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27 April 2021

Implementation: Seamless Workflows with Integrations

eliotbenzecrit Automation, Avvoka, Legal Tech, Technology, Tips Article, Document automation, implementation, integrations

(4 minute read)

One of the most important things that you should consider when looking for a software provider is what integrations they offer, as well as how you can potentially integrate.

Why? Well, no one wants to use a document automation platform that doesn’t integrate with their existing CRM. This would mean having to copy and paste the information from, for example, Salesforce directly into the platform – increasing the risk for mistakes, which you were most likely aiming to minimise in the first place when you embarked on your document automation journey. In order to encourage the adoption of your document automation solution, you should be prioritising integrations with your existing systems.

This article is going to focus solely on integrations, including:

By the end of this article you’ll be confident when speaking to vendors about integrations, as well as understanding what the integration process and rollout will look like.

What are integrations?

You’ve likely heard the word integrations thrown around a lot, especially as you’ve set out on your document automation journey, but it is best to take a step back and think about what an integration actually is. Put simply, an integration means to unite one piece of technology with another and typically to transfer data between them.

Breaking it down even further, you can think of an integration as different technology platforms speaking with each other. This normally happens in one of two different ways:

One of the systems pulls data from another;
Or the system pushes data to another.

What’s the difference? If system A pulls data from system B, that means that system A is the one that can now manipulate and use the data in some way in their system. This might be done by populating the questionnaire with a customer’s information from system B’s CRM tool, or creating new users and adding them to documents. On the other hand, when system A pushes data to system B this is likely for system B to use the data. For example, pushing a completed document back in to your document management system once you’ve signed the contract.

What’s important in both scenarios when looking at pushing or pulling data is that either system can be the one that triggers the transfer of data. This flow of data is something that you should be thinking about when you are looking at the integration options from various providers, as well as what you would need from an integration internally.

When considering what types of integrations you may come across in the document automation market, you should be looking at receiving data from one of the tools that you already use internally to fill out the questionnaires, sending completed questionnaires and the relevant data to your CRM system, or integrating with an e-signature platform like DocuSign and Adobe Sign. For example, you can check our the different integrations we offer at Avvoka that allow you to integrate Avvoka into your existing internal stack.

Different types of integrations

APIs, No-Code, and Webhooks – oh my! You might be a bit overwhelmed at the thought of integrations and the various options available, but we’ll try and make them as simple as possible for you.

What’s important to remember is that regardless of the terms used, an integration at its core is the transfer of data between two different systems. Each method is just a different way of accomplishing that transfer.

An API, or Application Programming Interface, is a set of methods that allows others to access different parts of an application. This might mean you can add users, create documents, or download documents without having to access the application itself. What’s important is that some software systems APIs are more extensive than others and will allow you to achieve more, so it’s important to look at what functions the API actually allows to ensure that it meets your integration needs.
- If they do have an API, what comes next? Typically either your vendor’s software developers or your own will programme an interface that acts as a middleman between the two systems. This means that it calls the different functions from the document automation solution’s API based at pre-defined timings. Typically, you are merging together two APIs at this stage to have them communicate.

Webhooks, like an API, are something that you can leverage for third party integrations. This time, instead of the middleman interface calling the document automation provider’s API, it is listening for calls or ‘notifications’ from the platform instead. Webhooks will send a message to your chosen URL based on different actions. These actions might include when a document is signed or created. This means that rather than your API interface constantly checking for every document created and its status afterwards, it is able to just wait for the notification.
- Typically what happens after the notification is that you might leverage the API to download the signed document, for example, after the webhook that notified you it had been signed. Webhooks are also great for integrations with tools like Slack, to send messages every time the status of a document changes.
No-Code integrations refer to integrations that have already been set up and pre-configured. You won’t need the middleman interface that you do with webhooks or an API, and you can typically provide your third party account details directly to the system’s platform. This is like when you can link your Instagram account directly from another tool. To be able to do that, you didn’t need to build the integration first.

What you should be looking for

The integrations you’ll need will largely depend on your existing software tools and how you plan to implement your chosen document automation tool at your business. Here are a few considerations to make when deciding which integrations to implement:

The tools already in use at your workplace – which tools do you already use? If there is a CRM tool relied upon across your organisation, it will be important to integrate that with the document automation tool. Picking a tool that fits in seamlessly with the software you already use will ensure you’re not adding any additional work for your employees when you are meant to be saving them time.
What you’d like to get out of your document automation platform – are you interested in integrating with an AI tool for additional insights? Or maybe you’re looking to have a more seamless workflow, rather than having to bounce between different tools. Your needs will determine whether you need any integrations!
What data do you need transferred between systems? This is an important question, as it underpins how your integration will work. Just because your chosen solution has an API and so does your existing DMS, this does not mean that they are going to integrate easily if you decide that you want to include the metadata from your document as well. Ideally, you will have considered what data you need to be integrated before looking for a solution to ensure you know that it can be easily transferred between systems.

Now if you have decided to include some integrations, it’s important to consult with your document automation team:

Do they support integration? A big one. If a provider can’t integrate with your essential tools, you’ll likely have to look for different software.
What is their current testing strategy? Will your team ensure that the integration successfully works before completing the project.
How will the integration work? Will it be seamless? Ensure you are on the same page as the software company by asking lots of questions and having them walk you through how the integration will work.

Rolling Out Integrations

Once you have asked your necessary questions and are ready to develop and roll out your integrations with your document automation provider its important to you are ready to do so. We’d recommend:

Having a plan – as we keep mentioning, it’s important to make sure that you are clear on what data you need to be sending as well as which way the data may flow. You’ll want to make sure that you and your vendor are both clear on what you expect to happen
Map out the expected user flow – do you want individual users to be able to access the integration? Where should they input their log in details? How often should the data be sent to your CRM system? These are important things to think about when defining the user workflow and touch points with the integration. It’s useful at this point to ensure that you are also communicating with those using your internal systems to make sure you are clear on their expectations
Agree a development timescale and process – you and your vendor should be clear on what the development process will look like. Note that this will vary depending on who is undertaking the development of the middleman systems if you are using their API or webhooks
Ensure you test often – try and imagine every way that the integration might be used, and make sure that you test for every outcome. What’s worse than no integration at all is likely an integration that doesn’t do what you expected it to

Summary

To sum it all up, the most important thing that you can do when planning your rollout as well as initially looking for a vendor is to understand what you’d need in terms of integrations. To make sure you are prepared you need to confidently be able to say what data you expect to be transferred between systems, whether that’s a single list of options for a questionnaire answer, the metadata attached to the document, or something else entirely.

No two APIs are built the same, so while it’s good to be on the lookout for a solution with an API its more important to understand how you expect the workflow to be executed once your integration is developed, and to ensure that your document automation system’s integration options can handle that. This is also a conversation that you will likely need to have with your existing vendor’s integration team as well.

Finally, just because a vendor doesn’t list your chosen internal tool as an integration that they offer, it is still worth discussing with them to see if you can leverage something like their API or webhooks to achieve that integration.

If you want to find out how you can get started with document automation, check out The Ultimate Guide: Document Automation 2022 – Our very own e-book where we provide expert legal tech advice about everything you will need to know and learn.

Read more from Avvoka:

By: Amy Conroy

21 April 2021

Implementation: Kickstarting your Automation Journey

eliotbenzecrit Automation, Avvoka, Innovation, Legal Tech, Technology, Tips Article, Document automation, implementation, project

(4 minute read)

This week’s blog will help you kickstart your document automation journey.

Highlights include:
? Choosing which documents to automate first.
? How to decide your overall automation strategy and aims.
? Why you should use standardised data points.

We will also give you some insider tips on how to plan a flawless document automation implementation. Keep reading to find out more.

Implementation 101: Template consolidation ?

You are raring to get started on the implementation of your automation project. You want to start with the automation of your documents now that you have gotten your hands on your document automation tool. You decide upon the employment agreement and eagerly open your template bank, only to be met with twelve different types of employment agreements. You then ask yourself one of the most common questions in document automation – ‘should I keep these in separate templates, or merge them?’

Merging multiple templates is often called ‘template consolidation’ or ‘template rationalisation’. It involves taking your entire universe of ‘Agreement X’ variants and consolidating them to the lowest number of templates that makes sense.

When you are thinking about the implementation of your document automation project, you should consolidate documents wherever possible. This doesn’t mean merging your employment agreement and your termination letters into the same document. Instead, similar documents should be kept in the same template, and this template should be automated to accommodate the document variations so that the end-user is guided into creating the perfect document. As a rule of thumb, documents sharing around two-thirds of the same provisions (or could be if they were re-drafted) should be housed in the same template.

Let’s look at a practical example.

I have the following template agreements in my folder:

Employment Agreement – with bonus scheme
Employment Agreement – standard
Employment Agreement – with a probation period and share scheme
Hong Kong Employment Agreement – basic
Consultancy Agreement

Assuming these all contain standard clauses and cover the same topics, you would create one master ‘Employment Agreement’ with a selection of provisions that could be dropped in.

Automation ?

Now the fun part of the implementation – automating! How you get started will depend on which software you have selected (see our guide here). However, some tips apply across all tools:

? Plan your implementation and automation

Should I template all the documents at once, one-by-one, or in groups? In deciding, you may want to consider the possible use cases your tool may cater for.

Now that you have identified the documents to template, you need to decide on an automation strategy. You have several options here. You could spend the next few months templating and testing, then release the templates all at once. On the other end would be to template only one document type at a time. Alternatively, you could take an approach which straddles the middle. There is no one-size-fits-all. Ultimately, the choice depends on the business drivers behind automation and the selection of particular templates. That said, we have learnt from experience that delivering templates in groups poses the fewest obstacles.

One-by-one
- Positives:
  - The whole team is focused on delivering a template in a single sprint, ensuring high quality in minimal time.
  - Automating one template at a time is best suited for when there is an imminent business need for a flagship contract to be up and running as soon as possible.
  - The team can identify any workflow issues in their overall templating approach early and apply them to subsequently automated documents.
- Negatives:
  - Focusing on one template for too long can lead to idle time for other teams and disengagement with the project.
  - Different contracts are owned by different legal and business teams.
All templates at once
- Positives:
  - All energy is directed to the templating process rather than being spread between rolling out and conducting training for completed templates, while still automating others.
  - This approach may allow you to plan resources better as you know your legal and business teams will be deeply involved for a few months before handing over to the end-users.
  - Planning for training may be simplified as the entire business can be trained at the same time.
- Negatives:
  - There is a risk in progressing all templates together. If an issue is spotted after going live, you will need to go back to all templates to fix them. Depending on the magnitude of the error, rectification could take from anywhere from days to weeks.
Groups
- Positives:
  - By confining templating work to a group of documents initially, you are conducting a rollout on a smaller scale, such as within one unit. This will allow you to plan better for subsequent rollouts to other units.
  - You can focus on delivering a handful of contracts in one go, thus creating a functional suite of documents for end-users and gaining competency in your automation tool.
  - User Acceptance Testing is more easily managed at this scale, helping to ensure higher quality templates are released to the end-users.
- Negatives:
  - Care has to be taken in choosing the first group to work on, as you may end up being too focused on it due to a large volume of documents or complexity of consolidation.
  - Multiple work streams will be formed as different groups will be at different stages of implementation, such as templating, rolling out, or training. You can read more about a typical implementation timeline here.

? In what order should I automate my documents?

Now you have selected your documents and your approach to automation, there is one final thing to decide on before you start implementing your document automation project – which documents to tackle first. We recommend beginning by only picking a group of three or four documents to template. Some factors to consider:

‘Readiness’
- All projects, automation or otherwise, need early success stories to build engagement levels. You can streamline your project if you have contracts that have already been rationalised, and drafting instructions exist (or could easily be created). Using such contracts will give you the ability to quickly deliver a handful of automated templates at the beginning of the process, thus buying the time and confidence you need to work through the larger documents.
User group – how many users will be using this template?
- An NDA is a classic example of a ‘group one’ contract type, but you should consider that NDAs are used by the whole business and the implications of needing to train and rollout the document to the whole business at once. That said, this may allow each business area to get used to the system with a simple generic document while their core business documents are being automated, which helps generate more engagement due to their success with the NDA.
- Consider what you want to achieve in terms of user engagement at the planning stage. If you want the political buy-in of multiple user groups, ensure the first group documents are not confined to one business area like NDAs and basic commercial contracts like assignment agreements. An alternative but still valid strategy would be to first automate the documents of a particularly receptive business group and iron out any early issues before tackling more challenging areas of the firm.
Complexity
- The best mix for your first set of documents is a group made up of mostly simple contracts and one more complex agreement. Ideally, you would get the simple documents functional fast for quick PR wins, but the complex agreement will help assure the more cynical among the group of the capabilities of your automation tool. You can learn more about Avvoka’s simple yet powerful automation functions here.

?How much should I automate?

There’s a temptation to make the perfect template, with every single word and possible option, automated. While the ‘automate everything’ approach will work in some cases, it usually leads to inefficient templates that are hard to maintain. Start small, keep it simple and aim to automate 60% of your document and then iterate. You will be amazed how much time you could save with even just five to ten key questions that lead to large parts of the document conditionally dropping in.

For each section, you should weigh up the complexity of automating that section versus doing it manually. A great example is the recital sections of documents – these can be some of the most fiddly aspects to automate – but is it any quicker than just typing it out in the document? If this leads to you typing into the questionnaire what you would too in a word document, it may be ultimately be more efficient to leave that part unautomated.

?Think about the end-user

When you are implementing your document automation project, keep in mind who will be answering the questions to create the document. Will it be the commercial team? New joiners? Legal only? Always word the questions in a way that makes sense to a user. Nothing will bring inefficiencies back into your automated process quite like ambiguity and confusion in the question.

A great example is something as simple as:

Please select the governing law of the contract.

English law
New York law
French law

Where is the deal team based?

London
New York
Paris

These two will both result in a change to the jurisdiction clause, even though they are phrased differently and aimed at different audiences.

? Use standardised data points

Another important part of automation you should consider before the implementation of your automation project is to identify replicated data points across your document, and standardizing them wherever possible. This will save you from having to write repeated questions for the same condition or data point, massively improving the end-user’s experience by saving their time. After all, no one wants to spend an hour answering fifty different questions when the same data can be collected in five different questions. You can read more about the benefits of automating with standardised data points here.

What do we mean? Think about it this way. At the beginning of your document, you see that the company name can become a placeholder that the end-user can type in. So, you create your [company name] attribute. Later on, you see square brackets around [full company name], and you create a placeholder called “full company name”. Now, your user will have to enter the data for both [full company name] and [company name] as answers to two different questions.

By standardising your data points, you can avoid that repetition and ensure the highest accuracy for your documents. Thus, before you jump into automating your documents, you should identify common pieces of data that will repeat and pick a standard name for each placeholder. With practice and time spent familiarising yourself with the data points in your document, you are much more likely to condense your questionnaire and end up with fewer questions automating various aspects of your document.

Read more from Avvoka:

By:  Yap San Zhi