You can send a replaced clause for approval when the Enable Clause Approvals comply system property is enabled and the Approvals managed package is installed.

OCC identifies the clauses that require approval for insertion, deletion, editing, or swapping in the document. To insert, delete, swap, or edit a clause that requires approval, you must see the blue Clause Approval Required tag in the clause's top left corner and a blue rubber stamp icon for that clause in the smart data pane. Clicking either the tag on the clause or the icon in the smart data pane opens that clause's approval process. If you cancel or undo the insertion, deletion, editing, or swapping process, no approval required tag shows for the clause, and the clause is restored to normal. You must publish the document to send the clause for approval. After publishing the document, the rubber stamp icon changes to yellow, and the clause status changes to Pending Approval in the smart data pane. The Clause Locked-Pending Approval tag shows on the top left corner of the clause in the document. You can send a clause for approval to multiple approvers.

The clause approval can be sequential, parallel, or a combination of both processes.

  • In the sequential process, OCC sends a clause approval request email to the first approver from the list of designated approvers. When the first approver approves the clause, OCC sends the approval request email to the next approver. For this process, if the first approver approves the clause, then the status for that approver changes from Pending to Approved, and for the next approver from Waiting to Pending in the approval details.
  • In a parallel process, OCC sends a clause approval request email to one or several first-level approvers from the list of designated approvers. When all the first-level approvers have approved the clause, OCC sends the approval request email to the next-level approvers. The initial status of all the approvers is Pending and is updated to Approved when they approve the request.
  • For both processes, if an approver rejects the approval request, their status changes from Pending to Rejected in the approval details, and the subsequent approval process is canceled.

When you send a clause for approval and navigate to the approvals panel, you can see the list of approvers and their respective statuses along with the approval sequence. Click the View User, View Role, or View Queue links below the approver name to view the user details.

When all have approved the clause, the status of the clause changes from Pending to Approved in the approval pane. In the document, a Clause Locked-Pending True-UP tag shows on the top left corner of the clause. In the smart data pane, green rubber-stamp and modified icons () are visible for that clause.

If any approver rejects the clause, it is considered rejected and its status changes from Pending to Rejected in the approval pane. In the document, a Clause Locked-Pending True-UP tag shows on the top left corner of the clause. In the smart data pane, red rubber-stamp and modified icons () are visible for that clause.

During the clause approval process, the clause in approval is not available for editing and true-up. After the clause is approved, you must accept the changes in true-up so that the clause is available for editing, swapping, or deleting. You can reject the replaced clause in true-up only if the clause was rejected during approval. If you have the privilege to Negotiate access mode in OCC, True-up is not available for you and hence you cannot undo the changes in the clause. An Undo Change button appears when a clause approval request has been canceled or rejected. Clicking this button reverts the clause action, making the clause available to edit, swap, or delete. 

Prerequisites

  • User profile access of Negotiate, Negotiate Plus, or Edit mode is granted to you in OCC.
  • The approvals package is installed and approval rules are set up. For more information, see Setting up Approval Rules.
  • The Enable Clause Approvals checkbox is selected in Comply System Properties. For more information, see Comply System Properties.

Restrictions

  • You cannot edit or replace a clause that is in approval.
  • When a replaced, inserted, or deleted clause is not yet approved, rejected, or canceled by the approver, the clause remains locked, true-up mode remains disabled, and the document cannot be published without redlines and final to-be-signed publish options.
  • When the submitter has not recalled or canceled the approval request, true-up is disabled.
  • You cannot edit or swap a clause in MS Word, X-Author for Contracts, or OCC if the clause approval is pending.

To send a clause for approval

  1. Do any of the following actions:
  2. Hover over the clause and click the Clause Approval Required tag. 
    The right panel opens, showing the approver levels, a Cancel button, and an Edit button.

  3. Click Add Message and enter your message in the box or click Cancel to cancel the request.

    If you cancel the clause approval request, all changes made to the clause are reverted and you can edit or replace the clause again.


  4. Click Publish. 
    The Publish popup opens, showing the Additional Options screen.
  5. Select the required options and click Publish. For more information, see Publishing Documents.
    A new version of the document is created and the clause approval email is sent to the first-level approvers from the list of approvers.

To reassign an approval request

Reassigning is the process of assigning a clause approval request to another approver (approver 2). You can reassign your clause approval request to more than one approver (user, a role, or a queue). To reassign an approval request:

  1. Open the document and navigate to Smart Data > Clauses.
    The clauses list is displayed.

  2. Click the rubber-stamp icon () for the clause to reassign.
    The approval pane opens showing clause status, approver action buttons (Approve, Reject and Reassign), and the list of approvers.

    If you are a member of a role or a queue, you must first log in to the My Approval page and take ownership of the approval request to access the approver actions.

  3. Click the Reassign button.
    The Reassign Approval Task pop-up shows the message: Reassign the following user for my approval task. 

    For multiple users, select the users you want to reassign from the dropdown.

  4. Select User, Role, or Queue from the dropdown.
  5. Enter a name in the search field and select the required name.
  6. Click Save.

Approver 2 receives an email notification containing the approval details. Approver 2's approval details are updated, and your details are removed from the approval details pane. You lose access to approver action buttons (Approve, Reject, and Reassign), but you can see approver 2 response on the clause approval in OCC.

To approve or reject a clause

From My Approvals page

Prerequisite: You have received the clause approval email.

  1. Click the link from the clause approval email to open the My Approvals page.

  2. Click Approve.
    The Approve-Add a Comment pop-up appears.

    To reject the clause approval request, click Reject.

  3. (Optional) Add a message.
  4. Click Save.

From OCC

  1. Open the document and navigate to Smart Data > Clauses.
    The clauses list is displayed.

  2. Click the rubber-stamp icon () for the clause you want to approve.
    The approval pane opens showing clause status, approver action buttons (Approve, Reject and Reassign), and the list of approvers.

    If you are a member of a role or a queue, you must first log in to the My Approval page and take ownership of the approval request to make the approver action buttons visible to you in OCC.

  3. Click the Approve button.
    Clause Approval pop-up asks, Are you sure you want to approve this change?

    For multiple users, select the users you want to approve from the dropdown.

    To reject the clause approval request, click Reject.

  4. (Optional) Add a message and click Save.

After the clause is approved or rejected, the approver action buttons (Approve, Reject, and Reassign) are no longer available for that clause. The approver can view the comments by clicking on the comment icon (). The user must true up and accept the changes for the approved or rejected clause. If the submitter rejects the tracked changes for the rejected or canceled clause, all the publish options will be available to publish the document.

If a clause approval is rejected, an Undo change button is available for that clause. You can click this button to unlock the clause so that it is available for editing or swapping or deleting.

To cancel a clause approval

Prerequisite: You have received the clause approval email.

  1. Click the link from the clause approval email to open the My Approvals page.

  2. Click Return.
    The Clause page opens.

  3. Click Preview and Submit.
    A new popup opens.
  4. Click Recall.

After you cancel a clause approval request, an Undo change button appears. Click this button to unlock the clause so that it is available for editing, swapping, or deleting.

To publish a document after clause approval

Prerequisite: The clause has been approved.

  1. Open the document and look for Clause Locked – Pending True-Up in the top left corner.
  2. Accept or reject the changes in true-up mode.
  3. Click Publish.
     You can publish the document according to the different publishing options configured for you.     For more information, see Publishing Documents.

Clause Progress after Approval

Once a clause approval request is approved for an inserted, deleted, or replaced clause, you can accept or reject changes in true-up mode. If an approver has rejected or recalled a clause approval request, you can only reject the changes in true-up mode. After true-up, the clause is not in read-only mode and is available for editing as either an approved or rejected clause.

You can insert, swap, or delete the same clause again in the document even after the approver has rejected the approval request for that clause. If you recall an approval request, true-up is not required for that clause, and the insert, swap, or delete action is reverted. If a clause approval request is canceled through OCC, the changes are reverted automatically and the clause remains available for editing or swapping. You can edit a clause that is either approved or rejected by the approver after accepting or rejecting it in true-up. For a clause approval request that has been recalled, you cannot edit the clause.