Tennessee's Land Surveyor's Board is considering changing our rules to allow digital signatures.
I've spent considerable time researching the subject over the past few weeks. What I really need though is an understanding of how those of you who use digital signatures have incorporated it into your workflow. Are you able to send out signed AutoCAD drawings or do you only send pdf's? If someone modifies the drawing or pdf, does your signature disappear or is the drawing visibly altered to indicate that the signature is no longer valid? What software are you using?
Edit: Just wanted to give JBStahl credit for giving me the push to get me interested in this.
Count me in on this as well. Id like to learn more about digital signatures.
We use Adobe Acrobat. We send out pdf's for about everything. They are easy to work with and very secure. Once you set up your digital signature, it's just a matter of inputting a password to "sign" the document. Your signature is there along with a stamp stating who signed it and when.
I use CutePdf Pro for digital signatures to pdf files. Its about $60 and works well.
Dittos for Adobe.
Microsoft Word.
> Your signature is there along with a stamp stating who signed it and when.
It also lets you know if the document has been altered since it was signed.
Hey Stephen,
The first item to consider is your workflow. How complex is it? If all it involves is sending a document to someone, have them sign it and returned. Then there are a couple dozen technologies you can use; Docusign, echosign/Adobe, and many more...
If your workflow is more complex then you need a technology that can handle it;
- In contract workflows; is the document very long with lots of fields to input? There are technologies that can make it more efficient or even automate it.
- Multiple workflows; is there a numbe rof different workflows that may get kicked off when filling in the document?
- document management system; do you need a place to store the documents? Some technologies include a DMS in the software
- integration; do you need data from other systems integrated into your workflows?
I wrote some articles designed to educate a person new to the space on how to evaluate digital signature technology. It is not whether one is superior than another - more so identifying which one fits your project best.
www.signeddigitally.com