, review, signing, reporting, and ongoing management all live in the same workflow, which helps teams stay aligned without extra effort.
Curious what it looks like when your contract management policy and your tools work together?
A contract management policy explains how an organization creates, reviews, approves, signs, and manages contracts. It sets clear expectations so teams handle agreements consistently, meet internal standards, and comply with legal requirements, including federal rules when applicable.
The four pillars are contract creation, contract execution, contract administration, and contract closeout. Together, they cover how contracts are drafted, finalized, managed over time, and formally completed.
The five steps typically include contract request and drafting, review and negotiation, approval and signing, ongoing management, and closeout or renewal. Many teams now rely on automation to keep these steps organized and reduce manual follow-up.
The commonly cited rules include offer, acceptance, consideration, mutual intent, capacity, legality, and certainty. These elements help determine whether an agreement is enforceable under the law.
A contract management policy defines the processes and controls that ensure contracts are reviewed, approved, and signed correctly. By standardizing how content is handled and agreements are executed, the policy supports the creation of clear, legally binding obligations that hold up over time.
Brent is an attorney, a full-stack JavaScript engineer and the CEO of Aline.
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