What is it
Companies sell products, whether that is a service, a tangible good or financial. These products require a document with the description of what is delivered, against which terms and conditions, which counterparties are part of it and what their obligations, responsibilities and benefits are.
These so-called product-documents can range from a fairly simple document describing a phone contract, Lombard loan, hardware purchase or the terms and conditions to a software platform (think: what you accept to when you use google search) to highly complex product-documents like Fund-prospects, Convertible Preferred Shares, Derivatives, Warrants, Insurance Products (lots of exceptions and rules) and consultancy terms from large corporates.
With the contractuo product-feature you can:
- Create the structure of the product by select a blueprint and structuring the related forms.
- Create the final product by filling in the forms or obtaining the required data.
Who is it for
Creating the structure of a new product and creating the end-document out of it is done in the Prospects module. This module is commonly used by product departments. The creation of products is done in the admin environment. This environment is typically used by users that create content for documents. They are often content experts, but can also be external experts.
Note: To create a product you will need to have a blueprint.
Why create products in Prospects module
Creating products in the prospects module will take away the most of the manual processes that are implemented. There is no more need to look for information in multiple documents, edit large word documents that function as a template or send your document back and forth by email.
By getting rid of manual processes, time and money are being saved while experts can focus on their main job. On top of this, you will reduce the risk of making mistakes as a big part of manual work is taken out. Learn more about the process and click here.(link)
How it works
Create the structure of the product by putting forms with their text blocks attached in a specific order under each other. To create the end-document fill in the forms. The data from the forms will fill in the fields of the text blocks. The text blocks, from top to bottom, tie together and form the end-product: the document.
Note: The attached text blocks are determined in the product blueprint.
Determine the order, but also the level. By putting forms on different levels, you will create a hierarchy in the forms. The hierarchy determines if and how the information provided in the form fields is being used in multiple text blocks.
Example: If we take a sub fund with three asset classes as an example, you create a form with its text blocks attached for a sub fund and the same for an asset class. When you create the product, you add one sub fund form on the first level and three asset class forms on the second level. This way you connect the forms.
If you want to add information of a field about the asset classes into a text block of a sub fund, you can just add that field to the text block. We take the field ‘asset type’ as an example. Each form needs to be filled in: the sub fund form and all three asset class forms. The field ‘asset type form’ will be filled in three times as each asset class has its own form. Therefore, the field in the text block of the sub fund will extract the information from all three forms, put it in the text and separate the data with a comma.
Rules and result in the end-document
As described above, the order and level of forms determine if and how the data of form fields are being reused in other places. Find an overview below of the impact of having forms on different levels.
Note: A parent is a form on a higher level. A child is a form on a lower level.
Same forms, same level
- If there are two or more of the same forms (with the same text blocks attached) on the same level, you will have to fill in all form fields. None of them will be prefilled. Note that this rule is also for the children.
Result in document: two or more separate chapters where each form that has been filled in results in an own piece of text with its own data.
Different forms, one or more of the same fields, same level
- If there are two or more different forms with a same form field on the same level, only one field needs to be filled in, the rest will be prefilled with the same data. Note that this rule is also for the children.
Result in document: the same data is used in both forms for the same fields and will be obtained by the text blocks attached to those forms that contain this form field.
Different forms, one or more of the same fields, different level.
- If there are two different forms that contain one or more of the same fields on another level (a parent, a child possibly a child of the child), only one field needs to be filled in. The rest will be prefilled with the same data.
Result in document: the same data is used in the forms for the same fields and will be obtained by the text blocks attached to those forms that contain this form field.
Text block that contains a field that is not in the attached form
If there is a text block that contains a form field that is not in the attached form, the text block will try to:
- Obtain information from its children. If there is a form (or multiple forms) with this field, the data will be used in the text block. If there are multiple children on the same level, all data will be used and put in the text block, separated by a comma.
- Obtain information from its parent. If there is a form with this field (or multiple), the data will be used in the text block. If there are multiple children on the same level, all data will be used and put in the text block, separated by a comma.
Note: Also for the children follows the rule: if there are two forms on the same level with one or more of the same form fields, only one field needs to be filled in, the other one will automatically be prefilled.
How to create a product
- Go to ‘Prospects‘ and click on ‘Product‘.
- Click on ‘Create Product‘.
- Add a name to the product.
- Add a description to the product.
- Select a blueprint that you would like to use for this product. This means you’re choosing a combination of text blocks attached to forms.
- Tick the box if you would like to create this product for testing. A product for testing can also be Once the product is created, a test tube-icon will appear next to the name.
- Add the forms that you would like to use for your product by dragging them. Drag them to right place in terms of order (from top to bottom). Also drag them to the right level. The levels going up from left to right. Keep in mind that the order of the forms will determine the content of your document.
- You can change the names of the forms by selecting a form and changing the name in the sidebar.
Note: the changes will only be applied to the forms in this product. - Click on ‘Save‘ to save the structure of the product.
How to create the structure
- Click on the drop down and select ‘Publish and Fill‘ to fill in the product. All forms need to be filled in.
- Click on the paint bucket icon on the forms and fill in the fields. Always click on ‘Save‘ to save the details that you filled in.
- Click on ‘Overview‘ to go back to all forms.
Note: If you would like another user to fill or review this product, click on ‘requests’ in the sidebar. Fill in the details and save it. This assignee will get a notification. - In the Product Overview you can generate the document to see the (intermediate) results. You can export the document into a Word document or PDF.
- Save your product. Choose from the drop down draft, review or final. These labels will be visible in the timeline in the overview as an indicator of the status. The ‘draft’ label will look grey, ‘review’ yellow and ‘final’ green.
How to fill in the product
- Click on the drop down and select ‘Publish and Fill‘ to fill in the product. Or, click on the bucket-icon if you’re in the overview of all products. All forms need to be filled in.
- Click on the bucket-icon on the forms and fill in the fields. Always click on ‘Save‘ to save the details that you filled in.
- Click on ‘Overview‘ to go back to all forms.
Note: If you would like another user to fill or review this product, click on ‘requests’ in the sidebar. Fill in the details and save it. This assignee will get a notification. - In the Product Overview you can generate the document to see the (intermediate) results. You can export the document into a Word document or PDF.
- Save your product. Choose from the drop down draft, review or final. These labels will be visible in the timeline in the overview as an indicator of the status. The ‘draft’ label will look grey, ‘review’ yellow and ‘final’ green.
Note: It is not possible to generate a final document if a required field is not filled in.
Product fillings and Versions
Product fillings
If you click on a product, you will see a side bar with ‘product fillings’ and ‘versions’. The changes that have been made regarding filling in the form fields, are being tracked. This means you are able to:
- See the versioning status. Green is live, grey is draft and yellow is review.
- Compare different versions. Click on the square-icon on a product and select to which version you would like to compare it. You can choose to only show the changes.
- Watch the document.
- Rename the version.
Versions
Under ‘Versions’ you will see what versions of the product were live and how many.
Product blueprint updates
When your administrators updates a blueprint, you will get notified by the yellow update symbol on the products that contain this blueprint. The symbol indicates that there is at least one change in the blueprint. This can be a change the text blocks, the forms or in the combination of attachment of text blocks and forms.
- Click on it and confirm the update.
- If you were in the middle of filling in your product, the changes will be carried over.