Obligation Types – Ironclad

Summary

This article provides an overview of obligation types. Obligation types help you organize obligations into clear categories. You use them to classify obligations, collect the right information for each one, and make obligations easier to search, filter, sort, and manage in saved views.

Prerequisites

Features	Obligations, Data Manager
Permissions	Admin role

What are obligation types?

Obligation types categorize obligations by purpose. Instead of treating every obligation the same way, you can organize them into groups that match the kinds of commitments your team tracks.

This structure makes obligations easier to manage. You can use obligation types to search, filter, and sort more efficiently.

How do obligation types relate to obligation properties?

Obligation types use obligation properties to collect data. Each type uses properties to define what data users collect when they create or manage an obligation in that category. This helps you capture the right information for each kind of obligation. To learn more, refer to Obligation Properties.

Ironclad includes predefined obligation types that reflect common contractual obligations. You can also create new types and adjust their properties in Data Manager to better fit your organization’s needs.

Obligation Type Configuration

You can configure each obligation type to control both the information it captures and how it behaves when Ironclad AI extracts it from a workflow. You can define extraction rules, set the default status, whether review is required, and choose a default assignee. To learn more about configuring obligation types, refer to Create an Obligation Type.

Refer to the table below to learn about each setting:

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Field/Section	Description
Name	The name of the obligation type. This should be simple and descriptive.
Description	The description describes what the obligation type captures and why.
Properties	Properties define what data is collected for the obligation type.
Workflow Extraction Rules (Only Displays if Archive Agent is Enabled)	You can define when Ironclad AI should automatically extract the obligation type from workflows. You can select from: Always auto-extract Never auto-extract Auto-extract by workflow template (This option lets you choose which workflow templates will trigger Ironclad AI to extract obligations when a workflow is created from them.)
Default Status	You can define the default status of the obligations when they are created. You can select from: Not Started In Progress Completed Compliant Out of Compliance
Extraction Instructions	You can add up to 20 natural language instructions to optimize how the AI extracts the obligation type. We recommend starting by testing extraction on a few sample contracts, then adding guidance rules and re-testing iteratively until you’re happy with the results.
Review Rules	You can define rules for whether the obligation is saved as a draft until confirmed or automatically verified. You can select if review is required for: All obligations of this type Never for obligations of this type
Assignee Configuration	You can configure who is assigned to obligations of this type. You can define this across all contract types or break it up by specific contract types. You can set the assignee to the workflow owner or a specific user. If you select Workflow Owner, you can also select a backup user in case there isn’t a Workflow Owner on a workflow.