01 — The problem
The renewal you discover after the notice period
Storing contracts is rarely the problem; tracking them is. PDFs sit in shared drives and inboxes, and one person maintains a spreadsheet of end dates. When they're on vacation, auto-renewals slip through.
Obligations like price adjustments and volume commitments hide in clauses nobody re-reads. Approvals for new contracts happen by email. Enterprise contract lifecycle management suites cover this, but can be heavy for a team that mainly needs a reliable register.
02 — What to build
What to track in your contract management system
A contract register with counterparty, type, owner, department, value, start and end date, renewal type and notice period.
A calculated notice deadline and reminders to the owner well before it.
Obligations each party committed to, with due dates and a responsible person.
Intake and approval for new contracts and amendments, with thresholds by value or type.
Documents and versions linked to each contract record.
AI-suggested key terms from uploaded contracts, confirmed by a person before they're saved.
Roles: contract owner, legal reviewer, finance approver, procurement and read-only viewer.
03 — How to build it
How to build contract management software in Henosia
Create a private project
It's a sandbox; nothing goes live until you publish.
Add mock data
fictional contracts with your real register columns, plus a few redacted sample agreements.
Connect a database for contracts, obligations and approvals.
Plan in Plan mode
The agent asks clarifying questions, such as how to handle evergreen contracts, and proposes a plan. Nothing is built until you choose to build.
Build and test with legal and a few contract owners.
Publish with access control by role and contract type.
An example Plan-mode prompt:
Plan a contract management app for procurement and legal.
Each contract has a counterparty, type, owner, annual value, end date, renewal type and notice period; calculate the notice deadline.
Remind the owner before the notice deadline and show legal upcoming renewals by department.
When a PDF is uploaded, suggest end date, renewal type and notice period, but a person must confirm them before saving.
New contracts above the approval threshold need finance sign-off before they can become active.Paste it into a private Henosia project in Plan mode. The agent asks questions and proposes a plan first.
04 — Before you go live
Rules, AI and people: what to settle before real contracts go in
In a Henosia webinar, Danish e-commerce company 4tal described using deterministic rules for stable, repetitive steps and AI where interpretation is needed, with a human in the loop for critical decisions. Contracts fit that split well. A notice deadline is a date calculation, not an AI judgment. Reading a clause is interpretation, so treat AI output as a suggestion.
Before real agreements go in, decide who owns the register, which contract types are restricted, and who can edit versus only read. Scope any link to e-signature, procurement or finance systems per system, data direction and access level.
Start a private project in Henosia, load a mock contract register, and plan it with legal and procurement together.
Start a private project05 — FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between contract management software and contract lifecycle management?
Contract management software often focuses on storing contracts and tracking dates and owners. Contract lifecycle management covers the full process: request, drafting, approval, signature, obligations and renewal. A custom app can start with the register and reminders, then add intake and approvals later.
Can AI contract management read our existing contracts?
You can plan an app where AI suggests key terms, such as end date or notice period, from uploaded contracts. Treat those as suggestions a person confirms, because a wrong date can cost you a renewal decision. Test extraction on redacted samples before relying on it for real agreements.
How do we keep confidential contracts restricted?
Model visibility by contract type and role, so only the right people see employment or sensitive commercial agreements. Henosia describes access by company email domain plus more granular app-level access. Agree on the data owner, read and write rights, and who approves publishing with IT and legal first.
Do I need developers to build a contract management app?
Not for a first version. Procurement or legal operations can plan and build it in Henosia without writing code themselves. Bring in IT for access to confidential documents, integrations with signing or finance systems, and a review before the app becomes the official contract register for the business.