made the paperwork problem worse—version control and collaboration can actually be more difficult in online spaces.

For companies that rely on contracts to function, the challenge of managing paperwork for these contracts can be overwhelming. Contracts are high-stakes documents: they must be accurate, signed, and securely stored. That’s where a document management system like M-Files comes in.

We’ve written about the benefits of document management software before, so today we’re going to focus on one particular aspect of document management: metadata. What is metadata, and what are its benefits? How does it function in a document management system? Read on to find out!

Challenges in Contract Management

 As we mentioned, contract management is a challenge for many companies. Here are just a few of the difficulties inherent in the process:

• Manual errors: We all make mistakes! When employees are creating a contract from scratch, they may make small errors or typos without noticing. Unfortunately, typos and errors on contracts can be potentially damaging to one or both businesses involved.
• Information chaos: When contracts are stored in multiple places, they can get lost or misfiled. Someone might have access to the document who shouldn’t have access. Someone might ask for a new copy of the contract they can’t find, which means there are now two versions floating around…chaos!
• No authoritative version: When contracts are amended, it’s likely that not every copy of that contract will end up getting updated accordingly. Which version is the most updated version? It can be hard to tell.
• Process delays: In order to create a contract and get that contract signed, a long process of writing, emailing, downloading, printing, signing, scanning, uploading, emailing, and filing ensues. Without automation to eliminate some of these tasks or at least notifications that these tasks have been completed, the whole process takes a huge amount of time.

For more details on the challenges of manual contract management, check out this blog.

Thankfully, there’s a better way!

How Document Management Software Can Help

While contract management will always be difficult, document management software can solve or at least lessen many of the problems listed above. Here are just some of the features that document management software provides:

• Data protection: By using a central document management system, contracts can be kept safe and secure. No more paper copies lying around the office or digital copies stored on employees’ computers. You can limit users’ access to only the documents they need to see.
• Templates: Some document management software provides templates that your employees can use to create similar documents. For example, if you have a few standard contract templates, your employees can use a questionnaire interface to plug in dates, numbers, and names to the standard templates.
• Version control: By keeping one central authoritative version of the document, no one will reference an outdated version of a contract. Employees can collaborate on a document without emailing it back and forth, and every previous version is saved in the background (which can be helpful for audit and compliance purposes).
• Automated workflows: One of the biggest benefits of document management software is automated workflows. You can set up workflows to guide contracts from creation to approval, signing, and storage, with automatic notifications along the way. Once each step of the process is done, the system can send the document on to the next person who needs to approve it or sign it. In addition, with e-signing functionality, printing and scanning can be eliminated from the process.

We’ve written more on how automation can enhance document management here.

As you can see, document management software in general has many benefits. But there’s something that sets M-Files apart: It is built around metadata. Why is that important? Let’s get into it!

What is Metadata?

First, let’s define metadata. Metadata is essentially “data about data.” It’s the extra layer of information that describes other data, giving context, structure, and meaning to it. Imagine a photo stored on your phone: beyond the image itself, metadata includes details like the date and time the photo was taken, the camera settings used, the GPS location, and even information about editing or sharing history. This layer of information makes it easier to organize, search, and manage vast amounts of data.

Metadata in Contract Management

In contract management, metadata provides the context essential for effective risk management, compliance oversight, and efficient lifecycle tracking. Here are some of the key metadata elements vital to contract management:

• Identification: Identifying all parties helps clarify responsibilities and rights. Details such as addresses or points of contact may also be included.
• Key Dates and Status: This can include the effective date, expiration/renewal dates, and milestones or review dates. It’s also important to know whether the contract is drafted, active, expired, or terminated.
• Financial and Value Information: This may include the contract value, and any schedule, amount, or conditions related to payments.
• Terms, Clauses, and Conditions: Metadata may track specific provisions related to liabilities, deliverables, or penalties. It can also group contracts according to risk or compliance classifications.
• Authentication Details: Metadata can contain key information about who signed the document and when, ensuring its validity.

M-Files takes metadata like these and uses them to organize all documents according to what they are, not where they are stored within its repository. This organization allows users to quickly and easily find the contracts they need and sort them according to any characteristic they desire. For example, you can sort contracts according to when the next renewal or expiration is scheduled, allowing you to contact the clients or vendors proactively.

AI: The New Frontier of Metadata

These benefits are great already, but AI has turbo-charged the value of metadata. Through the power of AI, M-Files extracts this metadata from your contracts automatically. You don’t need to enter it yourself, saving countless hours of tedious manual data entry.

M-Files is focusing much of their development time into their AI tool, Aino. Aino and other AI tools are developing the ability to analyze contract metadata—helping predict potential risks, optimize negotiation strategies, and even flag unusual terms that may warrant further review.

M-Files also integrate AI to generate dynamic dashboards and natural language search functions. By analyzing metadata trends over time—such as contract performance, risk exposure, and renewal cycles—organizations can identify patterns and optimize their negotiation and compliance strategies. AI not only automates metadata extraction, but it transforms metadata into a strategic asset.

For more on M-Files Aino, read our recent blog!

Harness the Power of Metadata with M-Files

If your business relies on contract management and you haven’t yet implemented a document management system, now’s the time. If you’re ready to take advantage of all that metadata can give your business, let’s talk. Here at Laminin, we can implement, integrate, and customize your M-Files software to make it just the right fit for your business. We can even train your employees to use the system to its fullest extent. Contact us today to get started!