A Conga CLM template is a common set of sections, clauses, text, and placeholders for terms and conditions. Templates can be merged with structured data to generate agreements or proposals. Templates are stored within an Apttus template repository and are used to create quotes and contracts. A template can be considered as a blueprint or mold for creating distributable documents. Users can create a template using X-Author for Contracts or Conga for Google Docs.

  • X-Author for Contracts is a Microsoft add-in designed to work with Microsoft Word. It allows users to interact dynamically with Salesforce data and updates Word with two Conga-specific ribbons. In a typical scenario where an agreement/proposal document is sent to an external party for negotiation, the external party makes changes to the document as part of the negotiation.
    Template administrators maintain and manage contract and clause templates. These templates contain merge fields, which pull field values to create distributable documents. Template administrators can:
    • Create complex contract templates from existing Word documents or other contract templates kept in Salesforce.
    • Apply conditional clauses or text to display if the condition is met.
    • Insert smart fields enabling reconciliation with the agreement/proposal.
    • Insert clauses from clause libraries that get resolved during the generation of the contract agreement.

    • Translate contracts from one language to another.

    Ensure that the API name of the smart fields you insert in your template does not end with start or end. 

    If the changes to the document involve data belonging to the agreement/proposal record, then the reconciliation provides the mechanism to ensure the values in the document and the agreement/proposal records are reconciled. For details, see X-Author for Contracts.

  • Conga for Google Docs is a Google add-on that works with Google Docs. This add-on is part of Conga’s Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) solution which empowers all departments to get what they need from contracting by helping you deliver more growth, streamline operations, reduce risk, and lower supplier costs. This add-on requires an active subscription to Conga CLM for Salesforce. For more information, see CLM for Users.

    This add-on lets you work on contracts and contract templates. The add-on provides a user-friendly User Interface (UI) that helps contract administrators and/or legal users streamline the entire process of CLM. Using Conga for Google Docs, you can maintain contract documents that contain fields, clauses, and templates. Contract administrators seamlessly manage complex negotiation cycles where multiple users can easily review the documents and make changes to the clauses and templates. When saving a final version of a contract document, you can also reconcile any terms that might have changed during the negotiation process. For more information, see Conga for Google Docs.

    .Key features:

    • Create and manage contract templates.
    • Lock a document from editing.
    • Access Clause Library and use approved clauses in the template.
    • Reconcile negotiated terms, clauses, and smart fields in a single click.
     For details, see Managing Templates. 

Select the following topics for more details.

  • Setting Up Template Object for Contract Management
  • Securing Documents
    Word Trust Center/Protected View options can impact your ability to see generated documents and must be disabled before you begin using X-Author Contracts.
  • Agreement Clause
    Clauses have embedded merge fields contained within them that get auto-populated during agreement creation time.
  • Agreement Clause Subcategories
    Subcategory picklists display values based on what was selected in the Category picklist. 
  • Creating Offline Agreements
    You can create offline agreements directly in X-Author by taking an existing Word document that was created outside of Salesforce and has not previously been associated with an agreement.
  • Auto-Publishing
    Publishing templates improves document generation performance by taking referenced clauses in a template and publishing them before the template is used to generate a document. This enters the content of the clause into the template body as static text as if it were another part of the main template. Auto-publishing enhances this by enabling you to schedule a batch job, which automatically completes the publishing task.
  • Document Generation for Templates with Nested Clauses
    The auto-publishing feature improves document generation performance, but some Contract Management customers choose to generate documents without using auto-publishing.
  • Query Template
    Using template filtering rules, you can set up user-defined filters to narrow the list of templates displayed for tasks that involve previewing or generating documents. For example, for agreement templates created for multiple regions, you should only be able to select templates for the region to which they belong. The template filter uses agreement fields and related child object fields to select the templates to display.
  • Template Datasource Filter
    Template Datasource Filter enables you to filter the records of various business objects in your agreement document based on the filter criteria.
  • Dynamic Document Assembly
    Dynamic Document Assembly enables you to preconfigure filter rules that drive a sequence of prescribed dynamic clause insertions in a generated document. This results in a complete and well-formed agreement using a combination of contract field values. These contract field values are expressed as a user-configured key that determines the desired contract clause content during document generation.
  • Setting Up Template Filtering Rules
    By setting up template filtering rules, the Template Selection page can be configured to set up user-defined filters to narrow the list of templates displayed to the user for Preview/Generate/Generate Supporting Document/Regenerate tasks. The template filter is set up by an administrator and allows agreement fields and related child object fields to be used in selecting the templates.
  • Agreement Term Exception
    An exception clause or term is a stipulated condition in your agreement that may need approval from management, to grant or prevent certain allowances to or from a particular group of users in your agreement. Contract Management enables you to associate such exception clauses or terms to your agreement document as a separate agreement term exception record.