The waste management industry appreciates cleanliness. Clean contracts form the basis of this.

As important as clean contract design is, it often also entails uncertainty. In many cases, the process is cooperative up to this point, and suddenly the parties in question stumble upon a limited view of only their own aspects. Common interests must be reconciled to put things back on the right track.

A contract puts together a package of services and defines within which boundaries they must be rendered for both parties. If the contract design is smart, it provides safety for the near future. It is essentially about the definition of the agreed service. At the same time, both parties can check the agreements at any time. This ensures the implementation of the respective interests.

In waste management, the contract forms the central component for downstream processes at the customers. Similar to a paperclip, it consolidates all services and obligations towards the end customer. The contract thus forms the basis to orchestrate the processes with the available capacities in the company. One thing is obvious: this core element must also be covered by the same software which controls the business processes. However, coverage alone is not enough.

When designed correctly, the process of contract design and contractual performance supports anything right from the beginning – i.e., sales – through administration, processing or also fleet management. When receiving goods there is ideally a check whether the lorry really contains what was agreed upon. If this is not the case, the respective additional service can be entered in the system immediately.

At the end of the day, this means that a contract is not just a list of things to do but also a trigger for all customer-related steps. An integrated approach ends with invoicing triggering the cash flow for the company in a transparent way and as quickly as possible.

What does that mean for the ERP system as the command bridge in a company? The standard of software available on the market is clearly not sufficient. The standard of Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations amended with a vertical solution such as Environmental services by COSMO CONSULT provides this functionality for waste management companies out of the box.

In the global implementation projects, COSMO CONSULT addresses exactly those parameters which are essential for the waste management industry. Among others, the industry solution covers the following aspects:

• contracts for incoming and outgoing material flows
• definition of materials (quantity, type and quality), services (delivery or collection modalities)
• mapping of different price models
• contract lifecycle (important for timely renewal) with versions and historiography
• control of delivery status, material quantity and contractual performance
• templates facilitate contract preparation
• sales- and cost-related items in one contract
• mapping of container services