At every stage of document submission or approval the system provides a mechanism to electronically sign an exact replica of the document in PDF format. While it is not necessary to sign documents, signatures provide a powerful, automated means of certifying and validating what document data a user had actually submitted or approved prior to moving to the next phase of pending or finalization. In this respect, document signing is typically implemented for critical or highly visible documents. Refer to the “Working with Document Signatures” section in the CGI Advantage System Administration Guide for more information on setting up Document Signatures.
The document signing feature is only available for user initiated actions and not for processes that submit documents automatically, such as, System Maintenance Utility or similar batch processes.
Once a document rule is evaluated and the document qualifies for signature then the complete document is exported to a PDF file. This PDF document is an exact replica of the document with respect to the field values, their layout and positioning. The PDF document is shown to the user in a pop-up panel on the same window. This panel has a legal declaration and a password field. The user will have to accept the legal declaration and enter his/her system password before signing the document. Once the User signs the document, it is moved to next phase depending upon the action performed.
Every time a user signs a document, a Document Signature History entry is created. Once signed, the Document Signature History icon appears in the Document Title Bar as shown below.
If you click the Document Signature History icon, you are transitioned to the Document Signature History page. The Document Signature History page contains a history of all signatures for the selected document. The User ID, the action that initiated the signing action, the Signature Type and the Signature Timestamp are provided for each entry. A View link appears for every signed entry. Clicking the View link opens the signed PDF in a pop-up window. If the Signature Type set up for the document on the Document Signature Rules (DSIGRULE) page in the Administration Application is Non-Digital e-signature, then a PDF is generated and stored on the Signature History page. If the Signature Type setup is Digital e-signature, then a digital signature stamp appears on the generated PDF.
Once a Document Signature Rule is selected by the Document Engine, document actions that cause a change in the Phase of a document are subject to Document Signatures.
The following document actions request a user to sign the document before submitting or approving it to the next phase.
Document Submit
Document Approve
Document Bypass Approval
The following document actions remove the last signature entry from the Document Signature History table.
Document Unapprove
Document Recall
The following document actions remove the complete signature history for the document from the Document Signature History table.
Document Reject All
Document Discard
For instructions on how to apply a signature to a document, refer to the instructions in the “Apply a Signature to a Document” section.
Important Note: You must add Advantage root certificate to the trust store on your machine so that your Signature appears valid in the PDF viewer for all users. Follow the steps in the "Set Up Your Signature Certificate" section for details on how to do this on your machine. This only has to be performed one time on your machine, and all future signatures added from your machine will appear valid.