Digital Playbooks

Introduction to Digital Playbooks

Prior to digital playbooks, playbooks (documents specifying positions to negotiate on behalf of a given customer) were saved in Word format. Ontra’s digital playbook functionality brings the power of playbooks directly into the Ontra app providing an electronic, dynamic, single source of truth that can be used to inform negotiations. This eliminates the need to download and update Word files or search through email chains to confirm the accuracy of playbooks.

With digital playbooks clients, lawyers, and customer success managers can easily access the most current version of the playbook within the Ontra app and seamlessly navigate through clients’ preferred and fallback positions. The digital playbook interface enables lawyers to work more efficiently and ensure they are negotiating from the most up-to-date information according to your preferences.

If you’d like to make an update to your playbook, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager.

How to Access Digital Playbooks

Users can access digital playbooks from the Playbooks & Forms menu option, or on the document details page, if a document was negotiated with a digital playbook (note that documents negotiated before this feature will not include a link to the digital playbook.

Watch a video demonstration of Digital Playbooks: 

Playbooks & Forms Menu Option

Document Details Page

Digital Playbook Anatomy

Tiers are the “rounds” of negotiation in the playbook. There are three Tiers in digital playbooks:

• Preferred
• Fallback
• Final (where applicable)

Sections are the high-level organizational structure for digital playbooks. They can be found inline in the playbook builder or along the left-hand side to use as you navigate the playbook.

Negotiation instructions and Model Language can exist on the Section level.

Groups are the groupings of positions that live within sections. These are organized by “topic” within a Section, much like they are in physical playbooks. The Group level can also house Negotiation Instructions, as well as Model Language associated with that Group.

Positions refer to each of the line items in the playbook. Stances can be assigned to Positions for each of the Preferred, Fallback, and Final tiers. Individual positions can also accommodate Negotiation Instructions and Model Language for the Preferred, Fallback, and Final tiers.

Stances are the various ways a lawyer should respond to a Position when negotiating a customer’s agreement. The meaning of the Stances and actions the lawyer should take can be found below:

• Accept
  • Accept this Position if it shows up in an agreement, but do not add  if not included by the counterparty.
• Include
  • Add this Position if it is not in an agreement.
• Reject
  • Remove this Position from an agreement if it is already included.
• Removable
  • Only exists for Fallback and Final tiers. This should only be used if the tier before was included, to indicate to the lawyer that the Position they were previously pushing to include is now ok to be removed from the agreement.
    • For example, if you instruct your lawyer team to include language that specifies that only materials received after the date of the NDA can be considered “Confidential Information,” but are ok removing this language in subsequent rounds.
• Lawyer Discretion
  • A lawyer should exercise their discretion in negotiating a Position - there is no customer preference on this particular provision.

Escalations
Playbooks may include escalation instructions. Escalations are positions that you prefer to be escalated to the proper deal team or legal team contact if they arise or the lawyer cannot achieve a satisfactory resolution. The various Escalations types and actions a lawyer should take are as follows:

• Deal Team
  • Position should be escalated to the appropriate deal team contact.
• Legal Team
  • Position should be escalated to the appropriate legal team contact.
• Deal & Legal Teams 
  • Position should be escalated to both the deal and legal team contacts.
• Other
  • Position should be escalated to someone other than a deal or legal team contact. In this circumstance, the appropriate party for the escalation will be listed in the Negotiation Instructions.

Model Language
Model Language is the your preferred language for how you would like a given Position or Group to be phrased as the lawyer negotiates the document. The language can be added on the Group and Position levels.

Negotiation Instructions
Negotiation Instructions provide additional insights to the lawyer negotiating a document about your process or negotiation preferences that can be helpful in applying those instructions to active negotiations.

Navigating the Playbook

Users can navigate the playbook with the sections on the left or use [CTRL + F] or [CMD + F] to search for key terms, phrasing, sections, groups, or positions.

How to Request Edits to the Playbook

If you need to update your playbook, simply reach out to the Customer Success Manager for your account. Once the Customer Success Manager has made the change, an email notification will be sent to the customer, lawyers on the account, and any other customer success managers - letting them know updates have been made to the playbook. See below for a sample of the email notification.

Note: It is very important that changes are made to the digital playbook, so please always request these via your Customer Success Manager to help ensure all playbooks remain up-to-date and a strong source of truth for lawyers and other account users on the platform.

How to View Most Recent Changes to the Playbook

Users can view the most recent changes by click the Changes from Prior Version button in the top right corner of the playbook.

The most recent changes will be displayed. Users can click view, next to the change made, to navigate to the relevant section of the playbook.

Digital Playbook FAQ 

How can I edit/update the digital playbook?
If you need to request an edit to the playbook, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager.

Can I change the order of the playbook?
Not at the moment, but a re-ordering feature is coming soon! Using CTRL + F or CMD + F to search for key terms, phrasing, sections, groups, or positions will help you navigate the playbook in the meantime.

Where can I access the digital playbook?
The digital playbook can be accessed on the Playbooks and Forms page of the Ontra Web App.

How can I find a specific section of the playbook?
Users can use the navigation on the left side of the screen, or use CTRL + F or CMD + F to search for specific key terms, phrasing, sections, groups, or positions.

How do I find strategy-specific playbooks?

All account playbooks are available on the Playbooks & Forms page if you want to review account playbooks outside of negotiations. 

How will I know if updates have been made to a digital playbook?
Users will receive an email notification whenever updates have been made. Users can also click Changes from Prior Version in the top right corner of the playbook to view a list of the most recent changes.