Tell us what you think

We want to create the best possible experience for our learners. Your feedback helps us to improve the experience for everyone.

Signing Contracts

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to set up the contract workspace signature process.

Contract Workspace Signature

Signature tasks enable contract managers to collect electronic signatures from internal and external signers for one document or a folder of documents in an SAP Ariba Contracts workspace. It is important to note that after a document has been electronically signed, it cannot be modified without invalidating the electronic signature. If a signed document is modified, it must be re-signed by all required signers.

If a signature task is associated with a folder, all top-level documents (not those in subfolders) are converted and concatenated into a single PDF file. Additionally, signature tasks can be associated with documents. Supported document formats are:

Microsoft Word (DOC and DOCX)
Microsoft Excel (XLS and XLSX)
Portable Document Format (PDF)

Signature tasks are an add-on feature for SAP Ariba Contracts using the following electronic signature providers:

Provider	Description
Adobe Sign	The Adobe Sign signature service is supported by a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to add fields for signatures, initials, user data, and more. Adobe Sign also supports Signer Identity Verification, a second form of authentication requiring a password.
DocuSign	The DocuSign pass-through interface enables you to configure signatures at the DocuSign website. The drag-and-drop interface of the DocuSign website allows you to add tags for signatures, initials, and data. The DocuSign website allows you to easily create templates to re-use documents with the same fields (tags) for signatures, initials, and information (user data fields). It also supports a feature to authenticate signers and allows customers to add a second form of authentication by requiring a shared secret or access code to be entered.

Provider

Description

Adobe Sign

The Adobe Sign signature service is supported by a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to add fields for signatures, initials, user data, and more. Adobe Sign also supports Signer Identity Verification, a second form of authentication requiring a password.

DocuSign

The DocuSign pass-through interface enables you to configure signatures at the DocuSign website. The drag-and-drop interface of the DocuSign website allows you to add tags for signatures, initials, and data.

The DocuSign website allows you to easily create templates to re-use documents with the same fields (tags) for signatures, initials, and information (user data fields). It also supports a feature to authenticate signers and allows customers to add a second form of authentication by requiring a shared secret or access code to be entered.

Contract Workspace Signature Task Workflow

The contract manager can create a signature task for a single document or a folder containing multiple documents in a contract workspace. The signature task is usually pre-defined on the template level, so every project you create using this template will contain this configured signature task. The document to be signed must be in Published status, as illustrated for the main agreement in step 1 below. You can create a signature task on an unpublished document; however, you cannot start it until the document is published. The system will then ask you to select a signature provider, as shown in step 2.

Steps to creating a signature task in a contract workspace.

You can set task attributes such as adding a due date or adding the supplier contacts as part of the required contract signers.

View of the signature task creation page.

The contract manager is taken to the signature provider’s website once the task is submitted. You must have a user account with the signature provider registered with the same e-mail address configured for you on the SAP Ariba server. You can specify where signers will place their signatures or initials on the signature provider's website. On the DocuSign website, you can also specify additional signers and an order in which signers receive and sign the document. You send the document to the signers from the DocuSign or Adobe Sign website. Signers receive notifications asking them to navigate to the signature provider’s site to sign the document. Signers can sign or decline the contract documents.

A Signer Rejects (Declines to Sign)

If any signer rejects the document, the status of the signature task changes to Denied. When a signature is denied, you can:

Review the comments or document changes requested by the reviewer.
Incorporate the changes requested by the signer and upload the document again.
Initiate a new round of the signature task.

All Signers Sign

When all signers sign the document(s), the signature task is complete, and the document’s status changes to Signed. Then, the document owner receives an e-mail notification with the subject line Completed: docName. SAP Ariba stores a PDF file that contains the signed document. This is placed in the signed document location specified by the task owner.

You can edit, withdraw, or start a new round of the signature task if required.

Next lesson