Keep Advisory Agreements and Signed Forms Findable Per Household
Somebody asks whether the household ever signed the updated agreement. There is a signed copy, an unsigned draft, and a scan of a page with a signature on it, and no obvious way to tell which one governs.
The short answer
Signed documents are worth nothing if the executed version cannot be distinguished from the draft that preceded it. A workflow uses the Read Details from File step to identify the household, document type and effective date, the Ask AI About the File step to recognise whether a document carries a signature, and the Move step to file executed copies separately from working drafts. Naming by effective date means the current version is the latest, and the superseded ones remain visible rather than being overwritten.
Steps this uses
Before and after
What actually changes
As they arrive
- agreement.pdf
- agreement signed.pdf
- IMG_2201.jpg
- ADV delivery.pdf
After the workflow
- Okafor Household/Agreements/Executed/2024-02-01-advisory-agreement.pdf
- Okafor Household/Agreements/Executed/2026-03-01-advisory-agreement.pdf
- Okafor Household/Agreements/Drafts/2026-02-18-advisory-agreement-draft.pdf
- Reyes Household/Agreements/Executed/2026-05-12-beneficiary-designation.pdf
Executed agreements kept apart from the draft that preceded them, with each version named by the date it took effect.
Setting it up
Described once, then it runs
This is the sentence. Send it to the builder and the steps below appear on a canvas, wired and named, for you to change before anything runs.
When an advisory agreement or signed form arrives, read the household, the document type and the effective date off it, check whether it carries a signature, and file executed copies under Agreements/Executed and unsigned ones under drafts.
Executed and draft are different places
Not different filenames. A draft in the same folder as the executed copy will eventually be mistaken for it, and the mistake is only discovered when it matters.
Name by effective date
The date the agreement takes effect, not the date it was signed or scanned. That is the date that governs, and it makes the sequence of versions readable by sorting.
Never overwrite a superseded agreement
The prior version is the answer to every question about a prior period. New versions join rather than replace, and the dates in the names keep the order obvious.
Report households without a current agreement
The On a Schedule trigger checks which households have no executed agreement of the current form, and Send a Message reports them — which is the kind of gap normally found during a review rather than before one.
A draft in the wrong folder is a live risk
Every other filing mistake costs time. This one costs an answer: somebody reads a draft, believes it is what the client agreed, and acts on terms nobody signed. Keeping executed documents in their own location is not tidiness, it is the difference between a folder you can rely on and one you have to verify each time you open it.
The superseded version is not dead weight
Questions about a prior period need the agreement that was in force then, and overwriting it to keep the folder clean destroys exactly the document that answers them. Naming by effective date makes keeping every version cheap: the folder sorts into the sequence of what governed when, and the current one is simply the last.
What it does not do
It files and finds. It does not judge whether a signature is valid, determine whether a document was properly executed, or constitute a regulatory record of delivery. It also cannot tell you an agreement should have been updated — that comes from your own review cycle. It makes sure that when somebody looks, what they find is unambiguous.
FAQ
Common questions
How should signed client agreements be organized?
By household, with executed copies in their own location, separate from drafts, and each named by the date it takes effect. Keeping drafts in the same folder means one will eventually be mistaken for the executed version, and that mistake is discovered at the worst possible moment.
Should an old agreement be replaced when a new one is signed?
No. Questions about a prior period need the agreement that was in force then, and overwriting destroys the document that answers them. Name by effective date instead, and every version can be kept while the current one remains obvious as the latest.
Can it tell whether a document has been signed?
It can distinguish documents that carry a signature from those that do not, and route them accordingly, with anything ambiguous going to a person rather than being guessed. It does not judge whether a signature is valid or whether execution was proper, which are not document-reading questions.
Will it tell me which households are missing an agreement?
It can report households with no executed agreement on file of the form you specify. Whether an agreement is due for update comes from your own review cycle rather than from the documents, but the absence of one entirely is something the folders can show you.
Which version governs?
Answered by the folder it is in and the date it took effect.
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