Pharmaceuticals · CLM Platform Implementation · AstraZeneca
CLM Platform Implementation Project Manager Simulation — AstraZeneca
Implement a Contract Lifecycle Management platform at AstraZeneca — what looks like a straightforward technology deployment turns out to require fundamental process changes across Legal, Procurement, R&D, and Commercial. The CPO who sponsored the project sold it as 'just a tech upgrade' to avoid executive committee scrutiny. You'll discover week by week that your well-scoped platform project is actually an organizational transformation that nobody labelled as such. Small remote team, £2.8M budget, and a growing gap between what the charter says and what the project actually requires. Gain hands-on project management experience over 27 days of real decisions, stakeholders, and PMO deliverables — no prior experience required.
The scenario
AstraZeneca — £37B in annual revenue, 90,000+ employees, operations in 100+ countries, and one of the world's largest pharmaceutical pipelines — has approved a £2.8M project to implement the Icertis Contract Intelligence (ICI) platform. The project replaces a fragmented landscape of contract management tools: SharePoint document libraries, email-based approval chains, a legacy Ariba module for procurement contracts, and — in Legal Operations — an Access database that one paralegal built in 2016 and that now underpins the entire contract routing process. The business case is clean: reduce average contract cycle time from 47 days to 14 days, eliminate manual obligation tracking that has led to two missed renewal deadlines in the past year (one costing £3.2M in unfavorable auto-renewal terms), and create a single contract repository with full audit trail for regulatory compliance. The CPO, James Ward, championed the project through the board as a procurement technology upgrade. On paper, this is a well-scoped technology implementation. Icertis is a proven enterprise CLM platform. The SOW is signed. The team is assembled. The integration touchpoints are mapped. Everything suggests a clean 9-month delivery. What the charter doesn't say — and what you will discover — is that implementing CLM properly means changing how every department that touches a contract actually works. Legal's 47 undocumented approval routing rules. R&D's bespoke collaboration agreement workflows that no template can capture. Commercial's handshake-based amendment process. Procurement's delegation of authority matrix that hasn't been updated since the MedImmune acquisition. The sponsor knows this. The departments don't. You're about to run a transformation that nobody called a transformation.
What you'll do as the project manager
- →Deploy Icertis Contract Intelligence across Procurement, Legal Operations, R&D Partnerships, and Commercial contract types — covering 85% of AstraZeneca's non-clinical contract volume
- →Reduce average contract cycle time from 47 days to 14 days through automated workflows, clause libraries, and parallel approval routing
- →Integrate with SAP S/4HANA (procurement master data, PO-to-contract linkage), Veeva Vault (regulatory document cross-referencing), and Salesforce (commercial deal-to-contract flow)
- →Establish a single, auditable contract repository with full lifecycle tracking — replacing 4+ fragmented systems and eliminating compliance gaps
- →Deliver obligation management and automated renewal alerts — preventing the missed-deadline incidents that have cost AstraZeneca £5M+ in the past 18 months
Project management skills you'll build
The challenges you'll navigate
- •Integration with SAP S/4HANA is dependent on the ERP team's Q3 release schedule — any slip on their side directly impacts CLM go-live
- •Legal Operations has never documented their contract routing rules — the 47 routing paths exist only in the institutional knowledge of two senior paralegals
- •R&D Partnerships director (Dr. Marcus Chen) has low engagement — attended only 1 of 3 pre-project steering committee meetings
- •No change management budget was included in the business case — the project assumes departments will adopt new workflows with training alone
- •The Ariba-to-Icertis data migration scope is estimated but no data quality assessment has been performed
Technology & stakeholders
You'll manage 6 stakeholders, including James Ward (SVP & Chief Procurement Officer), Priya Sharma (Director, IT Programme Management Office), Henrik Lindqvist (Enterprise Architect, Digital Platforms), and more.
What you'll walk away with
A verified, shareable record of a completed enterprise project — plus the PMO deliverables you produced along the way (charter, project plan, SteerCo deck, closure document). It's real, demonstrable project management experience you can put on your resume and speak to in interviews.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need project management experience to start?
No. This simulation is built for aspiring and practicing project managers alike — you learn by doing. You make real decisions and get feedback, with no PMP or prior PM job required.
How long does this simulation take?
It runs over 27 days, roughly 25 minutes per day, covering the full project lifecycle from initiation to closure.
What will I learn?
You practice the core of project management — stakeholder management, budget and schedule control, risk, scope, and PMO governance — in the context of clm platform implementation in pharmaceuticals.
Is this based on the real AstraZeneca?
It's a realistic scenario inspired by AstraZeneca and the Pharmaceuticals sector. Details and names are fictionalized for training — it's a simulation, not a record of any actual project.
What do I get at the end?
A verified project completion plus the PMO deliverables you produced (charter, plan, SteerCo deck, closure) — proof of hands-on experience you can show employers.
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