Available from v2.166.1+
In this guide we will cover:
– How to use the contract signing functionality
– Secure signing
Note: Within Halo the terms 'contract' and 'agreement' are used interchangeably.
How to use the contract signing functionality
When a customer contract is proposed or comes up for renewal this can be sent out to the customer from Halo with the terms and conditions for them to sign and agree to.
To do this you will need to edit the email template used when sending the contract, head to configuration > email > email templates, open the template called 'Contract Email Subject', this will have 'id=261' in the URL. It is important this is the template you edit as this is hard coded to be the template used when the contract is sent.
Edit the template to include the following variable: $-CONTRACTAPPROVAL
Fig 1. Contract email template with contract approval link
This variable will add a link into the email, linking the customer to the contract terms and conditions, here they will be able to agree and sign. This link will re-direct the user to the portal.
Once added navigate to the contract you would like to send off to be signed and use the 'send' action.
Fig 2. Send action within contract
When used you will see a preview of the email on the right hand side of the page before confirming send.
Fig 3. Sending preview
When the link is followed the customer will be see the contract PDF and will be prompted to enter their name, email address and signature. By clicking 'submit' the customer details are submitted and the contract is deemed as 'signed'.
Fig 4. Signing agreement
Once the agreement is signed you may want the signage details to be visible within the contract PDF, to do this you will need to add some additional variables to your contract PDF template.
Head to configuration > reporting > PDF templates > change the entity to agreements > select the PDF template you are using for the agreement > edit the page > pages tab > edit the main page. Here you will be able to see the HTML for the template, this is where you can add/remove elements to the agreement PDF. Here you can add the following variables:
$-CONTRACTAPPROVERNAME – This will pull through the name of the person signing and agreeing to the contract.
$-CONTRACTAPPROVEREMAIL – This will pull through the email of the person signing and agreeing to the contract.
$-CONTRACTSIGNATURE – This will pull through an image of the signature given when agreeing and signing the contract.
Note: Further changes to your PDF template, such as customising the terms and conditions, can be done here too.
The PDF you use as the contract template can be changed in configuration > agreements.
Figure 5 shows an example of how to format these variables to be included in the contract details table using the out-of-the-box template.
Fig 5. Editing the PDF template to include signing information
Once the template is edited the contract/agreement PDF will look similar to the example in figure 6.
Fig 6. PDF after additional variables added.
Once the contract has been signed the PDF will update with the new information, at this point you can generate the PDF for the agreement. For record keeping purposes you may may to store the PDF with the signage details against the customer's account. You can make use of the 'documents' tab under the customer profile for this. Simply download the agreement PDF then drag this from your files into the documents tab under the customer and this will be able to be viewed within Halo by anyone who has access to the customer.
Fig 7. Agreement PDF stored against the customer
By default the document will not be visible to end users. To toggle the visibility select the document (using the left hand side checkbox), hover over the edit button and you will see an option to toggle the end user visibility on/off.
Fig 8. Toggle end user visibility
Secure Signing
Secure signing can be enabled to ensure only the contract contact can sign the agreement.
Head to configuration > agreements, enable the setting shown in figure 9.
Fig 9. Enable secure signing
Once enabled you will need to ensure each of your contracts has a contact assigned to them. This is set under the details tab of the contract setup. The contract contact can only be a user under the customer the agreement is for.
Once enabled, if the agreement is sent to, or the link is opened by someone who is not the contract contact they will not be able to sign for the agreement. If they try to submit their details a popup message will inform them they do not have permission to do this. As the link opens the agreement within the self-service portal, if the user that is logged in to the portal does not match the user denoted as the contract contact, they will not be able to sign for the agreement.
