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Signing PDFs online

Sign your PDF documents online: contracts, agreements, quotes, etc.

Creating Template Documents

The training agreements or other contracts currently come from CRM, ERP, other document generators, Word, etc.. These systems allow you to create template documents that incorporate variables. These documents will be sent to each recipient according to their specificities and criteria. When a template document is created, it is associated with a database that fills in the variable fields automatically, or it is manually edited using a word processing software and exported to PDF format.

Yesterday, once this document was completed,
the approach was as follows:

  • Opening of the messaging service
  • Adding the PDF as an e-mail attachment
  • Opening by each of the signatories
  • Download PDF
  • Printing the PDF
  • Handwritten signature on the PDF
  • Scan du PDF
  • Sending the signed and scanned version of the PDF by e-mail
  • Printing or adding online to the learner’s file
In the end, either several identical contracts with one signature per copy reach you, or a single contract but it has been printed, signed, scanned, returned, reprinted, re-signed, re-scanned, etc. and has lost all its probative value.

 

 

It was also possible:

  • To inject this document within a signature platform
  • To inject the trainee’s information within this platform
  • Automate the sending of documents
  • To retrieve the signed documents in a single copy with evidentiary value
Not always a practical solution when you have a lot of entrances… This solution requires a rather heavy API in terms of programming, development time and price.

SoWeSign offers you an alternative solution, adapted to training organizations

Tags” are added to your template documents: they are strings of characters hidden in the PDF, invisible to the signer when printed. They are detectable by the signature platform for sending to the signatories. Thanks to a simple solution: the addition of text with the minimum font size, in white on a white background. No API required!
The file is deposited on the SoWeSign platform, which extracts the information and triggers the validation circuit (workflow). This document can be deposited in SoWeSign in 2 ways:
  • Inject the PDF(s) by drag and drop onto the platform individually or in batches.
  • Inject the PDF(s) via an integration api and REST calls.
It will also soon be possible to:
  • Install a dedicated Windows virtual printer that allows to inject the document directly into SoWeSign (File > Print > SoWeSign)
  • Send the document by e-mail with the PDF attached to the platform through a single dedicated e-mail.
  • Use Windows-compatible software to retrieve your PDFs directly to your computer.

Creating a workflow

Once the document is injected, SoWeSign analyzes the tags present on the document, launches the workflow and sends an e-mail to each signatory.

Si l’e-mail reste sans réponse pour un ou plusieurs signataire(s), vous pouvez paramétrer le nombre de relances par e-mail à effectuer, le nombre de jours entre chaque relance, le nombre de jours avant le premier e-mail de relance, le délai maximum avant abandon.
Vous serez notifié à chaque nouvel événement pour le document. Ces informations sont envoyées à quelqu’un pour le suivi du contrat ou bien à un ERP ou un CRM capable de récupérer les informations.
Vous pouvez déléguer l’acceptation des documents. Dans le mail, vous aurez 2 options : « signer ici » mais également « déléguer la signature de ce document ». Cette option Affiche le PDF pour vérifier le document à déléguer avant validation. Ensuite l’interface vous rappel l’identité du signataire actuellement prévu, puis vous saisissez l’identité et les coordonnées du nouveau signataire. Une fois la saisie validée, le workflow est modifié, le signataire précédent est remplacé par le nouveau.
 

The different steps of a workflow for signatories :

  1. An email is sent to the signatories indicating “please sign the attached document…” with a dedicated link.
  2. The link back to the document, to tick the acceptance boxes (of the general terms and conditions, to validate an amount if there is one, to authorize the sending of advertising on his e-mail address, etc.). With some conditions mandatory, others not. Once these conditions are validated, the signature pad appears.
  3. The signature pad is used to sign the contract.
  4. If a signature is refused, then the refusing signatory will have to indicate the reason for the refusal and the workflow will be cancelled for all signatories.
  5. Once the document is signed, the signature tag traces the “signature square”, indicating the identity of the signatory as well as the image of his signature.
  6. The audit trail is then generated and lists all time-stamped workflow steps. On the last page of this audit trail, you will find: the trusted third party certification, a QR code and a URL to verify the document.
  7. All these documents are electronically signed with a PDF server stamp guaranteeing the integrity and origin of the document. The parallel file attesting to the time stamping and reliability of the elements is hashed and put in the vault daily. The certificate of deposit in the OFFSAD safe as well as the PDF is the irrevocable proof of signature with probative value of the document.
For the manager:
In the SoWeSign manager, the “Follow-up” tab will have the sub-menu “Document Signature”. It displays all the workflows, their status as well as the PDF in its current state: if it has 2 signatures out of 3, then both signatures can be seen on the document. You will also be able to manually restart requests for contract signature by e-mail..

EDM Implementation and Evidence

All the documents generated are added to the EDM with probative value adapted to the learners, trainers, sessions, administration: application files, quotes, purchase orders, contracts, certificates, agreements, invoicing, etc. Some are subject to a workflow, others are just filed.
Agreements and contracts can be audited by funders, checked by legality control organizations (taxes, etc.), consulted by signatories, etc. QR codes on the 2D doc principle display the document for online control. A “proof” page, based on the principle of the current “audit” page, then makes it possible to identify the person requesting access (strictly reserved for persons with access rights to the document) and thus send him/her the document and the proof certificate by e-mail.
The document and its proof can therefore be consulted online and kept for 10 years.