E-signing the disclosure letter

How a client e-signs the disclosure letter online with Tallify, with no code: the checks on name and ID, the signature record, and held signatures.

The client signs the practice's letter of introduction and disclosures online from their onboarding link. No emailed code is needed: the name and ID number signed are checked against the client's record. The signed letter is filed on their record with a signature record page, and the prospect becomes a client unless the signature is held for you to confirm.

When online signing is offered

Online signing opens once the practice's compliance officer has signed off the letter (see Settings and your setup). Until then, the onboarding page offers the letter to download, print, sign and send back, and the paper route below applies. A client with no email address on record can sign online too.

What the client does

1. Your details for the letter. The client fills in the few details the letter needs, then chooses Show my letter. Lines the client need not complete are closed as "Not applicable", so they never sign a blank or partly completed letter.
2. Read your letter. The completed letter is shown in full before any signature is asked for, with your saved signature on the adviser's line. Larger text and Open the letter as a PDF help on a small screen. If the practice's letter includes it, the client also chooses whether to appoint the practice on policies they already have.
3. Sign. The client signs with a finger, stylus or mouse (Draw), types their full name (Type instead), or uploads a photo of their signature on paper (Upload a picture). They tick that they have read and accept the letter, and choose Sign the letter.

The version signed is the version seen. If anything in the letter changed after the client was shown it, the signature is refused and they are asked to read the letter again.

The client's copy

The client can download the signed letter from the same link, and a copy is emailed to them once it is approved under Review email approvals. Only the signed letter is kept: the signature on its own is never stored.

The signature record

A page headed "Electronic signature record" is added to the signed letter. It shows who signed, with a masked ID number; when, in South African time and UTC; from which network address and device; how they signed; how the link reached them (emailed by the practice, or copied by the adviser); the exact words they ticked; and fingerprints (SHA-256) of the blank letter, the completed letter and the final file. It carries a statement on section 13 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act. The same details are kept in the practice's database.

Held signatures

A signature is filed but held when the name or ID number signed differs from the client's record, or when the ID number signed is already on another client's record. A held signature does not make the prospect a client. The row shows Signed online: confirm ID and an office task "Confirm e-signer identity" is raised.

1. Check the client's ID document (from the onboarding page's third step, or on the Documents tab).
2. On their row on the Prospects tab, choose Confirm identity.
3. Tick that you have seen the ID document and that it matches the name and ID number on the signed letter, then choose Confirm and make a client.

An SA ID number signed on the letter goes onto a record that has none, with its date of birth: at signing when the name is the record's, otherwise when you confirm identity. It never replaces a number already on record.

Signing on paper

The letter attached to the pack email stays available, with your saved signature on it. A signed letter the client emails back to the practice is filed and makes them a client. If they send back the unsigned copy, they are asked to sign it. For a letter handed to you, choose Signed letter received on their row on the Prospects tab, enter the date, attach the signed copy if you have it, and choose Mark as client.