- Projects
- Contract automation
One button from an Airtable record to a signed Ironclad contract.
Provider and freelancer contracts at Modern Health were built by hand, dozens a day. I simplified the process with legal, then automated it around Ironclad.
- Org
- Modern Health
- Role
- Content Operations Manager
- Tools
- Airtable, Ironclad, Apps Script, API
- record data
- contract file
- people to sign
- record data01Airtablerecord + button
- 02Scriptruns on click
- contract file03Contract copypre-filled
- 04Ironcladworkflow + file
- people to sign05Signers taggedmanagers + legal
- 06Boxes placedfor signatures
- 07Statusin Airtable
Figures, names and internal details are left out, and I can’t show real contracts.
The problem
Leadership wanted payments automated for the providers we pay and for freelance audio and video teams. Each payment needed an order form and a contract: dozens created by hand every day, through many steps across multiple teams before one therapist could be paid.
- Airtable
- Airtable custom extension
- Google Apps Script
- Ironclad
- Slack
Rethink before automating
I first tried to automate the process as it stood, then found steps that didn’t need to exist. Legal, for example, reviewed the contract before it was sent and signed again after the person signed. I asked whether it could be signed once. Legal confirmed it could, and those steps went away before I automated anything.
One proposal was to build everything in Looker Studio. I pushed back: Ironclad is how legal tracked contracts and signatures, so the automation had to work with it, not around it. That’s the version we built.
The button
A button on each Airtable record runs a script (an Airtable custom extension or Google Apps Script). It copies the pre-filled contract template, starts an Ironclad workflow, uploads the file, tags the managers and one legal signer, places the signature boxes and writes the status back to Airtable.
After the person signs
Automations save the signed form and update statuses in Airtable. Depending on contract type, the record goes to billing so the person gets paid, and billing’s handoff feeds payment data back, keeping the whole trail in one place.
- the signature
- signed form
- status, payment
- the signature01Person signsin Ironclad
- signed form02Ironcladsigned form
- 03Automationssaves the file
- status, payment04Airtablefile + status
- 05Contract typedecides the path
- 06Billingperson gets paid
- 07Payment datahanded back↩04 Airtable
Results
Creating a contract went from hand-built to one click.
The extra review and sign-off steps were removed, with legal’s agreement.
Everyone could see where a contract stood.
What I learned
Simplify first, then automate. Otherwise you just make unnecessary steps faster.
Keep legal’s system of record in the loop. It worked because it fed Ironclad instead of replacing it.
Show more with screenshots. I used diagrams because the real contracts are private.