Creating Agreements from the Agreement Tab

1. Click the App Launcher icon in the upper-left of the screen

2. Select the Adobe Sign application

3. Click the Agreements tab

4. Click the New button

Creating Agreements from Salesforce Objects

To create an agreement from a common Salesforce Object:

1. Open the Salesforce object you want to send from (the image below is a Contact)

2. Scroll down to the Agreements section

3. Click the New button

Once you have opened a new agreement, you will need to configure it to properly reflect:

• Who the Recipients are, how to verify them, and what authority they have relative to the document
• The nature of the Agreement including the name, any messages you want included in the notification process, and any additional relationships you want to create in Salesforce
• The actual documents that you need to be approved or signed
• Which additional options do you want set if any

Define Your Recipients

The top of the Agreement is where the Recipients are defined. You must have at least one, but multiple recipients are supported.

The primary fields to configure:

1. The signature index - This number tells you where in the signature cycle this Recipient resides.  1 is the first signer, 2 is the second signer etc. 

• If you configure multiple signers to use the same signature index, you will create a parallel signature step where all parties in that step are notified at the same time, and the agreement will not move to the next index point until all Recipients in the parallel step have signed/approved

2. Recipient Role – Determines how the Recipient can interact with the Agreement:

• Signers (default)– Recipients that are expected to apply at least one legal signature

• Approvers – Recipients that review and approve the document, but do not need to legally sign

• Acceptor - The Acceptor role is appropriate when the Recipient needs to acknowledge an acceptance of the Agreement without formally approving the content

• Form Filler - Designed specifically for customers that have a need to fill in form content during the signature process

• Certified Recipient - Certified Recipients can have no (zero) form fields assigned to them. During their "signature" process, they will be asked to either delegate, decline or acknowledge the agreement

• Delegators – Recipients that are not expected to complete the identified role. Rather, they will delegate their role to another party. There is a delegator option for each of the above roles (when enabled by the SFDC admin)

3. Recipient Type – This drop down option allows you to select from the Salesforce lookup fields that can be Recipients:

• Contact – Any Contact in Salesforce

• Lead – Any Lead in Salesforce

• User – Any User of Salesforce within your Salesforce Org.

• Group – A set of users in a Salesforce Role. Only one (any one) of which will need to sign or approve. Admins will need to define your available Groups. 

• Email – Recipients that are not currently listed in Salesforce as one of the other object types

For Contact, Lead, User and Group recipient types, you can type in a partial name, and then search Salesforce for matching  entities. Once an entity is selected, the recipient name is displayed, with the email address listed directly under the name. If an account is associated to the recipient, that is also displayed to the right of the recipient name in parentheses. 

Email recipients will need to have their email address explicitly entered.

4. Recipient - Enter the explicit recipient based on your Recipient Type

5. Private Message – A message that is delivered only to the discrete Recipient when they gain control of the document. If nothing is added, this defaults to the Agreement Message (see below in the Details section).

Additional controls:

• Add Recipient – Click this link to add another recipient to the signature chain
• Add Me – Click this link to insert yourself to the signing chain
• Add CC (Carbon Copy)– Allows you to include Recipients that have no authority to interact with the agreement, they only view the document as it moves through the signature cycle
• I need to sign – Checking this box inserts the sender (you) into the signature cycle either as the first or last Recipient. Much like Add Me except you must be first or last.
• Host signing for the first signer - This check box will interrupt the normal email delivery process, and instead present the agreement for signature directly on the Senders local system.  Designed for in person signing situations, typically on a mobile device.

Identity Verification – Just under the Recipients is a drop down box to define the type of verification you want to use. In the US and much of the EU, access to the email box (as an authenticated object) is sufficient to obtain a legally binding signature.  But for customers that demand a higher standard of verification, there are options:

• Email (default) – Authentication is based on access to the email box
• Password – A sender generated alpha/numeric password that has to be communicated to the recipient out of band
• Social – Authenticate to a third party social network like Facebook or LinkedIn
• KBA (USA only) – Knowledge Based Authentication requires the recipient to enter their Social Security Number and then generates a number of non-trivial questions based on public databases
• Phone – Requires the sender to supply the recipient’s phone number so an SMS code can be sent when their signature is needed
• Government ID - Requires the recipient to provide an image of a passport, or government issued identification card or drivers license. The government ID or drivers license also prompt the user to provide a "selfie" to match against the ID's image

Define the Name, Message, and Additional Relationships

Just under the Recipient section are the Agreement Details. This section is the most likely to be automated by templates or other settings.

Within the Details section you will find:

1. Agreement Name – This is the name of the Agreement as it is exposed in the emails delivered to Recipients, as well as in the listing of Agreements in Salesforce (see highlights in yellow below)

2. Agreement Message – This message is applied to the email template that is delivered to all Recipients. Best used as general information or instructions for all Recipients (see highlights in green below)

a. If Recipients need individualized instructions, use the Private Message in the Recipient section

3. Additional Relationship lookups – These fields will allow you to explicitly associate an Agreement with an Account, Opportunity, or Contract

Agreement Options

The lower-right corner of the Agreement page holds a few workflow options that you may want to include:

• Password protect the signed document – If applied, this password will be required to view the final PDF.
• Completion Deadline – Set a date when the document will expire (auto-cancel). Great for limited time offers.
• Create Reminders – Instruct Adobe Sign to send an email reminder either Every Day or Every Week until the current Recipient approves or signs the Agreement. Only the current Recipient is emailed.
• Recipient Language – Determines the language of the email template and the on-screen instructions/environment for the Agreement.
• Signature Type – Determines the signature type that will be pursued:

o E-signature will seek to obtain electronic signatures

o Written Signature will deliver the agreement with a cover page and instruction to print, sign and upload the agreement back to Adobe Sign.

Attach the Files

The third required section is where you attach the file you want to get signed.

You can drag and drop a file from your desktop into the files section, or attach a document from the Salesforce interface.

• Documents uploaded from the local system are stored in the Salesforce CRM & Files storage space

To add a file through the menu system:

1. Click the Add Files link (upper right of the section)

2. You can attach a file (or multiple files!) from several source locations:

► Salesforce CRM & Files

► Salesforce Documents

► Adobe Sign Library (must be enabled by the SFDC Admin)

► Uploaded from your computer (Salesforce limits upload file size to ~700KB)

3. After selecting the files from the source location, click the Add Files button in the lower right corner

4. If needed, repeat steps 1-3 until the all documents are attached

Preview & Add Signature Fields – When checked, this option will open an authoring environment when you click the Next button (the Send button will change its label).  Authoring fields is great if you have an ad hoc document that needs specific information added by the recipient, or if you have a contract and want to add initial fields by specific clauses. 

The authoring environment will render the full agreement in a window that allows you to drag and drop form fields into place, including:

• Signature / Initials
• Signer Name – A typeset version of the Signature field (ie. Print Name)
• Title / Company
• Date Signed
• Recipient Email Address
• Open Text fields
• Check Boxes / Radio Buttons

Once you are done adding your fields, you will then be able to Send the agreement and start the signature process.

The Agreement Tab

The integration with Salesforce almost ensures that your Agreements will be related to some object that is meaningful regarding the content of the agreement.  If you sent an NDA to a Contact, then the agreement will be listed on that Contact page.  By the same token, if you sent an Agreement to a Recipient from an Opportunity, both the Recipient and the Opportunity will have the Agreement in their lists.

On the chance that an Agreement is orphaned in the system, all Agreements will be listed on the Agreements tab (click Recently Viewed and select All from the menu).  The list will generate showing the Agreements you are authorized to view. And the view of that list can be customized to show any (or all) of the Agreement fields.

Once an agreement is found, you can double click the name of the Agreement to open it, and then modify the status as needed. Options are:

• Remind – Sends a reminder in real time
• Update – Polls Adobe Sign to see if the agreement status has changed from what Salesforce believes to be true
• View – Shows the content of the Agreement Documents
• Delete – Deletes the Agreement record in Salesforce
• Cancel – Terminates the agreement and sets it to a Canceled status

Replace Signer – This optional setting will allow you to replace the current signer (email address) with another. Great for those situations where someone has changed their email address, or is out of the office, and you need to re-direct the Agreement to another signer/approver.

The Manage Agreements Tab

The Manage Agreements tab opens a portal to your Adobe Sign user account and shows you all of the Agreements related to your userID (email address).  Where this is useful in some situations, Salesforce does an excellent job of making Agreements searchable and understandable in context. Most Admins will suppress this tab in favor of keeping all activity in Salesforce.