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Contract Status

System 7 establishes a solid foundation of shared information access, administrative efficiency and intelligent operations that empowers an organization to grow and prosper. Integration of Contract Administration , Rights Management , Workflow and Finance enhances morale and revolutionizes adaptability .

Non-financial managers in Sales , Legal and Operations benefit from queries that start with the familiarity of contracts, customers and assets and then easily break out invoice, cash receipts, royalty and revenue details with a few clicks. Staff competence mushrooms as the burden of redundant data entry and cross-validation is lifted. Reports and Financial Drill Down queries cut across traditional boundaries to offer discriminating views and unexpected insights.

Full financial integration correlates contract data with all related billing, collection, recoupment and administrative data. These compilations may be exported for further analysis (Excel) and visual presentation (Powerpoint). Direct access to source documentation (Contracts, Invoices, Payments and Royalty Reports) builds confidence in the content, accuracy and validity of every query and report.

Intellectual Property Contracts typically specify a stream of planned and contingent invoices. If a contract remains unaltered during its lifecycle, these invoices may theoretically be produced, printed and posted by any general purpose accounts receivable software product. However, this one-way data transfer inevitably sacrifices billing, collections and revenue details. The impact of this data loss is felt in many areas. Financial data relating to specific assets, territories, rights and distribution channels is lost. Invoice and general ledger revisions triggered by contract amendments are journalized manually. Cash-basis revenues are unknown. Excel is the primary reporting tool. Information is scattered everywhere.

When a cash receipt is applied to an invoice by a standard receivables system , a general ledger journal voucher is generated debiting a Cash account and crediting a Receivables account. No consideration is given to the contents of that invoice. This omission becomes critical when the calculation of Third Party Participations is a corporate responsibility. However, the required invoice line item level references are absent.

System 7 incorporates cash-basis revenue recognition within cash receipts. No operator intervention is required. Each invoice line item is automatically inspected for possible links to assets, territories, rights and distribution channels. Contract revenue allocations are used to calculate general ledger posting of cash revenues. This posting forms the basis for automated calculation of third party Participations Payable from cash income.

Corporate Intranet Portals have proven to be one of the best products of browser technology. Conceptually, they perform the magic of tying together disparate systems into a coherent and comprehensible whole. Contract Rights Management systems support this endeavor by bringing to light an entire cosmos of contracts, availabilities, events and accounts that are otherwise obscured by an overwhelming diversity of databases, spreadsheets and systems. Intranet technology eases that effort by simplifying access, combining information sources and minimizing training.

Event alerts are activated according to predetermined monitoring criteria (in the form of data filters and other options). Limitations may be set to restrict alerts to specific contracts, assets, parties, divisions, date ranges and exceeded financial thresholds. In the financial area, examples include: cash receipt payments over $100,000, royalty reports over $1,000,000, scheduled invoices over $25,000, general ledger revenue recognition over $500,000. Each alert provides one-click options for approval, updating and/or investigation .

Extranet Portals offer the opportunity to automate customer and business partner relations. Approvals, Offers, Updates and Payment Detail may be entered directly through a web interface. Contact information, contract status, account history and event calendaring may be accessed. Participants benefit from an expanded sense of visibility, control and efficiency.

Each extranet is as unique as the intellectual property business that employs it. Extranets ease and automate information exchange between licensor and licensee, producer and distributor, publisher and sub-rights holder. Product submissions, sales offers, royalty reports, contract status queries, royalty history recaps, payment summaries and many other possibilities gain in responsiveness, timeliness and accuracy.

System 7 gives executives the big picture: packages of assets, groups of territories, classes of rights. Magic happens when a few clicks drill down to detailed targets and source documents. Executive queries are accessed through Favorites or a corporate intranet. No experience required.

Asset Query combines Asset Catalog, Rights Ownership, Rights Exploitation, Rights Restrictions, Contractual Parties and Availability Analysis .

People Query examines Business Relationships, Performance Analysis, Contact Database , Personal Events, Contract Involvement and Corporate Capacities.

Contract Query views Contract Summaries, Contract Status, Collections Status, Payment Status, Granted Rights, Version History and Attached Parties.

Sales Query consolidates Contract Invoice Line Items by Asset, Territory, Right, Distribution Channel, Product and Accounting Period.

Cash Flow Projection integrates open invoices, pending invoices and estimated invoices to predict contract-driven cash flows by Asset, Territory, Rights and Channels.

Calendar Monitor notifies viewers of Contractual Events, Approval Steps, Critical Dates, Tickler Reminders, Active Projects, Required Actions and Concept Submissions.

Single purpose contact management systems limit their financial record keeping to note fields. In companies that make use of these systems, information about invoicing, sales and inventories is held separately within corporate ERP systems. This functional division eliminates the possibility of queries and reports that cross reference sales activity with financial success.

System 7 integrates Contact Management and Revenue Accounting into a set of seamless note taking and query tools. Salesperson-oriented web entry screens eliminate cumbersome navigation steps. Integrated queries inspire countless drill down research adventures . Offer Sheets and Workflow Actions capture deals and events. Offer Sheets log deal memos and projected deals. Workflow Actions plan, remind and record sales and marketing activities.

Offer Sheets feature a single screen format focused on granted rights and basic financial terms. Note fields summarize payment schedules and pricing information. Integrated Asset, Customer and Contract Queries zero in on rights availability, account status and contract history. An Offer Sheet Form prints at the press of a button. Offer Sheet entry notifies Legal of pending deals and Finance of present or future (renewals) sales budget items.

Licensees make partial payments, recalculated payments and late payments. They have their reasons. A strong systems infrastructure prevents misapplied receipts, minimizes disputes and alerts account managers when extraordinary efforts may be required. Timely calculation and invoicing of guarantee shortfalls eliminates confusion. Royalty discrepancy statements ensure licensee compliance. Release-driven invoicing eliminates holdbacks. Monitoring functions highlight overdue invoices and newly received payments. Internal and external collections emails are triggered.

Account managers benefit from Aging reports and Contract queries that reference and complement each other. Contract Status query shows current billing and payment condition of each contract invoice line item. Aging and Cash Flow Projection reports present issued, future and estimated invoices (summary, detail and exploded levels) as far into the past or future as necessary. Summary queries allow instant drill down to supporting invoice, cash receipt and contract detail.

Successful account managers consider commissions and incentive programs in their contract recommendations and terms enforcement. Proper systems support enables the construction of contracts with sophisticated success premiums and innovative contingent payments. Elegant reports and convenient queries offer visibility to year to year comparisons, expected versus actual invoice dates, guarantee recoupment status and cash-basis revenue recognition. Informed representatives fine-tune their net incomes from a virtual command center.

About Jaguar News

Jaguar News is published periodically for the purpose of maintaining communications with Jaguar’s clients, prospective clients and other parties interested in the field of Intellectual Property Contract Rights Management. Jaguar Consulting was founded in 1985 for the express purpose of designing, developing, installing and supporting Intellectual Property Software Solutions.

Clients include Alliance-Atlantis Communications, Cinar, DIC Entertainment, Explore International, Flextech Television, Goodtimes Video, Hallmark Entertainment, Harmony Gold, HIT Entertainment, Jim Henson Productions, Lions Gate Entertainment, Major League Baseball, MGM, NBA, NBC, National Geographic Society, Nelvana, Sesame Workshop, Southern Star, Warner Home Video and WNBA.

System 7 Universal Rights Management is Jaguar’s seventh generation software product. It is an all-new design created specifically to bring contract rights management technology to all forms of intellectual property, including patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets and permissions. This groundbreaking system features a Universal Contract Database, Multi-Level Rights Inheritance, a fully-configurable Custom Rights Framework, and Integrated Rights and Royalties Management. System 7 is available in the following software modules: Intranet Portal, Contract Administration, Rights and Restrictions, Workflow Management, Revenue Accounting, Royalties Receivable and Participations Payable.

Further information including a white paper, System 7 Fundamentals, and a test drive of System 7 Intranet is available at http://www.jaguartc.com/system7.

Jaguar Consulting Inc. 
Pasadena, California 
Lincoln Center, New York
London, United Kingdom

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