What Is the Contract Extraction Agent?
The Contract Extraction Agent is a Custom Agent that reads a software contract document stored in your Ardoq organization and extracts structured information from it into your Ardoq graph. Instead of manually mapping contract details to components and references, you invoke the agent and it does the analysis for you — guided by a Viewpoint that defines exactly what information to look for and how it maps to your metamodel.
The agent uses the Viewpoint definition as its instruction set. The Viewpoint tells the agent which component types, reference types, and fields are relevant to a software contract, so interpretation is always grounded in how your organization has modelled its architecture — not in generic assumptions.
Before You Start
Read the Custom Agents knowledge base article and make sure AI features are correctly activated and necessary bundles are installed.
How the Agent Works
When you run the Contract Extraction Agent, it follows a structured, multi-step procedure:
Locates the contract document you specify and confirms it exists in the organization. Read the AI Assistant how-to guide to learn how to add documents to an AI Assistant Session.
Reads the Software Supplier Contracts Viewpoint to understand the component types, reference types, and fields it should extract.
Important: The viewpoint definition details which types the AI model should attempt to extract. You must provide a viewpoint for this purpose
Analyses the contract document and identifies information matching the Viewpoint definition — supplier organization, technology product, deployed application, owners, and consuming organizational units.
Checks for existing components before creating new ones, and prompts you to clarify which workspace to use if a component type exists in more than one.
Creates or updates components and references in Ardoq, populating field values where the contract provides them.
Flags missing or ambiguous information and asks you to clarify rather than guessing.
The custom agent installation includes a Software Supplier Contracts Viewpoint that matches the guidance for modelling SW Contracts and Technology Products. To use this agent you must adjust your metamodel to replicate this viewpoint OR create a different viewpoint to match your existing metamodel for representing software contracts and technology products.
What gets extracted
The agent extracts information aligned to the viewpoint definition. Typical outputs include:
What | How it's modelled |
The software supplier | External supplier organization component |
The technology product | Technology Product component, linked to the contract |
The deployed application | Application component, created as a deployment of the technology product |
Contract owners | People components linked as owners — key contacts or senior users are preferred over signatories |
Consuming organizational units | Internal org unit components linked as consumers; aligned to the purpose of the software |
The agent will not create people from external organizations, will not create references between components that are already connected, and will not populate calculated fields.
Running the Agent
Open the AI Assistant in Ardoq and add the relevant document to the Asisstant's context (see: AI Assistant how-to)
Then you give the Assistant the following prompt:
execute the Contract Extraction Agent
If you know the name of the document, you can also specify it in the prompt
Example:
execute the Contract Extraction Agent for Salesforce Enterprise Agreement 2025
Using your own viewpoint
If your organization uses a customized metamodel, you can point the agent at an equivalent viewpoint instead of the default:
execute the Contract Extraction Agent using the [your viewpoint name] viewpoint
Tips for Best Results
Name the document clearly. You need to be able to find the document in order to use it with the agent.
Set up the viewpoint first. The agent depends on the Software Supplier Contracts viewpoint (or your equivalent). Confirm it is in place before running.
Let the agent ask. If the agent finds ambiguity — for example, a component type that exists in multiple workspaces — answer precisely. This keeps your data clean.
Review before confirming writes. The agent will ask for your confirmation before creating or updating data. Take a moment to review its findings.
Use follow-ups. After the agent finishes, you can ask the AI Assistant follow-up questions to drill into any part of the extracted data while it is still in context.
Verify critical outputs. Agents accelerate analysis but can make mistakes. Always check important findings against the original contract document.
Known Limitations
Data quality depends on the contract. The agent can only extract what is in the document. Poorly structured or incomplete contracts will produce partial results — the agent will flag what it could not find.
Viewpoint dependency. The agent works best when the Software Supplier Contracts viewpoint (or a well-configured equivalent) is in place. Missing viewpoints will cause the agent to stop and tell you what is needed.
Heavily customized metamodels. Results may vary if your metamodel differs significantly from the expected structure. Use the viewpoint variable to provide an equivalent.
AI can make mistakes. As with all Custom Agents, this agent uses a large language model. Always verify outputs before acting on them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Where do I get the Software Supplier Contracts viewpoint? It is included in the Custom Agents bundle. Contact Ardoq Technical Support to have the bundle installed.
Q: Can I use my own viewpoint instead? Yes. Provide the name of your equivalent viewpoint in the command when running the agent.
Q: Will the agent overwrite existing data? No. The agent will not create references between components that are already connected, and it will not overwrite calculated fields. It prompts for confirmation before writing anything and all generated content needs to be approved and merged by a human.
Q: What if the agent can't find the document or viewpoint? It stops and tells you what is missing, then asks you to clarify before proceeding.
Q: Can the agent handle contracts that mention multiple people? Yes. The agent can identify and create multiple owners. It prioritises key contacts and senior users over contract signatories.
Q: What if a component type exists in more than one workspace? The agent will ask you to specify which workspace to use before creating anything.