Case Study: Paradise Valley School District

A Best-In-Class Solution for Complex Contract Management

Schools have a variety of complex needs, and numerous complicated contracts to juggle. Fortunately, simplification is Contract Eagle’s speciality.

It's not easy managing a school. Building maintenance, staff training, sports programs, school equipment … it all adds up.

Now imagine managing 45 of them!

The Paradise Valley School District has a purchasing team of seven, and each person can be managing over 120 contracts at once. 

A huge proportion of these contracts are extremely complex too. Many have over 20 counterparties, and some have close to 50. As a result, each team member had developed their own processes – calendars, spreadsheets, and good old-fashioned paper lists – to manage their portfolio. A huge amount of time was spent manually looking up contract statuses and checking expiry and renewal dates.

“We each had our own way of maintaining our contracts and following up with change orders and extensions,” Senior Buyer Lina Ardizzone explains.

“This meant if I went on holiday or was away, my team wouldn't know where I was up to with my contracts and would have to go through the physical file. And I have a lot of contracts! At one point I was up to 117 contracts on my paper cheat sheet, so it would have been very hard for the team to step in and keep track."

Time to Graduate

When Claudia Leon joined the team as Director of Purchasing, she was keen to find a solution that would make contract management easier for her team.

"We had an Excel spreadsheet when I arrived. We didn't know when changes were made or who made them, or if we were looking at the most recent version. In a previous role I had an Access database of contracts, and that was OK. But with seven of us in the office, we needed something a little more robust to keep everyone's contracts visible in one place. That's when I went off shopping!"

In a Class of its Own

Claudia was looking for a combination of features in her ideal contract management system. The team needed a simple-to-use solution capable of managing cooperative contracts with dozens of counterparties, as well as flexibility and customisation options. Contract Eagle ticked all the boxes without the need for a complex implementation project.

“I liked how the system worked”, says Claudia. “How easy it was to use, its user-friendliness.”

Another key differentiator was Contract Eagle’s audit history functionality. Changes in the database are date and time-stamped, so it’s very clear what changes have been made by whom. In a public sector organization with strictly governed procurement practices, this level of transparency is a must.

Top Marks

With Contract Eagle, the whole purchasing team can now view each contract (and its status) in a single location. It’s easy to provide cover for employees on leave and keep track of their contracts, with everyone’s information at the team’s collective fingertips.

Lina still has over 100 contracts, but she makes use of the Contract Eagle dashboard most days to keep tabs on forthcoming events. "Contract Eagle has streamlined our processes. We’re even entering our suppliers' insurance certificates into Contract Eagle, so we can let them know when they’re due to expire. I like that we can put the insurance in there.”

“We're all on the same page, and that is a great benefit. I love that I can enter my contracts into the database, get rid of paper, and rely on Contract Eagle."

Claudia shares Lina’s enthusiasm. “I’m very picky”, she says. And I love it, love it, love it!”

Back to Case Studies

This free White Paper is to help you to evaluate Contract Eagle

Want to understand more about Contract Eagle before you get in touch?

Download our Buyers Guide to learn more about the features and benefits of our Contract Management System, including detailed technical information and pricing.

Then book some time with us to discuss your unique requirements.

Free Download