Agreements

Agreements are contracts, such as NDAs and engagement letters, generated from your workspace's templates and signed electronically inside Align. Templates and agreements belong to one workspace; other workspaces never see them.

Align operates the e-signature service. Your workspace doesn't need an e-signature account and has nothing to configure for it.

Who can do what

Action	Who
Manage agreement templates and the Variable Library	Admins
Open Management → Agreements	Admins and managers
Create an agreement, add signers, submit, send, cancel or complete it	Admins and managers
Approve an agreement for sending, void it, or reconcile it	Admins
Read the discussion and download artifacts	Admins, managers and the delivery team
Sign	The people added as signers

Agreement templates

Admins manage templates in Settings → Agreement Templates. The View the Template Guide link there explains placeholder syntax with examples.

Creating a template

1. Click New Template.
2. In Create Agreement Template, fill in Display Name, Agreement Type (NDA, Engagement Letter, IP Ownership, License Protection or Joint Development), and optionally Description and Tags (comma-separated).
3. Click Create Template, then open the template from the list.

Versions

A template's document lives in versions. Under Version History, click New Version, choose a Template Document (PDF or DOCX) if you have one, add Change Notes, and click Create Version. Placeholders in a DOCX file are detected automatically.

Version status	What you can do
Draft	Approve it (tick icon).
Approved	Make it the template's active version (shield icon).
Retired	Nothing; it stays in the history.

You can retire any version that isn't already retired (archive icon). A template with an active version shows Active in the list; one without shows No Active Version. Retiring the active version leaves the template with no active version.

Placeholders

Put each variable's key in double curly braces, for example {{client_name}}. Wrap an optional section in {{#include_section_name}} and {{/include_section_name}}.

Variables and clause rules

Open a version (eye icon) to see it in three tabs. You can change its variables and clause rules while the version is a Draft; approved and retired versions are locked.

• Variables: the values an agreement asks for. Each has a Variable Key, Display Label and Type (String, Long Text, Date, Boolean, Enum, Money, Party, Address or Signer), and optionally a Default Value, Required, Options (comma-separated), Helper Text and Validation Rules (JSON).
• Clause Rules: conditions, based on variable values, that decide whether a clause is included.
• Available Variables: the variables you can use in the version's document.

Settings → Variable Library holds variables shared across all your agreement templates.

Deleting a template removes all its versions, variables and clause rules. It can't be undone.

Creating an agreement

In Management → Agreements, click New Agreement. Create Agreement has three steps:

1. Select Template: choose a template and, if it has more than one version, a Template Version. Enter an Agreement Title and, optionally, a Project (optional).
2. Variable Values: fill in the template's variables.
3. Review & Create: check the agreement and create it as a draft.

Step 1 lists the templates that have an active version. If it says no template is active, an admin needs to approve a version and make it active first (see Versions above). Admins and managers can create agreements.

Agreement statuses

Status	Meaning
Draft	Being prepared.
Pending Approval	Submitted for an admin to approve.
Approved	Approved to send.
Sending	Being handed to the e-signature service.
Sent	Out for signature.
Viewed	A signer has opened it.
Partially Signed	Some signers have signed.
Signed	Every required signer has signed.
Completed	Fully executed and kept as a record.
Declined	A signer declined.
Canceled	Stopped before it was signed.
Voided	Cancelled after it was sent. It is no longer enforceable.

The Status and Template filters on the Agreements list narrow it down.

Working on an agreement

An agreement's page has five tabs: Overview (variable values, clause decisions and the template content), Discussion (comments), Activity, Artifacts and Signers.

Signers

On Signers, add each person with their name, email and role: Signer, CC or Witness. Admins and managers can add signers while the agreement is Draft or Pending Approval. At least one signer is needed to send.

Moving it through its lifecycle

The buttons at the top of the page change with the status:

Status	Button	Who
Draft	Submit for Approval	Admins and managers
Pending Approval	Approve	Admins
Approved	Mark as Sent sends it for signature. The status shows Sending until the e-signature service confirms.	Admins and managers
Sent, Viewed, Partially Signed	Sign Now	Signers
Signed	Complete	Admins and managers

Cancel stops an agreement at any point before it is signed (admins and managers). Void cancels one that has been sent, viewed, partially signed or signed (admins). Reconcile asks the e-signature service for the agreement's current state (admins).

Signing

Signers sign inside Align. A signer opens the agreement, clicks Sign Now, and completes their signature in the Sign Agreement window. Align matches the signed-in person to a signer by their account or their email address, so a signer needs an Align login in your workspace.

Signed documents

When an agreement is signed, the signed PDF and its audit trail are saved under Artifacts, where the delivery team can download them.

An agreement's page, with its status, lifecycle buttons and the Overview, Discussion, Activity, Artifacts and Signers tabs.