Send a document for signature

Send any of your templates to an employee for signature. Each signer is emailed a secure link when it is their turn, and signs on their phone or computer. They don’t need a Cadre login.

Who can send, remind, resend and void: Owner, HR admin.

Before you start

The template must be in Your templates. Copy one from Cadre’s library if you have none.
The employee must be a current employee, and every detail the template uses must be on their record.
Every signer needs an email address, because that is where their link goes.

Send it

Go to Signature requests and select Send for signature. You can also start from a template, or from the Documents tab of the employee’s profile.
Choose the Template and the Employee.
Change the Title if you want to. Otherwise the template’s name is used.
Check the Sign by date. It is 14 days from today unless you change it. After that date the request expires and can’t be signed.
Check the signers under Signers, in order. They start as the template’s default signers. See Signers.
Read the document as the employee will read it, further down the page. If details are missing, Cadre lists each one and where to fill it in: fill them in, then select Check again.
Check that it says Sending as the right organisation, then select Send for signature.

An uploaded PDF is sent exactly as it was uploaded, with each signer’s fields filled in when they sign.

How signing works

When it is their turn, each signer is emailed a one-time link. The email carries a summary and the link, never the document itself, because contracts hold pay and personal details.
When they open the link, they ask for a 6-digit code, which is emailed to the same address. The code works for 10 minutes and only once.
They read the document, and can download it.
They sign by drawing their signature with a finger, stylus or mouse, or by typing their name. A typed name must match their name as recorded, ignoring capitals and spaces.
They tick to agree to sign electronically, and select Sign. Or they select Decline to sign and give a reason, which closes the request and tells you why.

Signers who have a Cadre login can also sign in Cadre, from My documents.

Order and stages

Signers sign in the order you set, one at a time: the next signer is emailed when the one before has signed. Signers ticked Signs together with the signer above form a stage. Everyone in a stage is asked at once and signs in any order, and the next stage starts once all of them have signed.

A role place, such as any HR admin, is sent to every member with that role. Whoever signs first fills it, and the others’ links stop working.
The line manager place goes to the employee’s manager when it is sent. While that manager is away (on approved leave today, no longer employed, or unable to sign in), their own manager can sign in their place.
The person who sent a document may countersign it for the organisation. That is normal: HR often sends a contract and then signs it for the employer.
The employee can never sign for the organisation on their own document.

Keeping links safe

A link works only for its signer, while it is their turn, and stops working once used, when the request is completed, declined, voided or expires, and when a newer link replaces it.
After 5 wrong codes the link locks for good, and whoever sent the document is told. Send a new one with Resend link.
Opening the link again later asks for a new code.

Follow a request

Signature requests lists everything sent, newest first, with the employee, the document, its status, who it is Waiting for, when it was Sent and its Sign by date. Filter by Status:

Status	What it means
Awaiting signature	Sent, and no one has signed yet.
Awaiting countersignature	Some signers have signed; others still have to.
Completed	Everyone has signed.
Declined	A signer declined, with their reason.
Void	You voided it.
Expired	The sign-by date passed before everyone signed.

Select a document to open the request. It shows the template and version, who sent it and when, each signer and their status (by stage, when there are stages), each Signing link and its status, the Evidence of each signature, and the text or PDF exactly as sent.

Select Download PDF as sent, or Download signed PDF once it is completed.

Remind, resend or void

While a request is open you can:

Remind: email whoever’s turn it is a new link. The earlier link stops working. You can remind at most once an hour.
Resend link: send a new link straight away, for example after a link has locked or you have corrected an email address.
Void: close the request, giving a reason. It can no longer be signed. Signatures already given stay on record, and a workflow waiting on it fails with your reason.

Cadre also reminds signers automatically, every 3 days by default, with a new link each time, until they sign or the request expires. Change the interval, or turn it off with 0, under Settings → Organisation → Documents, in Remind signers every (days).

When everyone has signed

Cadre adds a signature page carrying the evidence to the PDF, and records a fingerprint of the signed copy.
The signed PDF is filed on the employee’s record as a Contract, shared with them in My documents. See Documents on an employee’s record.
The employee and whoever sent the document are emailed that everyone has signed.

A completed request, its signatures and their evidence can never be changed.

The evidence Cadre records

For every signature, Cadre records and prints on the signature page:

how they signed: the drawn signature, or the typed name;
the time, in Lagos and in UTC;
the IP address and the browser or device;
who signed and how they proved it, for example by email link and code, or signed in to Cadre;
the stage they signed in;
the fingerprint (SHA-256) of the exact document they signed;
the consent they agreed to, word for word.

Signers see this statement when they sign: “Electronic signatures are valid and admissible under the Evidence Act 2011, section 93, and the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act 2015, section 17.”