What are Entities in Ironclad CLM?
In Ironclad CLM, entities serve as a single, unified hub for all the counterparties you engage with, such as customers, partners, vendors, suppliers, contractors, influencers, and other collaborators. This enables quick contract creation and provides insights about your counterparties. You can easily understand your overall relationship with a company and find recently signed contracts.
Entities include companies, individuals, partners, and vendors you regularly do business with. Ironclad CLM lets you store essential information to streamline future contracts and keep all contract details in one place.
How Do I Configure Entities?
Data Manager
First, in Data Manger, you need to configure your relationship types, which define how you interact with your entities. Relationship types offer three key benefits: 1) they allow you to categorize entities by tagging them with the appropriate relationship type, 2) they help you track the relevant details and data points for each entity, tailored to its specific type, and 3) they can be used to control access permissions.
- Customer: Used for companies you sell goods or services to.
- Partner: Used for companies that you partner with.
- Vendor: Used for companies you buy goods or services from.
You can also create additional relationship types in Data Manager.
Next, configure the properties you want to include for each relationship type. Entity properties are data points you want to collect and track. These are shared with your team and can be reused throughout Ironclad. For each relationship type, you can set required properties, remove properties, or view property details. Data Manager provides a central location to manage all your entity properties.
Entities Tab
After setting up your relationship types and entity properties in Data Manager, you can add entities to Ironclad. In the Entities tab, you can create single entities or import entities in bulk. You can also configure your entities to sync from an external source via API.
You can then configure Workflow Designer to use entities in your workflows.
Workflow Designer
In Workflow Designer, you can configure the Who is the counterparty? question at the top of the Counterparty Information section that will be presented on the launch form. By default, this section is added to the top of the form. You must choose a relationship type and map the entity properties to properties in the workflow. This ensures data syncs correctly across Ironclad and automatically fills in launch form questions when users select an entity or counterparty.
How Do I Use Entities in Workflows?
After publishing the workflow configuration, you can launch a workflow from it. When you type a counterparty name in the entities counterparty field, you can select the relevant company from the dropdown menu. The entity's information then automatically populates the launch form. This reduces manual data entry time and improves the accuracy of counterparty information.
How Do I Manage Entities from the Entities Dashboard?
Filter Entities
You can filter entities on the Entities tab similar to how you filter workflows and records on the Dashboard. There are three default filters displayed on the Entities tab: Relationship, Status, and Business Type. You can click on one or multiple of these filters to define your filtering criteria.
To start basic filtering, click All to display the filtering dropdown. Select a filter from the dropdown. You can filter by entities, entity properties (custom or out-of-the-box), relationship, status, and business type.
After you select a filter, you need to select a condition for that filter. Conditions are dynamic to the data type of the filter. Check out the table below for more information on each type of data:
| Type of Data | Description |
|---|---|
| Strings |
Is: Exact match for the filter Contains: Matches the text anywhere it appears in the filter |
| Numerical Values |
Is between: Allows you to set a range Other options: >, ≥, <, ≤, = |
| Tuples | Tuples do not have conditions. They only have filter option itself. |
| Dates |
Is between: Allows you to set a rangeIs: Exact match for the filter Is After: All dates after the entered date (excluding the entered date) Is On or After: All dates after the entered date (including the entered date) Is Before: All dates before the entered date (excluding the entered date) If On or Before: All dates before the entered date (including the entered date) |
Saved Views
You can use saved views on the Entities tab similar to how you save views on the Dashboard. Views are a combination of saved filters and columns that allow you to easily access relevant entities without having to manually search each time.
The Views panel is located on the left. You can open or close it by clicking the Hide sidebar icon indicated by two arrows.
Next to each view’s name in the view header, there is a count of entities in that view. This number reflects the number of entities shown in the table at that moment, including when filtered by search.
Entity Families
Oftentimes, entities do not stand alone. You might have multiple entities that are related to each other, or that belong to the same corporate family or business structure. These entities can be parent companies, subsidiaries, or affiliates that share connections important to your organization.
When reviewing entity data, you need visibility into the full family structure to understand ownership, control, and related obligations. You can use entity families to represent these connections and make it easier to view related entities together.
You can create and edit entity families for any given entity by linking it with other entities from the Entity family modal.
Entities and Contracts
If a workflow/record has an entity assigned to it, the contract is automatically associated with that entity. In the Entities Dashboard, you can select an entity and navigate to the Contracts tab to view all contracts linked to that entity.
Entities and Obligations
When creating an obligation, it is linked to a workflow/record within Ironclad. If the workflow/record has an entity assigned to it, the obligation is automatically associated with that entity. In the Entities Dashboard, you can select an entity and navigate to the Obligations tab to view all obligations tied to contracts linked to that entity. Obligation permissions follow the associated contract’s permissions. Obligation permissions are inherited from the associated workflows/records. This tab may not be available in your Ironclad instance.
How Do I Get Started?
To get started with entities, we recommend walking through Migrate Entities to Ironclad. This guide will walk you through how to migrate entities to Ironclad using existing data.
We also recommend taking the following Academy courses to familiarize yourself with entities: