QUERYING AGREEMENT DOCUMENT MODELS IN A DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Abstract

A document management system utilizes document models for querying, validating, and customizing electronic agreement documents. Document models can be a data structure including document attributes that represent an agreement document. Examples of document attributes include customizable data values, conditions related to the operation of the agreement document and satisfiable by certain values of the customized data values, and rendering parameters for the appearance of the electronic agreement document. The document management system enables a user to create custom document models for generating electronic agreement documents that can be queried, validated, and customized through querying, validating, and customizing the corresponding document models.

Description

Claims

1. A method comprising: accessing, by a document management system, a document model comprising a set of document objects, the document model corresponding to an agreement type, and the set of document objects each corresponding to a characteristic of an agreement document;modifying, by the document management system, an agreement document of a set of agreement documents using the document model, the modified agreement document including one or more of the set of document objects including a value representative of the characteristics of the agreement document;receiving, by the document management system, a query identifying an agreement document characteristic and an agreement document condition;querying, by the document management system, the set of document objects to identify documents in a set of modified agreement documents, the set of modified agreement documents including document objects corresponding to the agreement document characteristic and including values that satisfy the agreement document condition; andproviding, by the document management system, the identified documents to a client device for display in conjunction with the agreement document characteristic and the agreement document condition.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: storing the identified documents at a storage of the document management system; andin response to providing the identified documents to the client device, deleting the identified documents from the storage and maintaining document models corresponding to the identified documents in the storage.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein deleting the identified documents from the storage is further in response to determining that the identified documents were accessed at the client device.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein deleting the identified documents from the storage is further in response to determining a period of time has expired since providing the identified documents to the client device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the document model further comprises an object requirement comprising a condition that must be satisfied by one of the set of document objects before the agreement document can be executed, further comprising: validating the modified agreement document by determining that the condition of the object requirement is satisfied by the one of the set of document objects.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining that the condition is satisfied comprises providing the value to a third-party service configured to verify the value is proper.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the document model is a first document model, and wherein determining that the condition is satisfied comprises: comparing the value of the one or more of the set of document objects to a corresponding value of the one or more of the set of document objects of a second document model; andin response to the value matching the corresponding value, determining that the condition is satisfied.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating the document model by: receiving a document, the document including values of document objects, the values represented as text strings and decoupled from a given document object;identifying the document as corresponding to one of the set of agreement documents;identifying, using the one of the set of agreement documents, the values of objects within the document; andgenerating a data structure comprising a mapping between the values of objects and the set of document objects, wherein the document model comprises the data structure.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising: storing the received document in a storage of the document management system; andin response to generating the document model, deleting the received document from the storage.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of agreement documents are templates, each template including variables for respective document objects and text strings present within each of the modified set of agreement documents.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining whether the query has returned the identified documents; andin response to the query returning a null result: determining at least one of an alternative agreement document characteristic included within the modified set of agreement documents or an alternative agreement document condition satisfied by values included within the modified set of agreement documents; andproviding the at least one of the alternative agreement document characteristic or the alternative agreement document condition to the client device.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising: receiving, from the client device, a selection of the at least one of the alternative agreement document characteristic or the alternative agreement document condition;identifying, using the selection, a plurality of documents in the modified set of agreement documents; andproviding the plurality of documents to the client device for display.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the processor to perform operations, the instructions comprising instructions to: access a document model comprising a set of document objects, the document model corresponding to an agreement type, and the set of document objects each corresponding to a characteristic of an agreement document;modify an agreement document of a set of agreement documents using the document model, the modified agreement document including one or more of the set of document objects including a value representative of the characteristics of the agreement document;receive a query identifying an agreement document characteristic and an agreement document condition;query the set of document objects to identify documents in a set of modified agreement documents, the set of modified agreement documents including document objects corresponding to the agreement document characteristic and including values that satisfy the agreement document condition; andprovide the identified documents to a client device for display in conjunction with the agreement document characteristic and the agreement document condition.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to: store the identified documents at a storage of the document management system; andin response to providing the identified documents to the client device, delete the identified documents from the storage while maintaining document models corresponding to the identified documents in the storage.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to: receive a document, the document including values of document objects, the values represented as text strings and decoupled from a given document object;identify the document as corresponding to one of the set of agreement documents;identify the values of objects within the document using the one of the set of agreement documents; andgenerate a data structure comprising a mapping between the values of objects and the set of document objects, wherein the document model comprises the data structure.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to: determine whether the query has returned the identified documents; andin response to the query returning a null result: determine at least one of an alternative agreement document characteristic included within the modified set of agreement documents or an alternative agreement document condition satisfied by values included within the modified set of agreement documents; andprovide the at least one of the alternative agreement document characteristic or the alternative agreement document condition to the client device.

17. A document management system comprising one or more processors and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the document management system to perform operations, the instructions comprising instructions to: access a document model comprising a set of document objects, the document model corresponding to an agreement type, and the set of document objects each corresponding to a characteristic of an agreement document;modify an agreement document of a set of agreement documents using the document model, the modified agreement document including one or more of the set of document objects including a value representative of the characteristics of the agreement document;receive a query identifying an agreement document characteristic and an agreement document condition;query the set of document objects to identify documents in a set of modified agreement documents, the set of modified agreement documents including document objects corresponding to the agreement document characteristic and including values that satisfy the agreement document condition; andprovide the identified documents to a client device for display in conjunction with the agreement document characteristic and the agreement document condition.

18. The document management system of claim 17, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to: store the identified documents at a storage of the document management system; andin response to providing the identified documents to the client device, delete the identified documents from the storage and maintain document models corresponding to the identified documents in the storage.

19. The document management system of claim 17, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to: receive a document, the document including values of document objects, the values represented as text strings and decoupled from a given document object;identify the document as corresponding to one of the set of agreement documents;identify the values of objects within the document using the one of the set of agreement documents; andgenerate a data structure comprising a mapping between the values of objects and the set of document objects, wherein the document model comprises the data structure.

20. The document management system of claim 17, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to: determine whether the query has returned the identified documents; andin response to the query returning a null result: determine at least one of an alternative agreement document characteristic included within the modified set of agreement documents or an alternative agreement document condition satisfied by values included within the modified set of agreement documents; andprovide the at least one of the alternative agreement document characteristic or the alternative agreement document condition to the client device.