Remote signing of transactions can be a challenge, especially when you don’t have an established relationship with the third party. How do you know they really are who they say they are? SmartSign offers a variety of authentication options to provide a higher level of confidence that the intended recipient is the actual signer.
A Security code may be enabled to act as a password on the transaction. Define a security code for each signer on the transaction. Communicate the security code to the signer either verbally, via Email, or SMS (a.k.a. text message) notification. The signer must correctly enter this security code to access the transaction.
An Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)/Patriot Act compliance check may be enabled for any individual signer, verifying the signer has not been flagged as a risk by OFAC.
An identity verification exam may be enabled for any individual signer. The signer will be prompted to answer several “out-of-wallet” questions about himself. The signer must correctly answer a pre-defined number of questions before gaining access to the transaction. A report of the questions presented, information provided, and score may be retained.
A one-time-use PIN may be enabled for any individual signer. Provide a cell phone number for the signer (or allow the signer to provide it themselves) and the signer will receive text message with a one-time-use PIN. The signer must correctly enter the PIN to gain access to the transaction. Use of the one-time-use PIN authentication facilitates two-factor authentication, combining something the signer knows (the link to the signing room) with something they have (the physical device which is assigned to the cell phone number receiving the SMS notification).
The authentication method used to access the transaction is recorded in the sealed audit trail for the transaction documents along with supporting details (e.g. cell phone number, PIN). These authentication options may be used independently or together, allowing you to define the optimal authentication solution for your organization.
How long do you hang on to your Electronic Original® documents? How long do you need to? Very often we hold on to things a lot longer than necessary, simply because it’s easier than the clean-up process. With our retention policy rules engine it is easier than ever to stay on top of unneeded electronic clutter.
First, you must decide how long you really need to maintain copies of your documents. Consider your internal business rules, compliance/legal requirements, risk management policies, and depending on the nature of your documents consider any third-party needs. You may find that your needs are really quite simple (e.g., we keep everything for 10 years); or perhaps your needs are more complex and change depending on what ‘has happened’ with your documents (e.g., we keep unsigned documents for 30 days, but once they are signed, we keep them for 1 year until they are funded, if they are funded, they are kept for an additional 7 years). Consider whether you can treat your entire transaction as a whole or whether individual documents within your transaction have different retention needs.
Once you have identified your retention requirements, your organization administrator can then define Transaction and Document Retention Policies within the Command Center application. Retention Policies evaluate a transaction or document (“the object”) and automatically flag the object with a scheduled expiration date. The policies dictate how long an object is ‘allowed’ to be in any given status. When the object is created, and each time the object transitions to a new status, the expiration date is calculated and reset. Command Center users can easily locate transactions and documents based on their scheduled expiration and confirm their intended destruction through the initiation of a Destruction Request.
For further information, please watch this quick tutorial or contact eOriginal Support (support@eoriginal.com).
Do you need to send the same document to a large list of recipients and request that each sign his own instance of the document? Do you know that doing so is now easier than ever with eOriginal SmartSign?
Let’s walk through a very simple example for requesting that all 333 employees at Acme Organization sign the new Acme HR Policy Guide. We are going to define a single transaction with a single instance of the Acme HR Policy Guide, and magically, all 333 Acme employees will receive an email requesting they review and sign the guide…
In the SmartSign Setup application, choose to create a New Transaction. Give the transaction a name to be used as the base transaction ID (let’s use “Acme HR Policy Guide”) and fill in the rest of the transaction properties (status, expiration date, etc.) as you normally do. Click on the ‘Additional Information’ link to expand that section. In the ‘Generate Multiple Copies’ field, type “333″.
Now go through the steps to add a document and define the signature template as if you were creating a single transaction for a single employee.
When you get to the role mapping page you will be prompted to upload a .csv file containing the name, email address, and security codes for each employee.
.csv files can be easily generated via various spreadsheet and database applications. The .csv file should not include any column headings and should list each recipient in the following format:
First Name, Middle Name, Last Name, Email Address, Security Code
(note if no Middle Name is available, a place-holder for its value must still be defined.)
Craft your email text and click to ‘Send’…all 333 Acme employees have just received your email with the link to review and sign the new HR Policy Guide. Now wasn’t that easy!
Additional Tips:
The number of entries in the .csv file must match the number of transaction copies requested.
Multiple roles may participate in ‘bulk mail’ transactions. The actual signers playing each role may be defined by either uploading a separate .csv file for each role or by defining a specific individual to play that role across all transactions. When uploading multiple .csv files, be sure the signers are listed in the order they should be ‘paired up’.
Our latest release of SmartSign Web offers enhanced support for organizations with advanced electronic signature process requirements. When transactions involve multiple documents and multiple participants, there is often a need to present different subsets of documents to each participant. Our new role-based sort orders allow you to do just that. As you configure your signing rules for each transaction, you describe all active documents for the transaction as the default sort order. When defining each role, you may now override the default sort order with a custom sort order, that applies only to that role.
Let’s consider the following scenario:
A charitable organization offers financial aide and assistance to qualifying families. To qualify, an income verification must be performed for both the husband and the wife. The husband completes his income statement and requests his employer to verify it, as does the wife for her employer. The husband and his employer should only see his income statement, the wife and her employer should only see her income statement, and the organization’s processor must see both documents to offer the final approval.
With role-based sort orders, this entire workflow can be defined at the time the transaction is initiated (or updated at any point thereafter), ensuring each participant has access to only their applicable document(s).
Please watch this brief video for an overview on how to configure role-based sort orders.
The eOriginal SmartSign Web solution is a SaaS offering that can be accessed with zero integration, full integration, and anywhere in-between. The level of IT involvement is a function of the business processes that will utilize the signature service. Regardless of the deployment method selected, the SmartSign signature service rides on the most industrial strength, secure platform in the industry and provides the most robust path for growth and deployment method transition.
Standard On-boarding:
Document Preparer Website
Upload Documents
Configure Signing Requirements
Send Signing Invitations
Monitor Signing Progress
Hosted Signing Room
Accessed via Email Invitation
Manages Signer Authentication
Brandable with Company Logo and Colors
SmartSign Web standard on-boarding provides a fully-hosted signature service; there are no IT requirements and you may begin electronic signing right away. With standard on-boarding, you will prepare your documents utilizing a hosted website to upload documents to the signature service’s secure repository, configure the signature requirements, and send email invitations inviting the signers to review and sign their documents. Documents are monitored throughout the signature experience using the Signature Tracker portion of the website.
Your signers receive an email with a link to the signing room. The signing room is a hosted website, branded with your company logo and colors. Signers are authenticated against the signature requirements configured by you. Once authenticated, the signers are presented with each document for review and/or signature. Upon completing their signature requirements, signers may retain a copy of each signed document before exiting the signing room.
Standard on-boarding is the ideal option for companies with immediate electronic signing needs, limited IT access, and lower transaction volumes. Companies with larger transaction volumes or who wish to create an “all in my website” offering, may wish to explore our other SmartSign Web options.
If you are reading this article, you are probably looking to improve workflow, increase productivity and cut costs. Most likely, you are evaluating electronic signature products as one means to achieve this goal. With the plethora of electronic signing vendors available, how do you know which one is right for you? Most importantly, how do you know when you need more than just an eSignature?
Let’s start with a simple definition of an eSignatures. An electronic signature, by definition of the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA), is any “electronic sound, symbol, or process attached to or logically associated with a record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record.” That’s a broad definition, leading to a wide variety of electronic signature solutions ranging from clicking an ‘I Agree’ button, embedding an image or text that describes the signer, to embedding a digitized version of a hand-written signature (often referred to as a biometric signature) and anything in between.
Each of these eSignature approaches are valid methods of electronic signing. Which approach is right for you depends on a variety of factors:
How closely do you need or want to mirror the paper signing process (very often a comfort factor for your signers)?
Do you need to capture signatures on specific areas within your documents?
Will your signers be signing at a point of presence facility or will they need to sign remotely anywhere, anytime?
Once you have identified the eSigning approach that meets your needs, you need to ask yourself one more question – is eSigning enough?
Sometimes an esignature alone is ample; however, very often, it is not. An eSignature process alone will not protect against scenarios in which signers may execute multiple versions of the same document or generate multiple, indistinguishable copies creating confusion as to which one is the original opening the door for possible fraud. An eSignature process does not address the management and control of the electronically signed document throughout its lifecycle nor will it address the ability to electronically securitize or assign the document if necessary…but an Electronic Original® process will.
An Electronic Original process not only offers full electronic signing capabilities, but it also manages the electronically signed document in a secure repository, or electronic vault, establishing control and uniqueness of the electronically signed document. To further secure the document, it is digitally sealed, making content and signature revisions readily identifiable. Access to the vaulted document is controlled and all activities are recorded in a sealed audit trail. Furthermore, Electronic Original documents may represent electronic chattel and are rated the same as paper chattel and may be electronically securitized or assigned.
To learn more about the Electronic Original process and whether it is right for you, check out The Electronic Original Company®, our knowledgeable staff can help you determine if you need more than eSigning.
As summer is upon us, we look forward to baseball games and barbeques and working through our product enhancement projects in anxious anticipation of the days ahead…and so the story of the 2009 eOriginal product roadmap continues….
This year, we are looking to improve a few of our internal processes to better enable quality support and quick product delivery. Our efforts will offer our current and future customers shorter implementation cycles and greater product capability and flexibility.
Early releases this year have already:
Introduced an out-of-the-box signing experience, eOriginal SmartSign® Web, making custom-branded eSignature solutions available without IT resource involvement.
Enabled signed packages to be prepared, reviewed, signed, and managed through a zero-footprint, zero-implementation web service. Simply upload your documents and configure your signing scenario and you are on your way to having completely and accurately signed documents as quickly as your signers can access them.
Refreshed the Command Center™ user experience, providing improved ease-of-use and greater flexibility in transaction and document management.
Improved searching capabilities, in-line document access, and the ability to act upon multiple transactions or documents with a single action. This allows document managers to more readily identify and maintain the contents of their secure repository.
Among our targeted efforts for the remainder of the year are:
Continuing our refresh of the Command CenterTM user experience, providing improved ease-of-use and greater flexibility in transaction and document management.
Enhancing our out-of-the-box signing experience, simplifying the package creation and offering new package management capabilities.
Improving our PDF-processing abilities, offering enhanced electronic signature capabilities and providing support for new PDF features and specifications.
Introducing a complete set of web services, enabling rapid integration of full eCore feature-set capabilities and simplifying integrated application deployments.
Streamlining our internal processing, improving performance and facilitating our ability to rapidly deliver feature enhancements.
Leveraging new infrastructure technologies, allowing our customers to take advantage of capabilities offered by the newer infrastructure versions.
‘Simplify, simplify, simplify!’ is our motto for 2009. Everyone is looking to do more with less. Our goal is to deliver our eCore®, eCore® On Demand, and eOriginal SmartSign® Web products as tools that will enable you to do so. Whether you are new to electronic signing or a seasoned veteran, eOriginal® aims to make, and keep, your path to electronic signing success simple.
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