All the latest ContractZen feature updates are listed here.     

January 20, 2023                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

IMPORTANT ENTITY MANAGEMENT UPDATES

Access Groups
To improve and allow more detailed access control, we have expanded the Access Groups add-on feature to Entity Management. With this feature, it is possible to set user access per entity (or entities). Account administrators can find more info about the Access Groups in the in-app Store.

Custom Metadata
Our Custom Metadata add-on feature is now available for Entity Management as well. With this feature, you can create max three (3) new metadata fields of your choice. Name them freely and select the type for each new field (available types are text, date, number, multi-select, or radio button). Account administrators can find more info about this in the in-app Store. Remember that Custom Metadata is also available for your Contracts!

LEI code
We have created a new field for entities: LEI code (Legal Entity Identifier). It is visible for every entity. Remember that if you don't need it (or any other field), your account administrator can hide it in the Account-->Edit Settings page.

NEW TYPES TO FINANCE&ADMIN CATEGORY

Based on the wishes of our customers, we have created new Types for the Finance & Admin category. The new types are:

• ESG
• Financial planning
• Financial statements
• Mergers & acquisitions
• Property
• Strategy

Remember that you can always create your own Custom Types!

OTHER UPDATES

Automatic title extraction from files in Add Contract functionality
Adding a contract is now even easier: Click the Add Contract button in the List View or Folder View pages, attach a file to the contract, and we will add the file name automatically as the title of the contract if the title field is empty. If you attach more than one file, the first file's name will be added as the title. This works in all contract management categories (Contracts, HR, etc).

Info about users' MFA for admins
Account administrators can now see on the Edit Users & Access Rights page that users have enabled Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). Coming up next is the possibility for the administrators to force MFA for all users in the account.

Meeting duration can now be disregarded
Sometimes, it is not necessary to set a duration for a meeting. Now, you can select a dash (-) as the duration for a meeting on the Overview page. Then, the meeting's end time will be the same as the start time.

Board Portal Document Library improvement
To help you organize your documents in any meeting category's Document Library, we have added grouping titles to the page. Those titles are created automatically from the Document Types you create and select for your documents.

SignHero eSignature authorization improvement
We have noticed that sometimes SignHero requires users to do a reauthorization, i.e., connect the SignHero account. To make this easier, now the reauthorization button appears automatically on the Send for the Signature page to all users who are required to do that. So, the administrators don't need to disable/enable SignHero anymore in the Store.

November 12, 2022

ContractZen UI updated!

WHY?
a) To make the navigation easier.
b) To make many notable features more accessible.
c) To improve onboarding.

HOW?
The update is automatic, so you do not need to do anything. However, if you use more than one of our solution areas, after the update you will be asked to select your preferred landing page.

Short Summary of the UI Changes

All the main solution areas (Contract Management, Board Portal, Entity Management, Datarooms) will be shown below the header, so they are more accessible. The users will only see the solution areas and categories they have access rights to.

Now, it's even easier to perform searches as the Full-text search (with search operators like AND, OR, NOT...) and Saved search filters are always visible at the top of the List View page.

We have added more functions to the header, so they are always accessible. You will find there, for example:

• Global search (search through the whole account)
• Calendar with all reminders
• Inbox (documents sent by email)
• Your recent documents
• Activity feed (activities of all users)
• Settings.

Because all the main functions are now always accessible, the need for the current dashboard was diminished, and thus, we have removed it. We will be re-designing it and will bring it back in the future.

Also, as all the solution areas are always one click away, the left side menu will be removed for now.

All solution areas have been updated with the new header and navigation.

There are some other minor usability changes (like naming and the positioning of the buttons.)

Select your landing page

This update does not require anything from you. However, since the dashboard will be removed, if you use more than one of the main solution areas, you will need to select a page you want to be directed to when you sign in.

You can already go to your User menu (https://my.contractzen.com/User/Manage) and select the page (check below screenshot). If you don't remember to do that before the change, no worries. We will direct you to your Personal Settings to make the selection after the UI update is done.

May 5, 2022

POWERFUL BOOLEAN OPERATORS AVAILABLE 

Search lightning fast through all your metadata and document contents, indexed by Microsoft AI-powered OCR, with Google-like search commands like AND, OR, NOT.

Search as you do with Google

You can now combine your search terms with Boolean operators: AND, OR, NOT, *, (), "". Simply type your keywords and the operator(s) in the dashboard search boxes under contract management categories, header search bar, or text search in any category's filters. It works in contracts, meetings, entities and VDRs!

Read more about how to use the operators at https://contractzen.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/1990024.

Use the operators also with advanced search filters

The multi-select fields in contracts and meetings (Type, Custom Type, Common Tags, and Access Groups) now have the option to choose between AND/OR operators. So, you can decide if your search results must fulfill all or just one of the filters.

Search through documents, images and even photos

Please also remember that with our Full-Text Search and Microsoft Azure Computer Vision based OCR, all the document contents within your account are automatically and securely indexed by Azure Search. It does not matter if the files are images or even photos - anything goes! You will find all you need within your documents, for example, a certain clause, a project name, a person or a product code. (If the OCR for some reason is not enabled in your account, your administrator can take it into use in the Account Settings.)

April 21, 2022

GOOGLE LOGIN AVAILABLE

Google Authentication is now available for ContractZen users. New users can choose in the register page to authenticate with Google. If you are already a user in ContractZen, you can switch to Google SSO in the User settings (click your profile picture in the upper right corner and choose User).

While you're at it, we suggest that you activate Multi-factor authentication (MFA) as well in the User menu - as it helps you to keep your account safe and secure.

ENTITY MANAGEMENT UPDATES

Show route to the parent
The ownership chart in Entity Management has now the possibility to show the route from a company all the way to the parent. Click the route icon on the bottom right corner of any company in the chart. It will hide all other companies from the chart except the ones on the path. You can also download this view as an image. Click the same icon (or refresh the page) to show all companies in the chart again.

Excel export
Now it is possible to export the company details from Entity Management to Excel. Simply, go to the list page of the companies, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Export to Excel. It will export all the metadata fields of the companies.

OTHER UPDATES

New search filter: Reminders in 30, 60 or 90 days
We have added a new search filter. It will list all contracts with reminders coming up in the next 30, 60, or 90 days (incl. expiry dates). You can find it from the dashboard under each contract management category, so it's super easy to access your upcoming reminders directly from the dashboard. This search filter is also available in the Search Filters when you go inside any contract category.

Dashboard updates
We have made a couple of updates to the dashboard:

• You can start a text search in any contract management category directly from the dashboard. Just type the search term into the search box under the specific category and press Enter. Remember that it will also use the OCR to search within the content of your documents as long as you have it enabled in your account settings by your administrator.
• The new Quick Links section is available to account administrators. It allows even easier access to the most needed settings. Also, there is a link to our latest Feature Updates and to our Share & Get Rewarded program page!

Estimated Time field added to Meeting Agenda
In the meeting agendas, there is a new field for Estimated Time. It is a plain text field visible in every agenda section. It will be visible in the MeetingBook PDF file as well.

Referral program: share and get rewarded!

Remember our Referral Program: If you share ContractZen with a friend and they become a paid customer, you will both be rewarded six (6) months of free usage for one user. You can find the program details at https://info.contractzen.com/share-get-rewarded.

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November 18, 2021

New mobile apps available!

We are excited to introduce our brand new mobile apps!

The fully-featured app lets you find any important contract information or meeting detail with your mobile device anywhere, anytime.

The app works almost exactly as the browser version with a few small exceptions due to technical and App Store restrictions:

• In-app Store and VDR creation are hidden (however, you can access and manage your existing VDRs).
• Excel export is disabled in Android apps.

To take our mobile apps into use, go to Google Play Store or Apple App Store and search for "ContractZen", or simply follow these links and download the app:

Video conferencing link added to board portal

We have added a new field to the meeting management overview page named Meeting Link. There you can add a link for your online meeting in Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, Webex, etc.

The link is automatically added to meeting invite emails and to the iCalendar file (.ics), which you can send simply by clicking Invite on the meeting overview page.

ContractZen Teams app now available for purchase in Teams Store

Earlier this year, ContractZen was chosen by Microsoft for its Early Access Program (EAP) for Microsoft Teams. Our solution is now one of the first transactable offers in the world in the Microsoft Teams app store as well as the Teams Admin Center!

Have you already tested it? It’s free of charge for our existing users.

With the ContractZen Teams app, all your meeting materials, contracts, and other important documents are just a click away in Microsoft Teams. You can use all ContractZen features in the Teams app: Contract Management, Board Portal, Entity Management, Virtual Data Rooms, and eSignatures.

You can install the ContractZen for Teams app directly from the Microsoft Teams Store:

• Click Apps from the bottom left corner when signed into Teams.
• Then type “ContractZen” in the search bar OR simply use this link https://teams.microsoft.com/l/app/701972b8-c49f-45f9-8cfa-15cbd38cbef5?source=store-copy-link.
• Click "Add" and choose the team where you would like to use it.
  
  

SignHero will no longer be free of charge

SignHero has recently announced that they will introduce a service fee in their eSigning service, so it will no longer be free of charge. In the future, their service will cost 5€/user/month. It will affect you if you are using SignHero directly from their website or via ContractZen.
If you have been using SignHero before, it is still available for free until January 1st, 2022. If you do not wish to use the paid version, you can just remove your account. If you want to continue using their service, you need to add payment details in your SignHero account https://signhero.io/#/signin. In case you are a SignHero user, you should have received an email already from SignHero about this update. If you have any questions, please contact SignHero.