Avvoka's Smart Automation feature transforms static Word documents into dynamic templates by formatting placeholders and Docusign tags using specific syntax in Word, allowing users to "automate the automation".

Uploading a template to Avvoka instantly applies automation, saving time and eliminating the need to manually insert placeholders and conditions. You can also use the template management function to combine 2 or more documents into a single consolidated precedent.

To enable Smart Automation, please contact your Account Manager.

To use Avvoka’s Smart Automation, prepare your template with the specific markers outlined below.

Smart Placeholders are defined by enclosing text in square brackets with the first letter of each word capitalised. If you want an attribute to output in uppercase, write the placeholder in all caps, contained within square brackets.

For example:

Avoid extra spaces inside the brackets (e.g. [ Company Name ] will not be detected).

Note: Running Smart Automation will consolidate placeholders with the same name into a single placeholder. For example, if a document requires the names of three founders and all placeholders are named "Founder," the system will create one question and populate the same name three times. You will need to manually alter placeholders with identical names to ensure they are recognised individually.

Smart automation can also detect placeholders in PascalCase format, like [EmployeeName].

Below is a table detailing the different Docusign field types and the required formatting for automation in Avvoka:

1. From a precedent template (square bracketed followed by a footnote)

To automate conditions using Avvoka’s Smart Automation, enclose the text in square brackets followed by a footnote. This condition will be set out as “Attribute = Yes”. The text in the footnote will become the question:

For numbered paragraphs, wrap the entire line of text in brackets to avoid creating an inline condition. Place the opening bracket before the paragraph and the closing bracket at the end, then add a footnote.

2. From a precedent template (with Avvoka mark-up)

If you want to apply more advanced automation in your conditions, you can use this option. This is also useful when a template has square brackets and footnotes not intended as conditions.

When selecting 'From a precedent template (with Avvoka mark-up),' wrap conditions in curly brackets instead of square brackets. Insert conditional logic as superscript text just after the opening curly bracket. For example:

The table shown below needs to be followed to build the conditional logic:

The format will be: attribute operator_code answer. The superscript condition follows the opening bracket. Exceptions are PRESENT and NOTPRESENT, which require no "answer."

The following table is to be used for grouping conditions together:

Example: (att1 = Yes AND att2 = No) OR (att3 = No AND att4 = Yes)

Worked example of Avvoka mark-up:

For example, to include a clause in an employment contract about providing a company car, automate the condition in your template as follows:

You can see below that the condition about the company car is dropping in the document when the answer to the tied question has been selected as ‘Yes’.

Now, let’s take an example of a Present condition. In this case, if "Travel" is automated as PRESENT, the system automatically adds a clause about travel to the document without needing a ‘Yes’ answer as PRESENT simply detects the existence of an answer.

After adding the necessary markers, upload your docx to Avvoka and save your newly created template. Then, click the Smart Automation icon, which looks like this:

If you can't find the icon, contact your Avvoka account manager to activate this feature for your organisation.

A pop-up window will appear with options to automate your template.

Smart Automation can identify conditions based on certain criteria. See section I. above to learn how to prepare your template accordingly.

a. From a precedent template (square brackets followed by a footnote): As explained in the previous section, you can wrap your intended condition around square brackets with a footnote at the end so the system can identify it as a condition. When applying Smart Automation, you can choose to preserve condition footnotes by ticking the checkbox in the Smart Automation pop-up window. This is optional, as footnotes serve as markers to help the system recognise conditions. Conditions will automatically be named (these names can be changed afterwards using the attribute store), and the footnote text will become the question. The default question type will be "Radio buttons" triggered with a “Yes” but this can be modified if desired.

b. From a precedent template (with Avvoka mark-up): You can use Avvoka mark up with curly brackets and superscript text for more advanced conditional logic. For more guidance about how to prepare your template, please check the section above.

Once done, hit 'Automate', the system will inform you of the number of placeholders/conditions identified within your template.

After applying Smart Automation you can test it in Live demo. You can review the automation applied with the help of the Attribute Store.

You can also mass generate documents from your automated template.