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Build a Playbook

Ariana Kemp
  • Updated

This topic will walk you through how to build a playbook.

Playbooks enable you to standardize the use and substitution of clauses in your contracts. You can build a playbook that walks team members through standard language and approved fallbacks for your contracts. This empowers your legal team to delegate reviews and redline revisions, only requiring escalation for approval when the playbook does not address the situation.
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Playbook Permissions

By default, all administrators have access to edit playbooks. All other group members default to no permissions. This means they cannot view or edit the playbooks unless they are manually given permission.

With playbooks, permissions are applied in an additively. This means that if a user has edit permissions for playbooks from one group they’re in, they have edit permissions regardless if they are also in groups with None or View permissions.

 

Access Playbooks

You can access playbooks in both Ironclad Editor and Workflow Designer. You must be a Workflow Designer administrator to create or modify Playbook templates from Workflow Designer and Editor.
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When you are using Playbooks within Workflow Designer, the Playbooks option will populate on the left sidebar, where you can also view/edit Fields and Conditions.
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  1. In Workflow Designer, locate the Fields and Conditions panel on the left. Click the Playbook tab.
  2. In Ironclad Editor, click the Playbook icon, or hit [Command] + [Shift] + P on your keyboard.

 

 

Build Your Playbook

Playbooks are built at the workflow configuration level. This means that all contracts launched from the same workflow configuration have the same playbook. If you save an update to your playbook, it automatically renders that update into every playbook attached to contracts launched from that configuration. This includes in progress workflows.

You a reminded of this when you publish changes to your playbook, and you can easily cancel them if you do not want the changes to be pushed out to all the contracts launched from the same workflow configuration.

Use Case
For example, WonderWeb Inc. deletes Fallback 1 in their Services Agreement playbook and saves those changes. All playbooks tied to workflows launched from that Services Agreement workflow configuration no longer have Fallback 1, even the workflows that are in progress.

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  1. Click Add Clause.
  2. Enter a Name and Description.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.Fallback.jpeg
  5. Click Publish to Playbook.
  6. To reorder fallbacks, click the three stacked dots in the corner of the fallback, and then click Move Up or Move Down.
  7. To delete a clause, click the three stacked dots in the corner of the clause, and then click Delete Fallback or Delete Standard.
  8. To edit a clause, click the three stacked dots in the corner of the fallback, and then click Edit Fallback or Edit Standard.

 

 

Fallbacks

If you want to see which contracts use a certain clause or fallback, go to the Repository and search or filter by Clause Name Fallback Name. The results of searches are based on the Mark as Used setting. If you do not appropriately indicate that a fallback has been used, it may be excluded from your search results.

For example, if WonderWeb Inc. has three Fallbacks built out for their Indemnity Clause, and they want to know which contracts have the language titled Fallback 2, they enter Indemnity Clause Fallback 2.

 

Conditional Clauses and Playbooks

Conditional clauses and playbooks help simplify substituting language in your contracts. We do not recommend using playbooks and conditional clauses for the same clauses in a workflow template.

Conditional Clauses

Conditional clauses automatically swap language when a condition if met. This can be a counterparty or Ironclad user entering a value in the launch form. Since conditional clauses are mapped directly to the language in your contract template, they are not supported if you edit, redline, or carry out other negotiation activities within the agreement. Conditional clauses are most valuable when you use them with highly standardized agreements that are not negotiated.
If you want to learn more about conditional clauses, refer to Create Conditional Clauses.

Playbooks

Playbooks simplify the negotiation process. Since the clauses you build in your playbooks are not mapped to a location within the document itself, they support negotiations and changes within the agreement. Playbooks are most valuable when you use them with highly negotiated or edited agreements.

 

Version History and Playbooks

Past configurations of your Playbook are NOT restored alongside a past configuration of your Workflow. Additionally, exporting or duplicating a workflow configuration will not export or duplicate the Playbook.

When you restore a previous version of your workflow configuration, your playbook is not restored. Additionally, if you export or duplicate a workflow, your playbook is not exported or duplicated.

If you want to learn more about version history, refer to Manage Version History.

 

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