Sequential, parallel or mixed.By role or by name.With an analysis step that stops anything outside your policy.
Blocks if the score is below 70 or a mandatory clause is missing
2 mandatory approvers, assigned by role
Approver assigned by name, after step 2
“Can you take a look?” sent to three people. Who approved which version, and when? Nobody can say for sure.
Finance approves before Legal, a key approver is forgotten, and the contract goes back a step.
A liability cap that's too low or a missing mandatory clause: without systematic checks, the gap shows up after signature.
Pactolane's approval workflows route every contract through the right approvers, in the sequence you define: sequential, parallel or mixed steps, with approvers assigned by role or by name.An automatic analysis step applies your playbook and, depending on the score and any missing clauses, blocks the contract, issues a warning or lets it through. Included from the Team plan.
Each step is a card: its name, its trigger condition (on every submission or on first submission) and its approver blocks, whose approvers can be reordered by drag and drop.
The playbook runs on the contract. You set the rules: minimum score, number of red-line clauses tolerated, mandatory clauses present.
Each approver sees their tasks with an urgency indicator, approves with an optional comment or rejects with a mandatory reason.
From the contract page, one click is all it takes. The workflow attached to the template starts; if an approver is missing, Pactolane asks you to assign one.
Notification in the app and by email. The approver reviews the contract and its analyses, then approves or rejects with a reason.
When all the steps are approved, the status changes on its own and signature can be launched. A rejection sends the contract back to draft with its reason.
Approvers in a block act one after another or are asked at the same time. Combine both across several steps.
Assign a role in the organization or a specific person, and mark each approver as mandatory or not.
The playbook runs within the workflow. On failure, three possible responses: block, warn or continue.
Each template carries its workflow: the generated contract arrives with its approvers already set. A workflow can also serve as the default.
Publishing a workflow locks its configuration into a version. Editing it puts it back into draft until its next publication.
Notification in the app and by email to each approver, with an “overdue”, “today”, “soon” or “on track” indicator.
A contract approval workflow is the path a contract must follow before being approved: who approves it, in what sequence, and under what conditions. In Pactolane, it is made up of human approval steps (sequential, parallel or mixed) and, if you wish, automatic playbook analysis steps. Every decision is timestamped and attributed.
You set up a workflow in Pactolane's visual designer: you create steps, choose each one's trigger condition (on every submission or on first submission), then add approver blocks whose sequence you set (sequential, parallel or mixed). Each approver is assigned by role or by name and can be made mandatory. You then attach the workflow to a template, or mark it as the default workflow, and publish it.
Yes, in Pactolane, an automatic analysis step in the workflow can block an off-policy contract. It runs your playbook on the contract and applies the rules you have set: minimum score (for example 70 out of 100), maximum number of red-line clauses, presence of mandatory clauses. On failure, the step blocks the workflow, issues a warning or lets it continue, as you choose. Your lawyers thus step in where their judgment matters. Learn more about compliance playbooks.
In Pactolane, each approver receives a notification in the app and by email as soon as the contract reaches their step. On their Approvals page, they find their pending tasks with an urgency indicator (overdue, today, soon, on track) and the time elapsed since submission. They approve in one click, with an optional comment, or reject by giving a reason.
In Pactolane, a rejection requires a written reason: the button stays inactive until the reason is entered. The contract then returns to draft status with this reason, to be corrected and resubmitted to the workflow. The history keeps the decision, its date and the comment. To reduce back-and-forth, see reducing contract approval times.
In Pactolane, when all steps are approved, the contract automatically moves to “Approved” status and the main button on its page becomes “Start signature”. You then send it for native, unlimited simple electronic signature (SES), or via DocuSign, Yousign or Dropbox Sign. Learn more about electronic signature.
In Pactolane, approval workflows and playbooks are included from the Team plan (€149 per month excl. VAT, 7-day free trial). The Growth (€499 per month excl. VAT) and Scale (from €2,500 per month excl. VAT) plans add, among other things, automatic AI analysis, PactAI, and deadline and obligation tracking. Full details are on our pricing page.
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