What is the difference between Signing and Acknowledgement? What should each one be used for?
Document Signing
Document Signing is used on an Employee’s personal documents only. These are ones that are uploaded directly to their Employee Profile. The tool should be used for documents which are intended for only one employee to see and sign, such as an employment contract which is specific to that individual.
These employee documents are typically only visible to Administrators, as well as the Managers of that employee. However, if a document requires signing, it must be shared with the employee, and therefore able to be viewed and downloaded by them so that they are able to keep a copy.
Document Acknowledgement
Document Acknowledgement is used on company-wide documents. These are ones that are uploaded to the Company > Documents page. Company-wide documents can then be shared with multiple Employees and Managers (as well as all Administrators) at once. This tool should be used for any company-wide documents that will not change from one employee to the next, such as Health & Safety information, or widespread policies.
Can I upload multiple versions of the same document?
RotaCloud’s Document Storage feature maintains each document separately, and a document cannot be overwritten with a new version. Instead, you can remove an old document, and replace it with a new one. While RotaCloud may be able to track when a specific document has been uploaded, it is recommended that you title the document with any version number or revision that may need to be referred to later.
Can I share a document that’s already been acknowledged with additional employees?
No. In order to store your signed and acknowledged documents in a secure and reliable manner, no further changes to a document are allowed once it’s been uploaded and made available for signing/acknowledgement. This includes the file itself, its name, or the employees to whom it is visible.
If you require more staff to acknowledge a document that’s already been uploaded, a new copy of that document must be uploaded and shared with the relevant staff at the moment of uploading.
What do you mean by an ‘electronic signature’?
An electronic signature is data in electronic form used in an electronic document by the signatory to confirm their intention to sign and be bound by the terms of that document. While simply writing the signatory’s name into a word document can validly be used as an electronic signature, RotaCloud’s electronic signature collects and stores a series of data to evidence the time the signature was completed as well as the user’s normal security details to authenticate that the correct individual is signing.
Are electronic signatures legally enforceable?
While each country may have specific requirements for certain types of documents, almost all countries now recognise the validity of electronic signatures. This means that, if you can evidence that the signatory did actually sign the document, you can enforce the terms of that document against the signatory. RotaCloud provides comprehensive evidence through its high level of security and audit trail.
Who can sign an electronic signature?
If you are legally able to sign a document by hand then there is no difference to signing with an electronic signature through RotaCloud.
What types of documents does RotaCloud support for electronic signing?
RotaCloud’s electronic signing can be used on any document that requires an individual’s signature. However it cannot be used for the execution of any document that requires a witness to sign to confirm that they have witnessed the signature. Some countries may also have specific rules about particular types of legal contracts. If you have any doubt about whether the type of document you are considering requires a witness then you should get legal advice before relying on the RotaCloud electronic signature.
What types of document file types does RotaCloud support for electronic signing?
RotaCloud currently supports the following file extensions for signature: pdf, docx, doc, jpg, jpeg, png and xlsx. We strongly recommend using pdf documents for your employees contracts and other policies.
How secure is your Document Signing and Acknowledgment feature?
Document Signing and Acknowledgement, along with the rest of the RotaCloud service, utilises Amazon Web Services (AWS) as its cloud platform. AWS is the world’s most-used cloud platform, and supports 98 security standards and compliance certifications.
How does RotaCloud ensure electronic signatures are trustworthy and enforceable?
RotaCloud’s electronic signatures have in-built security measures. RotaCloud’s electronic signatures:
Have high level security: Each electronic signature is unique, documentable, encrypted, and tamper-evident. We guarantee multi-faceted verification of signing events to ensure you can sign in the knowledge that your data is secure. This high level of security also means that only the intended signatory can access the document and confirm their acceptance of it.
Have an audit trail: We maintain a complete and extensive audit trail that serves as third-party validation of transaction completion, including information such as the signer's email address, name, authentication method, IP address, time-stamp, and more.