Best Practice in Contract Management

Overview

This online live training course will give participants an initial introduction and understanding of commercial, legal and engagement considerations of contract management.

• Managing contracts, licenses, and tenders to avoid costly mistakes and errors
• Implementing agreements and undertakings promptly and correctly
• Your responsibilities and best practice when issuing tender invitations or negotiating terms and conditions
• Ensuring you have greater commercial awareness and legal understanding.

At the end of this training participants will be able to:

• Know how you and others can best influence commercial success
• Recognise the main commercial and stakeholder issues which are most important
• Increase your confidence when dealing with legal, commercial and contractual issues
• Identify the key aspects of contract performance which can be improved in your organisation and individual projects

This course will enable you to

Understand:

1. The elements of commercial behaviour and effective project and contract delivery

• Factors which make the difference between business success and failure in contracts and project management
• Examples of good and bad commercial behaviour and contractual mistakes
• Commercial awareness best-practice checklist and summary

2. The Commercial Environment

• Identifying and managing the network of internal and external relationships
• Briefing and communication skills
• Establishing and using authority and influence

3. The legal matters

• The key elements of contract law
• Rights and remedies when contracts go wrong
• Specific issues such as Intellectual Property, Limits of Liability, Penalties and Damages
• Legal awareness best-practice checklist and summary

4. Contract management best practice

• What is your stakeholder engagement strategy?
• Partnerships and alliances: making them work to your benefit
• Contact management best-practice checklist and summary

5. An introduction to contracts and stakeholder rights

• Differing approaches to specifying goods and services
• Managing variations and change at different stages
• Pricing and cost management issues.

6. Managing contracts effectively

• Using the contract as a working tool
• The responsibilities and obligations of those involved
• Breach of contract, what it means and how to deal with it
• Dispute resolution, including arbitration, mediation and conciliation
• Record keeping and administration.

7. Commercial risk management

• Risk management tools such as Heat Maps and Risk Registers
• Identifying and prioritising risk
• Dealing with risks: risk mitigation approaches
• Risk management best-practice checklist and summary

8. The financial environment

• Understanding the key financial terms and documents: the balance sheet, the profit and loss account and the cash flow statement
• Methods of costing and the benefits and pitfalls of each of them
• Assessing the financial impact and consequences of contract management

9. Effective negotiation – 1

• Planning and preparation: how to structure a negotiation.
• Win-win and win-perceived-win forms of negotiation
• Push and pull styles of persuasion; the five modes.

10. Negotiation in action – 2

• Behavioural skills in negotiation.
• Tactics and techniques: ten of the best.
• The most common negotiation errors.
• Negotiation best-practice checklist and summary.

Who is the Course aimed at

All employees who are involved in Contract Management and/or those who are being prepared to be involved in this area.