Summary
This article provides an overview of obligation triggers, including the available trigger types, their settings, and what they mean in practice.
Permissions
| Features | Obligations |
| Permissions | You must have access to the contracts you want to create obligations for. |
What are obligation triggers?
When you create an obligation, you must define a trigger. A trigger determines when the obligation is created and whether it occurs one time or on an ongoing basis. You can choose from One time, Recurring, Conditional, and Perpetual, depending on what works best for your use case.
One Time
Obligations with their trigger set to One time occur once, on a due date you specify.
Configuration:
Created Obligation:
Examples
- Initial setup/onboarding: "Provide API credentials and testing environment access within 5 days of contract start"
- Payment: "Pay $50,000 upfront licensing fee upon execution"
- Delivery: "Submit product roadmap within 30 days of effective date"
Recurring
Obligations with their trigger set to Recurring occur on a customizable cadence, which generates associated obligations (child obligations) for each occurrence, such as Q1, Q2, and Q3 reports.
| Field | Purpose | Configuration |
|---|---|---|
| Frequency | Defines how often the obligation will occur. | You can choose from Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly. The settings available depend on the frequency you select. For example, if you choose Weekly, you can specify which days of the week the obligation occurs. If you choose Monthly, you can specify which day of the month it occurs. |
| Start date | Defines when the obligation occurrences/instances will begin. | You can select any calendar day from the picker. |
| Ends | Defines when the obligation occurrences/instances will stop recurring. | You can select from Contract end, After a number of occurrences, and On a specific date. |
| Due date offset anchor | Defines when the due date offset begins. | You can select before or after the period starts or before or after the period ends. For example, if you select After period end and set the Due date offset to 30 days, the obligation will be due 30 days before the specified time period ends. |
| Due date offset | Defines how far off the due date should be. | You can choose Days, Weeks, Months, or Years, and specify how many should pass before the obligation due date. |
Configuration:
Created obligation:
Examples
For Recurring - Monthly:
- Billing/payments: "Pay $10,000 monthly subscription fee by the 30th"
- Reporting: "Submit monthly usage statistics and compliance report"
- Reviews: "Conduct monthly security review calls"
For Recurring - Yearly:
- Renewals: "Renew annual insurance certificate of coverage"
- Compliance: "Conduct annual SOC 2 audit"
- Audits: "Submit annual financial statements by the last day of the calendar year"
Conditional
Obligations with their trigger set to Conditional occur based on a set condition. The due date and status roll up from its instances. The main dashboard also shows how many instances have been triggered.
| Field | Purpose | Configuration |
|---|---|---|
| Condition description | Describes the condition that must be met for the obligation to be triggered. |
A freeform description of the event or situation that must occur to trigger the obligation. Describe the specific circumstance in plain language that will activate this obligation. Examples: |
| Due date after condition is met | Defines when the obligation will be due once the condition is triggered. |
The timeframe in which the obligation must be completed once the condition is triggered. This specifies how many days, weeks, months, or years must pass after the condition occurs before the obligation is due. Select the unit of time (Days, Weeks, Months, or Years) and enter the number. For example, "3 Days" for a 72-hour notification requirement, or "0 Days" for obligations due immediately when the condition is met. |
Configuration:
Created Obligation:
Examples
- Security breach notification: "Upon discovery of a confirmed security breach, notify affected customers within 72 hours and provide details of the incident"
- Subprocessor change: "If we engage a new subprocessor to process customer data, notify customer at least 30 days in advance and provide the opportunity to object"
- SLAs credits: "If uptime falls below 99%, provide 5% service credit"
Perpetual
Obligations with their trigger set to Perpetual occur perpetually. There is no defined due date, and it will constantly exist.
Configuration:
Conditional Obligations:
Examples
- Ongoing compliance: "Maintain confidentiality of proprietary information"
- Standing requirements: "Maintain minimum $5M insurance coverage at all times"
- Continuous obligations: "Comply with all applicable data protection regulations"
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