Best Practice

• Use Electronic Signatures only on forms that require formal acknowledgment, certification, or legally binding agreement. For general applications that do not require consent or certification, a signature may not be necessary.
• If your competition requires you to make frequent edits on the fly to an applicant’s application, you may want to consider not including a signature.

Before You Enable Electronic Signatures

• Ensure your institution has reviewed and approved the electronic signature disclosure statement before enabling the feature.
• Customize the disclosure statement under Admin > Configure Platform > Electronic Signature to reflect your institution's policies.
• This is a sitewide setting. It cannot be customized per opportunity.

Form Design Tips

• You can add only one Electronic Signature tool to each form.
• Consider placing the signature at the end of the form so applicants review all information before signing.

Editing Signed Forms

• Once an applicant consents to an electronic signature and submits the form, administrators can no longer edit the submission.
• If changes are required, you will have to return the form to the applicant rather than editing it as an Administrator.

Returning Applications

• Returning a signed application removes the existing electronic signature.
• The applicant must review the updated application, provide consent again, and submit a new electronic signature. A new signature date and time will be recorded.

Deleting Signed Records

• Electronically signed submissions may have legal or institutional record-retention requirements.
• Before deleting an application, competition, or signed review, verify that it is appropriate according to your institution's retention policies.

Consent Matters

• Applicants may choose not to consent to an electronic signature and still submit their form.
• Applications submitted without consent may still be edited by administrators if needed.

Signature Records

• Electronic signatures capture the signer's consent along with the date and time of submission.
• If a submission is returned and resubmitted, the previous signature is replaced with a new signature and timestamp.

Plan Before Publishing

• Because signed submissions cannot be edited by administrators, review your form carefully before opening the competition to applicants.

Have more questions about this topic? Go to the Community Forum to pose the question to other users or submit a support ticket to InfoReady.