Contracts, quotes and documents from templates, filled in from your data.

02 / 08

Templates in Word or Google Docs that you edit yourself

A template is an ordinary Word or Google Docs document with placeholders instead of specific details, for example {{company_name}} or {{quote_valid_until}}. When generating, the system replaces them with data and turns the result into a PDF. Your logo, fonts and formatting stay exactly as you set them, and when your lawyer changes the clause on contractual penalties, they change it in Word as before.

In Microsoft 365 the template sits in SharePoint or OneDrive and the finished document is converted to PDF through Microsoft Graph, Microsoft's interface for working with files. In Google Workspace the system makes a copy of the template in Google Drive, replaces the placeholders through the Google Docs API and saves it as a PDF. If the document should look like your website, or you create many of them at once, I can also generate it directly in the system without Word.

A template can do more than fill in a name:

• A table of items with quantities, prices, the VAT base and VAT per rate, where the total is calculated and nobody retypes it
• Clauses that appear only sometimes, for example the deposit clause only when you agreed on a deposit
• The same contract in several languages if you have customers abroad
• Document numbers that follow your own number series, with no two quotes sharing a number

03 / 08

Company details from public registers by ID number

For a new customer, the company ID number (IČO) is enough. For Slovak companies the system fills in the name, registered address, legal form and statutory body from the public API of the Slovak Register of Legal Entities, which also covers sole traders. For Czech companies it uses ARES, the Czech register of economic entities. For a larger deal I can also pull a Slovak company's financial statements from the Slovak Register of Financial Statements, so you can see how big the company is before you sign a contract with it.

I can check whether a foreign customer's VAT number is valid in the European Commission's VIES system. If a customer gave you details that differ from the register, such as a different delivery address, the system won't quietly overwrite them and leaves the decision to the salesperson.

All other data comes from where you already keep it: the CRM, the stock or accounting software, a form on your website or a shared spreadsheet. If you don't yet have one place where clients and jobs come together, documents are usually part of a custom CRM.

04 / 08

Electronic signatures: which one is enough and when you need a qualified one

I fit the electronic signature into the process according to the document being signed. Under Article 25 of the eIDAS Regulation, a qualified electronic signature has the same legal effect as a handwritten signature. In Slovakia, for example, you can create one with a chip ID card that holds a qualified certificate.

Which signature a particular document needs is for your lawyer to decide. For some acts the law requires a specific form, such as an officially certified signature, and automation doesn't change that. My part is technical: I prepare the document, send it for signature and file the signed version with the client.

Most often it's one of these routes:

• The customer accepts a quote through a link in an email and the system records who accepted it and when
• The contract goes out through an e-signature service of your choice, if it offers an API, and the signed copy comes back to the archive
• With a qualified signature, the system prepares the PDF and stores the signed file with the contract

05 / 08

Sending from your inbox, archive and versions

The finished document is emailed from your company mailbox in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. The customer replies directly to the salesperson who sent the quote, and a copy stays in their sent mail like any other email.

Every document is filed with the client: in SharePoint, Google Drive or the system's database. The record shows who created it, when it went out, whether it has been signed and which version of the template it came from. When you change your terms and conditions, new contracts use the new version, and for the old ones it stays clear what the customer signed.

Reminders can be tied to the archive. A quote the customer hasn't responded to within a week shows up in the salesperson's tasks, and for a contract nearing its end the system reminds you about renewal a month ahead. An accepted quote or order can go straight into POHODA or Money as a document through their import or API, as described on the page about connecting systems.

06 / 08

Where AI helps and where it doesn't

AI doesn't write the text of your contracts. The contract comes from a template your lawyer approved, and the system takes the figures from the price list and the job data. I use a language model one step earlier: it reads the customer's inquiry from an email or an attachment and suggests the quote items. Fixed rules check that the items exist in the price list and that the prices match, and a person approves the quote before it goes out.

Everything I build with AI works on the same principle: the language model reads and suggests, rules check, and a person decides the unclear cases. I process data in the EU wherever possible and call models through business APIs, which under the providers' terms are not used for training by default. You'll find more about agents that read emails and attachments on the page about AI agents for business.

07 / 08

When Word, an off-the-shelf tool or your CRM is enough

You don't need a custom solution if you produce a few contracts a month and only the name and amount change. Mail merge in Word, which fills a template from an Excel sheet, or a template in Google Docs will do. If you issue quotes from your accounting or invoicing software and you're happy with how they look, keep them there. If you're considering Odoo, it has quotes with online signature built into its sales module.

Custom document generation pays off when at least one of these applies:

• The data for the document sits in several systems, for example the customer in the CRM, prices in the stock software and terms in a spreadsheet
• The contract has many variants and conditional clauses and people make mistakes putting it together
• Documents above a certain amount must be approved by a manager or director before they go out
• You want one flow from quote through signature and archive to a document in your accounting software
• Many documents are created every day and each one has to be sent and filed in the right place

08 / 08

What document generation from templates costs

Automating one type of document, for example a quote from the CRM to a PDF sent from your inbox, usually takes a few days of work and starts at €500. The price goes up with the number of templates and conditional clauses, the number of systems the data comes from, and an e-signature integration. If documents are part of a system the company runs on every day, such as a CRM or client portal, the price depends on the scope of the whole system. Running costs come to tens or a low few hundred euros a month.

The consultation is free, and after the first call you get a specific price and date. The quote is split into parts. Once you agree to it or to some of its parts, I'll build a free prototype that fills in your real template, so you can check that it will work before you make the final decision. You pay 20% of the price when you order and the rest on handover.

By default I run the system on my own accounts for a monthly fee that covers hosting, backups and updates, and I always fix bugs in it free of charge. Contracts and quotes contain personal data, so before launch we sign a data processing agreement under Article 28 of the GDPR. Other processes around documents that can be automated are listed in the overview of business process automation.

To get started, tell me in the form below which documents you make by hand today and where the data for them comes from. You're welcome to send sample documents with the personal data blacked out.