Does the Docusign REST API have contract forwarding? - docusignapi

In certain circumstances we would like to automate the forwarding of completed Docusign contracts to certain new recipients, possibly adding another page. Is there a way to do that with the REST API, or does that have to be done manually?

The short answer is Yes.
In DocuSign-speak, "completed" means that the envelope (transaction) has reached its final stage. No more changes, it's frozen and saved in the DocuSign platform.
Also, note that virtually anything you can do via the DocuSign web app can also be done programmatically via one of DocuSign's APIs.
So you have two options:
Send the first envelope to someone else as a new envelope
After the first envelope is complete, your API program could analyse it to see if it needs some additional recipients. If so, your API program could start a new envelope transaction that includes the completed (signed) document, possibly the first envelope's certificate of completion, along with the new documents to be signed (or not) and new recipients.
You could include the first set of documents (from the first envelope) either as supplemental documents to the new envelope or as regular documents within the new envelope. To obtain the documents from the first envelope, your application would download them from DocuSign and then upload them for the new envelope.
A live "supplemental" documents example.
A envelope is optionally sent to additional recipients
An alternative is to have one envelope and optionally programmatically send it to additional signers with, perhaps, additional documents for the new signers.
This might be a bit trickier to program with the DocuSign eSign APIs but is certainly doable.
After the last "original" signer has completed signing, you can pause the workflow.
Once the workflow is paused, your application can again analyse the document to see if more recipients need to sign, an additional document needs to be added, etc. Then your API program uses the API to update the envelope as needed, including adding additional recipients (who may or may not be signers). This is called "correcting" the envelope. Then your program resumes the envelope's workflow.
Your program should be notified that the envelope has paused by using the Connect webhook feature, either at the account or envelope level.
If you have more questions about this answer, please open new questions on StackOverflow. Make each question as specific as you can. Thank you.

Related

How to determine the docusign recipient action taken on document

I am using Remote Signing with the DocuSign api, but I want to know how to determine what action the recipient took (i.e. they signed, declined to sign, viewed, etc). How do I do this?
You want the status of the envelopes you sent?
Best technique is to create a webhook and have DocuSign call your server when the envelope's status changes.
You can create DocuSign notification message subscriptions at either the account level or at the individual envelope level.
See this blog entry for more info. Ask additional questions on StackOverflow if you have any difficulties.

DocuSign API Webhook for add/remove signers?

I've already been successfully using the envelope eventNotification webhooks to receive status updates for various envelope and signer events (Sent, Delivered, Completed, etc.), but I'm trying to solve one last event case: adding and removing signers from the envelope.
Suppose in a situation where envelopes are shared among multiple people in a company:
1. Someone creates an envelope through the API, and adds 3 signers.
2. Someone else makes corrections to the envelope using DocuSign's web site, and removes a signer...
Is there any way for my app to know that action #2 took place? Or do I have to wait for one of the regular signer events to take place before I will know that the signers on the envelope have changed?
Connect event triggers for the start and finish of Envelope Correct are a good idea. You'd use the finish trigger to figure out what has happened.
This enhancement request is internally logged at DocuSign as CONNECT-510.
Ask your DocuSign Account Executive or Account Manager to add your organization's interest in the enhancement. It is not yet scheduled to be released, other Connect architectural work is needed first.
The history of the envelope, including correct operations is available from Envelopes: listAuditEvents. You could use that today to see if someone is correcting the envelopes you're interested in.

Possible values for "Action" value in DOCUSIGN API audit_event

There is a documentation about possible envelop status value from docusign for a given envelope.
Howver i am trying to understand if there are any documentation which lists out the possible "Action" value from docusign in the "Audit_event" REST API method.
The reaosn is I am storing the audit events locally to avoid multiple API calls and i wanted to account for all the possible action values.
Thanks for reading
Since there were any documentation provided, i am including the staus i have seen based on my reverse engg
Registered
Sent Invitations
Printable Copy Delivered
Printable Copy Attached to Email
AccessCode Passed
AccessCode Failed
Viewed
Signed
Approved
Resent
Voided
Declined
Correction Initiated
Correction Cancelled
Viewed In-Session
Corrected
I've never seen any documentation for possible values of the action property within a GET Envelope Audit Events response -- to the best of my knowledge, none exists. You might be stuck having to 'reverse engineer' to determine possible values. i.e., create envelopes via the DocuSign web console, act on them in a variety of ways (both as Sender and as Recipient) -- for example: Send Envelope, Void Envelope, Decline Envelope, Sign Envelope, View Envelope, Pass Signer Authentication, Fail Signer Authentication, etc. etc. etc. -- and then examine the corresponding action values that appear in the GET Envelope Audit Events response for those Envelopes.
Obviously this approach is not ideal, since someone fairly new to DocuSign won't necessarily know all of things that can be done with an Envelope, in order to trigger the various action values in the API response. Perhaps someone from DocuSign will see this post and chime in with a list of all possible values...or better yet, add this info to the API Guide one day soon.

Reuse/alter a DocuSign envelope, to update its document PDF, once the envelope is In Process

We need to be able to handle a scenario where the document PDF needs to be updated and resent, after the envelope is In Process. Do we always need to create a new envelope or can we reuse the current envelope ID?
Our process goes roughly like this:
A PDF document is generated (not using a DocuSign template).
We create an envelope for the document PDF.
The first signer (our employee) signs the document (using an embedded signing page).
The other signers sign the document (also using an embedded signing page).
Firstly, we want to know if we're forced to incur another "sent" envelope (i.e. we're billed) every time we want to update a document PDF. Secondly, we're looking for a clean way to implement updates, without the need to manage multiple envelopes.
Yes you will unfortunately have to make a new envelope if you want to make changes to the underlying document(s) of the envelope after it has been sent. This is actually a fundamental part of the service and the reason is not to make you incur a new envelope - instead it's actually a security / legal requirement.
Imagine that we are in the old world and I need two people to sign a document on paper. I have the first person sign, then before the second person signs I make a change to the document that says the first person owes me $1,000,000. Then the second person signs, the document completes, and now you have a signature from both people but it contains content that the first person did not actually agree to (and they apparently owe you $1,000,000 now!). That's the main reason why you can't change the underlying document once it's been sent.
Two possible workarounds I can think of:
1. Add data fields or other Stick-eTabs to the envelope for the parts of the document that might change.
2. Use the signer attachments tab to add additional documents.
For #1, let's say you send out a sales contract for $100,000, but after it's been sent a new price is determined. If the $100,000 is in the document content itself then you can not edit it and you'd have to create a new envelope with the new document; however if it's through a Data Field then your recipients can simply edit the value as the document works towards completion.
For #2, there are special Stick-eTabs you can add called Signer Attachment Tabs which allow recipients to attach whole documents and other files to the envelope. You could utilize this to add your changes to the envelope.
Is there a human involved in updating/replacing the document, or are you looking to fully automate the process with the API? As Ergin stated, it's not possible to add/remove documents using the API once an Envelope has been Sent. However, it IS possible for the Sender of the envelope to "Correct" (and re-send) the Envelope using the DocuSign web console -- including adding or removing documents for an Envelope that's already been Sent, but documents can be ONLY be removed/replaced IF none of the recipients have yet acted on the Envelope. i.e., once at least one recipient has acted on the Envelope, it won't be possible for the Sender to remove/replace documents in the Envelope (although they can Add new documents, as long as the Envelope is still in-process).
You can use the API to launch the "Correct Envelope" view as follows:
POST https://demo.docusign.net/restapi/v2/accounts/{acctId}/envelopes/{envelopeId}/views/correct
The response to this operation will return a URL that you can use to launch the "Correct Envelope" view.
Finally, one important caveat about using the "Correct Envelope" feature to enable the Sender to modify documents in an envelope: once the person is logged into the DocuSign web console where they'll correct the envelope, they'll have full access to that user account in the DocuSign web console -- i.e, they'll be able to access all Envelopes in that user account (Sent Items, Inbox, Deleted Items, etc.), send new Envelopes, access user settings via "Preferences", etc. So, be careful using the Correct view if you're concerned at all with providing the person with full access to that user account within the DocuSign web console.
Note: In order for the Sender to be able to add/remove Documents in the "Correct Envelope" view, the "Advanced Correct" feature must be enabled for the DocuSign account (in Preferences >> Features).

How to use Docusign API to get one link for multiple signatures

Hello Docusign Team Member,
Currently we are using the docusign for e-signatures and it is working very well. However, we need to integrate to with our internal project management tool called as AtTask.
AtTask has its own approval process, all I need from docusign is a link which managers can click into while being asked for signatures.
To briefly explain the process:
We have these set of documents, which is first being approved by the procurement manager, then it automatically goes to the Project director, When he signs it, it automatically goes to the Assistant Director, when he signs it, it gets routed back to the project admin that initiated the process.
Now, my question is, how can I create this process on docusign and get one link that I can use in our PM tool..? I was seeing that one possible way to do it is by using your API feature.. Could you please help me with that..?
Your help is very much appreciated.
There are a couple of ways you could set up your desired workflow however please note that you will not be able to do all of this with just one link. You'll either need to generate a unique URL for each recipient, or you can use email to initiate the requests. Both are very easy to setup.
In the DocuSign system there are two general methods for initiating your signature requests-
1. Email Delivery
2. Embedding Feature
I'll briefly describe each but for a good explanation of the differences please see this page from the DocuSign Developer Center
http://www.docusign.com/developer-center/explore/features/embedding-docusign
When you setup signature requests through the DocuSign Console they are sent using the first method- Email - and the recipients are known as "remote" recipients. This means that each recipient receives an email when it's their turn to sign, and they start the signing workflow by clicking the link in the email request.
You can add as many recipients you want to the envelope and using the Routing Order property you can control the order that each recipient signs the documents. If two recipients have routing order 1 and 2, for example, then the second recipient can not sign until the first recipient is done signing. If they have the same routing order, then they can sign at the same time.
With the second method - Embedding - your recipients are known as "captive" or "embedded" recipients, and they will start the signing process directly by clicking on a hyperlink (i.e. instead of waiting for an email and clicking from there they can access it immediately). This is done by generating a URL token. For more info on how to create URL tokens for your recipients please see the above link to Dev Center.
You can intermix your recipients on a given envelope, meaning you can have embedded and remote recipients in the same envelope, so if you want you could make your Procurement Manager an embedded recipient (so that they start signing by opening a URL) and then all the remaining recipients remote recipients so that once the procurement manager signs the system then automatically emails the next manager for their signature, and so on. Or if you don't want to ever wait for any emails then you could make each recipient an embedded one, but they will still have to at least click a link (or have one automatically opened for them) to start their signing workflow.
The two best resources for this are the above link, which I'm referencing here again, and the API Walkthroughs. The last three walkthroughs all focus on Embedding DocuSign...
DocuSign Embedding Feature
DocuSign API Walkthroughs

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