Electronic Signatures

You can sign PDF documents with Electronic signature certificates and optionally apply the Electronic signature appearances.

Signing can be applied to PDF documents generated with both Docentric and SSRS rendering engine.

After you obtain the certificates for document signing from the Trusted Certificate Authority (CA), you can store them using the Electronic signature certificates form:

  1. In Azure Key Vault: in that case you will also use the standard Key Vault Parameters form in D365FO, to set up the Azure Key Vault certificates per company (see Step 1), or
  2. As local .PFX files: you will upload them to the database in D365FO, to make them available to Docentric PDF signing (see Step 2).

Learn how to use Azure Key Vault >>

Step 1 (optional): Set up D365FO Key Vault Parameters

Open the System administration > Setup > Key Vault parameters form to set up the credentials for accessing Azure Key Vault and certificates stored in it:

Step 2: Set up Electronic signature certificates

To set up the certificates to be used with Docentric, click the Docentric AX Workspace > Related > Electronic signature certificates menu item. It will open the Electronic signature certificates form.

 

Notice the Related information form part, where you can see if the selected certificate is used on some reports.

When registering a new certificate:

  • Click the Add button.
  • Select Certificate storage: Database or Key vault.
  • If Database: point to the locally stored .PFX certificate which will be uploaded to D365FO database. In that case you will also need to provide a password which you used for generating the certificate.
  • If Key vault: point to the Azure Key Vault certificate configured in Step 1.

You will be able to use these certificates when configuring the PDF signing for the Docentric reports (see Step 4).

Step 3 (optional): Set up Electronic signature appearances

Additionally, if you want to apply the visualization of electronic signature on the generated PDF documents, you need to set up the appearances. Click the Docentric AX Workspace > Related > Electronic signature certificates menu item. It will open the Electronic signature appearances form.

 

When you add a new appearance, focus on the following:

  1. Select Signature appearance type: Text only, Image only, or the combination.
  2. Specify Signature position and size: experiment with different positions and sizes. Save the setting to see Signature preview (see point 6).
  3. Optionally, if you selected one of the types with image, click the Change button to upload the Signature image.
  4. Modify the parameters in the Language settings fast tab as needed.
  5. Use different values in the Signature preview values fast tab to make sure that the result in the Signature preview window is as expected.
  6. Refer to Signature preview while fine-tuning the appearance.

Step 4: Set up Electronic signature for Docentric reports

In Docentric report setup select the report for which you want to configure PDF signing, then click the Settings > Document generation > PDF Security menu item. It will open the PDF Security form for the selected report:

  • Company ID: use the DAT company for a common setting which will be applied for all companies or enter separate per-company settings.
  • Is enabled: new entry is enabled by default, but it can be disabled if needed.
  • Certificate: lookup into Electronic signature certificates configured for the selected Company ID (see Step 2).
  • Is valid: when a Certificate is selected, its validity is automatically checked, and this flag is set accordingly.
  • Long-term validation: Turn on to ensure long-term validation (LTV) of the signature. By including all necessary information about the status of the certificate and its chain of trust at the time of signing, LTV allows your digital signatures to live on long after the original signing certificate has expired. However, be aware that creating an LTV signature requires an Internet connection as well as it might have a performance impact and increase document size. Read more about LTV >>
  • Default signature appearance: optionally specify the default signature appearance to be used for this company on this report. You will later have a possibility to override this setting per template.
  • Reason, Location, Contact: specify the values to be used on the appearance. Notice that you can use the placeholders.

Use the Test signature button to generate a signed PDF document based on the current configuration, so that you can verify the resulting signature details and appearance:

Step 5 (optional): Override the signature appearance per template

It might happen that for some template you want to apply a different signature appearance from the default one configured in Step 4. In Docentric report setup, on the Templates fast tab select that template and click the Edit button:

Then in the Report template form:

  1. Turn on the Override signature appearance option.
  2. Select Template signature appearance to override the default appearance.

Result: Signed PDF documents

When is signing applied? If all the following conditions are met:

  • Print destination that results in generating a PDF file is used. More specifically:
    • Docentric Email print destination (PDF output format).
    • Docentric File print destination (PDF output format).
    • Docentric Printer print destination (Print as PDF option is ON).
    • Docentric Print archive print destination.
    • Docentric Screen print destination.
    • Any Docentric print destination with the Save in print archive option turned on.
  • PDF signing is configured for the report and company.
  • PDF signing for the report and company is enabled.
  • Electronic signature certificate is accessible and valid when the report is printed.

See also

Watch video on how to configure and use Electronic signatures >>
Learn how to generated self-signed certificates >>
Learn about PDF Encryption >>
How to Use Placeholders in Print Destinations >>
How to Set Up User-Defined Labels >>

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