SpotDraft offers two types of approvals that can be set up on a workflow level: Pre-Send Approvals and Pre-Sign Approvals. These approvals help ensure that contracts are properly vetted before they are sent to counterparties or moved into the signing phase.
Pre-Send Approvals
- Purpose: Pre-send approvals are designed to gather internal approvals before a contract is sent to a counterparty for review. This ensures that the contract is thoroughly vetted internally before it's shared externally.
- Trigger: Pre-send approvals are typically triggered:
- On contract creation for template contracts.
- On completion of the intake form for third-party paper contracts.
- Example: A team might require a legal review before sending out the contract to the counterparty for review, for these scenarios a "Legal Approval" pre-send approval would be set up to require a check before the contract is shared.
- Outcome: Pre-send approvals block users from sending the contract to the counterparty for review until the required internal approvals are received.
Pre-Sign Approvals
- Purpose: Pre-sign approvals are used as a final sign-off before a contract is moved into the signing phase. They act as a safeguard against any errors or omissions that could lead to issues at the signing stage.
- Trigger: Pre-sign approvals are typically triggered:
- When a user clicks "Mark for Execution" on a contract for third-party paper contracts.
- Automatically after a counterparty has completed its review for template contracts.
- Example: A company might want to ensure that all key stakeholders have reviewed a contract before it goes to signing. In this case, they could set up pre-sign approvals for Legal, Finance, and Operations. Once a counterparty completes their review of the contract, the pre-sign approvals will automatically be triggered.
- Outcome: Pre-sign approvals block users from moving a contract into the signing phase until the required approvals have been received.
Choosing the Right Approval Type
- Pre-Send Approvals: Use this to set up internal approvals that need to be gathered before a contract is sent out for review or further redlining.
- Pre-Sign Approvals: Use this to set up final sign-offs that ensure a contract is fully reviewed and approved before it's signed.