Digital Signatures

Electronic Signatures and Digital Signatures

You have likely heard these terms used interchangeably. In reality, they are very different, and the fact that both terms use the word “signature” has caused no end of confusion.

An electronic signature is a legal concept for using an electronic symbol to represent a person's volitional consent to be bound to the terms of a document. What you must achieve with any business process that requires an enforceable document, is to obtain a legally-valid electronic signature for that document using the proper processes. This is what our esignature platform is designed to do (and has done since 1998).

A digital signature is a technical security concept for a data integrity process using cryptographic data hashing and encryption. Simply applying a digital signature process to the data of a document will generally not result in an enforceable electronic signature. Digital signatures are a very important security tool and our platform uses digital signature technology in its electronic signature processes.

The digital signature solution deployed by FosterCare.Team is not one of our own creation, but rather we've leveraged one of the most awarded, proven, and trusted digital signature platforms, customized the pricing model, and integrated it into our system.

Flexibility without complexity

Our eSignature platform provides the most flexible and extensible electronic signature and document process workflow structure available on the market. From the simplistic to the most complex workflows, our transaction processing features and optional steps allow you to create the absolute optimal signing experience to meet your many use cases.

Start

  • Email link
  • Website URL
  • Kiosk application
  • API call

Authenticate Participant

  • Email invitation
  • Single use PIN
  • Username / Password
  • Knowledge-based authentication(KBA)
  • Digita certificate(PKI)
  • Single sign-on(SSO)
  • Pass-through authentication

Present & Sign

  • Sequential or non-sequental signing
  • Signature options:
    • - Standard (front stamp)
    • -Initial
    • -Mouse/Mobile
    • -Touch preferred
    • -Acknowledge
    • -None
    • -Registered
    • -Deliver
    • -Signature pad
  • API call
  • Signature annotation
  • Ad hoc signature page
  • Signature and initial placement via:
    • -Page coordinates
    • -Pdf field name
    • -Text string search
  • Completed documents & audit trail securely stored in the document database

Finish

  • Standard exit page
  • Custom URL
  • Return to 3rd party application
optional

Collect Information

  • Participant info.
    • -Name
    • -Title
    • -Organization
    • -Email address
  • Mobile webform
    • -Checkbox
    • -Checkbox list
    • -Date picker
    • -Drop down list
    • -Hidden field
    • -Phone number
    • -Radio button list
    • -Social security number
    • -Text area
    • -Test box
  • PDF form fill
  • Upload document(s) for transaction

Standard Action

  • Process explanation
  • U.S. federal consumer disclosure
  • Document review (e.g.custom disclosure)
  • Upload document(s) (e.g.copy of drivers license)

Customs Actions

  • 3rd party application integration
  • 3rd party data collection
  • Dynamic document management
  • Dynamic participant management
  • Dynamic task management
  • Specialized authentication

Document Delivery

  • Secure download
  • Email attachment
  • Deliver of other documents(e.g. employee manual)
Integrated Command and Control

Employees added to your FosterCare.Team agency are automatically given eSignature accounts. There is no need to manually create and remove user accounts. Access to the eSignature platform is controlled from within FosterCare.Team through SSO (Single Sign On).  Once you are logged into FosterCare.Team, it's just a simple click to access the eSignature tool.  (The eSignature solution can also be used without subscribing to our collaboration platform.)

Custom Branded for Your Agency

Branding on all pages and email verbiage presented by the solution allows full customization including colors and images.  You may also control language by entering specific text to be presented in a chosen language.  This includes the ability to present the information in a different language per signer or reviewer.  You have complete control.

Easy Data Collection

Data collection pages can be easily created and fully customized to collect specific information from the signer or reviewer. You can have one or multiple data collection pages per document, with specific information required from different signers or reviewers. The solution will ensure all required fields are entered from a particular participant before proceeding to document signing. These data collection pages may be auto-generated by the system and allow full customer control of field names, field comments, general instructions to the filler, grouping of data, and default values.

A compliance officer's dream

What good is an electronic or digital signature if it's not enforceable and legally binding? Our eSignature platform is fully compliant with North American, European, and various Asia Pacific laws and regulations. It is also compliant with standards and regulations for some of the most highly regulated industries in the country, including insurance, financial services, banking, healthcare, and more.

Our eSignature solution actively supports the following technical standards:

  • W3C: HTML 5, A vocabulary and associated APIs for HTML and XHTML
  • W3C: HTML 4.01, HyperText Markup Language
  • W3C: XHTML 1.0, Extensible HyperText Markup Language
  • W3C: Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) 1.1 and 1.2
  • W3C: WCAG 1.0, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
  • IETF: RFC 5280, Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and CRL Profile
  • Adobe PDF Support

Our eSignature solution actively supports the following technical standards:

  • USA: HHS-HIPAA HIPAA Security Standards
  • USA: Electronic Signatures in Global and National (E-SIGN) Commerce Act
  • USA: Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) (State law)
  • USA: FDA 21 CFR 11 Electronic Signature Regulations
  • USA: SEC / NASD Electronic Signature and Records Standards (Brokerage)
  • USA: Federal Reserve/OCC Electronic Records Standards
  • USA: Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA)
  • USA: Department of Education Standards for eSignatures in Electronic Student Loan Transactions
  • USA: DoD Support for DoD PKI and Common Access Card Program
  • USA: IRS Electronic Signature Requirements
  • Canada: Electronic Commerce Act
  • EU: eIDAS - Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (effective July 1, 2016)
  • EU: Electronic Signatures Directive (ESD - (repealed and replaced July 1, 2016 by eIDAS)
  • Hong Kong: Electronic Transactions Ordinance
  • India: Information Technology Act
  • Japan: Law Concerning Electronic Signatures
  • Australia: Electronic Transactions Act
  • Singapore: Electronic Transactions Act
  • South Korea: Basic Law on Electronic Commerce
And we didn't even mention the detailed audit trail and evidence package that comes with each signed document!
Proven 600 million times

Investing in a solution to automate your electronic signature and document processes is very critical. There are very few solutions that have been available since electronic signatures became legally enforceable and even fewer that offer platform-level capabilities. Many online esignature services have entered the market in recent years via venture capital funding. While noisy in the market, most are not be profitable and should be considered higher risk options. Our digital signature platform has completed over 600 million legally-binding signatures since inception. They've been there and invented that.

Affordable for non-profits

One of the challenges child welfare agencies face is they have many employees who need to collect signatures but they typically don't have a high volume of transactions per user. While the rest of the esignature market continues to take the approach of high per-user charges, FosterCare.Team recognizes that doesn't work for most child welfare agencies.

We took a different approach. Our prices are based on the number of transactions, not the number of users. A transaction is a combination of documents and participants that are being processed in a workflow. So if six documents need to be signed by four people, that can be a single transaction if everything is included in the same workflow.

 
HIPPA Compliant
Mobile friendly
Electronic Signatures
Digital Signatures
Advanced Fields
Drag & Drop fields onto PDF
Unlimited # of transactions
Price / user / Month
Annual price for 15 users
1,000 transactions. cost / each

For less than the cost of postage and return postage, for less than the cost of mileage reimbursement and certainly more efficient than both of those options, FosterCare.Team's esignature solution can efficiently collect legally-binding signatures and provide a detailed audit trail and evidence package of the entire collection process.

Let's work together

Please contact us for more information about our digital signature solution and other efficiency gaining collaboration products.