In this article:
What are approval phases
During a contract's lifecycle, approvals are often required before moving to the next stage. LawVu allows you to set up approvals at different stages to control contract progression.
These approvals are grouped into approval phases, which can be linked together to form approval workflows. Approval workflows ensure contracts follow a structured approval process. To streamline approvals, you can save workflows as templates, making the process more efficient for your organization.
Approval phases are the core components of an approval workflow. Each phase represents a step where approval is needed.
For example, an organization has multiple approval phases in a workflow template named 'Purchasing Approval' to ensure compliance with internal policies.
Note that approval phases can also be set up in parallel when multiple teams or individuals need to approve a contract simultaneously. This setup enables all parties to review and approve the contract at the same time, in any order, enhancing efficiency and minimizing delays.
What are approval workflows
Approval workflows are simply a collection of approval phases.
When a contract enters an approval workflow, it pauses and moves through each approval phase sequentially. Once all approvals are completed, the contract progresses to the next stage.
How to create approval workflows
Rather than creating approval workflows every time you create a new contract, you can create a template instead. Workflow templates are created globally and can be assigned to various contract types.
Note: Only Organization Administrators can create these workflows. You can access this feature by navigating to Settings / Approval workflows / Contract approvals [V2]
Read this article to learn how to create approval workflows from global workflow templates.
Applying approval phases and workflows to individual contracts
You can add approval phases directly to individual contracts when needed. However, keep in mind:
They apply only to the current stage of the contract.
Approvers must be contract members.
If the contract moves back to Draft or an earlier stage, manually added approvals will be lost and must be re-added.
Select the stage you want the approval to be applied to
Click on "Add a phase to the workflow"
3. Create and name the first phase in the workflow.
4. Choose approvers. You can choose one or more individuals and teams and specify whether it's sufficient for anyone in the group to approve or if everyone in the group must approve the contract.
Before adding teams as approvers, ensure they are first added to the Security tab. If you choose:
One must approve – Approval from any single member of the selected teams is sufficient. (For example, if Team A has 2 members and Team B has 3 members, any 1 of these 5 members can approve the contract.)
All must approve – All members of the selected teams must approve the contract for it to move forward.
To edit a phase, click the pencil icon. To delete it, click the trash can icon.
When all phases are completed, the contract automatically moves to the next stage.
