e-Solutions
e-Signature
In a document process, the signature is where responsibility is taken. When it is unclear who holds that step and which version counts, the process tends to wait there, so the work starts from where that step sits in the flow.
The approval step
A document is settled by its signature.
A signature is not where a document is written. It is where responsibility is taken.
The document reaches its approval point
Prepared and checked, it lands with the person who has to decide.
It is signed
Approval is given at this step, and the document stops being a draft.
The signed version is the one that counts
What follows works from the signed version, not from the copy people edited.
Starting point
Processes usually wait at the signature.
A document is prepared, checked, and at some point it waits for approval. Until then the work moves inside the system; at the signature it moves to people, and often outside the system.
A waiting document does not say where it is. Whose turn it is, which copy is the final one and whether approval has been given all have to be asked, and that is usually where the time goes.
So we start from the approval path rather than from signing technology: which document goes to whom, when approval counts as complete, and which record is updated afterwards.
Common situations
- Finding out whose turn it is by asking around
- No certainty about which copy is the final one
- Moving to the next step before approval is complete
- A signature step that depends on one person
- Approval given, but never reflected in the record
Workstreams
The signature step handled with the process.
Scope is agreed together once your current processes and systems have been reviewed.
Mapping the approval path
Which document goes to whom, when approval counts as complete and which record is updated afterwards are written down together.
Adapting the ERP side
The step is placed inside the flow that produces the document, and it becomes clear how a waiting and an approved document appear in the system.
Rollout and monitoring
Work starts with limited scope and is tried with real documents; after go-live, the steps that wait are monitored.
Delivery approach
The approval path comes first.
A signature step does not fix an approval path nobody has agreed on, so we start with the path itself.
Mapping the current approval
Where the document goes today, and where it waits, are mapped together.
Agreeing the approval rules
Which document goes to whom, and when approval counts as complete, is decided.
Placing it inside the flow
The step sits inside the process that produces the document, not as separate work on a separate screen.
Rollout with real documents
Work starts with limited scope, is validated with real documents and adjusted on feedback.
Scope note
The scope that applies is agreed at the start of the project
How the signature step is set up depends on the document and on the way your organisation already works; one pattern does not suit every document.
The scope that applies to your organisation is agreed at the start of the project, with the relevant specialists, once your current processes and systems have been reviewed.
Let's look at your approval step together.
Let's talk through where the document goes today and where it waits, and agree the scope together.