Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, ALOE is a contract lifecycle software that tracks any related activity on contracts from intake to execution, including DocuSign, and all steps in between. Tickets move from New to Done.

Yes, we support electronic signatures. We include our DocuSign integration at no additional cost. However, you must have a DocuSign account, which does carry a cost.

Documents are locked when they are being “edited.’ Only one person can work on a document at any time. Other users can download a document if it’s in use, but cannot edit it. All versions of a document are tracked within each ticket, and have a designated owner and with a clear view of final file for version control identification. If any changes are made to a document, the owner is notified – as well as any designated “watchers”.

Yes, contracts and documents can automatically be generated and populated with information input when a task is created or edited.
Unlimited templates uploads are available and are simple enough a trained admin can easily upload them on their own.
Email templates can also be created and sent to a group or individuals.

Yes, approval workflows can be managed by licensed users on their desktop or via the ALOE app. Non-licensed users can approve via email. Approvals may be triggered manually or automatically through a workflow. For example, all contracts with a value over $5,000 may be automatically sent to finance for approval or a contract with a particularly challenging indemnity provision may be manually escalated to a more senior attorney.

Yes. Through customized workflows, auto renewals can be reviewed and amended as needed. As an example – a contract designated as one that auto-renews through a custom field can have a new issue task generated for a renewal agreement on the renewal date designated through the renewal date field. The new issue task auto generates the designated template and assigns the issue task to the designated worker for review and modification. The person assigned receives an email notification of the new issue task. The issue is also added to the appropriate dashboard report for open issues.

External negotiations can be done via email, while internal negotiations and collaborations can be done either in ALOE or via email. Once a document is attached to a contract task, it can be revised through our standard integration with MS Office. Once revisions are complete, a user can email the contract either with a custom email or a predesigned template to external parties. In templates, buttons can be added that trigger next steps in the workflow, for example: Approve; Negotiate; and Reject. Each button generates an email allowing the external party to reply with their comments or revisions, approve the draft which can then be cleaned and sent for signature, or reject to end the negotiations. Because your external parties are revising in word and attaching to email, they never have to click on a link to a portal or reformat html optimized text in order to enter into a contract with you. Their reply email is automatically logged in the activity tracker, while their revised document is automatically attached to the contract task. This creates an audit log of not only the versions of the draft agreements, but the communications between parties as well. External parties don’t follow directions and might email directly instead of replying to the email, but ALOE has accounted for that. You can add or edit tasks and add attachments using our Outlook integration – keeping your efficiency intact. Document version control is clearly time and date stamped, and the new version is always on top. Redlining in ALOE is available through our native Word integration.

Redlining is done through MS Word integration among both parties and comments are tracked within the version control of the document. Any dialogue from both internal or external parties outside the document is tracked in the comments section of the task (even if that dialogue is happening through email!). Document identification is clear and your external parties won’t have to go through a portal to access the documents.

Yes, we set up automated workflows for default and high-volume processes at your request. In other words, your standard NDA’s, licenses and other agreements can be automated. In addition, we offer customized templates so you never have to work outside of the workflow.

ALOE uses the Confluence repository, which is OCR enabled. An entire document can be read – including clauses, keywords, and titles. Images are not able to be read and searched, however they can be searched by title.
Executed contracts are automatically added to your Confluence repository. You can add supplemental documentation to the Confluence page or the related ALOE issue to keep all your information together.
In Confluence you can create Sub Pages and child pages to pull information from ALOE (similar to a folder system). We can map this for you as an automated workflow, or you can create it yourself. Tags are available as needed, however, this is more useful for reporting capabilities and is not needed for search functions with OCR.

Confluence spaces have the same permissions as their corresponding ALOE boards. Only ALOE users will be able to access the Confluence repository, however, as an additional professional service we can set up a timed export to a cloud drive if there is a need for external parties to access documents, or we can provide a workflow to send requestors the form/contracts they need.

Our initial implementation allows up to 16GB of data to be stored. If the data size exceeds the limit, the server will be upgraded to ensure there is no significant impact on ALOE’s performance. Additional costs are not incurred until storage exceeds 32GB.

Yes, ALOE has an OCR capable document storage system. This allows for easy storage, retrieval, and searchability of your documents.
The document storage system supports all file formats, including: Word documents (. doc);
Web text pages (. htm or . html); Web page images (.gif and .jpg); Adobe Postcript files (. ps); Adobe Acrobat files (. pdf); Executable programs (.exe); and Multimedia files (. mp3 and others).

Yes, contracts can be migrated into the document storage system. This additional service allows for indexing and pulling basic fields like contract name, party name, effective date, expiration date, renewal date and non-renewal period. Because the process is blended with automated and manual tasks, the number of documents dictates the costs and extra timing associated with the migration.

Coming Soon. Contracts and documents can automatically be generated and populated with information input when a task is created or edited. Unlimited templates uploads are available and are simple enough a trained admin can easily upload them on their own. Email templates can also be created and sent to a group or individuals.

Standard implementation takes 3-4 weeks from completion of the initial design call. Implementation includes a design call with a legal operations expert to help you determine your workflows, projects, issue types, and other needs for your system. The complexity of your workflows or additional desired integrations can add time and cost. Our onboarding specialist will schedule a series of meetings to design your instance. Usually, this is done in 1-4 meetings, each last about an hour.
After the implementation is complete, there’s a 2-week user acceptance testing period, where minor adjustments can be made to ensure your system works according to your business needs.
Training is also included in the implementation package and is performed with your convenience in mind via webinar. We provide two hours of training: one hour of general ALOE training and one hour of admin training after the user testing period is completed. We have video tutorials and user-guides available for further reference. Additional training packages to train an in-house ALOE “expert” are available.

Training is included in the implementation package and is performed with your convenience in mind via webinar. We provide two hours of training: one hour of general ALOE training and one hour of admin training. Some customers choose to become self-sufficient after these two hours of training. We have video tutorials and user-guides available for further reference after your training program is complete.
Train an in-house ALOE “expert” with one of our additional training packages, or empower your team to use the new system more confidently
Keep your team focused on what’s most important by selecting Bigfork Tech’s Manage Services. These services administer your ALOE account for you so your team can come straight to us with their questions and you can focus on what matters.

Yes, contracts can be migrated into the document storage system. This additional service allows for indexing and pulling basic fields like contract name, party name, effective date, expiration date, renewal date and non-renewal period. Because the process is blended with automated and manual tasks, the number of documents dictates the costs and extra timing associated with the migration.

ALOE works with your existing software. We work with you to keep your good processes in place and make improvements where needed. In other words, we integrate the best of what your department has into API product rails. In addition, we add missing elements to ensure all needs are covered.
The standard integrations with DocuSign, Outlook or Gmail, Microsoft Office, and Adobe Reader have no additional customization cost to you– we include all of these integrations in ALOE Pro. Other common integrations such as Salesforce and Sharepoint are quoted by our professional services.

Yes, we support electronic signatures. DocuSign integration is included at no added cost to you.

Yes, ALOE integrates with Microsoft products, so you can continue to use the tools you are familiar with. Because of our integration, there is no need for your customers to click on links to an unfamiliar portal for purposes of editing or redlining documents. There is also no need to reformat from the native html of many portal based CLMs.

Schedule a demo and see how ALOE can streamline your processes.

New tickets flow into the system easily. You have multiple ways to start a new contract or project, both internally and externally. Internally, you can create a ticket within ALOE. If you receive an email from an outside party, you can start a new ticket from that email. Do you prefer your clients to use contract intake forms for requests? Not a problem – we do that too.

Documents are locked when they are being “edited.’ Only one person can work on a document at any time. Other users can download a document if it’s in use, but cannot edit it. All versions of a document are tracked within each ticket and have a designated owner and a clear view of the final file for version control identification. If any changes are made to a document, the owner is notified.

Yes. ALOE provides a URL where intake forms can be published for internal and external clients to make requests of your team. The intake form fields can be made to be optional or mandatory so that only complete requests come in. Also, a designated email address for individuals to request and interact with your department can be mapped to any work board. Work can also be created by an ALOE user via Outlook plug in or in ALOE.
The URL landing page that houses your intake forms is customizable to your needs, can include as many or as few form links, and can be organized in a meaningful way for your organization.

Yes, ALOE allows for email alerts and escalations for payment schedules, expiration dates, and renewal dates, or any other field associated to your forms. You get custom automations, allowing certain triggers to begin a workflow or automatically do tasks for you so you don’t have to spend you valuable human hours.

Bigfork Tech dedicates itself to your data security and privacy. Because we make this a number one priority, we take every precaution to ensure data is secure. We are GDPR and HIPAA compliant. Moreover, you have a cloud server instance dedicated to you where all of your data and your ALOE application are stored. This is not shared with any other customers or 3rd parties. As a result, you stay in control. Read more about our security protocols.
• Security Data Sheet
• Data Processing agreement | Data Processing Agreement

Yes, ALOE has permission capabilities to secure information by individual or by groups. You can hide boards, limit editing capabilities, and hide comments as needed. Permissions are based on log-in information.

Yes, ALOE has permission-based reporting. You determine who has permission to view Boards, Comments, and Dashboards. We can set the permissions so that you can restrict access for certain individuals or groups. If you are working on a contract and there is a potential for litigation, for example, you can restrict individual comments so that only the legal team would see them. If you are experiencing an employee issue in HR, you can ensure that only management can see the discussions and not the employee.

Yes, ALOE allows you to easily create and save custom reports that can be downloaded in your preferred format, automatically emails to individuals, groups, or departments, listed as a saved report, or linked to a dashboard. Dashboards can be public, so you can send an overview of your reporting to stakeholders who don’t have an ALOE login, or for authorized users only. All reports and dashboards can be permissions based, from very tight so only the creator can see, or opened up as wide as enabling visibility to anyone with a link to the report.

Yes, ALOE allows you to easily create and save custom reports that can be downloaded in your preferred format, automatically emails to individuals, groups, or departments, listed as a saved report, or linked to a dashboard. Dashboards can be public, so you can send an overview of your reporting to stakeholders who don’t have an ALOE login, or for authorized users only. All reports and dashboards and be permissions based, from very tight so only the creator can see, or opened up as wide as enabling visibility to anyone with a link to the report.

Change user permissions by going to Settings -> Manage Users -> Selecting the user you’d like to edit -> selecting “edit profile” -> updating the departments/categories to which the user is assigned.

Add or remove fields from a form by going to Settings -> Manage Fields -> Selecting which forms you’d like the field to show on.

If you’re having trouble accessing your account, please contact your organization’s ALOE administrator or reach out to support@bigforktech.com

You can reset your password by clicking on “Forgot Password?” above the password box on the login page.

Add new users by going to Settings -> Manage Users -> and clicking the “Create User” button in the top right of the screen.

Get help with problems you’re experiencing by emailing support@bigforktech.com