Overview

Adobe Sign is a very useful tool for securely gathering authorizations and signatures for documents. It expedites some processes and allows digital processing of documents that might have previously required paper processing. However, there are some things it can do that are better accomplished other ways. There are other processes that are unaffected by using the Adobe Sign platform as well.

See below for some general guidelines about what Adobe Sign does well, not so well, and which processes are unaffected by using Adobe Sign.

Comparisons

Adobe Sign does the following well:

• Getting a legal signature from SPU and non-SPU users

  • As long as we have contact info for signers, Adobe Sign has multiple options for authenticating a user that is signing a document.

• Getting authorizations from multiple users in a process.

  • A single document that needs multiple signers on it can be accomplished in a simple workflow.

• Allowing user-initiated document submission

  • Documents can be posted as a link that users can click to fill out and sign.

• Preserving a single document of all authorizations and agreements.

  • Adobe Sign creates an authenticated final file with timestamped signatures from all parties that can be downloaded and saved in an SPU file storage system.

Adobe Sign doesn't do the following well:

• Gather formatted data for entry into data systems.

  • This is better-accomplished in Microsoft Forms or Formstack.

• Multiple linked documents requiring authorization.

  • Multiple documents must be merged into a single document in order to be stored and authorized together.

• Implement a business process workflow.

  • Any workflow processes that need to be accomplished before, during, or after one or more authorizations, need to be defined and conducted outside of Adobe Sign.

Things that are unchanged with Adobe Sign:

• Writing and creating agreements

  • The Adobe Sign process begins with the finalized version of a document. Continue to use your current processes for writing and revising documents for agreements, and then once the language has been finalized and approved you can upload the final version to Adobe Sign.

• Legality and enforce-ability of an agreement

  • SPU users should continue to work with the Office of Risk Management to ensure any agreements they need to sign, or have signed by other, are created properly to meet the needs of the university and that the authorization method being used is acceptable for the agreement in question.

• Simple data collection

  • If data collection is all that is needed, then SPU owns Microsoft Forms and Formstack as better tools for doing so.

• Records retention policies

  • Agreements that are signed digitally are still subject to the same University and legal retention policies as if they were physical documents.
  • SPU recommends that employees centrally store all such documents in a place where they can be retained and purged per these policies.

Comparison of Functions

	Adobe Sign	Microsoft Forms
Authorization - SPU User
Authorization - External User
Authorization - Multiple Users
Data Collection
Contracts (if approved by ORM)
User-Initiated Forms

 Recommended solution

 Not a viable solution

 Can be used, but not a best fit solution.