Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority Saves 42 Days by Automating Contract Management

Implementing Gatekeeper has removed a manual, error-prone process, saving SLFNHA approximately 1,008 hours, or 42 days, annually and giving them visibility and control over their contracts and vendors.

When Richard Gratton, Contract and Procurement Coordinator, joined Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority (SLFNHA) in July, he inherited a fragmented system that made it impossible to know when renewals were due consistently or to get a high-level overview of contracts.

SLFNHA, a non-profit health organization serving First Nation communities across Northern Ontario, was growing rapidly, with over 600 staff, contractors, and subcontractors - and their legacy process simply couldn’t keep pace.

A Day in the Life Before Gatekeeper

Every week, Richard’s colleague spent countless hours navigating a manual contract process: opening Excel spreadsheets, assembling Word templates, uploading documents into their accounting platform, and then chasing signatures through DocuSign.

As Richard recalled, “It took me about two and a half hours to put the whole document together, get it into Sage, populate it, find out what the right code was, because you have to send out emails: ‘Hey, what’s the department coding you’re going to use for this? Who’s paying for this? Where are we pulling from this?’”

When the team needed to find an existing agreement, Richard shared, “It took the team 2.5 days to locate 16 lease contracts”.

Without a central contract repository or automated alerts, critical renewal dates slipped by unnoticed, and executives had no real-time insight into spending or upcoming expirations. SLFNHA’s mission to deliver top-notch healthcare demanded a more streamlined, transparent process to replace this inefficient system.

The Quest for a Scalable Solution

Richard knew the answer lay in automation. He spent his first weeks mapping every step of the manual workflow, documenting how Sage Intacct approvals, contract drafting, and signature collection fed into a single, error-prone Excel file.

His goal was to find a system that could grow with SLFNHA, integrate with Sage Intacct, and enforce consistent processes across all programs.

After evaluating five options and involving stakeholders, from the Director of Finance to program managers, Richard narrowed the choice to Gatekeeper. What sealed the deal was Gatekeeper’s ability to replicate SLFNHA’s familiar Word intake form within its cloud-based platform.

“So we created a request form within Gatekeeper, and everybody will have access to that, whether you’re a collaborator or an employee portal. Basically it mimics exactly what our current form is in the exact same format, so the familiarity is there for them, and they’re not looking at something new, that they’re like, I don’t like change. It’s exactly the same.”

Together with configurable workflows and non-profit-friendly pricing, Gatekeeper emerged as the clear winner.

Building the New Workflow, Step by Step

Gatekeeper’s implementation became a showcase for SLFNHA’s rigorous approach to onboarding and due diligence:

1. Data Gathering with Precision: Stakeholders fill out a Gatekeeper intake form that mirrors SLFNHA’s Word template. Every field from start and end dates to department codes and funding sources is mandatory, leaving no room for incomplete submissions. If a requester misses any detail, Gatekeeper prompts them, ensuring the data is accurate and reliable.
2. Supplier Risk and Approval Checks: Behind the scenes, Procurement reviews each form. They assess supplier risk (red/amber/green) and confirm all information. Only after Procurement’s green light does Gatekeeper trigger the next step, preventing contracts from moving forward with unknown variables.
3. Automated Draft Creation: Approved requests morph into contract drafts automatically. Gatekeeper populates a contract template with the precise details captured earlier - name, scope, and rates - cutting the drafting process from hours to minutes. Procurement quickly reviews and finalizes the draft, confident that no critical clause or code is missing.
4. Seamless e-Signature with DocuSign: Gatekeeper routes the draft to DocuSign for vendor and internal signatures. Automated reminders replace manual chase emails, and every signature is tracked in real time. The entire e-signature process, which once felt like an endless game of email tag, now wraps up in a day.
5. Centralized Repository and Audit Trail: Once signed, contracts return to Gatekeeper, marked as active. Gatekeeper archives expired contracts automatically, visible for one additional day before moving to history, ensuring a complete audit trail. No more digging through filing cabinets or outdated drives.
6. Rigorous Renewal Evaluations: Thirty days before a contract’s end, Gatekeeper generates a mandatory evaluation form. Procurement and contract owners must score supplier performance and decide on renewal. Gatekeeper won’t allow a contract to slip through unnoticed, as the built-in trigger guarantees that every renewal passes through a standardized diligence process.
7. Real-Time Dashboard for Decision-Makers: Executives, program directors, and team leads now log into a personalized dashboard that shows active contracts, financial commitments, and upcoming expirations. Gone are the days of 2.5-day searches, locating sixteen contracts now takes under a minute. This level of transparency means SLFNHA can make strategic decisions, like consolidating vendors or reallocating budgets, faster than ever.

The Transformation in Action

Within weeks of Gatekeeper’s rollout, SLFNHA teams experienced a dramatic shift:

• Time saved: Implementing Gatekeeper has removed a manual, error-prone process, saving SLFNHA approximately 1,008 hours.
• Improved Visibility & Audit readiness: Pankaj Lilani, Controller, celebrated the impact on reporting: “The reporting and data access capabilities in Gatekeeper have given us much better visibility into our contract portfolio. This has helped us make more informed decisions”.
• Best in class process: SLFNHA are now leading the way in their industry with robust supplier checks and embedded renewal evaluations to ensure SLFNHA is working with the right partners at the right prices and always protected.
• Proactive not Reactive Renewals: Richard describes the moment he saw the dashboard for the first time:

  “One of my leases is coming up in 90 days. So I was able to see what’s coming up in three months on my dashboard to see, ‘Hey, I need to reach out to the program manager and say, ‘Hey, this contract’s coming. Are we going to accomplish what the contract said it was going to, or are we going to be done in time? Or do we need to do an addendum?’”

Looking Forward: Scaling with Confidence

For SLFNHA, Gatekeeper isn’t just a tool; “I truly believe Gatekeeper will be transformative for the organization." "We couldn’t be more pleased with the service and support."

Robust supplier checks and embedded renewal evaluations now ensure SLFNHA is working with the right partners at the right prices.

SLFNHA’s journey from spreadsheets to a purpose-built CLM platform underscores one core truth: when organizations commit to efficiency, rigor, and visibility, they unlock the capacity to serve their communities in more impactful ways.

Gatekeeper empowered SLFNHA to transform manual chaos into organized clarity, ensuring that every contract supports their mission to deliver exceptional healthcare to First Nation communities across Northern Ontario.

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