With SharePoint Online for Contracts turned on, every new contract gets its own SharePoint folder automatically, and its documents are stored in SharePoint only, not in the Xakia DMS.
Before you start
SharePoint Online is connected and authenticated on the Connection tab.
The Root Site Collection URL is entered on the Connection tab, under Authentication. Matters and contracts share it, and you don't need to turn on SharePoint for matters.
SharePoint for Contracts is turned on for your location. The Contracts tab only appears once it is, so contact your Customer Success Manager to switch it on.
Contracts are available on your plan (Xakia Advance or higher). SharePoint for Contracts has no additional subscription requirement.
Everyone who opens a contract document in SharePoint has access to the SharePoint site.
How it works
Turning on SharePoint for Contracts applies to new contracts only:
We create a SharePoint folder for each new contract automatically, as soon as the contract number is assigned. The folder is placed using your Folder Placement rules and named in the format you choose.
The contract's documents are stored in SharePoint only, not in the Xakia DMS.
Contracts created before you turned it on keep their documents in Xakia and work as they always have.
We never delete files in SharePoint.
Linking and other updates run in the background, so allow a few seconds and refresh.
Open the Contracts tab
Go to Admin › Integrations › Document Management and select SharePoint Online from the Provider dropdown. You'll see the Connection, Matters and Contracts tabs. The Contracts tab only appears once SharePoint for Contracts is turned on for your location.
The Contracts tab has these sub-tabs: General Settings, Field Mapping, Folder Placement, Folder Structure Templates, Workflow Document Handling and, in some locations, Confidentiality. Authentication and the Root Site Collection URL stay on the Connection tab, shared by matters and contracts. Settings you've already set up for matters don't change.
Turn on SharePoint for Contracts
On the General Settings sub-tab:
Choose a folder name format. Under Folder Name Format, select Contract Name or Contract Name - Contract Number. Characters that SharePoint doesn't accept are cleaned up automatically, the same way they are for matters.
Turn it on. Set Enabled to on. From now on, all new contracts send and receive their documents through SharePoint.
Automatic workspace creation for Contracts shows as on and locked. Hover over the toggle to see why manual workspace creation isn't available for contracts.
Choose where contract folders go
Open Folder Placement. The Otherwise rule is your default destination, and any contract that doesn't match one of your rules goes there. A destination has 2 parts:
Site or Subsite URL: the URL of the SharePoint site or subsite
Document Library: the document library, or a folder path inside it
To send certain contracts somewhere else, add a rule:
Add a rule. Click Add New Folder Placement Rule.
Choose a field. Select Contract Type, Status, Division or Entity.
Choose an operator. Select Equals or Does not equal.
Choose the value. The dropdown lists your location's real values.
Set the destination. Under Then, enter the site URL and the document library or folder.
We check the rules in order and use the first match. If nothing matches, we use the Otherwise destination. Entity can't be set when you create a contract, so Entity rules only apply when a folder is relocated after an entity is added.
Map contract fields to SharePoint columns (optional)
Field mapping copies contract details into columns on the contract's SharePoint folder, so you can filter and sort on them in SharePoint. For example, map the contract number to a column called Contract Number.
Create the columns in SharePoint. We don't create them, and each column must be a Single line of text column.
Map the fields. In Field Mapping, choose the SharePoint column for each contract field you want to send.
You can map these contract fields:
Contract Name
Contract Number
Contract Type
Status
Contract Owner
Effective Date
Expiration Date
Group Name
Contract Hyperlink
Confidential
We fill the columns when the contract is created and update them when a mapped field changes.
Set up folder structure templates (optional)
Templates create subfolders inside each new contract's folder, right after it's linked.
Add a rule. Open Folder Structure Templates and click Add new template rule.
Set the condition. Under If, choose the field, operator and value, for example Status equals Approved.
Pick a template. Under Then, pick a template, or choose Add Folder Structure... to build one and add its folders.
Set the Otherwise rule. Choose a template, or leave it on No Folder will be created, which is the default.
Save. Click Save.
Templates are shared between matters and contracts, but each tab has its own rules. A template that's in use on the other tab isn't deactivated when you save. If a template fails, the contract's folder stays linked, and only the subfolders are affected.
Relocate folders when a field changes (optional)
By default, a contract's folder stays where it was first created. To move it when the contract changes:
Turn on relocation. In Folder Placement, turn on Relocate folder when a mapped field changes.
Choose trigger fields. Under Trigger fields, select the fields that can trigger a move: Status, Contract Type, Division and Entity. None are selected by default, and you can't select them while the toggle is off.
When a selected field changes so that a different rule matches, we move the folder and its documents to the new destination and update the contract's SharePoint link. A change that affects the folder name also counts as a move.
We only move folders within the same site. If the new destination is on a different site, the folder stays where it is and no error is shown.
Choose how workflows handle documents
Open Workflow Document Handling. It has an Approval section and a Signing section. Each has a Retrieve and retain document in Xakia until complete toggle and a Push documents to SharePoint on completion toggle. The editable toggles are all off by default, and the 2 toggles work independently.
Approval workflows
Retrieve and retain document in Xakia until complete: when on, we copy SharePoint documents into Xakia for richer workflows. When off, workflows use SharePoint links only, and the combined approval PDF lists their URLs.
Push documents to SharePoint on completion: when on, completing the approval uploads the combined PDF and every selected document that Xakia holds a copy of to an APP- folder inside the contract's SharePoint folder. With Retrieve off, SharePoint documents are links, so they reach SharePoint only inside the combined PDF.
With Retrieve off, approvers need access to the SharePoint site to read the documents. The links point to the live files, so the package doesn't record exactly which version was approved.
Signing workflows
Retrieve and retain document in Xakia until complete: always on and locked. SharePoint documents are retrieved when you send the envelope, so the latest version is signed. The signed document is also retrieved before it's pushed to SharePoint.
Push documents to SharePoint on completion: when on, signed documents and the certificate of completion are uploaded to an SGN- folder inside the contract's SharePoint folder. The signed main document is added to SharePoint as a new main-document version whether this is on or off.
Map confidential access to SharePoint groups (if the tab appears)
The Confidentiality sub-tab only appears when at least 1 active user has the contract access level All Contracts incl. Confidential or Group Contracts incl. Confidential.
Create SharePoint groups. Create SharePoint groups that reflect those Xakia access rights.
Enter the group names. In the Xakia Access Level / SharePoint Group Name table, enter the name of the matching SharePoint group on each row. You'll see an All Contracts incl. Confidential row, plus a row for each Xakia group that has a Group Contracts incl. Confidential user.
A non-confidential contract's folder inherits permissions from its parent. A confidential contract's folder gets unique permissions, and we give the SharePoint Edit permission level to:
each contract owner, matched to SharePoint by email address
the SharePoint group you entered for All Contracts incl. Confidential
the SharePoint group you entered for each Xakia group the contract belongs to
Contracts don't have a team member list, so only contract owners are added individually. If we can't find any owner or group in SharePoint, the folder inherits permissions from its parent instead.
Changes to access rights in Xakia don't change SharePoint group membership, so a SharePoint administrator needs to make the matching changes. A group name that doesn't exist in SharePoint isn't given access, and no error is shown.
What your users see
A new contract's SharePoint folder appears a few seconds after it's created.
Clicking a document in Other Documents opens it in SharePoint in a new browser tab.
The main document shows the Microsoft mark instead of a thumbnail. There's no preview or download button, and clicking it opens the document in SharePoint.
Other Documents shows the contract's SharePoint folder, with the folder structure kept. Columns that only apply to Xakia documents are hidden.
In the All Contracts list and search, a SharePoint main document shows the Microsoft mark, with no hover or click preview.
Limitations
Manual linking isn't available. Contracts are always linked automatically, and the Linking Mode setting for matters doesn't affect them.
AI contract analysis isn't available for a SharePoint main document, and the analysis panel is hidden on the contract. Analyze still works on the new contract form.
A contract created from Intake & Triage is treated as a Xakia DMS contract, so its documents stay in Xakia, not SharePoint.
Linking, relocation and pushes run in the background, and failures don't show a message in Xakia. If a folder or file hasn't appeared after a few minutes, refresh, then contact support.
Related articles: