Already-Defined Playbook for Third-Party Paper

Step 1: Collect Data

• Gather the following recommended data and files:
  • Contract type and description;
  • Contract playbook, policies, and guidelines relevant to third-party paper; 
  • 5-10 first-pass redlines on third-party paper.
    • First pass redlines establish a knowledge-base of past edits you and your team have produced previously.
    • By gathering this knowledge upfront, DocJuris can enable you and your team to iterate and improve playbooks faster.

• If you need assistance, here is a helpful link on how to submit information to an onboarding specialist at DocJuris.

Step 2: Configure a Playbook in DocJuris Per Existing Rules and Guidelines

• Information in an existing playbook in Word, Excel, PDF, etc. can be used as a key reference to copy and paste provisions and notes into the DocJuris Playbook Editor.

• As you go through the below guidelines, note that third party paper requires additional testing and thought when establishing the search tags in particular. Because the form of agreement and language can very (i.e., semantic in nature), it is important to think about:
• Concepts that would be missing;
• Concepts that need to be removed; and,
• Varying ways such concepts might be worded in a contract.

• Creating playbooks and setting up rules:
  • Here are several helpful links on creating playbooks that can be found on the DocJuris Help Center. We highly recommend learning (a) the general playbook model and (b) searching tagging.
    • Managing Details of Playbooks section
    • Guide on Creating and Editing Playbooks, generally
    • Leveraging DocJuris' powerful search logic (i.e., Search Tags)
    • Using past redlines to create playbooks in DocJuris.
  • If necessary, get a head start on a playbook skeleton with an Excel import:
    • In some cases, the following DocJuris' playbook template in Excel (.xlsm) can be utilized to import a simple playbook. (Attached below)
    • There are a few, key limitations to consider:
      • Excel import files must be processed through DocJuris' support desk via support@docjuris.com.
      • The Excel file is macro-enabled — this enables the addition of multiple provisions for each preferred position.
      • However, Excel import files only support one level of Counterparty Position — additional positions must be added in the DocJuris playbook app.
      • Excel import files do not have keyword search capabilities — search tags must be added in the DocJuris playbook app.

Step 3: Load Previous Redlines for Reference and Clean Up Topic Associations

• DocJuris allows users to upload Past Redlines in Word that were done outside of DocJuris and catalog them for reference in future negotiations (click "Analyze a Contract" to see this option).

• • Please see the "Uploading Previous Redlines" guide.
• However, it's important to clean up (i.e., pre-process) these prior Word docs before loading them into DocJuris.
  • Foremost, confirm that the Word document containing redlines represents a company's redlines/edits or is some representation of a negotiated position that would be helpful to demonstrate for future reference.
  • Accept “format” changes and any large deletions in Word that are not relevant to the playbook 
    • Accepting formatting or other trivial changes in Word before uploading the past redlines allows DocJuris to focus/train the system on what is truly relevant. If a document contains several dozen/hundreds of "track changes", DocJuris will attempt to tag every paragraph — try to avoid this.
    • Upload each document to DocJuris using the “Past Redline” checkbox in the “Analyze a Contract” window (note: Past redlines are associated to contract type).
  • Clean up Topic Associations
    • Go through the uploaded document in DocJuris and clean up topic associations. These associations catalog the past redlines into different topics.
    • Here is a helpful link explaining how to apply associations to paragraphs that are being edited in DocJuris for future reference.
  • Finally, after Analyzing a Contract in DocJuris, use the Browse tab to view and test these Past Redlines. Viewing these Past Redlines in a tab while reviewing the playbook is often beneficial to supplement a playbook and identify trends. They're also useful to users as they markup contracts.

Step 4: Test Playbook

• Load sample agreements under the "Analyze a Contract" button and test the playbook's analysis capabilities.
• Note, Screening Reports that can be generated by DocJuris, which utilize the playbook. These should be tested for accuracy as well.
• Most clients find that testing at least five documents before a soft launch is beneficial to catching and improving aspects of the playbook that need refinement. Look for:
  • Paragraphs that were generally not searched correctly using DocJuris' search logic
  • False positives in the screening report due to over broad search terms in the playbook search tags.

Step 5: Share Playbook with Stakeholders

• Review the Preferred Positions, Counterparty Positions, and Tags with all stakeholders and obtain feedback.
• Helpful tip: playbooks in DocJuris can be exported to Word from the Playbook Editor.

• A DocJuris onboarding specialist can help troubleshoot any issues your users may be experiencing. If you have any questions about your contact at DocJuris, please reach out to support@docjuris.com.

• _Excel__Contract_Playbook_Template_v4.xlsm40 KB