By Emily Ehlers, Product Marketing Manager

Why is setting up a due diligence project such a headache? Wouldn’t it be great if it were easier to collect and track all the needed documents and files in one place? And have one source of truth? And one place to collaborate and track progress? And get your deal launched faster? Well, now you can in your data room with its tracker feature.

What is the challenge?
Before due diligence can happen, the deal team must ask the seller to supply all the documents that the buyer needs to see. These files may relate to revenue, HR, litigation, and more. Generally, this request list takes the form of an Excel spreadsheet, sent by email. When the seller uploads files from the list, the advisor manually updates the checklist. Any back-and-forth about the requests is also done by email.

It’s a laborious process. And ripe for errors – especially when multiple versions of the same checklist begin to circulate. Moreover, the checklist needs to be checked multiple times, against the actual content of the data room, to see if everything is there before launching the data room and initiating the due diligence process. Talk about time-consuming.

So, we found a better way.

There’s no more confusion. No more back-and-forth. No more multiple versions of the list, no more emails, no more Excel. And no more switching between software platforms.

What is the solution?
Trackers is a new and must-have data room feature. It provides a single, central checklist, used by all involved to track document and file uploading progress and changes. When one user makes a change, everyone sees it who needs to see it. When one person uploads a file, everyone knows it (again, assuming they have the right permissions).

There’s no more confusion. There’s no more back-and-forth. No more multiple versions of the list, no more emails, no more Excel. And because everything happens in the data room, there’s no more switching between software platforms.

How does it work?
You can use Trackers whenever you set up a Datasite data room. Users simply click on the Trackers tab to get started.

There are several ways to create a Tracker. You can upload one from Excel, copy it from an existing project, or make one from scratch. You can then make any edits required, grant/restrict permissions, adjust views, set column options, and so forth.

And here’s the really cool part: in a few clicks, you can generate a complete folder structure directly from the tracker – so that the two match up by default.

What are the benefits?
Now, everyone is literally on the same page. Both the seller and the advisor know exactly what’s in the data room, what’s still needed, what’s been checked, and what hasn’t. Correcting any omissions takes moments instead of hours or days. And security isn’t compromised by email exchanges.