The Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) defines the standard process to:
- Initiate a contract record for $ value from Salesforce
- Launch a contract with no revenue attached and manage a contract in Onit CLM
- Handle order forms and third‑party paper
- Clarify ownership of steps between Sales and Legal
Process Overview
Salesforce is the starting point for all contracts of $ value. Onit CLM is the system of record for contract review, negotiation, and execution.
Key Principle: Not all contracts—particularly order forms—require Legal review before being sent to customer.
- The agreement uses a current, contract template.
- The customer signs the agreement without any modifications, revisions, redlines, additions, deletions, or annotations to the terms.
- All variable commercial terms (e.g., pricing, term, annual uplift, autorenew) are completed exactly as permitted by the template.
- The agreement is executed by an authorized company signatory in accordance with the Authority Matrix.
Actors and Responsibilities
| ACTOR | RESPONSIBILITY |
|---|---|
| Opportunity Owner (Opp Owner) | Creates the opportunity and initiates CLM |
| Sales Director | Confirms completeness and correctness |
| Legal Owner | Reviews, negotiates, and approves contracts |
| ELT Approver | Approves non-standard terms via the Authority Matrix |
SOP Steps
Actor: Opportunity Owner
- Open Salesforce
- Navigate to the appropriate Opportunity record
- Confirm:
- Customer's LEGAL name (Salesforce has a space for AKA or a previous name)
- Opportunity stage
- Contract type
Actor: Opportunity Owner
- From the Opportunity, select Send to CLM
- Salesforce passes opportunity data into Onit CLM automatically
- Verify that:
- Correct account and opportunity data transferred
- Contract type is selected accurately
This step officially launches the contract in Onit CLM.
Actor: Opportunity Owner
If customer-provided paper:
- Attach the document in Salesforce prior to CLM launch or when creating the CLM record.
- Confirm it appears in the CLM record
If using internal templates:
- COMPLETE THE ORDER FORM TEMPLATE
- Upload the document by selecting More Actions, then Add Document, or
- Select Generate Document; CLM generates the draft automatically based on template selection. The document populates under the Documents tab on the CLM record.
Actor: Opportunity Owner
Example:
- Complete Order Forms
- May not require Legal review
- Still tracked in CLM for visibility and audit
- Customer Paper / Redlines
- Requires Legal review
- Send to Legal in CLM
Actor: Opportunity Owner
- Until you select the Send to Legal button on the right side of the screen, the request for legal review is NOT sent to Legal
- Legal Support will be assigned to your CLM record by legal only.
- Once Legal approves the document, the phase will change to Language Approved
- Once the language is approved, share the document with the customer by selecting Send for Third Party Review button on the right side of the screen. CC yourself when submitting for third party review. Email communication is acceptable if customer prefers.
Actor: Opportunity Owner
To upload the customers redlined document to the CLM record, use the Checkout/Checkin Process.
- Check Out a Document: Click on the Documents tab to the left. Then, click on the file link in the Document Name column. Click on Check-out. Click on the Documents Versions tab. Click on the blue file name in the Download Link column. The file will save to your downloads folder. Work on the document and save it.
- Check In a Document: From the same screen where you checked out the doc, click on Check-in. Add the document to Document Attachment and then identify the version type. Select Major Version if the changes are many; select Minor Version if the changes are few. Add a comment, as needed, and click Submit. Click on the blue Contract Name at the bottom of the page to return to the CLM record.
- Post a message to legal that there is a new version of the document for review.
Actor: Legal Owner / Opp Owner/Sales Director/ELT
- Author Contract: action pending on Opp Owner
- Internal Review: action pending on Opp Owner
- Legal Review: action pending on Legal Owner
- Business Approval: action pending on Director or ELT
- Language Approved: document is ready for Opp Owner to distribute to customer
Click on one of the blue buttons on the right to move the Phase (e.g., Send to Legal; Send for Internal SE Review, Send for External Review, Send for PS Review, or Send for Authority Matrix Approval).
- Legal Review: Until you select the Send to Legal button on the right side of the screen, the request for legal review is NOT sent to Legal. Once Legal approves, the phase will change to “Language Approved."
- Business Approval: This phase is activated by default for the Sales Director to approve pricing or by submitting requests for Authority Matrix Approval. You may also select “Add Participant”, type in the name of your manager, and select business approver.
Authority Matrix Approval button on the right side of the screen: for those nonstandard terms requiring ELT approval. See the Authority Matrix for a full description of those terms.
Sales Director or ELT member will approve this phase once he/she verifies pricing, commercial terms, or nonstandard legal/commercial terms are approved. Select the terms and follow the prompted steps. Address the approver by name when prompted to leave an explanatory comment. You may use emails to seek approvals. Emails can easily be forwarded to CLM via the email address available in the “Contract Details” tab.
Actor: Legal Owner / Opportunity Owner (per workflow)
- “Send for Signature” button on the right side of the screen
- 3 Signer types: User = Onit, Email = you manually add an email address, Signer = contact for customer that came over from Salesforce
- After submitting for signature, a yellow URL link to DocuSign will appear on the upper left side of the CLM screen. Launch the yellow DocuSign link in the upper left corner of the CLM screen to complete the signature process. Once in DocuSign, you can use the blue “Back” button in the lower right of the screen to correct errors in the document version or to reassign the signatory email address.
- Final agreement is executed
- CLM status updated to in Reconciliation.
- Fully‑executed document stored in CLM
Key Notes and Best Practices
- ✅ Start contracts from Salesforce when there is revenue
- ✅ Use Quick Launch in CLM for NDA’s, BAAs, DPAs, and Amendments with no revenue.
- ✅ Do not assume Legal review is required for all contract types
- ✅ Use CLM for all redlining, negotiation, and final storage
Common Issues / Things to Know
| ISSUE | PREVENTION |
| Wrong contract type selected | Validate before CLM launch |
| Missing customer paper | Upload document locally before CLM creation |
| Press “Send to Legal” for legal engagement | Follow CLM routing rules |
| Legal does not need to correct minor editing issues | Download the link to the document, edit in Word, then checkout/checkin the new version |
| Do not assign Legal Owner, post the request in the comments | Post the personnel request in the CLM comments |
| Check in new versions; do not add new documents. Do not create more than 1 CLM record per document. All versions of the document should be in one CLM record. | Use the check-out/check-in function to maintain version control |
| Error messages and signatures outside CLM | See the CLM FAQs |
