Restructure Your Lifecycle Data

Before adding the Lifecycle Preset or changing properties, identify which custom properties should be replaced and how their existing values will be preserved.

1. In Ironclad, navigate to Company settings > Data Manager. Review your lifecycle-related custom properties and the corresponding standard Lifecycle Preset properties.

2. Create a tracking spreadsheet. For each replacement, record the following information:

   Information	What to record
   Custom property	The source property's name and data type.
   Standard property	The target Lifecycle Preset property's name and data type.
   Usages and dependencies	The configurations, in-progress workflows, records, form questions, document tags, conditions, formulas, approval or signer assignments, views, and integrations that reference either property.
   Method	A Data Manager merge for matching data types, or a data migration for different data types.
   Status	Any conflicts to resolve, configuration changes to make, and validation results.

3. Export usage information for both the custom and standard properties. Export the existing record values and retain an unchanged copy before making changes.
4. Confirm that each custom property and its proposed standard property represent the same information. Review records where either or both properties already contain values, and decide which values should be retained.
5. Check whether both properties already exist in the same workflow configuration or in-progress workflow. Resolve these conflicts before attempting the same-type merges in Step Two. If an in-progress workflow blocks a merge, contact Ironclad Support for guidance before changing it.
6. Confirm that the intended standard target property is available in Data Manager. If you cannot find it, contact Ironclad Support before proceeding. Do not create a custom property with the same name as a substitute.

Merge eligible custom properties into their corresponding standard Lifecycle Preset properties before adding the preset to your workflow configurations. Data Manager merges require matching data types. For different data types, complete the configuration updates in Step Three, then follow Step Four to migrate existing record values.

1. Open the tracking spreadsheet you created in Step One. Identify the properties marked for a same-type merge.
2. In a separate tab or window, navigate to Company settings > Data Manager.

3. Set the Visibility filter to All, so that the Type, Usages, and Visibility filters are all set to All.

   

4. Add the System generated column to the view. This will differentiate standard (System generated = Yes) and custom (System generated = No) properties.

   

5. Click the System generated column to sort the properties by System generated = No. Locate the custom source property you want to merge into a standard Lifecycle Preset property. Do not select the standard property as the source to retire.

6. Using your spreadsheet as a guide, locate the custom properties that should merge with standard preset properties of the same data type. Refer to the list below of common custom properties that are functionally the same as preset properties of the same type:

   Common Custom Properties	Corresponding Standard Preset Property
   Start Date Agreement Effective Date Subscription Start Date	Effective Date (date)
   End Date Agreement Expiration Date Subscription End Date	Expiration Date (date)
   Term Length Contract Term Contract Term Length Term Order Form Term	Initial Term Length (duration)

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   Note: 

   The examples above pair properties of the same data type. For example, a custom date property can be merged into a standard date property. A boolean Auto-Renew property cannot be merged into the text Renewal Type property. For different data types, use the migration procedure in Step Four.

7. Select the custom property and review its Usage information. Compare the source and target usage exports from Step One. If both properties are present in the same configuration, remove or replace the conflicting reference in Workflow Designer, review dependent questions and logic, and publish the update before merging. Do not delete the property from Data Manager to resolve a configuration conflict. If an in-progress workflow contains both properties and blocks the merge, contact Ironclad Support before proceeding.

   

8. Click the pencil icon in the upper right corner.

9. Scroll to the bottom of the panel, then click Merge.

   

10. In the modal that appears, click the With dropdown, then select the standard preset property you wish to merge the custom property into.

    

11. Confirm that you selected the correct standard target property and retained your exports. Click Merge.
12. Locate and select the standard property that retained the merged data.

13. Scroll down to Schema, then select the View next to Retired properties. In the modal that appears, you should see the custom property listed.

    

14. Validate the retained property values on affected records and review affected in-progress workflows, views, and integrations. Record the result in your tracking spreadsheet. Repeat steps 6–13 for each additional eligible same-type merge, validating each result. Then continue to Step Three.

After completing eligible same-type merges, add the Lifecycle Preset to your existing workflow configurations to support consistent lifecycle tracking. Review references to merged properties and replace any remaining custom properties, including properties whose historical record values still need to be migrated in Step Four.

1. In Ironclad, navigate to Workflow Designer.
2. Select an existing configuration (published or unpublished).

3. In the left hand metadata panel, click Add Lifecycle Preset.

   

4. If you have conflicted properties, in the modal that appears, click Replace conflicts & add lifecycle preset.

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   Note: 

   Conflicted properties refer to properties that already exist in the configuration that have the same names and types as those contained in the preset. These will be accounted for in the following steps.

   

5. If you had any conflicted properties with associated form questions prior to adding the preset, those questions will be retained. However, upon adding the preset, a new launch form question will be automatically generated, associated with that same property. To remove unnecessary duplicate questions, choose from the following options:
   • Delete the original question
   • Delete the newly generated question in the Contract Lifecycle section of the launch form
6. If you had any conflicted properties that contained formulas, those formulas will be retained. However, Ironclad will show an error for that property, since the preset automatically adds a launch form question associated with that property, and formula properties cannot be referenced in forms. To resolve, choose from the following options:
   • Remove the formula from the property
   • Delete the associated launch form question

7. Upon adding the Lifecycle Preset, within the Create tab, a new section is added to the launch form titled “Contract Lifecycle.”
   This section functions just like any other section form.* Edit the section and its questions to your liking, including:

   • Changing its name and description,
   • Displaying it in either Both Create and Review or just Review,
   • Moving the section up and down the form to reorder it among other sections,
   • Reordering the questions within the section,
   • Editing questions and help text within the section,
   • Adding default values to questions,
   • Locking questions
   • Adding additional questions to the section that were not part of the default preset that you consider lifecycle-related data and want to categorize it as such
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   Note: 

   The exception to this rule is the Renewal Type question in the Contract Lifecycle section. This question’s options cannot be edited, nor removed. However, you can set a default value and lock the question, if that value will be the same for all of the contracts generated from the workflow configuration.

8. If desired, delete any properties, questions, and conditions that will never be applicable from the configuration entirely. For example, if the contracts generated from this configuration will never expire or renew (in other words, their Renewal Type is always Evergreen), you may choose to delete the following:

   Item	Type(s)
   Other Renewal Type	Form Question
   Initial Term Length	Property; Form Question
   Expiration Date	Property; Form Question
   Renewal Term Length	Property; Form Question
   Renewals Allowed	Property; Form Question
   Renewal Opt Out Period	Property; Form Question
   Renewal Type is Auto-Renew	Condition
   Renewal Type is	Optional
   Extension	Condition
   Renewal Type is	Auto-Renew OR
   Optional Extension	Condition
   Renewal Type is None	Condition
   Renewal Type is not Evergreen	Condition
   Renewal Type is Other	Condition

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   Note: 

   In this particular scenario, you may also choose to set the Renewal Type question’s default value as Evergreen and lock it. Or, you may choose to remove the Renewal Type question from the launch form altogether and instead add “Evergreen” as a hardcoded value for the Renewal Type property with a formula.

9. Please refer to Use the Lifecycle Preset in Workflow Designer to verify which properties should never be removed from a configuration in order for lifecycle tracking mechanisms in Ironclad to function properly. If needed, add deleted properties or conditions back to the configuration by clicking Add property back to preset.

   

10. Using the tracking spreadsheet from Step One, review each configuration for references to properties merged in Step Two. Replace any remaining custom properties with their corresponding preset properties, and update your spreadsheet. For example, replace a remaining Term Length property with Initial Term Length where appropriate. Review all places the property may be referenced, including:
    1. in the left-hand metadata panel,
    2. on the document,
    3. in forms in the Create tab,
    4. within conditions,
    5. within formulas of other properties,
    6. in custom emails, and
    7. in the Archive tab beneath Additional record properties.
11. Review dependent approval and signer assignments and any integration mappings. Test the updated configuration, preferably in a non-production environment, and resolve errors before saving and publishing it. Confirm that future workflows will use the intended standard properties. Updating a configuration does not transfer existing record values; complete Step Four for properties that require a data migration.
12. Repeat steps 2–11 for each additional workflow configuration in scope, and record the changes in your tracking spreadsheet.

Use this procedure when a custom property and its corresponding standard Lifecycle Preset property have different data types. Data Manager cannot merge these properties. Instead, transform the existing record values and import them into the standard properties, validate the results, and then remove the old custom properties from those records. Complete the configuration updates in Step Three first.

1. Open the tracking spreadsheet created in Step One and updated in Step Three. Identify the properties marked for a different-type migration. The following examples show custom properties and their corresponding standard targets:

   Common Custom Properties	Corresponding Standard Preset Property
   Term Length (number) & Term Length Unit (text)	Initial Term Length (duration)
   Auto-Renew = True/Yes (boolean)	Renewal Type = “Auto-Renew” (text/string)
   Optional Extension = True/Yes (boolean)	Renewal Type = “Optional Extension” (text/string)

2. In Ironclad, click the Dashboard tab. Ensure you are in the All view.

   

3. Using your tracking spreadsheet, add both the source custom properties and the target standard preset properties as columns in the view. Include the source values needed to calculate the target values, and limit the view to the records you intend to migrate.

   

4. Click Save to save this view as a custom view with your desired name.

   

5. In the upper right corner, click the three stacked dots > Export view.

   

6. In the modal that appears, in the Data column dropdown, ensure Visible columns is selected. Then, click Export.

   

7. Within a few moments, you will receive an email from Ironclad with a link to download the exported .csv file. Keep an unchanged copy, then open a working copy in your spreadsheet application. This guide uses Excel. Do not remove the Record ID column.

8. Use Excel formulas to transform source values into the target Renewal Type column. For example, if column C contains boolean Auto-Renew values and column B contains boolean Optional Extension values, use =IF(C2=TRUE, "Auto-Renew", IF(B2=TRUE, "Optional Extension", "None")). Adjust the cell references to match your file. This example gives Auto-Renew priority when both values are TRUE and uses None when neither is TRUE. Review blanks, conflicting values, and existing Renewal Type values before applying the formula.

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   Note: 

   The values in the Renewal Type property are extremely important, as they govern how the Ironclad system will track key contract lifecycle, renewal, and expiration dates. To review what each Renewal Type value means, refer to Use the Lifecycle Preset in Workflow Designer in the Help Center.

9. To transform text/string data types into the duration data type, input the time durations in the ISO 8601 duration format in the Initial Term Length, Renewal Term Length, Renewal Opt Out Period, and/or Termination Notice Period columns, as needed. For example: 1 year and 6 months = P1Y6M; 2 years = P2Y; 30 Days = P30D, etc.
10. After calculating and validating the target values, keep the source columns in your unchanged backup. Prepare the import file with Record ID and the target properties you intend to update. Do not import blank source-property values to clear the old data; remove the old properties from records only after validating the migration below.
11. When your spreadsheet is complete, save it to your desktop or device as desired.

12. From the Dashboard, click the three dots in the upper right corner > Import metadata.

13. On the following page, click New Import. Then, upload your spreadsheet.

14. On the Map CSV headers to property names page, align the spreadsheet headers with the intended standard Lifecycle properties. At the bottom of the page, match records on Record ID.

    

15. Click Next: Preview.
16. Click Start Import. If Ironclad detected any errors with your spreadsheet, they will be flagged on this page. You must resolve any errors and reupload the file to proceed successfully.
17. After the import is complete, open the saved view and compare the standard Lifecycle property values with your source export. Verify the transformation results and any previously populated target values before removing the old custom properties.
18. Confirm that the view contains only records whose migration you have validated. Select the checkbox to the left of the headers to select those records.
19. Click Edit properties in the upper right corner to use Bulk Actions to remove the “old,” unused properties from those records.

20. In the modal that appears, select Remove and add the unused properties.

    

21. Click Remove. Update your tracking spreadsheet and recheck the old properties' usages in Data Manager. The old properties should no longer be used on the records you migrated. If you completed Step Three for all configurations in scope, those configurations should also no longer reference them. In-progress workflows or other records may still use the properties. Do not proceed to deletion until all remaining usages have been resolved.

After validating the merges, migrations, and workflow configuration changes, delete custom properties that you no longer need and that have no remaining usages. Keep your exports and tracking spreadsheet for reference.

You can only delete custom properties with 0 usages in your account. You cannot delete system-generated (“standard”) properties, and you cannot delete custom properties with any usages in published workflow configurations.

Before deleting a property, review its usages and check both published and unpublished workflow configurations for remaining references. Also review in-progress workflows, records, views, reports, and integrations. Remove or update references where appropriate, and resolve any remaining usages before proceeding. Do not delete a property to work around a blocked merge.

1. In Ironclad, navigate to Company settings > Data Manager.
2. Add the System generated column to the view. This will differentiate standard (System generated = Yes) and custom (System generated = No) properties.
3. Click the System generated column to sort the properties by System generated = No, so that the properties at the beginning of the list are those you are able to delete.
4. Click the Usages filter, then deselect All usages. This will show properties with 0 usages in your account.
5. Select a property you want to delete, then click the pencil icon in the upper right corner of the right hand panel.
6. Scroll to the bottom of the panel, then click Delete.