How to standardise electronic signature approval workflows with DeepSign

Beyond electronic signatures

More and more organisations are asking the same question: which electronic signature solution can help standardise internal approval and signing workflows?

A simple digital signature is no longer enough. Today, organisations need solutions that automate recurring workflows, reduce manual tasks, and integrate electronic signatures with ERP systems, document management platforms, and other business software.

DeepSign addresses these needs by offering a platform that goes far beyond collecting electronic signatures. It automates the entire document approval and signing lifecycle, improving operational efficiency while ensuring standardised, secure, and compliant workflows.

Why standardise electronic signature workflows?

In most organisations, documents such as contracts, quotations, purchase orders, HR documents, and administrative paperwork follow the same process:

• document preparation;
• approval by managers;
• signatures from the relevant parties;
• archiving in the document management system.

When these activities are managed manually, processing times increase, the risk of errors grows, and tracking the status of documents becomes more difficult.

An advanced electronic signature solution transforms these steps into automated, repeatable workflows, reducing manual intervention and ensuring consistency across the organisation.

Automated reminders: fewer manual follow-ups, faster workflows

One of the main reasons approval processes are delayed is that someone forgets to sign.

With the Reminders feature, DeepSign automatically sends reminders to recipients who have not yet completed the signing process. Administrators can define the reminder frequency (for example, every 3, 7, or 14 days), eliminating the need to send manual follow-up emails.

This helps organisations to:

• reduce approval times;
• speed up signature collection;
• decrease administrative workload;
• improve compliance with deadlines.

Standardised workflows with signer and observer groups

Many approval and signing processes involve the same departments or the same people every time.

With signer groups and observer groups, DeepSign allows organisations to create reusable groups instead of configuring each workflow from scratch. This makes it possible to standardise recurring document workflows while ensuring that the right people are consistently involved in every signature request.

The groups are not rigid, however. Before sending a request, users can always modify a group—for example by adding or removing one or more participants—allowing the workflow to be adapted to the specific process without having to recreate the entire configuration.

The benefits are immediate:

• consistent processes across the organisation;
• fewer configuration errors;
• faster workflow setup;
• greater control over document workflows.

This feature is particularly valuable for recurring documents such as contracts, employment agreements, purchase orders, commercial proposals, and administrative procedures, where standardised workflows save time while maintaining the flexibility needed to handle exceptions and specific business cases.

Always include supporting documents in approval workflows

Standardising a workflow means more than defining who approves and who signs. It also means ensuring that every document is accompanied by the same supporting documentation.

With the Attachments feature, DeepSign allows organisations to attach additional documents—such as terms and conditions, brochures, quotations, technical specifications, or privacy notices—directly to the signature request without requiring additional signatures. Every recipient receives the complete documentation in a single request, eliminating separate emails and reducing the risk of important information being forgotten or shared in different versions.

This approach offers several advantages:

• standardises the content of every approval and signing workflow;
• ensures that all participants receive the same supporting documentation;
• improves collaboration across departments;
• reduces manual work and errors;
• increases traceability throughout the document workflow.

Internal approvals before signing

In many cases, a document must be reviewed before it is sent for signature.

With the Approver feature, DeepSign introduces an internal approval stage within the workflow.

For example, a contract can be:

• reviewed by the Sales Manager;
• approved by the Legal Department;
• validated by Management;
• automatically sent to the signers.

This enables organisations to standardise their approval processes while reducing the risk of sending documents that have not yet been properly authorised.

Standardise signature levels with default signature settings

Standardising an approval and signing process also means ensuring that documents are signed using the appropriate signature level and in compliance with the relevant legal framework.

With DeepSign, organisations can define a default signature type, choosing between Simple Electronic Signature (SES), Advanced Electronic Signature (AES), and Qualified Electronic Signature (QES). They can also configure a default legal framework, selecting either ZertES for Switzerland or eIDAS for the European Union.

These settings make it possible to align recurring signing workflows with an organisation’s most common operational and compliance requirements. Instead of asking users to select the signature type and legal framework every time, DeepSign automatically applies the preferred configuration.

This allows organisations to:

• reduce manual configuration;
• minimise the risk of selecting an inappropriate signature level;
• ensure greater consistency across departments;
• accelerate recurring signature requests;
• align workflows with internal compliance policies.

Default signature settings are particularly valuable for organisations that frequently process similar documents, such as employment contracts, supplier agreements, customer contracts, or documents subject to specific regulatory requirements.

Define a signing order

Not every signer needs to receive a document at the same time.

With Signing Order, DeepSign allows organisations to define a precise signing sequence. Each recipient automatically receives the signature request only after the previous signer has completed their action.

This feature is particularly useful for:

• commercial contracts;
• HR documentation;
• financial documents;
• corporate governance procedures.

The result is a fully automated workflow that complies with internal policies and approval procedures.

Fill out and sign PDF forms in a single workflow

Many documents require both data entry and a signature.

With the Form Filling feature, DeepSign allows users to complete PDF form fields and sign the document within the same workflow.

Users no longer need to:

• download the file;
• fill it out manually;
• save it;
• upload it again for signing.

The entire process is completed online in just a few minutes, improving the user experience while reducing errors.

Batch Signing: sign multiple documents with a single click

When multiple documents need to be signed, repeating the same process over and over again quickly becomes time-consuming.

With Batch Signing, DeepSign allows users to select multiple documents and sign them all at once with a single click and a single authentication.

This feature is particularly useful for:

• HR departments;
• administrative teams;
• procurement departments;
• professional services firms;
• organisations that manage high volumes of documents.

Batch Signing significantly reduces the time required to complete signatures, improves user productivity, and simplifies the management of recurring document workflows.

Integrations to standardise your entire document workflow

To truly automate approval and electronic signature workflows, your electronic signature platform must integrate seamlessly with the business applications your organisation already uses.

DeepSign offers integrations that embed electronic signatures directly into existing workflows, eliminating manual tasks, duplicate work, and unnecessary switching between applications.

Key integrations include:

• Abacus ERP, to initiate and manage signature workflows directly from your ERP system;
• DocuWare, to send documents for signature and automatically archive them within your document management system;
• Microsoft Power Automate, to automate approval and signature workflows by connecting them with Microsoft applications and services;
• Microsoft Dynamics 365, to integrate DeepSign into sales and administrative workflows, enabling users to generate, send, and sign documents directly within the platform without interrupting their work.

Thanks to these integrations, electronic signatures become a natural part of everyday business processes, reducing processing times, minimising errors, and improving collaboration across teams.

To explore all available integrations, visit the DeepSign Integrations page, where you’ll find the complete list of supported solutions, including Microsoft 365, Word, Excel, Outlook, SharePoint, Google Drive, Gmail, Power Automate, Microsoft Dynamics 365, DocuWare, and many more.

DeepSign: much more than an electronic signature platform

Organisations looking to standardise their business processes need more than a tool for signing PDF documents—they need a solution capable of orchestrating the entire document workflow.

With features such as:

• automated reminders;
• signer and observer groups;
• internal approvals;
• Signing Order;
• Form Filling;
• Batch Signing;
• integrations with ERP systems and business applications;

DeepSign transforms electronic signatures into a fully automated process, reducing processing times, repetitive tasks, and human error.

Conclusion

If your goal is to standardise approval and electronic signature workflows, DeepSign offers much more than a traditional electronic signature solution.

The platform enables organisations to automate recurring workflows, apply business rules, integrate electronic signatures with ERP and document management systems, and manage every stage of the approval and signing process securely, efficiently, and in compliance with applicable regulations.

For organisations looking to accelerate the digital transformation of their document workflows, DeepSign provides a comprehensive solution to digitise, standardise, and automate the entire approval and signing lifecycle.