How to include periods in a legal paperwork template
Ok, so you know how to create a legal paperwork template, but what happens when you want to include values like periods?
There are multiple ways to include periods as merge fields, depending on what information you need exactly.
Deal start date and deal end date
Each deal has a start date (the start date of the first period), and an end date (the end date of the last period), no matter how many periods it has.
You can summon this information through the following merge fields:
| =deal_start_date | 26/12/2017 |
| =deal_end_date | 20/02/2017 |
Every period start and end dates
If you want to load the start and end dates for all the periods of a deal, you can use a single command:
| =periods_string | 26/12/2017 - 31/12/2017, 30/12/2017 - 20/02/2018 |
This merge field will load the start date followed by a dash and then the end date for each period in a deal separated by a comma. See the example below:
The special merge fields
If you want to have more control over each date on your documents, you can use this solution. It's a little bit more complex, but once you understand it, it's really powerful. You will need to insert a special merge field before and after the text you want to fill in:
- insert before the period fields: periods:each(period)
- insert after the period fields: periods:endEach
| periods:each(period) | |
| =period.period_type | General period |
| =period.start_date | 26/12/2017 |
| =period.end_date | 31/12/2017 |
| =period.guaranteed_days | 30 |
| periods:endEach | |
As you can see, the special merge fields don't include the = (equal) symbol. This is important.
Please note: The =period.period_type and =period.guaranteed:days can be only used for cast members.
More options for the end dates
You may need some dates variation when creating a template of a "Termination Letter".
When you have to communicate the end of the contract in advance and you need to include this prior date, take advantage of the merge fields: =deal_end_date-3 (3 days before the end date), =deal_end_date-4 (4 days before the end date), and so on.
An example is worth a thousand words
To see it in action, we have inserted the following text and merge fields in a document:
And we have exported the document using a crew member with the following periods in a deal:
The result
As you can see, the resulting file includes both periods, one in its own line.
