Using ServiceNow Sign outside of HRSD

[Austin_Brunet]

Hello everyone!

I have been doing extensive research about how to use Digital Signature/ServiceNow Sign outside of HRSD and could not find anything in the community. I wasn't sure if anyone else was looking for a similar solution, and I wanted to share what I found. Please feel free to give any feedback or correct anything you see wrong, TIA!

Plugins:

• Document Templates [sn_doc]
• E-Signature [com.snc.esign]
• Document Template integration with Digital Signatures using Smart Cards [sn_dt_digitalsign]
  • Only for CAC signatures
• Approvals with e-Signature [com.glide.e_signature_approvals]

1. Create Managed Document
   • Navigate to Managed Documents > Documents > All
     • Name: <Name of managed document>
     • Owner: <Person that will manage document & revisions>
     • Reviewers: <List of reviewers of the document when revisions are submitted>
     • Type: <Your choice>
     • Classification: <Your choice>
     • Audience: <Your choice>
     • Name format: Default
     • Revision format: <Your choice (OOTB is 0.1)>
     • Auto increment revision: <Check if you want each revision to auto number>
2. Save & stay
   • Click “Upload/Check In Revision” in Related Links
   • Complete form and attach document that will be managed
   • Review and publish document based on your managed documents process.

3. Create an E-Signature Template

   • Name: <name of template>
   • Active: True
   • Task Table: Document Task
   • Document Type: Managed document
   • E-signature type: Signature
   • Managed document: <search and select your managed document>
   • Acknowledgment text: <optional>

4. Create a template

   • Navigate to sys_template.list & click “New”
     • Name: <name of template>
     • Table: Document Task [sn_doc_task]
     • Short Description: <you can use the name of the PDF that will be signed>
     • E-signature template: <E-signature created above>
     • Add template fields if needed
     • Next related child template: Blank
     • Next Related Template: Blank
     • Link Element: -- None –

5. Create Document Template

   • Navigate to Document Templates > All Document Templates
     • Click “New” & use the “PDF Document Template” kind
     • Name: <Template name>
     • Table: <table you want to use this document in>
     • Category: <Your choice>
     • Signing Type: Digital Signature – Smart Cards
     • Attachment type:
       • Upload new document
         • You upload into this record
         • If updated, will need to return to this template and update the pdf
       • Select from document revision
         • Select in the reference field “Document revision”
         • Based on records in the Managed Documents Table
   • Reference: Configure a PDF document template

6. TESTING

   • When testing, all participants MUST be populated before the script is executed; otherwise, the flow/process will not work.
   • In a flow, use the Automatic Document Task Creation Sub-Flow.
   • Script used for quick testing

var taskId = "<recordSysId>";
var tableName = "<taskId’s table name>";
var templateSysID = "<templateSysId>";
var generatedPdfName = "<PDf Name"; //If not used, it will use what is specified in template

var taskGr = new GlideRecord("<same as table name above>"); 
taskGr.get(taskId);  

new sn_doc.GenerateDocumentAPI().initiateDocumentTasks(taskGr, "", templateSysID, generatedPdfName);

• Troubleshooting
• After parse, no fields found
• PDF is locked or has issues
  • Get new PDF that isn't locked
• All digital signature fields should have a participate
• Before running flow, the dot-walked participate fields should not be empty
• When in Employee Center for the user to sign:
• If attachment not found
  • Possibly the template needs a new document
  • Template may not have the preview copy PDF attached.
• Adobe Issues
  • I have attached a FAQ sheet for troubleshooting this.

Resources:

Set up a document template for signing documents using a CAC or PIV smart card

Set up Certificate-based authentication

Using Document Templates: Generic use case

E-Signature/Document Template FAQ - Support and Troubleshooting

E-signature integration with ServiceNow Document Template and Adobe Sign/DocuSign

[brunoandrade]

I actually tested something similar a while ago based on this GitHub project:

🔗 https://github.com/elinsoftware/service-portal-signature-pad

It’s been some time since I last tried it, so I’m not entirely sure if it would still work with the current ServiceNow releases, but it might be a good starting point for exploring custom signature implementations outside of HRSD.

If this answer helps you, please mark it as the Accepted Solution ✅ so the community can easily find it. 💚