Skip to content
Context docs

Review a contract or policy

By the end of this guide, an agent has checked a contract or policy against your checklist and handed you a findings table, or a Word copy marked up with tracked changes and comments, for a person to decide on.

Important

The agent’s review is a first pass, not legal advice. A person who owns the decision should read the findings and the original before anything is signed or published.

Who it’s for

  • Legal, procurement and vendor teams who check incoming contracts against a playbook.
  • Compliance, HR and policy owners who check a policy against a standard or a list of required clauses.
  • Anyone who needs to know exactly what changed between two versions of a document.

What you’ll set up

PieceWhat it doesNeeded?
TaskReviews one document and saves the findings to DriveYes
Checklist fileYour playbook or required clauses, kept in DriveYes
SkillKeeps the review steps and the findings format the same every timeRecommended
AgentHolds the skill and the permissions for your teamOptional

What the agent can read and produce:

Formats
ReadsWord (.docx), PDF, Excel (.xlsx), PowerPoint (.pptx) and text files
Findings tableA spreadsheet (.xlsx), or a table inside a Word document
MarkupA copy of a Word (.docx) file with tracked changes and comments

Tracked changes and comments go into Word files only. For a PDF, ask for a findings table that quotes each clause.

Steps

  1. Put the files in Drive. Upload the document under review and your checklist, for example “Juniper vendor MSA v3.docx” and “Vendor contract playbook.docx”. To compare versions, upload both, such as v2 and v3. See Drive.
  2. Open the composer and pick the output. Go to Home, pick a workspace, click Make and choose Spreadsheet for a findings table or Document for a memo.
  3. Write the brief. Say what to check, against what, and how to report it. For example:

    Review @Juniper vendor MSA v3.docx against @Vendor contract playbook.docx. For each playbook item, give one row: the item, the clause number, a quote of the clause, Green / Amber / Red, and a suggested change. Reds first. If the playbook doesn’t cover a clause, mark it Amber and say so. Then make a copy of the contract with your suggested changes as tracked changes and a comment on each Red. Save both next to the contract.

  4. Attach the files. Type @ to mention each file, or click + > Drive. To upload from your computer instead, click + > Attach files.
  5. Send it and follow the work. Press Enter. If the agent asks before it changes a Drive file, answer the card. See Monitor and steer a task.
  6. Review the findings. Open the spreadsheet from the task or with Open in Drive. Check each Red against the clause it quotes.
  7. Review the markup. Open the marked-up Word copy in Drive. It opens in the full editor, where you can see the tracked changes and comments, then accept or reject them. Or Download it and open it in Word.

To compare two versions, use a brief like “List every change between @Juniper vendor MSA v2.docx and @Juniper vendor MSA v3.docx in a table: clause, old text, new text, and whether the change helps or hurts us.”

Review inside Word

If your organization has the Context add-in for Word, you can review the open document without leaving Word. Select Context on the Home tab. Under the composer, pick Selection or Document to set what the agent looks at, and open the edit mode menu:

ModeWhat happens
Can editThe agent changes the document after you approve
SuggestingEvery edit is a tracked change you can accept or reject in Word
Read onlyThe pane refuses every change

Pick Suggesting, then ask for example “Check this clause against our playbook and suggest fixes as tracked changes, with a comment saying why.” The agent can also add comments to the selection or to a paragraph. If Word can’t turn on Track Changes, the pane shows “Couldn’t turn on Suggesting” and stays in its old mode. See Use Context in Office.

Make it a skill

Turn your review steps into a skill so every review uses the same format. Follow Create a skill, then paste text like this into the body:

# Contract review against playbook


Use this when someone asks you to review a contract or policy against a
checklist, playbook or standard.


## Steps
1. Read the checklist first. Number its items.
2. Read the document. For each checklist item, find the clause that covers it.
3. Write a findings table with these columns:
   Item | Clause | Quote | Rating (Green / Amber / Red) | Suggested change
   Sort it Red, then Amber, then Green.
4. If the document is a Word file, make a copy named "<file name> reviewed".
   Put each suggested change in as a tracked change and add a comment on
   each Red explaining which checklist item it breaks.
5. Write a short cover note: the three biggest risks and any dates
   (renewal notice, term end) a person must act on.
6. Save everything in the same folder as the document.


## Rules
- Quote the clause exactly. Never paraphrase a clause in the Quote column.
- If the checklist is silent on a clause, rate it Amber and say so.
- Never change the original file. Work on a copy.
- Don't give legal conclusions. Flag the issue and leave the decision to
  the reviewer.

Add it to a task with Attach skills, or put it on a team agent.

Tips

  • Start from the “Contract reviewer” agent. Go to Agents > Starting points, find “Contract reviewer” and click Use. It redlines contracts against a playbook you give it and ranks the risks. Mention your playbook file in each task, or link it in the agent’s Instructions with @. See Create an agent.
  • Use Ask for changes on a review agent. The agent reads your Drive files on its own, but asks before it edits one, so the original can’t change without you. Avoid Read only here: it also blocks the terminal commands and skills the agent uses to read Word and PDF files and to write the markup. See Agent permissions.
  • Keep the checklist in one file. Mentioning one playbook file works better than pasting rules into each brief, and it keeps one version for the whole team.
  • Ask for quotes. A findings table that quotes each clause is much faster to check than one that summarizes.
  • Add an eval for a team agent. If many people use the review agent, check its quality with a few known contracts. See Check quality with evals.

Next steps