🛠️ Create Your Own - Automated eSign Workflow

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Introduction

This workflow fully automates the process of generating new documents and sending them out to vendors for signature. It's useful for scenarios such as:

• Sending out multiple updates or new agreements at once.
• During another process, such as vendor onboarding, getting vendors to sign one or more introductory agreements (e.g. NDAs, Terms of Service). This workflow can run in parallel, speeding up the time to complete the whole process.

Using a combination of eNegotiate contract templates, workflow triggers, and AutoActions, this workflow reduces the administrative effort of generating and sending agreements for signature at scale. See the video below for a demonstration:

Diagram

 

 

Mandatory Configuration

The steps in this section outline the essential setup required to make your workflow fully functional:

• Add the Automated eSign Workflow template to your tenant as the starting point for the build
• Create a custom status field to control which vendors are triggered onto the workflow
• Add the new status field to the workflow form, so it updates automatically as vendors complete the process
• Configure the workflow trigger to use the new field as its condition
• Set the AutoAction values so the contract record, draft and vendor status update correctly at each stage
• Configure the eNegotiate contract template the workflow will use to generate the agreement

The ⬇️ Additional Configuration ⬇️ section covers optional additions to expand the scope of your process, or tailor the workflow to better align with your organisation’s unique policies and procedures.

Add the Template

To get started, you'll need to add the template workflow:

1. From the navigation menu, click Workflows.
2. Click Add, then select Workflow Template.
3. Click Create on the Automated eSign Workflow template.
4. Amend the title if needed, then click Create.

Create a Custom Status Field

Next, create a custom status field to determine which vendors are triggered onto the workflow.

1. From the navigation menu, expand Settings then click Configuration.
2. Click Custom Data.
3. Click an existing vendor custom data group, or add a new one to store this field in. If you're planning to run more contract and vendor management processes in parallel, consider adding a custom data group to store all related statuses.
4. Within the custom group, click Add New Custom Field.
5. Enter a label for the field, e.g. [Document Name] Status, and select Dropdown list as the type.
6. Add the following dropdown options, then click Save.
   1. Required
      
   2. In Place
   3. Expired
   4. N/A

Add the Custom Status Field to the Workflow

You now need to add the new status field to the workflow form, so it can be updated automatically once a vendor completes the process.

1. Click the start phase of the workflow to edit it.
2. Navigate to Form, then click Add Section and enter a section name.
3. Select the following from the dropdown lists:
   1. Predefined: Vendor
   2. Custom Data Group: The custom group that contains the new status field
4. Click Save.

Configure the Trigger

Next, configure the trigger so the workflow starts automatically whenever a vendor's custom status field is set to Required:

1. From the navigation menu, click Workflows.
   
2. Expand the 3 dots on the relevant workflow, then select Workflow Triggers.
3. Click the Contract Required trigger to edit it.
4. Click Add to assign the field you created as the trigger condition, as below:
   1. Custom Status  ➡️  is one of  ➡️  Required

Set the AutoAction Values

Next, set up the AutoActions, the automated steps that create the contract record and update the vendor's status for you.

Part 1: Contract AutoAction Values

Configure the following values so the AutoAction generates an accurate contract metadata record:

1. Click the AutoCreate Contract Record phase to edit it.
2. From Actions, click Edit AutoAction Values alongside AutoAction | Create Contract.
3. Populate details about the contract your workflow will generate, making sure you've selected a value for all mandatory fields.
4. Click Save.

Part 2: Vendor AutoAction Values

Once the process is complete for a specific vendor, the vendor record should be updated to reflect that the required documentation has been obtained. This also prevents the workflow from triggering again for the same document.

1. Click to edit the Signed phase.
2. From Actions, click Edit AutoAction Values alongside AutoAction | Update Vendor.
3. For the status custom field, enter a value to indicate the document has been executed, for example, In Place.
4. Click Save.

Configure the Contract Template

This workflow generates a contract document using an eNegotiate template, so you'll need to configure one first:

1. From the navigation menu, expand Settings, then click Configuration.
2. Click eNegotiate Contract Templates, then click Add MS Word Template.
3. Click Handlebar Instructions to see which fields can be automatically inserted into your contract documents by Gatekeeper.
4. After populating your contract document in MS Word, upload it to Gatekeeper to create the new template.

Assign the Contract Template within the Workflow

After creating the contract template, you'll need to configure the workflow to use it:

1. Click the AutoCreate Contract Draft  phase to edit it.
2. From Actions, click Edit AutoAction Values alongside AutoAction | Generate Draft from Contract.
3. Select the name of the template you have just uploaded for the relevant contract type. This should be the same contract type selected in AutoAction | Create Contract.
4. Click Save.

Additional Configuration

This section covers optional steps to adjust the workflow’s scope or default settings, helping you tailor it to your organisation’s needs.

Require Internal Signatures 

By default, the document only requires a signature from the vendor. However, you can also collect an internal signature on each contract:

1. Click to edit the Automated eSign phase.
2. From Actions, deselect the External Signatory only checkbox within AutoAction | Send for eSign.
   

Additional Setup Outside the Workflow

If you’ve followed all of the steps above, your workflow is nearly ready to launch. However, to help the process run as smoothly and reliably as possible, there are a few additional areas of your Gatekeeper tenant worth reviewing.

Vendor Users

This workflow sends the document for eSign to the first vendor user created on the vendor record. If there's no vendor users added to the record, the AutoAction - Send for eSign step fails. Therefore, it's recommended to review vendor records and confirm at least one vendor user exists.

Getting Started

Activate the Trigger

Once your workflow is fully configured, simply activate the trigger to make it live:

1. From the navigation menu, click Workflows.
   
2. Expand the 3 dots on the relevant workflow, then select Workflow Triggers.

3. Click to open the trigger.

4. Click the  pencil icon on Trigger Status.
5. Select Live from the dropdown list, then click Update.

Once this is live, your workflow is active and will start creating contracts for any vendors which match the trigger conditions.

Bulk Trigger for Existing Vendors

If you need many existing vendors to sign a new agreement due to a change in your operations (for example, a change to your place of incorporation or your company’s registered legal name), you can trigger the workflow at scale by updating the custom status field using a spreadsheet file. See Bulk Import and Export Vendor Data for a full walkthrough.

Embed in other Workflows

When running the eSign workflow alongside other vendor assessment processes, such as onboarding, it's recommended to set it to trigger automatically when a new vendor is added. This allows multiple onboarding actions to run in parallel, helping you onboard vendors faster. You'll need to add the new custom status field to the form of the other workflow(s), then use AutoActions to set the appropriate value, which creates a new contract on your Automated eSign workflow.

Additional Reading