RForms® is a convenient RSign™ feature enabling multiple signers to access and sign a template document using a static link in a website or a web application. This article covers the following sections, linked below.
- Overview of RForms
- RForms - Sender Experience
- Creating RForms
- RForms - Signer Experience
- Authenticating Signers in RForms
Overview of RForms
RForms®, also known as Templates with Static Links, allows you to capture signatures within your application conveniently. RForms® may be embedded in your web application or accessed via a hyperlink; therefore, they provide a seamless in-app experience to users who need to apply their signatures digitally. The steps to create RForms® are like standard templates. However, RForms® differs from standard templates in many ways. First, you cannot embed RSign™ Templates in your application. Second, while using a Template, the sender must know all the recipients in advance and control who signs the document. Therefore, you cannot use RSign™ Templates when emails of all the recipients are unavailable in advance while sending an e-Signature request. Third, RSign™ Templates don't allow collocated signers to apply their signatures in the same browser session quickly.
RForms® overcomes these limitations. It empowers the signer to capture signatures from multiple signers and decide who should sign the document, sign in person, or be invited to sign later. Dynamically selecting and inviting signers at runtime can automate your business processes. For example, an online bidding application may automate choosing the lowest bidder from all the submitted bids and send an e-signature request to the lowest bidder to automate awarding a contract. In addition, RForms® allows multiple co-located signers to conveniently apply their electronic signatures on the document within the same browser session. Therefore, now it is possible for co-located family members to promptly sign on an insurance form without sending emails to each other. Finally, RSign™ displays the role of each signer on the signature control placed on the document signing page, which makes it easy for signers to identify where they should sign.
While RForms® allows the signer to choose who they can invite to sign the document, the signer operates within the boundaries defined by the creator of the RForms®. For example, if the creator of RForms® has added four roles while creating it, the first signer cannot invite any additional signers beyond the other three signers. The signer doesn't have the privilege of requiring other signers to sign either. Therefore, the creator of the RForms® should carefully analyze which role must sign the document and set the required property of the signature controls to Y for that role. RSign ensures that all mandatory signers are invited to sign the document.
Optional signers may choose not to sign the document and remain observers. If they don't sign the document, their signature controls and signatures won't appear on the final signed document. If an optional signer accesses the RForms® before other signers do, they may choose not to sign but decide who should participate in a transaction. This capability allows you to nominate the point of contact in your legal department to coordinate multi-party agreements by making them optional signers. Therefore, the RForms® multiple signer feature is highly flexible and adapts to your specific business requirements.
Creating RForms® with multiple signers: Senders Experience
The steps to create an RSign® Template and RForms® are the same. At any given time, RSign® allows you to create either an RSign Template® or an RForms®. The default behavior of RSign® is to create a Template. However, when the value of the setting Create Static Link for Template, available under the COMPANY, and PERSONAL tab is set to Y, RSign® creates RForms® for you. The default behavior of RForms® allows only one signer to sign on the document. However, you can enable multiple signers in RForms® from the SETTINGS tab by following the steps below. The multiple signer feature behaves like the single signer feature when only one signature control is added in RForms®.
SETTINGS Tab
The SETTINGS tab is available for all RSign® user roles (RPost® Super Admin, RSign Support, Customer Admin, and User). Users assigned the administrator roles can view the PERSONAL and the COMPANY subtab and override user-level settings.
NOTE: The settings overridden by the administrators take effect after both the administrator and the user log out and log in from their current active browser sessions.
However, users who are not given the admin roles do not see the COMPANY subtab. Still, user can customize their RSign® experience by changing the values of settings in the PERSONAL subtab. The COMPANY and PERSONAL subtabs under the SETTINGS tab categorize settings under the following submenus: Admin, Sending, Template, Storage, System, E-Disclosure, Advanced, Privacy, External Drives Set Up, and Contacts.
Enable multiple signers on RForms® (Static Link for Template).
- Click the SETTINGS tab.
- Enter your email address or company name.
- Click the Template subtab.
- Set the value of setting Create Static Link for Template to = Y.
- Check the box Override User Settings if you have access to the COMPANY tab.
- Select Allow Multiple Signers check box.
- Click Save to save the changes.
- Logout.
Creating RForms®
Step 1: Add Roles, email subject, and message
- Login to RSign.
- Click TEMPLATES Tab.
- Enter the Name and Description for the RForms® under the OPTIONS heading.
- Click the + Role button to add a role. Each role represents an individual who may be required to sign the document.
- You may add multiple Roles. However, remember that you will need to add a signature control on the document for each role added in RForms®.
- Enter the subject of the email.
- Enter the message to be shown in each recipient's inbox.
- Click Next.
Note: Please note that the Sign-in Sequence check box is read-only for RForms® even if SETTINGS > Sending > Sign-in Sequence= Y. This is because signing in the sequence is not yet supported. Moreover, unlike Templates, RForms® lets the first signer decide who and how other signers will sign the documents. Therefore, it will be available on the document signing page whenever sequential signing is supported, and this check box will remain disabled.
Step 2: Prepare the document and save the RForms™
- You must add a signature control for each role added in the previous step.
- Add additional controls as per your requirement for each signer.
- Click Save As -> Templates
Note: If you configure Required = Yes in the popup for the signature control, RSign® will not allow the first signer to complete the transaction on the document signing page unless the first signer invites all the required signers. However, when Required=No, no such restriction is imposed on the signer. Instead, the first signer takes a call on asking optional signers to sign the document.
The TEMPLATES tab displays all the saved RForms®. Click the static link shown in the table to access the RForms®.
Signers Experience: Using RForms®
The first signer accessing RForms® needs to enter their email address, select their role and accept the terms and conditions on the "Confirm to Begin" popup to view the document. RSign® auto-populates the Signer's Role if the Template contains only one signature.
If the first signer signs and clicks the Submit button without inviting optional signers, RSign reminds the first signers that some of the optional signers have not signed.
Suppose the Template contains multiple signature controls on which other signers must apply their signatures, and the first signer clicks the Submit button. In that case, RSign instructs the first signer to invite the other signers.
When the first signer invites the other signers by clicking the Invite Signers button, RSign® displays the Invite Signers popup. Since two more roles can sign in this Template, RSign displays two rows in the popup. On selecting the role, RSign determines whether the signer is optional or mandatory and displays an asterisk (*) sign against the mandatory signer. On the other hand, a delete icon is shown against the optional signers. The first signer can delete the optional signer by clicking the delete icon against them. Next, select the 'sign now' option to display the signature controls for collocated signers and select the 'Invite by email' option to invite signers by email. Finally, click Confirm to close the Invite Signer popup.
The Show tags button displays the roles of all the signers' and clicking the Hide tags button hides them.
Signing on the document and clicking the Submit button completes the workflow. RSign sends an email to other signers to sign the document.
The sender can track the status of all e-signature requests from the ENVELOPES tab. In addition, both the signer and the sender can download the signature certificates and other artifacts from the envelopes tab.
The transaction is completed when all the signers sign the document. Then, both sender and recipients receive an email from RSign to retrieve the final signed copy. They can also access the final signed document from the Completed folder on the RSign homepage.
The next section describes how you can authenticate the signers and protect your documents from unauthorized viewers.
Authenticating signers in RForms™
The creator of the RForms™ can configure how the signers should authenticate themselves. In addition, RForms™ offers multiple settings to authenticate the signers, which work independently of each other, can be enabled simultaneously, and offer different ways to authenticate the signers.
For example, you can disable authentications for all the signers; require the first signer to authenticate after they view the document and apply their signatures or authenticate themselves before signing on the document. Moreover, when multiple settings are enabled simultaneously, you can require the first signer to authenticate their email address when they invite other signers and authenticate other signers before signing the documents.This section explains various options to enable user authentication and how the application behaves when the values of these settings are changed.
Authenticate the first signer before they invite other signers
When you set the value of the setting 'Send confirmation email to validate first signer' to Y, RSign sends an email to the signer to verify their email address before sending the email invitation to other signers. The user journey of the signer is as follows:
- The signer accepts the terms and conditions displayed on the document signing page.
- The signer signs on the document.
- The signer may invite other signers.
- The signer clicks the Submit button.
- RSign sends an email to the signer to confirm their email.
- The signer clicks the Confirm Email button in the inbox.
- RSign redirects the user to the document signing page to complete the transaction.
- RSign sends an email invitation to other signers.
Step by Step Instructions
To enable email validation of the first signer, Send a confirmation email to validate the first signer' to 'Y'
When the first signer clicks the Submit button on the document signing page, RSign displays a popup that allows the signer to verify their email.
On clicking the Send button, RSign informs the signer that they need to verify their email address.
The first signer clicks the 'Confirm your email' button.
After the signer clicks the Confirm your email button, RSign redirects them to the document
signing page to complete the workflow.
Setting 'Send confirmation email to validate first signer' = N would disable email validation of the first signer. When the first signer signs the document and clicks Submit, RSign displays a message confirming the completion of the transaction.
Finally, RSign® signature certificate will prove that the signer verified their email.
Authenticate all the signers before they sign the document
Setting Access Authentication, shown under the SETTINGS-> Personal-> Sending subtab, would determine if and how the signers would authenticate themselves before signing the document. The table below summarizes the effect of the setting on the application's behavior.
Value | Behavior |
---|---|
None |
The signer is not required to authenticate themselves to view the document. |
End-to-End |
The signer is required both to authenticate before signing the document and to view the final signed document. |
When Access Authentication = None, the signer is not required to authenticate to view and sign on the document or open the final signed document. In this case, the signer's experience will be as follows.
Access Authentication = None
- Step 1: When they access RForms®, RSign™ displays a Confirm to Begin popup.
- Step 2: When the signer accepts the terms and conditions, they view the document.
Access Authentication = End to End
The signer would be required to enter their email address in the Confirm to Begin popup, and RSign™ would send a password to their email address to verify the email address. RSign™ displays the document after the signer successfully authenticates.
When the user enters their email, selects its role, and clicks Next, the signer will need to authenticate themselves by entering the password sent to their email.
After all the signers have signed, RSign™ sends the signed document to the sender. They would be required to authenticate themselves to view the document.
Access Authentication = Signer Verification
This setting is not supported as of May 2022.
Enabling Click to Sign with multiple signers
This setting is not supported as of May 2022.