COBBLESTONE SOFTWARE

Contract Insight — User Guide

E-Approvals Flow/Groups

Document Templates Management › Managing Generated Document E-Approvals & E-Signatures › E-Approvals Flow/Groups

Note: Each procedure in this guide begins at the Contract Insight homepage, so any section can be followed on its own. Custom fields are configurable, so the exact field list on a contract category record may vary between environments.

1. Overview

An approval flow is configured as part of a document template, so documents generated from that template are routed for approval automatically. The Administration → Document Templates grid has an Approvals column that shows whether a template's approvals are On or Off and how many steps it carries (for example, "On · 2 steps").

The flow is set up on the template's Approvals & signing step, on the E-Approvals tab. The tab explains: "When enabled, generating a document from this template copies the selected approval process's flow onto it, dormant until someone starts it." Under Who approves, and in what order, the flow is made of numbered approval groups: "Approvers are invited group by group - within a group they act in parallel, across groups sequentially."

2. Key Elements

• The Document Templates grid's Approvals column shows On/Off and a step count for each template.
• The template's Approvals & signatures card shows whether E-Approvals and E-Signatures are on (for example, "approvals only").
• On the E-Approvals tab, Use E-Approvals turns approval routing on, and Approval process selects a shared process when one exists for the record type and template type.
• Each approval group has a sequence number, a name, optional tags such as accept on complete, and Edit, Participant, Rules, Copy, and Delete buttons.
• Each group lists its approvers with a Title (approval placeholder), Source, Approver, and Required (required or optional) setting.

3. Navigating to a Template's E-Approvals Tab

1. From the Contract Insight homepage, click the Administration icon (sliders) at the bottom of the left navigation bar.
2. Under Templates & Presentation, click Document Templates.

3. Use the Approvals column to see which templates have approvals on and how many steps they have. Click Open on the template's row.

4. On the template's Template overview, the Approvals & signatures card summarizes whether E-Approvals and E-Signatures are on. Click Manage on the card, or click step 3 Approvals & signing.

5. On the E-Approvals tab, confirm Use E-Approvals is checked (Enabled), choose an Approval process if one is available, and click Save approval settings.

Note: If no approval process is available, the tab shows "No active approval process is configured for this record type and template type," and notes that "generated documents will carry no approval flow."

4. Reviewing the Approval Flow

1. Group number and name — groups run in sequence order (for example, 1 Vendor Review, then 2 Final Document Clean Up).
2. accept on complete — shown when the group is set to accept tracked changes when it completes.
3. Approver rows — each shows the Title (approval placeholder), the Source (for example, Employees or Vendor/Customer Contacts), the Approver, and whether the approval is required or optional.
4. Approver actions — When this approval is required (filter icon), Content controls this approver may edit (shield icon), and Remove this approver (trash icon).
5. Group actions — Edit, Participant, Rules, Copy, and Delete.

5. Adding an Approval Group

1. On the E-Approvals tab, click Add group. The Add group form opens below the existing groups.
2. Enter a Group name (required), for example "Finance Approval".
3. Optionally enter a Description.
4. Confirm the Sequence. It defaults to the next number.
5. Choose For version: Initial Version Only, Additional/Modified Versions, or All Versions.
6. Check or clear Accept tracked changes on complete.
7. Optionally choose Set record status on complete, or leave -- No Status Change --.
8. Click Save approval group, or click Cancel to discard.

6. Adding Approvers to a Group

1. On the group's header, click Participant. The Add participant to form opens.
2. Choose where the Participant is from: Employees, Roles & Groups, or Vendor/Customer Contacts.
3. Select the approver (for example, Assigned Employee/User).
4. Enter a Title. It must be unique per template.
5. Optionally enter a Reason.
6. Check Required if this approval must be completed, and Locked to keep the approver from being removed.
7. Click Save participant, or click Cancel to discard.

7. Quick Reference Summary