We have pre-deployed the Adobe Sign integration in addition to the DocuSign integration so that new customers can take advantage of either esignature system, with minimal effort.

There is a permission group called Adobe Sign User. Only people in that group and the admin group will be able to see and work with the Adobe Sign elements, by default. These include record visibility of the three Adobe Sign Tables discussed below, and the fields within the contract record for the Adobe Sign elements, including the button to generate the Adobe Sign Envelope from the contract.

Agiloft is an Adobe Sign partner, and Agiloft customers may use the Adobe Sign integration without setting up a separate account or contract with Adobe Sign. Agiloft admin users may set up the Adobe Sign integration directly from the Setup menu, and may go there to purchase Adobe Sign envelopes from Agiloft as needed, with a minimum purchase of 25 envelopes.

Setting Up an Adobe Sign Account

To set up your own Adobe Sign account, go to Setup > Integration > Configure Adobe Sign to open the account form:

Decision About Who Documents Come From

There is an important decision to make about how documents will be sent for signature. Two sending models are available:

1. You can use the Adobe Sign account main email address for all sending. This is the "admin" account you are going to set up in just a moment. The emails to signers will appear to come from that address (they actually come from echosign), but they can include the actual person who is sending them in the subject or content of the email. This is currently the most reliable sending model, and unless you find the generic email address objectionable, we recommend using this approach, for simplicity.
2. You can create "sub-account" users for each user at your organization who will need to send a document for signature, and let them send under their own identity. We have an automated process to create such users for your account, but due to a current Adobe Sign limitation, this is not 100% reliable. The limitation is as follows: if a person has ever signed an Adobe Sign document or if their email address is already associated with another Adobe Sign account, they cannot be automatically created via the integration API as a sub-account of your new Agiloft Adobe Sign account. Instead they are in a locked or pending status at Adobe Sign, and only the Adobe Support team can create this user in a usable status so they can send documents for signature.

In the screenshot shown above, the option: "Choose an email field from the People table to identify the sender" is used to define the email account to use for sending. When a person tries to send a document for signature, the system looks at the value in the field defined here in the sender's user record to know what login (email) to use for the sending at Adobe Sign. If you choose the Email field, then the system will try to send under the user's own email address. You will need to make sure each user is created as a user in the Adobe Sign account, or their sending will be unsuccessful. If you prefer to have the documents sent under the admin account, then choose an email field here that will hold the admin email account in the user records for the users who you want to be able to send. We have provided a default email field called Adobe Sign Sending Account in the people table. If you have an older Agiloft KB you can add such a field yourself:

You can add the Adobe Sign admin email address to this field (located on the history tab, it is only accessible to admin users) for all users who should be able to send documents for signature. Then when they send, the system will use the value in that field as the login for the sending. It is of course, also possible to set up some users as senders, and put their own email address in that field, and then only use the admin account for those who cannot be successfully set up at Adobe Sign.

Creating the Adobe Sign Account

To set up an Adobe Sign account, click the Register a New Account button on the form shown above.

This will bring up a form on an Agiloft server where you can choose the account type, define the email address to use for the Adobe Sign account, and so on:

If you are still in testing mode, you can create a development account and send practice envelopes at no cost. Once you are ready for production, you will deactivate the development account and create a new production account. The new account will need to use a different email address, so plan on that from the beginning.

Be sure to write down your account email address and password for the new Adobe Sign account. Once you finish filling out this form, you will be returned to your KB setup screen.

Check the email inbox for the account you entered as the Adobe Sign Account Email address. You will have received a verification email from Adobe Sign.

Click the link in that email to verify your account.

Back in the Agiloft setup screen, click on the Proceed with Account Setup button to refresh the screen with some additional options. Enter the Knowledge Base Server URL - this is the custom URL that is used as the hostname of the Agiloft server, i.e. https://mycompany.agiloft.com. When you have entered that URL and verified your Adobe Sign account, you can click the Grant Access to Adobe Sign Connect button. This will bring up an Adobe Sign login screen. Enter the credentials for your new account. You will be asked to allow access to Agiloft:

Click the Allow Access button. Go back to the Setup screen and click the Grant Access to Adobe Sign Connect button again. The screen will refresh and you should see that access has been granted:

Now you are ready to start using the integration, unless this is a production account.

Using a Production Adobe Sign Account

If you have created a production account, you will need to buy envelopes before you start sending documents for signature. You will see two buttons on the integration setup screen:

Manage Account - this button takes you to a view of your account showing the number of envelopes you have purchased and sent, and allows you to also buy envelopes from there.

Buy Envelopes - this button brings up the purchase screen where you can enter a credit card to purchase envelopes:

The current pricing tiers are shown on the purchase screen - the price per envelope depends on the volume purchased.

The default minimum purchase is 25 envelopes unless you have special volume discounted pricing. Once you have purchased some envelopes you are ready to start sending contracts for signature.

Adding and Removing Adobe Sign Users Automatically

If you have chosen to have individual users send under their own Adobe Sign sub-account, you will need to update the users to create their Adobe Sign sub-account. There are two rule actions on the people table, similar to rule actions for DocuSign:

There is a field in the employee table called Adobe Sign Sender, which has a Yes/No value (default value is No). When a new employee is created in the system, if that field has a Yes value, the system will try to create the user at Adobe Sign.

There is also an edit rule on the employee table that runs if the Adobe Sign Sender field just changed. It handles creation or removal of a user at Adobe Sign:

So to create users at Adobe Sign, you just need to identify the users, and update that field (located on the History tab). Only admin users can modify that field. Naturally if you have not yet set up an Adobe Sign account, these actions will fail.

Adobe Sign Tables

The Adobe Sign Envelopes and Recipients tables are shown within the contracts table or any table in which an Adobe Sign action is configured. By default, Adobe Sign has been configured to work with the Contracts table.

Adobe Sign Envelopes Table

Purpose: This table holds the Adobe Sign Envelopes, which contain a link back to the Contract record from which they were created in the Linked Record field. The table also contains an embedded table of the Adobe Sign Recipients list and the Documents to Send field which holds the attached files to be reviewed/signed.

Once the envelope has been previewed and sent, it will be given an Adobe Sign Envelope ID and one of the paid envelopes will be used.

Within the envelope, you will be able to see the recipients and their signing status as well:

Signing may be set up to happen sequentially or in parallel. It is also possible to change the default reminder frequency and deadline before the envelope expires within the envelope record. As each signer responds, the Signed Documents will be updated with the latest version of the signed document, and an Audit Log file tracks all behavior within the system.

The Send Reminder button can be used to send a reminder email to any signer who has been notified but has not yet signed.

The Cancel Envelope button can be used to cancel the signing altogether.

Sign by Sender will add the sender's signature if he/she has been identified as one of the signers.

Adobe Sign Recipients Table

Purpose: This table holds the Recipients for a particular Adobe Sign Envelope. They are linked to the Adobe Sign Envelope record and to the Contract record from which the Envelope was generated. The recipient records are created automatically based on the configuration of the Adobe Sign Action that generates the Adobe Sign Envelope record. Recipients can also be added manually to an Adobe Sign Envelope if needed.

The Update Recipient at Adobe Sign button is used to modify the signer's contact details, in case of an error. This can only be used before the envelope is sent to the signer.

Adobe Sign Statuses Table

Purpose: This table holds some status values to provide users with a customizable list of statuses that may be more meaningful than the Adobe Sign default statuses. The status values appear within the envelopes and recipient records. It allows several statuses to be grouped under a status category such as Draft or Sent and provides some description about the meaning of some of the more obscure statuses.