Aline workflows can do far more than move a document from draft to signature in a straight line. With conditional routing, a workflow reads the details of each request and sends it down the right path automatically — escalating urgent contracts, splitting legal from commercial review, and pausing when it needs to wait on a counterparty.
This guide covers the routing patterns teams use most. For the basics of building a workflow, see Create a Workflow from a Template and Managing Legal Review, Redlining & Multi-Phase Approvals in Aline Workflows.
Overview
In this article you'll:
Route tasks based on intake-form answers
Split legal vs. commercial review depending on whether redlines came back
Pause a workflow until a counterparty document arrives
Add escalation and approval routing for urgent or high-value contracts
Use a manual holding area for incoming requests
Let AI complete low-risk tasks and hand off the rest
Replicate a proven routing setup across your other templates
Step 1: Route Based on Intake-Form Answers
The most common form of conditional routing uses answers from the intake form to decide what happens next. In a workflow task, give the AI a plain-language instruction that references an intake field — for example:
"If the vendor will have access to company systems, assign the Information Security review to the security team."
💡 Best Practice: Write intake questions with routing in mind. Clear, specific fields (yes/no, single-select) produce far more reliable routing than open text. Make sure the AI is pointed at the attached intake form so it routes from the submitted answers, not the contract body.
Step 2: Split Legal vs. Commercial Review
For renewal and order-form workflows, you often want two different paths depending on whether the counterparty pushed back. Set up a conditional task assignment so that:
If a redline or change is detected, the contract routes to legal for review
If the document comes back clean, it continues down the commercial path to signature
This keeps legal focused only on the agreements that actually need them.
Step 3: Pause a Workflow Until a Document Arrives
Some steps can't proceed until something comes back from the other side — like a counterparty's redlined version. Configure the workflow to pause at that phase and wait, rather than advancing automatically.
⚠️ Without a pause, a workflow can jump ahead before the redlined document has been received and reviewed.
Step 4: Add Escalation and Approval Routing
For urgent or high-value contracts, add an approval gate:
Include a manager-email field in the intake form so the workflow knows who to route approvals to
Set a priority or escalation path that sends flagged requests for manual approval before they move forward
This lets standard requests flow through automatically while anything urgent gets a human sign-off.
Step 5: Use a Manual Holding Area
When you want visibility before work is delegated, route new requests into a holding area — a phase where tasks sit unassigned until someone picks them up or assigns them.
📌 This is useful for teams transitioning to Aline who still want a human to eyeball incoming requests before they're routed.
Step 6: Let AI Complete Tasks, Then Route to a Human
Aline's agentic workflows can complete lower-risk tasks on their own and route higher-risk items to the right reviewer. In each AI task, describe what the AI should handle itself versus what it should hand off — for example:
"Draft the summary and complete the standard checks, then assign final approval to legal."
💡 The AI explains its reasoning in comments so reviewers can see why it acted. See Agentic AI Intake and Workflows.
Step 7: Replicate a Proven Workflow
Once a routing setup works, you rarely want to rebuild it by hand. Replicate the workflow across your other templates — for example, applying the same conditional logic to each of your renewal order-form templates — so every path behaves consistently.
💡 Best Practices
Design the intake form first. Routing is only as reliable as the fields it reads.
Prefer yes/no and single-select for anything that drives a decision.
Point AI tasks at the attached intake form, not the whole document set.
Pause deliberately at any phase that depends on a counterparty.
Automate the standard path, gate the exceptions — that's where routing pays off.
Replicate what works rather than rebuilding logic per template.
📚 Related Articles
Building an Intake Form, Step by Step
❓ Need Help?
Mapping an existing intake process onto Aline's routing? Click the Support button in Aline — we can build the first workflow with you and you can replicate it from there.