Step-by-step: managing private powers of attorney with and without netLex

No one denies that powers of attorney are essential documents for the performance of a company. They give natural persons the powers to represent businesses in negotiations, judicial or extrajudicial proceedings, and to make commitments with varied practical impacts.

Therefore, it is desirable that such a relevant document be closely monitored by the corporation, from its issuance, ensuring that all the company's rules are observed, going through renewal, in time to guarantee the validity of the acts performed by the grantees, all the way until the end, protecting the enterprise at the closing of this legal relationship.

See more about the main points of attention when managing these instruments here: Data-driven: three types of data to effectively manage a Power of Attorney

In practice, even though companies try to manage the life cycle of these legal documents in the most appropriate way possible, achieving this goal is harder without the right tools.

Therefore, in this text you will see a step-by-step comparison between the management of private powers of attorney without netLex, using several other instruments, such as e-mail, spreadsheets and open edition documents; and with netLex, a CLM platform that brings together the functionality of all these tools and more.

1. Requesting

Without netLex

The grantee requests the issuance or update of his power of attorney by e-mail, which contains the information he deems important for the document to be produced. In some companies, there might be an internal form through which the request is made.

With netLex

The grantee requests the issuance or updating of the power of attorney via an intuitive and automated questionnaire, with mandatory completion of all the information necessary for the subsequent steps. This request is immediately sent, via the platform, to the person responsible for checking and approving the document, and can be viewed in a simplified dashboard.

2. Checking and granting approval

Without netLex

The e-mail or form is directed to a specific employee, whose attributions involve, among others, checking all requests in order to identify whether they comply with the company's parameters.

To carry out this analysis, they draw on their extensive experience in the sector, having already memorized the rules applicable to each type of request. Occasionally, they check some personal notes, compiled in scattered documents, or look for the reference among the rules of the corporation.

If all the requirements for issuing the power of attorney are fulfilled, the person responsible forwards the request for preparation, sending a copy of an authorization also via e-mail.

When information is missing, it is necessary to respond to the e-mail requesting its complementation. If the analysis concludes that the request should be denied, it is up to the person in charge to send an e-mail to inform the requester and explain the reasons for the decision.

At the same time, the employee records each request received in a long spreadsheet, in which he manually fills in the date of entry of the request, the person in charge, and the result of the analysis.

With netLex

The person responsible for the conference receives all the necessary information from the automated questionnaire. It remains to analyze whether the other requirements for issuing the power of attorney are fulfilled. All these parameters are arranged in the system in an easy-to-view dashboard, simplifying the decision-making process.

They can then authorize the preparation of the power of attorney within the platform, in which case the workflow will continue automatically, observing the company's rules by default, with full recording of all informations.

If authorization is denied, the applicant is automatically informed of the reasons provided in the software.

All data referring to the request and the document to be produced are extracted automatically, for the generation of intelligence.

3. Elaboration

Without netLex

Once the request is approved, the power of attorney is drawn up from another document previously produced. The criterion for selecting models is usually the most recent one with those specific powers, and the employee is responsible for removing all information from the previous file and including the ones referring to the new grant.

In order to perform this activity, it is necessary to compile the data referring to each request in a spreadsheet. When the file is finished, it is also sent to those responsible for the signature by e-mail.

With netLex

Once notified, via the platform, of the authorization to prepare the power of attorney, the person responsible for this new stage selects a model of the document that is already fully automated, and fills it out through a flexible and intuitive questionnaire.

When the file is finished, it is automatically sent, via the platform, to those responsible for the signature. All relevant data is extracted directly from the questionnaires and from the workflow.

4. Signatures

Without netLex

The person responsible for collecting the signatures must master the company's organizational flowcharts to identify to whom to send each power of attorney and in what order. In most companies, this request is done via e-mail or an electronic signature software.

With netLex

Considering information previously entered in the platform, it is also possible to include all the signing parties in this step automatically.

In addition, netLex has native integrations with the main providers of electronic and digital signature on the market, allowing the control of the signing process to be carried out entirely within the platform, with broad visibility to all those involved.

5. Storage

Without netLex

Each grantee stores their own powers of attorney in folders on their personal computer or even in physical files. When the manager needs to check the powers that each employee has, they must consult a spreadsheet filled in manually or even refer to the original document.

With netLex

All powers of attorney are stored on the platform, with broad access to the managers. Important information is also compiled into simplified dashboards, formed from data extracted directly and automatically from the original documents.

6. Management

Without netLex

The visibility and management of a power of attorne’s life cycle is restricted to the grantee or even to a specific area of the company. This translates into reduced availability of relevant data for analysis and intelligence generation.

It is then necessary to ask those responsible for each stage of the flow to find out about a specific document. This communication is done through a variety of means, leaving employees anxious and pressured to respond.

With netLex

The management of powers of attorney via netLex provides full visibility for managers, who can easily identify which stage of the life cycle a given document is in, tracking it from request to signature.

It is not necessary to individually call those responsible for each step, giving them space and tranquility to work. Data extraction takes place automatically on the platform, making a variety of relevant information available to the manager.

7. Data and intelligence

Without netLex

Throughout a power of attorney’s life cycle, each employee records the data that are useful to them in their own spreadsheets. The editing of these databases is subjected to little control, leaving doubt as to whether the information contained therein is really correct.

To generate intelligence from this data is necessary to gather the spreadsheets, as well as to check and standardize the entries, which can mobilize a considerable amount of time and effort from employees.

With netLex

The platform extracts data directly from the documents and their respective workflows in an automated way, eliminating the need for manual compilation by employees. There is certainty that the data is extracted exactly as it was entered in the questionnaire or as it was recorded during the flow.

All entries are unified in a single database, which can be exported and used as a reference for analysis and intelligence generation.

Comparative board

To summarize what you have learned in this text, we prepared for you a comparative table of the risks and advantages generated by the management of private powers of attorney without and with netLex. Check it out below!Get familiar with efficiency

Documents as important as a company's private powers of attorney need to be well managed in order to avoid risks. Therefore, of the two scenarios compared in this text, your company deserves to become familiar with the one that generates more efficiency.

With netLex, it is possible to fully manage the flow of production, renewal and cancellation of these legal instruments in a simpler and safer way.

To learn more about the application of netLex to the management of your powers of attorney, click here and contact our team of experts.