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Electronic signature workflow with Next®
Next® has always allowed you to store and maintain contracts and agreements - including signatures - either as a manually signed and scanned document, or as a PDF document with an advanced or qualified electronic signature.
Now, we are introducing a way of making it even easier:
- to get electronic signatures for your contracts and agreements
- to handle end-to-end electronic signing from within Next®
- to choose whatever signature provider you prefer
What is the difference between an electronic signature and a digital signature?
An electronic signature and a digital signature are often used interchangeably, but the two concepts are different. Although their purpose would overlap, i.e. authentication of a digital document.
The main difference between the two is that a digital signature is primarily used to protect documents and is certified by certification authorities, while an electronic signature is often associated with a contract that the signer agrees to.
Digital signatures are widely used and more secure than electronic signatures.
From within Next® you can now do both.
Start and end a signature process in Next®
Approval signatures on a document can be used in your organization's daily business workflow. They help optimize your organization's approval procedure.
The signing process involves capturing approvals made by you and other individuals and embedding them within the business document.
With just a few clicks this is now made easy in Next® for any business user.
The signing process starts and ends in Next® - no matter what external signature provider you choose
Electronic signing works no matter if it’s…
- a purchase order, or
- a contract, or
- any other type of agreement
During and after the signing process has completed, an information panel keeps you up to date with status information
Digital signature vendors
The process for signing documents from within Next® is based on an integration with an external service provider. There are a myriad of vendors and service providers offering digital signature solutions that meet both national and international standards.
As business requirements vary from organization to organization, Nextway have decided to enter strategic partnerships to meet both customer demand as well as national standards and legal requirements.
With a combined solution from Nextway and a digital signature provider of your choice, you will be able to meet your business requirements for digitally signing documents. And, combined with the open integration interfaces in Next®, you will be able to integrate it with both current and future business systems.
Signing process
For your business users, signing a document from within Next® is easy and follows a few, simple steps:
- Select document for signing
- Choose a template for signing
- Add the persons who are to sign
- Start the signing process
- Wait until the signed documents return in Next®
Signature workflow with Next®
The process shown above applies for general document signing, but the signing process can also be adapted to more specific customer needs.
The benefits of electronic signing documents instead of paper based, wet-ink signatures are obvious – reduce paper waste, decrease operating costs, speed up document delivery, just to name a few.
With Next®, the signing process can be made easy and quick while keeping the operational costs low.
The business log
When you put a document in Next® on signature workflow, the business log is updated.
Future enhancements
The initial release will work with DocuSign as signature provider. We will later add support for Penneo and other providers of digital signature.
Additional information
Please refer to the online product guide for additional information on this feature, once it is released.
Commercial terms and conditions
This new feature is available as an extension module and comes with an additional license cost. Any consultancy assistance will be invoiced separately.
The digital signing fees to the signature provider (or providers) you choose to engage with, are handled directly between them and you.
Disclaimer
Despite our best efforts, we may be forced to change both content and expected delivery of future product updates without notice.
Details
Title:
Electronic signature workflow with Next®
Type:
New optional feature
Status:
Released
Release time:
August 2022
Affected products:
Next® Contracts
Next® Enterprise Archive
Audience:
Business users
Next® Admins
Next® Specialists
Architects
Classification:
Public
Responsible product manager:
Steen Munksgaard
Updated:
24.08.2022
By:
Steen Munksgaard