Signing example
Purchase order approval by e-signature
A purchase order approval signature is a two step routing problem: the requester raises, the approver commits the spend, and the order matters. This page shows PO-8842 from the documents examples signed that way, with block headings that print RAISED BY and APPROVED BY, a required cost code typed by the approver, and a resend after the approver's original invitation went missing.
The document itself is written out in full on its own page:read the wording there. This page is only about signing it.
Who signs what
- Sonia Talevski, site supervisor, raises the order
- Signature block headed RAISED BY: Name, Title, Date · Email link
- Marcus Ilves, operations manager, approves
- Signature block headed APPROVED BY: Name, Title, Date · Cost code, typed and required · Email link
The signing journey
Step 1
Two blocks and a cost code
Three fields cover the whole authorisation: a block headed RAISED BY for the supervisor, a block headed APPROVED BY for the manager, and a required cost code text field on the approver's side. Sign in order is on, so the approver cannot move first.
Step 2
The requester signs
Sonia opens her link, types Site Supervisor into the Title line of her block, and signs. Her Date line stamps itself, and only now is the approver's invitation generated.
Step 3
The invitation goes missing, so the sender resends
With the approver's email lost in a crowded inbox, the sender presses Resend beside his name. That rotates the signing token, kills the old link, resets his viewed status and appends an Invitation resent event to the trail.
Step 4
The approver signs from the fresh link
Marcus opens the new invitation, types Operations Manager and the cost code EB-STR-4102, and signs the APPROVED BY block. The portal will not finish while the required cost code is empty.
Step 5
The committed order is certified
The listener stamps both blocks, certifies the file, and emails the completed order to both signers and the sender. The certificate's twelve event log includes the resend, and every invoice on the order now quotes a cost code that was typed at approval.
What the signed order and certificate show
Page 2 of the completed PDF carries both blocks, RAISED BY and APPROVED BY printed above the two names and titles, the two stamped dates, and the cost code in its own field. The certificate lists both signers with Email link verification and logs twelve events: creation, attachment, sending, then each signer's invitation, opening, viewing and signature, with the resent event sitting between the first signature and the second invitation's opening.
How to adapt this envelope
A three level approval adds a third recipient in order, perhaps a commercial manager above a higher threshold, each with their own headed block; an envelope holds up to 25 recipients. If the supplier should acknowledge as well, add them as a final external signer with a one-time code, and the same PDF collects the internal authorisation and the supplier's confirmation in one certified file.
What makes this signing flow work
Approval is a heading, not a role
There is no approver role in the product, and this envelope does not need one. The block's role heading prints APPROVED BY in uppercase above the manager's name and title, so the paper says exactly what his signature meant, while the system treats him as what he is, the second signer.
Order makes it a workflow
With Sign in order on, the approver physically cannot sign an unraised order: his link does not exist until the requester's signature lands. Segregation of duties is enforced by the envelope rather than promised by a procedure document.
The resend left evidence, not confusion
The lost email was handled without a side channel: one click rotated the token, the dead link can never resurface, and the trail says Invitation resent with a timestamp. The certificate shows precisely one approval, from the second link.
Questions people ask
Is there an approver role in the product?
No, every recipient is a signer. The approval semantics live in two places: the enforced signing order, which makes the manager's signature depend on the requester's, and the block heading, which prints APPROVED BY on the page above his name and title.
What exactly happens on a resend?
A new signing token is issued and the old link dies immediately, the recipient's viewed status and failed verification counters reset, the expiry is refreshed, and an Invitation resent event is appended. Resending is refused once that person has signed or declined.
Can the approver reject the order?
Yes, by declining with a typed reason. The envelope moves to declined, nothing is stamped, and the sender receives the reason by email. The timesheet approval example shows a full declined run and the tidy up that follows it.
Why is the cost code a signing field?
Because the person committing the spend is the right person to bind the order to a budget line. The field is required, typed by the approver during signing, and covered by the same event and hash records as his signature.
How long does the approver have to act?
Until the envelope expires, thirty days after creation. On this order the deadline pressure was the delivery date, not the link, and the resend refreshed the token's expiry when the invitation went missing.
Does the requester see the finished approval?
Yes. The completion email goes to every recipient and the sender with the certified PDF attached, so the supervisor who raised PO-8842 holds the same approved copy as the manager who signed off on it.
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Want the steps in the builder? Read Send a PDF for e-signature, then Send a document for signature. For everything this generator can do, see the signing flow maker.
Sources
Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .