Automate Contract Generation with SharePoint and Adobe Sign

I have previously written a couple of blog posts (1, 2) about elements of this system – but haven’t done an overview – so here it is!

We issue data sharing contracts with third parties – sometimes several a month.

The basics of these contracts are exactly the same with only a few details needing to be changed – so this was something that lent itself to being template based.

I created a process using a few SharePoint lists to generate the contract using a Word document uploaded as a template to Adobe Sign.

The contract is then sent out to the relevant parties to sign, with a finalised copy of the contract saved to a SharePoint document library.

The template

Adobe Sign have some very good documentation on how to create a Word Document with the relevant mark-up/variables required to use a template.

Once created this is uploaded into the AdobeSign portal ready to use.

The SharePoint list

I have created a list to hold details of the productions that need contracts:

Each item in this list has a column to show a button to generate the contract:

Want to know how I did this? If only I’d written it down somewhere…. 😉

The automation

The button triggers a PowerAutomate Flow, which:

• Connects to Adobe Sign, and creates a new agreement – using the previously uploaded template, augmenting with data from the SharePoint list
• It waits a few minutes (in a “do until” loop) until Adobe Sign has created the agreement, and then records details of this in the SharePoint list

There are other Flows which work behind the scenes:

• Update contract status from “Awaiting Signature” to “Signed” – this is triggered by Adobe Sign when the status of an agreement changes
• “Cancel contract” – another button in the SharePoint list, to enable users to revoke any in-progress Adobe Sign agreement

We have expanded this process further to build in notifications to other members of the team once certain dates have passed – but only if there is a signed contract in place.

The benefit

Prior to implementing this system the whole process was very manual – and either had to be done by one person end-to-end, or required various emails between people to track what’s going on.

Now one person can start the process to generate the contract and doesn’t even need to notify anyone else – the automation updates a central location with relevant statuses, and directly alerts people when they need to do something.