User story for using digital signatures in approval stages

A range of electronic signature technologies are available. Adobe works extensively with organizations in industries and government to define mechanisms to capture and associate identity with electronic documents. LiveCycle supports digital signatures within PDF files and has partnerships with various security vendors to provide you several options. You can use digital signatures to capture attestations that the review occurred.

Depending on the type of document, varying degrees of rigor are required to authenticate a user and maintain a tamper-proof record of the event. Support for various levels and technologies for electronic signatures exist from simple click-to-sign to industry standards high assurance cryptographic digital signatures. The level of security in the digital signature is dependent on the implementation and technology you use.

For regulated approval processes, validation of the approving user is required. If you have configured your approval stage to include digital signatures, approvers can sign the document in Acrobat or Adobe Reader. Digital signatures can be used at any point in a review, but typically, are used to close and finalize a document. For example, approving a document for publication.

In approval stages, approvers typically do not comment on the content itself as in review stages. Instead, an approval routing slip (ARS) is included in the review to capture the list of approvers and any comments they have. If an ARS is not attached, a signing sheet is attached for the approver to sign. Typically, at the end of a review, the ARS, and signing sheets are stored as records.

Digital signatures can be applied by the user (client-side) or using server-side processes. The result of signing is the creation of metadata that captures the version, date and time, and identify of the person signing document. Complex algorithms ensure that digital signatures can be later verified for integrity and permit audits to determine dates, times, and identities of signers.

No implementation time is required to implement the signing mechanism for your review documents. Included is the capability to add digital signatures using Acrobat or Adobe Reader. However, time is required to implement digital signatures and the time varies based on your organization’s implementation and requirements.

The following are configuration and deployment options for approval workflows that require implementation time when you configure digital signatures:

• Configure how approvals function in the review template. You can configure whether to use digital signatures (server-side or client-side). Optionally, an approval routing slip (ARS) can be attached to the review content to capture final comments from the approver. (See User stories for creating review templates .)

• Add and configure users in your organization using Adobe User Management. Each user must be configured with the RCA User role and an email address. For existing users in LiveCycle, time is required to add the user roles for each user profile.

• Modify the signing sheet or approval routing slip.

When approvers log in to Workspace, the approval routing slip (ARS) or signing sheet is included as the cover page to the review content. Approvers can navigate and review the document.

Content can be signed using a signing sheet or approval routing slips in an approval stage before the approver clicks Approve. When an ARS is available, approvers can add comments before they click Approve or Reject.

The following illustration shows using Adobe Reader and Workspace to digital sign and approve content.

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Apply a digital signature to an approval routing slip in Workspace.