Overview
The Undertakings accelerator provides a reusable, jurisdiction and practice area agnostic work type for capturing, tracking, negotiating and discharging undertakings given or received on a matter. It is intended to be used as a child work item of a parent matter, not designed to be a create-able standalone work type, and a matter can have multiple undertakings associated with it.
It is designed for common law jurisdictions such as England & Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand; North America and other civil law jurisdictions are out of scope. As with all accelerators, it is not plug and play: each implementation is expected to review and build on it to meet the client and practice area business, policy and regulatory needs.
What is an Undertaking
An undertaking given by a solicitor or regulated firm is more than an ordinary statement of intention, it is a legal binding promise. Under the SRA Codes of Conduct for example, undertakings must be performed within the agreed timescale or, where no timescale is specified, within a reasonable time. Failure to comply can amount to a professional conduct breach and result in disciplinary action.
Undertakings are commonly used to allow a legal matter or transaction to progress safely without waiting for every action or condition to be completed first. The recipient can proceed on the basis that the person giving the undertaking has committed to carrying out the promised action. For example, a solicitor might undertake to:
- pay funds to another party once received;
- discharge a mortgage or other charge;
- provide or return particular documents;
- refrain from disposing of an asset;
- obtain a signature, consent or registration;
- complete a specified procedural step by an agreed date.
User Journeys
A case handler raises an undertaking directly on the matter — as given or received — capturing the participants, the terms, and the due date. The undertaking is reviewed and, if needed, negotiated before being made active. Reminders are triggered ahead of the due date. Once satisfied, discharge is requested and granted; if terms cannot be agreed, the undertaking can be rejected instead.
The design includes lightweight breach/enforcement tracking (Breach Date key date and data capture) rather than using a phase for breach as consequences vary significantly by Commitment Type and region/jurisdiction.
The user will interact with the undertakings via its aspect (blade). Template documents or emails in relation to the undertaking can be generated directly from the aspect (blade) using the menu option on the blade for ‘Prepare Comms’.
As undertakings are a type of task, they will appear in the matter task list. In addition, a list view widget should be added to the relevant matter portal page to display the list of open and closed undertakings for the matter. For wider reporting across teams/departments/portfolios, a workbench portal page could be configured to show all open/closed undertakings across the platform.
What’s In The Accelerator
| Component | What is included |
|---|---|
Work Type(s) |
1 work type; Undertaking (derives from the root Task work type) |
Sub Work Type(s) |
2 optionset values; Given Undertaking, Received Undertaking |
Phase Model |
10 phases, 10 transitions, 1 phase guard |
Participant Roles |
5 case team roles, 2 other roles (Undertaking From, Undertaking To) |
Key Dates |
4 key dates; Due Date, Discharge Request Date, Discharge Granted Date, Breach Date |
Forms & Optionsets |
2 forms (undertaking details, breach details), 3 option sets (incl. sub work type) |
Portal & Menu |
No portal - UI/UX via blade, standard menu |
List Views |
2 list views; matter-level and no context (i.e. system wide based on permissions) |
Workflows |
2 workflows; Undertakings Reminders, Undertaking Discharge Requested |
Other |
3 Business Rules; No active undertakings, Breach Date key date is not null, Due Date key date is not null |
Workflow Catalogue
| Workflow | Trigger | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
Undertakings Reminders |
Key date: Undertaking Due Date created |
Reminds the matter owner 14, 7 and 3 days before the due date, while the undertaking is open |
Undertaking Discharge Requested |
Phase: Discharge Requested |
Creates a document expectation task to manage the other side’s response |
Key Actions After Import
Entry point – The work type feature ‘Add create to standard menus’ is enabled on the Undertaking work type, therefore if it should not be available on standard create menus this should be de-enabled and an appropriate create command (e.g. menu or widget) configured on relevant matter types
Participants & Permissions – Review participant roles, review and update role permissions, add create permissions, review sync rules and add participant role sourcing where relevant.
Visibility – Add the matter list view to relevant matter portal pages and if being used add the non-contextual (firm-wide) view to an appropriate workbench page.
Matter closure – Apply the ‘No active undertakings’ rule as a phase guard on parent matter work type phase models.
Templates – Decide if templates regarding undertakings will be generated from the matter or the undertakings work item, build the required templates and if they will be generated from the undertaking ensure the template context is set to the Undertaking work type, if appropriate add the templates into workflows.
Features – Review auto close descendants and time recording, and any other relevant features.
Workflows – Review reminder timings and any approval requirements.