A merge document is required in order to send documents for electronic signature from the Documents screen. It needs to appear in the Merge E-Signature Document drop down list.
Below are steps to creating a merge e-signature document
1. Follow the usual steps to configure a Merge Document. The merge document can contain traditional merge tags subject to the usual rules but must contain at least 1 properly formatted e-signature merge tag:
*.DOC format: "EQ_ESIGNATURE_" with text after the last underscore
*.RTF format: "&EQ_ESIGNATURE_" with text after the last underscore (note that only RTF E-Signature merge tags require the ‘&’ character (ampersand) prefix. This format will not be accepted for the *.DOC format)
The following types of e-sign documents merge fields can also be added and used:
Initials - format: EQ_ESIG_COMP_INITIAL_<name>
Checkboxes- format: EQ_ESIG_COMP_CHECKBOX_<name>
Text Input- format: EQ_ESIG_COMP_TEXT_<name>
Date Input- format: EQ_ESIG_COMP_DATE_<name> *MM/DD/YYYY format
Number Input- format: EQ_ESIG_COMP_NUMBER_<name>
Signature Timestamp- format: EQ_ESIG_COMP_TIMESTAMP_<name>
Note that the Initials, Checkboxes, Text Input, Date Input, Number Input, and Signature Timestamp can only be used with Word Documents (Merge Documents). Additionally, Initials and Signature tags will be required, all the rest are optional.
2. Navigate to the Merge Document screen and click
button. For Type select E-Signature Document and follow the usual steps to upload a merge document bearing in the mind the following points:
Protection Type cannot be set for an e-signature document; this field is disabled.
Output format <MS Word Protected> cannot be set for an e-signature document. This option is not available in the Output format choice list.
An attempt to upload a document that does not match the above document types will result in an error: "Invalid Document file extension. The file extension for an E-Signature Document must be RTF, DOC, DOCX, XLS, or XLSX. This Merge Document is now Inactive and cannot be made Active until a valid Document is uploaded."
NOTE: If any error is received, the Merge Document record is set to Inactive to prevent it from being used in later processes. When uploading the document that contains corrected tags and/or has a valid file extension be sure to set the Merge Document to Active, and press
.
3. Next, configure each unique merge document Signer at the bottom of the Merge Documents screen.
The following fields display in the Merge Document Signers section
Number of Rows: Click
to create the number of rows identified in the Number of Rows text box (to the left of
).
Delete: When the Merge Document is saved, and Delete is checked, the row is deleted.
Round: Identifies the sequence in which the signer receives the request to sign. Multiple signers can exist in the same round. Starting at round 0, requests to sign are sent to all signers in the round, and when all signatures in that round are received, signature requests are sent to all signers in the next round. Blank is the equivalent of 0.
Signature Tag: Identifies the location of a signature. Signers will be asked to place their signatures in the document wherever there is a Signature Tag. Use this choice list to map signers to e-signature tags. This choice list is populated with e-signature tags found in the document that was either merged or uploaded after edits are made to the merged document prior to sending.
While two signers cannot be assigned to the same tag, the same signer can be assigned to two different tags; when this is the case, the signer will be sent separate signature requests. If there is a need for a signer to sign in two places in the document, put the same tag in both places in the document where the signer should sign.
Also, a signer is allowed to exist only once in the same Round. For example, the <Employee> signer can only be specified once in Round 1. This applies to all signer types.
Signer Details: Identifies the signer who will sign at the location of the specified Signature Tag. In the Person information is automatically populated from the assignment. Choose from:
<Resource Role>: Select an assignment role to sign the document
<Resource>: Select a specific resource to sign the document.
<Employee>: The Employee will sign the document
<Other>: Specify a non-Equus Platform user to sign the document. When this is selected, a Name and Email for that person must be provided. These are used to route the signature request to that person.
Default Email Template: Optionally specify the email template for e-signature to be used to notify the signers that a document is waiting for their signatures.
If selected, this email template is used to automatically generate the email body for that signer’s signature request and will appear on the E-Signature Request Details, Delivery tab.
If no email template is selected, one can be selected when the document is sent for signature from the E-Signature Request Details, Delivery tab.
Note: If Email is blank for the given signer and it has been added to the signer on the appropriate page, the page can be refreshed by simply toggling between the radio buttons.
If there is an unassigned component tag/s, the Merge Document will be automatically Inactive and cannot be made Active until all component tags are assigned.
Tags will only be editable the the user assigned to a specific Component Tag.
4. Press [Save] after making changes.
Thing to Note
It is possible to add 'Assignment Contact' as an e-signature document signer. Contact your Equus representative for more details on how to configure this.
Timestamp will always reflect the account settings over DocuSign platform. Users who are using Equus Account it's locked to MTN (timezone), other accounts have a configuration option. Check with your Equus representative for more details.