Sign with Advanced Electronic signature
Overview
For the sample workflow, a PDF
document will be sent to SigningHub for manual signing with an
Advanced Electronic signature.
The process for signing with an
Advanced Electronic signature and a digital signature is similar. The
difference is how the Signer was enrolled on SigningHub. The
compliance requirement to issue an Advanced Electronic signature is a
face-to-face identification of the Signer.
To get an Advanced Electronic
signature, please contact LAWtrust: info@lawtrust.co.za
or sales@lawtrust.co.za.
For a discussion on the difference
between electronic signatures and digital signatures see the LAWtrust
article.
Sample code
Prerequisites
In order for the Signer to sign the
document with a digital certificate the user must pass through the
LAWtrust face-to-face enrolment process and be issued with a
SigningHub account.
As part of the SigningHub account
creation process, an Advanced Electronic certificate will be issued
to the Signer.
Use Case
In South Africa, Advanced Electronic
signatures are governed by the ECT Act and are considered to carry
the highest trust of all electronic and digital signatures.
According to South African law, if
they are signed electronically, the following documents must be
signed with an Advanced Electronic signature:
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Documents containing
suretyships.
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Assignment
or exclusive licensing agreements.
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Documents
used for pension fund administration.
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Credit
Agreements.
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Where
there is a legal requirement for the document, signature or
statement to be notarised, acknowledged, verified or made under
oath.
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Any
document where a signature is required by law, for the transaction
to be valid.
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Certification
of documents as true copies of the original.
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Notarisation
of documents required by law.
To find out more
about the different types of signatures and which one is right for
your organisation, please contact LAWtrust for more information:
info@lawtrust.co.za.
Process flow
At a high level, the sample code
will perform the following steps:
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Prepare the workflow.
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Share the document.
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SigningHub sends email
notification to Signer.
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Signers logs into SigningHub
and signs the document with an Advanced Electronic signature.
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Third-party application checks
the document status.
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Third-party downloads signed
document.
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Third-party downloads the
Workflow Evidence report.
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Deletes the document.
Requests
The following requests must be
called to share a document with one Signer. The digital signing
process will be completely automated.
Step 1 – Authenticate
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Overview
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Authenticate to SigningHub.
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Online Documentation
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https://manuals.ascertia.com/SigningHub-apiguide/default.aspx#pageid=1010.
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Description
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Authenticate to SigningHub, to start
transacting with SigningHub.
The required parameters will be
supplied by LAWtrust.
Contact
the LAWtrust Sales department for access.
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Parameters
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The scope parameter tells the
system who the Document Owner is. Use the email address of the
Document Owner to identify the owner.
If this parameter is not set, the
integration account used to authenticate to SigningHub will be
considered to be the Document Owner.
Take note of the access_token
returned by the server. The access_token will be needed in
subsequent requests.
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Step 2 – Add Package
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Overview
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Create a package to upload documents
to.
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Online Documentation
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https://manuals.ascertia.com/SigningHub-apiguide/default.aspx#pageid=1020.
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Description
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The first step to creating a
workflow on SigningHub is to create a package. This step tells the
system what the name of the pack is that you want to create.
A package can contain one or more
documents.
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Parameters
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The access_token is obtained
during Step 1 - Authenticate.
Take note of the package_id
returned by the server. The package_id will be needed in
the subsequent requests.
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Step 3 – Upload document
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Overview
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Upload a document to the package
created in the previous step.
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Online Documentation
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https://manuals.ascertia.com/SigningHub-apiguide/default.aspx#pageid=1022.
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Description
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Upload the document that must be
digitally signed to the system.
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Parameters
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The access_token is obtained
during Step 1 - Authenticate.
The document_id returned by
the server will be needed in requests pertaining to the uploaded
document.
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Step 4 – Add Signer 1 to the workflow
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Overview
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Add a signer to the workflow.
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Online Documentation
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https://manuals.ascertia.com/SigningHub-apiguide/default.aspx#pageid=1047.
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Description
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Add the name and email address of
the person that must sign the document.
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Parameters
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The access_token is obtained
during Step 1 - Authenticate.
The package_id is obtained
during Step 2 – Create Package.
Signing_order specifies the
Signer’s order to sign. The order number will be required in the
following steps. For the first signer, set the value to 1.
Set the field email_notification
to true. If the parameter value is true, SigningHub will
send an email with a link to the document to the Signer. If the
signer clicks on the document, the document will be opened in
SigningHub and displayed to the user.
Unless specified, the user will not
be prompted to enter a password or an OTP to view the document.
See the sample code Password
protect access to a document or OTP protect access to a
document for an example on how to protect access to a
document.
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Step 5 – Insert signature block 1
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Overview
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Draw a signature block for signer 1
on the document.
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Online Documentation
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https://manuals.ascertia.com/SigningHub-apiguide/default.aspx#pageid=1182.
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Description
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Add the name and email address of
the first person that must sign the document.
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Parameters
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This request will draw a signature
block on the document where the first signer’s signature must be
placed.
This request will look for the text
specified in the field search_text in the document and
place the signature block on the document.
The field placement can be
used to position the signature block relative to the search_text.
The size of the signature block can
be controlled with the dimension field.
Order corresponds to the
Signer’s order in which he / she must sign. Set the value to 1.
Field_type must be set to
"DIGITAL_SIGNATURE".
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Step 6 – Share document
Step 6.1 – Signer signs the document
Step 7 – Get document status (Optional)
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Overview
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Set the workflow status.
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Online Documentation
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https://manuals.ascertia.com/SigningHub-apiguide/default.aspx#pageid=1044.
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Description
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The document status request
retrieves the document’s current status.
Developers can use this request to
periodically retrieve a document’s status.
The document status will be
‘Pending’ until all the Signers have digitally signed the
document. After calling the document’s status will be
‘Completed’.
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Parameters
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N/A
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Step 8 – Download document
Step 9 – Download Workflow Evidence report
(Optional)
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Overview
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Download the forensic Workflow
Evidence Report document.
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Online Documentation
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https://manuals.ascertia.com/SigningHub-apiguide/default.aspx#pageid=1045.
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Description
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A forensic report (Workflow
completion report) can be downloaded optionally.
The forensic report contains an
audit trail of all the actions that happened during the signing
workflow.
The forensic report has been
digitally signed to proof that the audit trail has not been
tampered should a dispute arise later on.
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Parameters
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Provide the package_id of the
forensic report to download.
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Step 10 –
Delete document