Contracts are written and negotiated by people. People make mistakes. Therefore the world of contracts contains mistakes.
Some mistakes are straight up logical errors, like when the Commencement Date is after the Expiry Date (we have seen that a lot…). Sometimes the same data point is defined in two different places with different values. Sometimes the clause numbering is messed up and all the references are wrong.
Other times, there is ambiguity over what is being agreed to. Sometimes deliberately.
Sometimes the information is incomplete because there are missing documents. Sometimes it’s accidentally been left out. Sometimes it’s a special date that is only known after the contract has been signed.
The list goes on, pretty much forever. Contracts are a hotbed for edge cases and confusion.
When you’re creating a contract database, you need to take this nuance into account. There are so many times where it’s not at all safe to just “AI-extract” data from a contract because questions need to be answered first.
This is where our “ambiguities” process comes in. For every single document we organise and data point we capture, if we’re not 100% sure of what needs to happen we make a note of it. There is no substitute for getting input from the customer. We compile those notes, suggest resolutions, and get your sign-off on them to minimise the work you need to do.
No other solution goes even a fraction as far as us in making sure every bump in your contracts is accounted for. Most do nothing at all.