Frequently asked questions

Updraft is a game-changing contract management platform that is revolutionising the practice of law by using systemised algorithms and dynamic legal databases to mimic and automate the legal drafting and professional processes followed by lawyers.

Updraft allows for the automation of all business contracts, version control, reporting, database management, automatic updates incorporating all legal requirements from time to time, faster turnaround time for business and an overall reduction in risk, resources and costs. The contract drafting process is built by our lawyers in consultation with the client, Updraft is customised to meet the unique needs of your legal department.

Read more about why you should choose Updraft here.

The forerunner to Updraft was the award-winning Origin Systems – the first contract management platform in South Africa. Origin has been providing solutions to its corporate and legal support clients since 2006. Updraft was created by two friends and legal and technology specialists, Richard and Richard. Read their story here.

Our custom pricing structure can be scaled to your business, whether you need five, 50 or 500 agreements automated. Everyone gets access to our full contract management platform and free legal advice from just $630 a month. Contact us for a tailormade cost estimate.

MatterMap is a bespoke process flow to meet your unique needs. It automates a suite of documents from one simple custom-made questionnaire. Discover the streamlined control delivered by the world’s first workflow system that uses intelligent tech data analytics to drive legal compliance, risk management, approvals, audit trails, legal document generation and business processes, all through a consolidated stream that’s got you covered every step of the way. Onboarding tenants, suppliers or employees is now an easy, intuitive experience. Get a bird’s eye view of all business interactions and a wealth of crucial business data. Read more here

Three different hosting options are available to our clients.

Shared cloudThis is the option the vast majority of clients opt for. Updraft is responsible for the hosting, maintenance and management the underlying servers, databases, document generation engines, infrastructure and systems necessary to provide the services. If this option is selected, no additional fees are applicable.

Private cloud deploymentIn this instance a once-off implementation fee is charged for the project management, IT technical time and services necessary to build a virtual instance of the configured Updraft application, the data for release and set-up on a ‘private cloud’ hosting infrastructure exclusively dedicated to the client’s application. Thereafter an additional monthly fee will be charged, depending on the technical specifications chosen.

Client-hosted deploymentAs above, a once-off implementation fee is charged for the IT technical time and services necessary to build a virtual instance of the configured Updraft application and data for release and set-up within the client’s own infrastructure and environment on a ‘Client-Hosted Deployment’ model exclusively dedicated to the Client’s application. An additional monthly fee will also be levied, for the extra costs and professional time required to support the Client Hosted Deployment model, including dedicated technical patching, upgrades, support and legal document administration of the separate Updraft deployment within the Client’s environment.

We can automate any and every type of document – if there is logic behind the document variables, and these variables can be pre-determined we can automate its creation. See some ways in which Updraft can help businesses here.

Updraft provides professional advice, project management and legal consulting services to help you get the most from our game-changing legal drafting and contract management platform. These services are designed to tailor the platform to your unique business environment and legal challenges for a seamless experience. Find out more here.

Yes, you can! Please get in touch with us for a free demo.

No archiving is required – Updraft gives you real-time access to your entire contract database, including expired and terminated contracts.

Where your data is hosted depends on the deployment model you choose. If you choose the shared cloud deployment model, your data will be hosted in primary and secondary data centres managed by specialist and local service providers (to maximise data transfer speeds and ensure that no cross-border data transfers aren’t necessary). Our data centres have comprehensive resilience and 24 x 7 security personnel, CCTV monitoring, biometric fingerprinting and restricted access to ensure the security of your data is maintained.

Our Service Provider Agreement may be cancelled at any time, after the conclusion of the first two years of the contract, by giving 60 days’ written notice. On termination of the contract, Updraft provides the client with a copy of every document uploaded to and stored on Updraft during the period of the Agreement, in a PDF, DOCX and/or XML format, together with all associated metadata.

Updraft is a web-based solution, therefore you can log in from anywhere. All you need is an internet connection.

Updraft has invested heavily in security to ensure data integrity and compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act. Annual penetration tests and security audits by leading security consultants, Sensepost, have found these measures to be both impenetrable and of an exceptionally high technical standard. The security measures include TLS/SSL communication, URL checksumming, Cryptographic nonce, Cache encryption, document encryption, interview log encryption, code encryption, backup encryption, 24 x 7 security personnel, CCTV monitoring, biometric fingerprinting, restricted access, secure Linux (SELinux), firewalls, IDS, anti-virus software, multi-tier data abstraction, password encryption & SSO, login failure thresholds, auditing, configurable access privileges and optional password protected documents.

We take care of the entire set-up process and ensure that your document management console is customised to meet your needs. We will brand it, add users, tailor each person’s security privileges, customise notification groups and provide users with secure access to your document management console on the Updraft platform. Secure access is granted through the generation of a unique URL address and the creation of unique usernames and passwords for each user (users set their own passwords).

In addition Updraft is responsible for creating the custom-built online questionnaires which will be used to draft your core business agreements. The interviews created to draft the documents will include input restrictions, user limitations and structured choices that will allow the legal / commercial team to prevent unauthorised provisions from being included in the documents.

Updraft is further responsible for training users and offering user support for the duration of the relationship.

The following further services are provided as standard when implementing Updraft for new clients:

• Liaising with the client’s staff to obtain instructions in relation to the nature, context and applications of the Client Documents and to understand the potential variations thereof;
• Drafting and structuring the legal questionnaires that systemize each of the contracts, including question text and options and underlying clause construction, tag triggers and formatting;
• Drafting of question help topics and hints, as well as input and data restrictions, information checklists and document specific user instructions;
• Inputting and constructing the Client Documents within Updraft, including clause and text insertions, formatting and indentation, clause numbering, active cross-referencing, data injection of transaction-specific elements, formulae and annexures;
• Reviewing and amending the documents;
• Automated system validation of all possible contract variations and vetting of resultant documents;
• Peer-review, settling and finalization of the inputting process for each document;
• Drafting upload interviews (including questions, hints, help, data restrictions and reporting tags and text) that mirror the drafting questionnaires and allow for Updraft filing of external documents of the same type;
• Configuring the contract reporting data to be extracted from each contract drafting process and building associated reporting templates;
• System configuration of contract deadlines/events to be triggered in relation to each contract and management of notification groups to include new contract events.
• Final testing of full system functionality in relation to the new document and document and system configuration tweaks arising out of client testing.