SAP’s Legal Operations team originally implemented a widely used enterprise workflow platform to manage legal spend requests. The platform allowed in-house attorneys to request budgets and approve law firm selections while aiming to ensure a reliable user experience and compliance with corporate procurement policies. However, several pain points emerged as demand and complexity grew:

• The system lacked real-time visibility into request progress, leaving internal clients uncertain about status or ownership.
• Approvals required frequent manual intervention from the Legal Ops team.
• The platform couldn't fully automate the approval process or adapt quickly to changing policies or regional business rules.
• SAP’s legal spend ecosystem relied on multiple tools that operated in silos—namely Brightflag for eBilling and PERSUIT for law firm selection and procurement—creating inefficiencies and redundant data entry.

Together, these issues made it difficult for SAP to maintain compliance, ensure timely approvals, and deliver a streamlined experience for internal stakeholders.

“If it works at SAP, it can work anywhere. With Checkbox, we replaced complexity with clarity — automating approvals, enforcing compliance, and saving time every day.”

Jim Gray

VP, Head of Global Legal Operations at SAP

To overcome these challenges, SAP Legal Operations transitioned to Checkbox, a no-code workflow automation platform built for legal teams. Checkbox served as both a process optimizer and an integrator—replacing manual tasks with automation, and uniting fragmented tools into one cohesive experience.

Connecting Checkbox to Brightflag and PERSUIT

SAP had already implemented Brightflag as its system of record for external legal matters, ensuring billing guideline compliance and managing eBilling. In parallel, PERSUIT supported competitive law firm selection and legal procurement through RFPs, reverse auctions, and alternative fee arrangements.

Each system played a critical role in SAP’s legal spend management program. However, they functioned independently, leading to silos, duplicated data entry, and inconsistencies in user experience.

To unify these systems, SAP introduced Checkbox as the connective workflow layer. Checkbox now serves as SAP Legal’s central spend management workflow, streamlining legal budget approvals from initiation through to final sign-off. The platform:

• Gathers intake details from requestors through a user-friendly guided form.
• Applies decision-tree logic to route requests based on matter type, region, and cost thresholds.
• Automates multi-step approval workflows across departments and jurisdictions.
• Seamlessly integrates with Brightflag and PERSUIT, ensuring accurate, efficient handoff without re-keying data.

“With Checkbox, our workflow is more efficient and transparent. Internal clients can easily navigate policy rules and see who is handling their requests, leading to quicker approvals and fewer bottlenecks.”

Jim Gray

VP, Head of Global Legal Operations at SAP

Why Checkbox Was Selected

SAP evaluated multiple automation tools and selected Checkbox for its:

• Flexibility: Configurable workflows to suit changing policies and business needs.
• No-code visual interface: Enabling the legal team—not IT—to build and manage automations.
• User-friendly experience: Clear steps reduce user error and eliminate training overhead.
• Advanced features including:
  • Dynamic approval routing via Active Directory.
  • JavaScript blocks for complex business logic.
  • Easy integration with existing platforms like Brightflag and PERSUIT.

Seamless Implementation

The onboarding experience was smooth and well-supported. With guidance from Checkbox’s Customer Success team, SAP’s legal operations developers were able to independently build, modify, and deploy custom workflows rapidly.

Since implementing Checkbox, SAP’s Legal Operations team has realized substantial gains in efficiency, transparency, and compliance. A once-manual, disjointed approval process is now centralized, automated, and future-proof.

Checkbox not only improved internal efficiency—it elevated the experience for internal clients, who now have visibility over policy rules, next steps, and who's handling their request at any given time.

With Checkbox as its workflow foundation, SAP has a scalable automation infrastructure ready to support new use cases across the legal department. The success of spend management automation has opened doors to broader legal process automation initiatives, all without needing to rely on IT.

Looking ahead, SAP is positioned to:

• Extend Checkbox into new legal workflows beyond spend approvals.
• Reduce turnaround times for legal service delivery across the business.
• Evolve policy rules and routing logic as the business grows—all within the same platform.

SAP’s experience demonstrates the impact of combining best-in-class point solutions (like Brightflag and PERSUIT) with a modern legal workflow engine. Checkbox brings it all together—enabling compliance, visibility, and speed, without complexity.