Running a Playbook Review

When a counterparty sends you their paper, you have to check every clause against your organization’s standards before you can negotiate or sign. A playbook review does that pass for you: the Word plugin reads the document, compares it to a playbook, and returns a list of positions (one per topic) each marked Compliant, Not compliant, or Not applicable, with guidance and approved language for the ones that need work.

This guide covers the full loop: starting the review, reading the results, and acting on each position.

Open the contract in Microsoft Word, then open the Pactly pane from the ribbon. From the home screen, choose Review Contract, fill in the New Counterparty Contract dialog, and click Review.

You see AI analysis in progress while the plugin compares the relevant clauses in your document against the playbook. This typically takes 3 to 5 minutes depending on document length. You can tick Play sound when complete to be notified, then carry on with other work.

When the analysis finishes, the pane lists your positions. Each position is one check from the playbook (a stance on a clause or topic, like “Limitation of Liability” or “Governing Law”) with a compliance status. A counter at the top tracks your progress, for example 3/22 positions completed.

Every position carries one of three statuses. Work through them by what each one means:

Open a position to see the detail behind its status, organized into tabs:

• Evidence: the clauses in the document that matched this position. This is what was assessed. If nothing matched, you see “There were no matches for this position’s keywords and/or model(s).”
• Preferred clauses: your organization’s approved language for this topic, ready to insert.
• Notes: context recorded against the position.
• Examples: sample wording for reference.

A Why Compliant? / Why Not compliant? block (the heading reflects the position’s status) explains the AI’s reasoning for the status it assigned, with thumbs up / thumbs down so you can give feedback on the assessment.

For every position, record a decision. On a flagged position you have a few moves: insert your approved fallback language, have the AI draft a fix, or override the assessment with a justification. The actions available depend on the status.

On the Preferred clauses tab, you have two ways to bring approved language into the document:

• Adapt & Insert rewrites the clause to match the contract’s own terminology (for example, swapping “Supplier” for “Provider”) before inserting it. Use this so the inserted language reads as part of the document, not a paste from elsewhere. See Using the Clause Library for how adaptation works.
• Insert as-is drops the approved clause in unchanged.

Tick Include comment to attach the clause’s default comment alongside the insertion. Inserted language lands with track changes on, so the counterparty sees exactly what you proposed.

Each position has an AI action that changes with the status:

• On a Not compliant position, Generate Fix drafts a redline that brings the clause toward your position. You can add guidance first (for example, “Make the liability cap lower”) in the optional guidance box.
• On a Compliant position, Start Chat opens a conversation about the clause if you want to dig in.

Review anything the AI drafts before you insert it. See Using AI Chat for working with the plugin’s chat.

When you accept a deviation, disagree with the assessment, or confirm a position, set the status and add a justification, then click Confirm. The justification box takes up to 550 characters.

A justification is your audit trail. For a non-compliant clause you are accepting, explain why (“Client is strategic; business approved a higher cap”). For one you confirmed compliant despite different wording, say so (“Different wording, same protection”). Future reviewers and auditors rely on this record.

Work down the list until the position counter reaches the total. Aim to leave every position with a recorded status, and every accepted deviation with a justification. Your inserted clauses and edits are already in the document as tracked changes, ready to send back to the counterparty.

When the counterparty returns a revised draft, you record it as a new round and review again. The plugin compares rounds so you focus on what changed rather than re-reading the whole document.

• Review & Negotiate
• Using AI Chat
• Using the Clause Library
• What is a Playbook?
• Word plugin quick start (Getting Started)