Signatures

Fabasoft Contracts offers you digital signatures for you contracts. This chapter explains all necessary steps and settings.

Preparations

Before the contract is signed, it is recommended to use the following points as a checklist.

Adding Documents

Make sure that the contract contains all relevant documents.
Further information can be found in chapter ”Adding a Document“, ”Adding Documents to Contracts/Legal Files from a ZIP Archive“, or ”Adding a Contract-/Legal File Document from a Teamroom/Folder“.

Setting up an External Room

If the signatory needs to see and check the contract documents before giving the signature, you can make them available via an external room. Proceed as follows:

1. Navigate into the “Documents” area of the desired contract.
2. Click the action “Create External Room”.
3. Configure the external room according to your needs.
   If necessary, follow the instructions and notes in chapter ”
4. External RoomExternal rooms allow internal members to make documents available to a select group of external members. This is usually done when the contract and its related files are ready for the signature process in order to have the external users view, discuss and, if applicable, object to the documents before the conclusion of the contract.Setting up an External Room“.
5. Once the signatory has finished the check, move the document from the external room back to the “Documents” area of the contract.

Changing the Contract State

The state of a contract must be “Finalized” before it can be signed. If this is not the case, upon starting the signature process a dialog is displayed that informs the member about the impending state change.

Note: In addition to that, the contract metadata can be checked via the “Yes and Open Contract“ button.

Restricting the access for the Signatory Contact

The person designated as a Signatory Contact in a particular contract typically has access to all contract data. This is because “Default: Only the defined team can access objects” is the default security setting. However, it is often desired for the contact person to have access only to the contract document that needs to be signed and not to the entire contract (i.e. the other contract files, emails, etc.). To restrict access for the Signatory Contact to only the document to be signed:

1. Navigate into the contract folder, which includes the specific contract and click “Team” in the left menu.
2. In the submenu that opens on the right, click “Security Settings”.
3. From the “Access Protection” drop-down list, select the option “Restricted: no access for signatory contacts. The defined team can access objects.” and then click “Next”.

Once this option is set, the signatory contact will be able to access only the document to be signed, when the corresponding signing activity appears in their worklist.

If you want however the signatory contacts to have in addition access to specific objects when they are involved in a workflow where they need to read these objects, you can choose in the “Security Settings” the option “Restricted + Workflow: No access for signatory contacts. Users involved through workflow can still read objects” instead. With this setting, not only the signatory contacts but actually all users will have access to objects when involved in a workflow. The specific security option basically combines two separate options (“Restricted: no access for signatory contacts. The defined team can access objects.” and “Workflow: Workflow users can read objects. The defined team can access objects.”) into one.

Obtaining Approval

If approval levels are defined and the contract requires approval, an approval process must pass all involved decision makers before the actual signature process can be started.
Further information can be found in chapter “Approvals“.

Setting up a Signature Service

Fabasoft Contracts offers several signature methods. As an alternative to the signature areas that are inherent to the Fabasoft Cloud, you can also use the signature services DocuSign®, Skribble® or Adobe Sign.

Note: The above-named signature services are third-party products, belonging to DocuSign, Inc., Skribble AG and Adobe Inc., respectively, and can be set up optionally during a project.

Setting up DocuSign

In order to use DocuSign for signatures, proceed as follows:

1. Navigate into the contract manager configuration.
2. Click the action “Settings”.
3. Switch to the tab “Administration”.
4. Activate the option Sign with DocuSign.
5. Enter your data in the respective fields (Service URL, Customer ID, Integration Key, etc.).
6. Click “Next”.

Note: By setting up DocuSign, the signature process will work according to chapter ”Signing with DocuSign“.

Setting up Skribble

In order to use Skribble for signatures, proceed as follows:

1. Navigate into the contract manager configuration.
2. Click the action “Settings”.
3. Switch to the tab “Administration”.
4. Activate the option Sign with Skribble.
5. Enter your data in the respective fields (User Name, API Key, etc.).
6. Click “Next”.

Note: By setting up Skribble, the signature process will work according to chapter ”Signing with Skribble“.

Setting up Adobe Sign

In order to use Adobe Sign for signatures, proceed as follows:

1. Navigate into the contract manager configuration.
2. Click the action “Settings”.
3. Switch to the tab “Administration”.
4. Activate the option Sign with Adobe Sign.
5. Enter your data in the respective fields (Service URL is already prefilled due to your Locale, Client ID, Client Secret).
6. Click “Next”.

Note:

• By setting up Adobe Sign, the signature process will work according to chapter “Signing with Adobe Sign”.
• The service URL is usually structured as follows: “https://secure.eu2.echosign.com/: new window”
• The part of the URL with "eu2" represents the data location. For the correct data location, see the URL from the Dashboard on your Adobe Sign home page.

Starting the Signature Process

In order to sign a contract or a legal file, proceed as follows:

1. Navigate into the desired contract or legal file.
2. Click the action “Start Signature Process”.
3. In the field Main Document, define the main document of the contract or legal file.
   You can define one document from those contained in the “Documents” area.
4. In the field Additional Documents, define as many additional contract documents or legal file documents as you like.
   Note: As a result of the signature process, the contents of the main document and the additional documents are copied and combined into a signable document.
5. If Skribble is used, the field Signature Quality is displayed. Define the desired signature quality (either “Advanced Electronic Signature” or “Qualified Electronic Signature”).
6. Optionally, activate the option External Signers Not Required if the contract or legal file should not be signed by external signers.
   Note:
   • If this option is active, the options External Signers Sign Manually and Order are no longer visible.
   • You can activate this option if you already have a document that is signed by the signatory (digitally or otherwise).
7. Optionally, activate the option External Signers Sign Manually to define that the contract or legal file will be signed manually by the external signers.
   Note:
   • If this option is active, the field External Signers is no longer a required field.
   • If this option is active, the responsibility of completing the signature process lies with the member defined in the field Responsible for Signature Process. Said responsibility means that the document must be printed, delivered, signed manually, retrieved and digitized before the contract or legal file is officially signed.
8. In the field Order, define the order in which the internal and external signers of the contract or legal file provide their signature.
9. In the field Responsible for Signature Process, define the member who is responsible for the signature process.
10. In the fields Internal Signers und External Signers, define the appropriate internal and external members.
    Note:
    • If you accidentally enter the wrong member, mark the entry and press the Backspace key.
    • If the available internal signers have been restricted on the contract list or legal area, only these signers are also available as internal signers.
11. Optionally, in the Date for Completion field, enter the date by which the contract document or legal file document should be signed by the specified signer. If the document is not signed by this date, the signer receives a reminder email.

Note: If you set a date for completion, the property "To Complete at the Latest" of the corresponding "Sign Digitally" activity in the worklist of the signer, who currently needs to sign the document, will be automatically set to that date.

1. Optionally, in the field Message for Signers, enter a message that is sent to the signers after the signature has been provided.
   Note: If you use Skribble, instead of this field, the fields Message for Internal Signers and Message for External Signers are available. Thus, you can define a specific message to both kinds of signer.
2. Optionally, in the field Users to be Notified, define the members who will be notified after the signatures have been provided.
3. Click “Next”.

Note:

• Depending on the signature method and settings, users are either notified via e-mail or Welcome Screen.
• The “Start Signature Process” activity definition can also be used in processes that run on a single document and not on the whole contract or legal file.
• The signature process can also be started on contracts or legal files with status “Active”.
• External signers are not informed if internal signers deny the signature beforehand.

Changing the Signers of a running Signature Process

It is possible to change the signers of a contract document while the signing process is running. To do this:

1. Navigate into the contract document that has been generated once a signing process has been initiated (you can find this document within the “Documents” area of the contract).
2. Click “Edit Signers” in the left menu. The dialogue that will open shows a list of signers who have not signed yet, i.e. signers who have received the respective signing activity in their worklist and have not executed it yet or signers for whom the activity is not yet visible on their worklist because it is still in the waiting state.
3. Click the “Edit Signers” button next to the signer you want to change, select the new signer and then click “Change”. Repeat this step for all signers you wish to replace.
4. Click “Save”.

Note:

• If the replaced signers have already received the corresponding signing activity in their worklist, they are notified per e-mail about the change.
• Changing signers is only possible for a user if this user has been defined as “Responsible for Signature Process”. This property can be set in the “Start Signature Process” dialogue.

Signing

This chapter explains how signatures can be provided, either by using signature areas or via the signature services DocuSign, Skribble and Adobe Sign.
Note: All signature methods in this chapter require the completion of the instructions in chapter ”Starting the Signature Process“.

Signing with Workflow

In order to sign the contract with the help of the tools native to Fabasoft Contract, follow these instructions.

Inserting a Signature Area

In order to insert a signature area, proceed as follows:

1. Having completed the instructions in chapter ”Starting the Signature Process“, click the button “Insert Signature Area”.
2. Optionally, activate the option Assign Signature Area to a Signee in order to define if a certain signature area must contain the signature of a certain signee.
   Note: Do so if you want to make dedicated assignments of signees to areas.
3. Optionally, activate the option A Stamp Insertion Required in order to make the additional insertion of a digital stamp mandatory.
4. Click on “Insert”.
5. Place the signature area at the desired position in the document via drag-and-drop.
6. Click on “Insert Signature Area”.
7. Repeat this procedure until you have created all required signature areas.
   Note: This may be necessary if members need to provide their signature in several sections of the contract.
8. Click on “Ok”.

Note: Providing digital signatures and stamps in Fabasoft Contracts requires the existence and activation of a valid certificate that must be available to the entire organization or a select group of members. If the insertion of signatures and stamps does not work, ask the Contracts administrator in charge and/or read the complementary chapter ”Configure Digital Signatures: new window“ in the document ”User Help Fabasoft Cloud“.

Sign in Worklist

Once the signature areas in the signable document have been defined, a signature must be provided via the workflow. Proceed as follows:

1. Navigate into the worklist via Home.
2. Select the proper activity and click the entry “Sign Digitally” the column “Work Items”.

Depending on the setting selected in the field Order in the “Start Signature Process” dialog, the activity is either forwarded to the other signers or you already are the last one to sign.

Signing with DocuSign

In order to sign a contract with DocuSign, proceed as follows:

1. Having completed the instructions in chapter ”Starting the Signature Process“, DocuSign opens in a new browser tab.
2. Enter the required data in order to complete the authentication process.
   In a regular scenario, both parties (i.e. the internal and external signers) are directed to DocuSign in order to provide a digital signature.
   Note: The internal signer or his/her organization requires a DocuSign account, the external signer does not.
3. Open the e-mail sent by DocuSign and click the link therein to be redirected to DocuSign.
   Note: Check the spam folder if there is no message in your inbox.
4. Start and finalize the signature process within DocuSign.
   All internal and external signers involved must finish this process.
5. Switch back to Fabasoft Contracts.
6. Navigate to the signable document in the “Documents” area.
7. The signable document has been assigned a background task which regularly checks the state of received and missing signatures. You can manually execute said check by clicking the action “Update DocuSign Signature State”.
8. Once all signatures have been provided, the state symbol to the left of the document changes.
   You can now close the browser tab running DocuSign.
9. Optionally, you can download a certificate confirming the reception of all required signatures.
   Open the properties of the signable document and download the certificate via the field Certificate of Completion.

Signing with Skribble

In order to sign a contract with Skribble, proceed as follows:

1. Having completed the instructions in chapter ”Starting the Signature Process“, Skribble opens in a new browser tab.
2. Enter the required data in order to complete the authentication process.
   In a regular scenario, both parties (i.e. the internal and external signers) are directed to Skribble in order to provide a digital signature.
   Note: The internal signer or his/her organization requires a Skribble account, the external signer does not.
3. Open the e-mail sent by Skribble and click the link therein to be redirected to Skribble.
   Note: Check the spam folder if there is no message in your inbox.
4. Start and finalize the signature process within Skribble.
   All internal and external signers involved must finish this process.
5. Switch back to Fabasoft Contracts.
6. Navigate to the signable document in the “Documents” area.
7. The signable document has been assigned a background task which regularly checks the state of received and missing signatures.
8. Once all signatures have been provided, the state symbol to the left of the document changes.
   You can now close the browser tab running Skribble.

Signing with Adobe Sign

In order to sign a contract with Adobe Sign, proceed as follows:

1. Having completed the instructions in chapter ”Starting the Signature Process“, Adobe Sign opens in a new browser tab.
2. Enter the required data in order to complete the authentication process.
   In a regular scenario, both parties (i.e. the internal and external signers) are directed to Adobe Sign in order to provide a digital signature.
   Note: An Adobe Sign account is only required for the initiator of the signing process; it is not necessary for the rest users involved.
3. Open the e-mail sent by Adobe Sign and click the link therein to be redirected to Adobe Sign.
   Note: Check the spam folder if there is no message in your inbox.
4. Start and finalize the signature process within Adobe Sign.
   All internal and external signers involved must finish this process.
5. Switch back to Fabasoft Contracts.
6. Navigate to the signable document in the “Documents” area.
7. The signable document has been assigned a background task which regularly checks the state of received and missing signatures.
8. Once all signatures have been provided, the state symbol to the left of the document changes.
   You can now close the browser tab running Adobe Sign.