Produce the CP checklist for the other side

Signing is close, and the conditions precedent checklist has to go out: to the client, to the lender's counsel, to the other side. They expect a Word table in the firm's format, each condition numbered, with who is responsible, where it stands and what is still missing. The board already holds all of that. The CP checklist export lays it out as the document they expect.

Two questions decide the setup. Which columns may this reader see? And does it go out on the firm's Word template?

Before you export

• Fill in the deal details. If the firm's Word template has fields for the deal, such as the parties and the expected closing date, they are filled from Deal details & parties on the matter. See record the deal details and parties.
• Filter the board for this reader. The checklist follows the filter and the sort the board has when you open the export. To send the lender only the conditions on the lender's side, filter on the responsible party first.

Set up the checklist

1. Click Board above the board, then Export. Under Word, choose Custom. (All columns under Word exports every column as it stands, with no column setup.)

   

2. The Custom export configuration opens. The first time, it starts from the firm's default checklist template if there is one. If the firm has checklist templates, you can start from another: click Apply template at the bottom and choose it under Organisation templates. If the template names columns this board does not have, Juristic asks you to match each one to a column of the same type, or leave it unmapped, and then Apply mappings.

3. Set the numbering. Under Fixed columns, open the number column and choose a format for each of Groups, Tasks and Subtasks. For the usual 1, (a), (i): 1. 2. for groups, (a) (b) for tasks and i. ii. for subtasks; Roman numerals print in brackets, as (i). # uses the board's own numbering instead, such as 1.2.1, and the dash hides a level so the title takes its space.

   

4. Choose the columns under Export columns. Item is always there and holds the task or subtask title; its Extra source columns add values on the lines below the title, such as a document reference. For every other column, click its name to rename it (Responsible party, Status, Comments), click Add source, tick one or more board columns and click Done. Several board columns in one export column stack with a line break, so Status and Notes can share a "Status / Notes" cell. Add export column adds a column, and you drag a column by its handle to move it.

   

5. Set the Row scope of each column. All rows gives every subtask its own value. Task only merges the cell down across the task's subtasks, which suits a responsible party who owns the whole condition.

6. Fine-tune the layout if the format calls for it: Width (blank is Auto) and Alignment for each column, Row heights for the Header, Task group, Task and Subtask rows in cm or inches, and Repeat header on every page, which is on, so a checklist running over several pages keeps its headings.

7. If the firm has more than one Word template, choose the one to use in Choose Word template. Export checklist stays greyed out until you do.

8. Check the Live preview: it shows the first task of the board's first group, with its subtasks, in the Word template's colours. It does not follow the board's filter, so check the selection on the board itself. Then click Export checklist. The Word file downloads.

   

The setup saves itself with the board as you go, so the next export opens the way you left it, for you and for everyone else on the board. Reset to default takes it back to the start.

What the document holds

With the firm's Word template, the checklist table goes into the template, along with the board's name, the date and the deal details fields. Without one, you get a landscape document with the firm's logo, the board's title and description, the table, and a footer with the board's title and the date.

The table has the number column, Item and the export columns you set up, nothing else. Board columns you did not add as a source stay on the board.

Columns for each reader

Tips from practice

• Internal notes stay internal. Keep the team's own notes in a column of their own on the board, and leave that column out of the export columns for anything that goes to the other side.
• One setup, several versions. The column setup is shared by everyone on the board, but the filter decides which conditions go in. Change the filter between exports to make a version for each recipient, and check the setup before each export in case a colleague has changed it.
• Let them update it themselves. When the other side keeps sending back marked-up versions, give the client access to their tasks so they update their conditions on the board directly.
• Then to signing. Once the conditions are satisfied, send the signing documents through DocuSign.

An admin can set up the firm's CP checklist export, so every board starts from the firm's columns and numbering, and make board Word exports use the firm's template.