The new contract negotiation Playbook Builder in BlackBoiler’s automated contract markup platform is set to be a huge time and cost saver for everyone who negotiates legal contracts. Beneficiaries include corporate legal departments, law firms, Sales and Procurement teams, and alternative legal services providers.
Until now, the process of training AI-powered contract management and review tools have been slow and labor-intensive. With the new contract negotiation Playbook Builder, teams will be able to build new editing models in as little as 10 to 15 minutes per Playbook.
Last time, we looked at the benefits of BlackBoiler’s streamlined contract AI platform. Now discover how the new Playbook Builder will work, and what makes it such a tremendous time-saver.
What is the Playbook Builder?
The Playbook Builder empowers BlackBoiler users to build digital contract negotiation Playbooks within the BlackBoiler platform.
The clean and simple user interface guides users through the Playbook setup process in clear and simple steps, with lots of helpful examples. Users of all levels will feel comfortable and confident, with no need for technical or coding know-how.
Once created, each new Playbook powers BlackBoiler’s proprietary automated contract markup technology, so that the platform can quickly redline previously unseen contracts in minutes.
How the Playbook Builder Works – At a Glance
The Playbook Builder will allow users to build their own automated editing models in four ways (figure 1):
- Upload Contracts: users will be able to simply drag and drop examples of previously negotiated contracts into the user interface.
- Answer Questions: users will be able to complete a simple Q&A on common categories of legal clauses you frequently edit.
- Custom Build: users can add rules that will enforce specific edits to all documents of a given type.
- Import Rules: users can apply rules they have previously set up for a similar contract, or from BlackBoiler’s pre-populated library of over 200 commonly used rules.
Building Your Playbook Step 1: Upload Contracts
You will be able to create a new Playbook by simply uploading a few examples of previously redlined contracts; and it’s as easy as dragging a file into a folder on your desktop (Figure 2).
BlackBoiler learns from the edits from the sample contracts you upload to create a bespoke editing model to then instantaneously review and markup previously unseen contracts just as you had in the past.
Building Your Playbook Step 2: Answer Questions (Coming Soon)
If you do not have historical contracts, our Q&A feature allows you to easily build a playbook by walking you through common contract clauses and edits that are typically applied to contracts and giving you the opportunity to add the most relevant of these to your model.
By answering a handful of these simple questions (figure 3), you will be able to quickly create your own automated editing model.
As part of Step 2, you’ll be prompted to answer questions such as:
- What’s your preferred governing law?
- Will you accept indemnification provisions in an NDA?
- Do you prefer a liability cap, and if so what’s your preferred liability cap?
- In the event of a data breach, what’s your preferred notification timeline?
These are common contract clauses and edits. Each response will add a rule to the Digital Playbook in order to refine and customize it to suit your needs.
Building Your Model Step 3: Custom Build
With the Custom Build feature, you can easily select the type of contract edits you prefer to make. You can use the Custom Build capability instead of Upload Contract if you don’t have previously redlined contracts available, to expedite the model build process.
Common edits are broken down into three categories: point edits (sub sentence revisions), full sentence or paragraph inserts (FXIs), and full sentence or paragraph deletes (FXDs) (figure 4). After selecting the type of edits you want to add to your Playbook, you then make a number of example edits that train BlackBoiler’s automated editing engine.
An ML loop powers the editing process and continuously applies what it learns to other similar text (figure 5.) This minimizes the level of manual editing you need to make in order to build a robust rule.
When you complete the editing cycle by accepting an edit, a rule description is added and the new rule is saved to your Playbook (figure 6).
Building Your Model Step 4: Import Rules
BlackBoiler comes pre-trained with over 200 frequently-used editing rules stored in an interactive Rule Library.
You can build new editing models by selecting rules from the Rule Library and importing them into your new Playbook (figure 7). Similarly, when you build a new rule using the Custom Build option, each new editing rule is saved to the Rule Library for you to use in future Playbooks.
Once again, this step can replace the typical process of training your platform using previous contacts should you choose.
The Way Ahead: A Breakthrough in AI-Powered Contract Negotiation
This addition to the BlackBoiler contract AI platform is a game-changer for in-house legal departments, legal services providers, and any business function that works extensively with complex legal contracts. Now everyone in your team can start accessing the benefits of automated contract markup in minutes, either as a standalone tool, or integrated into your contract lifecycle management (CLM) workflow.
Next Steps
In the final blog in this series, we’ll take a look at why the new BlackBoiler platform is such an important breakthrough for contract negotiations.
