The Smartsettle process goes through six phases:

1. Prepare for Negotiation
  • Two or more parties wish to negotiate an agreement about certain matters.
  • Parties may participate in orientation or training depending on the size and complexity of the case.
  • Parties review and accept guidelines for conduct.
  • Parties may engage a single Smartsettle facilitator to serve each of them or each have their own private facilitator.
2. Qualify Interests
  • A Smartsettle facilitator sets up the case online and optionally gives access codes to each party.
  • The facilitators  help parties work together to discuss their interests and identify issues without making specific demands. Parties may meet online or face-to-face.
  • Parties agree on a Single Negotiating Framework that represents unresolved issues.
3. Quantify Satisfaction
  • For each of the issues, parties agree on options or a range where the solution will likely be found.
  • The facilitator works independently with each party to elicit their confidential preferences.
4. Establish Equity
  • Parties exchange information (may include telephone and/or face-to-face meetings) and offer visible or invisible concessions.
  • Smartsettle generates suggestions based on party preferences and concessions.
  • Equity is achieved when parties reach a Baseline solution by agreeing on the same package.
5. Maximize Benefits
  • Preference representations are refined with help from the facilitators.
  • Optimization is used to generate an improvement to the current Baseline solution.
6. Secure Commitment
  • When any party wishes to end the negotiation, the Single Negotiating Framework is filled out with the current solution,  signed and implemented.