Document Workflow with Secured Signing for SharePoint

Key Discussion Points:

Environmental Benefits of Digital Signatures

• Digital signatures significantly reduce carbon emissions by eliminating the need for printing, scanning, and courier services.

• Creating a PDF and sending it digitally for signing saves up to 20 grams of carbon dioxide compared to the traditional print-sign-courier method.

• This approach also reduces the consumption of ink, paper, and the wear and tear on printers, contributing to a substantial environmental win.

Introducing Secured Signing

• Secured Signing is a digital signing and online forms cloud platform launched in 2010.

• It operates on Microsoft Azure, ensuring data sovereignty by hosting data in the user’s country (e.g., Australian data in Australian Azure servers, European data in European Azure servers).

• The platform integrates with various software across industries, including finance, legal, recruitment, and local councils.

The Importance of SharePoint

• SharePoint, launched in 2001, is a central collaboration platform within the Microsoft 365 suite, used by hundreds of millions worldwide.

• It evolved from an intranet solution to a comprehensive tool for document management, sharing, and collaboration.

• Key benefits include acting as a central hub for document management, enhancing team collaboration, providing easy version control and permissions, and driving digital transformation and paperless workflows.

• SharePoint addresses common pain points like documents being hard to find or getting lost, by ensuring a single source of truth and streamlined workflows.

Secured Signing’s SharePoint Integration Benefits

• Seamless Document Saving: Users can save signed documents directly into a designated SharePoint folder, ensuring everyone accesses the most updated version.

• Fewer Clicks: The integration allows documents to be sent for signing directly from within SharePoint, reducing manual steps and potential for human error in saving signed documents.

• No Additional Cost: The integration is included in existing Secured Signing plans.

• Enhanced Security: Secured Signing utilizes PKI-based technology for digital signatures, maintaining the same high level of security whether documents are sent via email or through the SharePoint integration. This includes a certificate of completion that provides audit trails (signer’s IP address, time, and date of signing).

Demonstration Highlights

• The demo showcased how to send a document for signature directly from SharePoint with just a few clicks.

• It demonstrated adding signature fields and other elements like date pickers to the document.

• The process showed a signed document automatically returning to the SharePoint folder, marked as “signed.”

• Users can manage the signing process and check document status all within the SharePoint interface, without needing to leave the platform.

• The ability to use templates stored in Secured Signing was also highlighted, allowing users to send out standard forms (e.g., registration forms) directly from SharePoint, with the signed documents returning to the designated folder.

Installation and Support

• Installation is straightforward and detailed instructions are available on the Secured Signing website’s SharePoint support page. It involves adding an app from the SharePoint store and linking the account.

• Secured Signing also offers integrations with Microsoft Office applications (like Word), allowing users to send documents for signing directly from those programs.