Use Ironclad AI Playbooks

This topic provides walks you through how to use Ironclad Playbooks. If you want to learn more about Ironclad Playbooks and the benefits they provide, refer to Ironclad AI Playbooks Overview.

If your Playbooks are not powered by Ironclad AI, refer to Build a Playbook.

Create a Playbook

Required Role: Administrator
Playbooks are linked to specific workflow templates and can be customized to fit the type of contract or business process for each workflow.

1. In Ironclad, click the Workflow Designer tab and select the workflow template you want to edit. We recommend that you try Playbooks by starting with a standard business agreement workflow template that is often negotiated with a counterparty, such as a NDA or Vendor Agreements.
2. On the Document step, locate the panel on the left and click the Playbooks tab.
3. Click the plus sign or Add Clause button to create a playbook.
4. Enter a Name and Description.
5. Select the AI-Powered Clause Type from the dropdown. If your clause or term is not on the list of AI-powered clauses, you can skip this configuration step and add preferred and fallback positions for the clause. Advanced playbook features like automatic clause detection in documents or clause approvers are not available for Playbooks that are not powered by AI.
6. Decide whether or not you want to select an Approver. If you want Ironclad to notify a stakeholder if a non-standard term is found, add an approver. Open or unapproved clause approvals block workflows from advancing to the next workflow stage and work just like other approval experiences in Ironclad. Clause approvers can reassign approvals to another stakeholder, and administrators can override clause approvals to speed up the contract process. We recommend only adding an approver if it’s a critical clause for negotiation.
   • If a clause approver is required, in the Approver field, search for and select a user or group. This user or group will be required to approve all exceptions to non-standard terms for the workflows created using the workflow template. We suggest selecting a group instead of a specific user. This helps prevent delays in the contract process if someone is out-of-office.
   • If a clause approver is not required, leave the Approver field empty. Due to compliance, Ironclad cannot permit exceptions for required or restricted clauses without an identified clause approver to inform. If you leave this field empty, you can not mark the clause as Required in step 7.
7. Select the Clause Presence Rule. This setting allows you to determine when the clause is included. There are three options:
   • Required - the clause must appear: If the clause is not found in the document, an additional clause approver request is triggered for the relevant clause. Ironclad also provides any pre-approved terms that the contract reviewer can use to insert the language into the document to remove the additional approval requirement once the contract conforms to the Playbook rules and pre-approved terms.
   • Acceptable - the clause may or may not appear: Use this option if you want to provide your end users pre-approved, preferred or fallback language to use in agreements, or if you want track the use of this clause in the Repository for Insights and reporting. Only clauses that are configured to a Playbook can be automatically tagged and stored in the Repository.
   • Restricted - the clause MAY NOT appear: Use this option if the clause should never be used in a contract or document. For example, you may not want to have a ‘Non-Solicitation’ clause in NDA agreements without requiring an additional approver from a relevant stakeholder. This setting allows contract reviewers to understand when terms are not permitted by default.
8. Add Standard clause language. A standard clause is your default and preferred language. To add a standard clause:
   1. Click Add Standard.
   2. In the Description field, enter a description of the standard.
   3. In the Language field, enter the exact language to be used in the document.
9. Add Fallback clause language. A fallback clause is commonly requested or preemptively approved language. To add a fallback clause:
   1. Click Add Fallback.
   2. In the Name field, enter a name for the clause. We recommend naming the fallbacks in order of preference. For example, Fallback 1, Fallback 2, etc.
   3. In the Description field, enter detailed instructions about how, when, and where to substitute in fallback language.
   4. In the Language field, enter the exact language to be used in the document.
10. Click Save once your Playbook template is configured. You can modify or remove your Playbook at any time. To publish any changes to Playbooks, you will need to Publish the workflow configuration. Changes Playbooks & workflow configuration will only impact workflows created after the changes are published so you can work or test Playbook updates without impacting any business users or in-progress workflows.
11. Edit your permissions to configure who can review, create, or modify Playbooks.
    1. Click on your name located in the top right corner of Ironclad. Navigate to Company Settings > Users & Groups > Groups.
    2. Click on the group you want to edit, and then click Edit Group.
    3. Configure the Playbook permission.

Use Playbooks in Workflows and Contract Reviews

This article explains how to resolve suggestions individually. If your organization has access to AI Assist, you may use AI Assist to apply all suggestions at once.

Required Role: User or group must have Playbook view, edit or create access

1. In Ironclad, click the Dashboard tab.
2. Click Start Workflow and select the workflow template you want to create the workflow from. The workflow launches and allows you to enter the information needed to initiate the agreement.
3. Playbooks automatically starts analyzing DOCX documents that are uploaded to the workflow. You can convert PDF documents to a DOCX file in a workflow before using Playbooks, powered by Ironclad AI.
4. In the Review and Change section of your workflow, hover over the document and click Edit Document indicated by a pencil icon. Locate the Playbooks icon located to the right of the document.
5. Review the summary of Playbook suggestions.
6. Modify the document with pre-approved language to resolve non-standard terms or skip requiring an additional clause approver (recommended).
7. Insert pre-approved language from the Playbook.
8. Remove restricted language from the document.
9. If you see a Missing Information prompt, correct the suggested value for reporting and Insights. If Playbook suggestions are ever incorrect, you can override this suggestion to manually update the value listed in the document. This ensures that your workflow and Repository data are accurate.