Build a custom workflow

Transcript

Custom workflows are ideal for repeatable use cases. They promote consistency, reduce errors, and make agreement creation easier by predefining much of the detail and providing custom instructions for the sender. In this tutorial, learn how to create and use custom workflows to speed up the process of creating and sending an agreement.

Let’s start by looking at a workflow that has already been designed, and then we’ll walk through the steps of setting one up. From the homepage, select Start from Library and click on the available workflows. When you choose a workflow and select the Start button, you’re taken to the Compose page, showing a draft of the agreement that has much of the required information defaulted for you, including documents, agreement details, agreement settings, and recipient details. The instructions guide you to enter the company an individual name and email, and then to enter your manager’s email for approval. I’ll quickly enter the required information and review the prefilled information, like the deadline and email address for the legal team. When you select Preview and Add Fields, you can see that the information entered has been merged into the form fields of the document. If no other changes are needed, you can select Send to initiate the signing process using just a few clicks and entries compared to setting it all up from scratch.

Now we’ll dive into how to create a custom workflow. Depending on your account settings, you may need to be a group or account administrator to access custom workflows. If you have access, you see a Workflows option in the top navigation bar, and then select Custom Workflows from the left-hand menu to view the list of custom workflows available to you. Select Create Workflow to create a brand new custom workflow. This provides access to all the same options as when editing a workflow, which we’ll do now by selecting the pencil icon for the non-disclosure agreement workflow we just used. Creating or editing a custom workflow brings us to the Workflow Designer, which is broken down into six sections on the left-hand side. First is Workflow Info, which allows us to name the workflow, provide the instructions for the sender to follow during use, and define who can make use of the workflow.

Next is the Agreement Info, which allows us to specify default values for any of the agreements created using the workflow, including the agreement name, message, carbon copy recipients, and whether this is editable and the minimum maximum number of times, recipient language, send options, and whether a password should be specified for opening downloaded PDF documents, a completion deadline, if appropriate, and you can check to allow authoring of documents prior to sending option if you want senders to be able to access the Preview and Add Fields button.

Next is the Recipient section, which allows you to specify order and details of recipients, including their email addresses or recipient group.

There are options to check editable if you want senders to be able to adjust recipient details.

Private message to be included in email notification. Recipient CC to be notified following recipient action, role, and authentication.

The Email section allows you to specify what email notifications should be sent. You can check or uncheck the boxes to specify which email notifications are desired.

Documents allow you to predefine which documents should be included.

Title is the name that appears on the compose page. Files, selected from the template library, or placeholders to indicate that the sender using the workflow should provide a document. Name, which is used to identify the document, and required, whether the document must be included in the agreement.

To add a document to the workflow, simply select the plus icon. At this point, you have two options. You can select a template that must be used in this workflow when you’re sending the document for signature, or two, you do not upload a file, and through this, allow the sender to provide the file. Or you could do both, provide the default file, and with another click, allow the sender to provide an attachment or additional file when needed.

And last, sender input fields, which allow us to prompt the sender for information which will then be mapped to pre-filled form fields in the document.

At the top of the workflow designer, you’ll see a few buttons that allow you to clone a workflow, delete a workflow, close, update to save any changes you have made, and activate or deactivate if you want to change the availability of the current workflow without permanently deleting it. Deactivating a custom workflow has no impact on agreements previously created using the workflow, but it’s useful if you need to make some updates and don’t want senders to make use of the workflow until those updates are complete. A deactivated or newly created custom workflow must be explicitly activated to make it available to senders. Custom workflows make it quick and easy to create and send agreements that include all the required documents to all the required recipients and necessary messaging and authentication, ensuring that your business processes are followed accurately and reliably.