Document Automation Has Become Increasingly Intelligent

Document automation does not mean that a computer will automatically generate every document that you want, customized and ready to use. Each document will have some unique content, even if it is only the name and address of the addressee. This unique content will still need to be provided by you (or a database in the case of a mail-merged form letter).

A document has two elements, its content and its format. Wordprocessing programs have simplified formatting. Practically all formatting options have been incorporated in these programs. You click a few options and the formatting will be applied to text you have already written or will write immediately thereafter.

This is one element of automation. You create a tree-branch-sub-branch structure that allows you to drill down to any kind of formatting option you want. The tree is the document. The branch could be the font you want to use and the sub-branch could be font-family or font-color or font-size and so on. Under each final option, you have a set of values to choose from, e.g., magenta for font-color.

Formatting has been dramatically simplified through the above kind of select and click working. A similar option can be provided for much of the content. You take a standard document, such as a lease agreement, and analyze it for all the variable options and alternative values.

You then create a tree and branch structure that allows you to select applicable options to create a finished lease agreement, customized to a particular case. Much of the selection itself can be automated through pre-established rules.

When the above process is carried to the maximum extent, you will have an “intelligent” template that can create error free documents (even better than humans). You need to provide only the bare minimum of data, such as the names and addresses of parties to the lease (which itself might be available in databases for easy extraction) and relevant dates and rates.

Document Template

Documents templates have been in use for quite some time now. Word processing programs typically have provision to create such templates, e.g., the .dot files in Microsoft Word. Word processing programs also offer facilities to generate customized documents from these templates, such as the mail merge facility of Word.

What are new are the degree of sophistication that goes into modern templates, and the ease of assembling the final documents. There are software tools in the market now that can assemble required clauses in a legal document more dependably than humans. Such software operates with templates and “rules”. Rules specify what is applicable in each specific case.

Document Automation Software

Document automation software can help you create templates, specify rules and assemble documents. They might also be able to use the templates created by word processing programs such as Word.

With document automation software of such capabilities, you need to do only the absolute minimum to create a document. It would almost seem that further document automation is possible only when computers can grasp your thoughts and convert them into relevant documents!