Approval with e-signature
Summarize
Summary of Approval with e-signature
The Approval with e-signature feature in ServiceNow enables users to approve or reject approval records by re-entering their login credentials, ensuring compliance with Title 21 CFR Part 11 electronic signature requirements. This feature is essential for organizations that need to meet FDA regulations for electronic records and signatures.
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Key Features
- Compliance Support: Validated for Title 21 CFR Part 11, capturing signer’s printed name, date/time of signature, and the meaning of the signature (approval or rejection).
- Approval Tables: Supports approvals with e-signature on standard tables like Change Request and Standard Change Proposal. Additional approval tables can be added or removed as needed.
- Approver Authentication: Approvers must authenticate by entering their user credentials, which are verified against local user records or an integrated Single Sign-On (SSO) provider.
- Approval History: All approvals with e-signatures are logged in the activity stream and audit history of the approval record for traceability.
- Multiple Approval Methods: Users can approve or reject via context menus, form UI actions, or by changing the state field, each triggering the authentication dialog.
- User Credential Sources: Supports local user credentials or remote identity provider credentials through Multi-Provider SSO integration with SAML 2.0.
- Plugin Activation: The Approval with e-Signature plugin must be activated to enable this functionality, with the option to deactivate e-signatures if required.
- Configuration Flexibility: Allows setup of e-signature approvals using local database credentials or SSO for enhanced security and compliance management.
What ServiceNow Customers Can Expect
- Robust compliance with electronic signature regulations, supporting regulated industries.
- Enhanced security by requiring approvers to re-authenticate before approving or rejecting records.
- Comprehensive audit trails that include detailed signature metadata for regulatory audits.
- Flexibility to manage which approval tables require e-signatures, aligning with organizational policies.
- Seamless integration with existing user authentication methods, including SSO, for streamlined user experience.
Practical Implementation Notes
- Ensure user credentials (local or SSO) are properly configured before enabling e-signature approvals.
- Activate the Approval with e-Signature plugin to start using this feature, and configure approval tables as needed.
- Understand that every approval action triggers an authentication prompt, maintaining security and compliance.
- Use activity streams and audit history to monitor and verify approval activities for compliance auditing.
Approve or reject an approval record by re-entering your login credentials. See the history of an approval from its activity stream or its audit history.
Support for Title 21 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 11
The Approval with e-signature plug-in is validated for Title 21 CFR Part 11 electronic signature requirements. This plug-in is required for compliance to 21 CFR Part 11.
- The printed name of the signer
- The date and time when the signature was made
- The meaning of the signature (approval or rejection)
This information is stored as part of the activity stream and audit history of the record.
Approval tables
- Change Request [change_request]
- Standard Change Proposal [std_change_proposal]
When you add an approval table, any approval for the table needs an e-signature authorization. See Select an approval table to add or remove a table from supporting Approval with e-signature.
Approver Authentication dialog
Approvers must enter their user credentials to change the approval state. If the credentials fail, then the approval remains unchanged. The system checks the user credentials against local user records or an active single sign-on integration.
Approval History
Each Approval [sysapprover_approver] record has an activity stream that tracks changes to it. Approvals made by e-signature are stored as field changes.
Available approval options
The Change Request [change_request] table provides these approval options.
- List options
- The Change Request table provides context menu options to approve or reject records. When someone selects either the Approve or Reject context menu option, the system displays the Approver Authentication confirmation dialog.
- UI actions
- The Change Request form provides UI actions to approve or reject a record. When someone selects either the Approve or Reject UI action, the system displays the Approver Authentication confirmation dialog.
- Change record state
- The Change Request table provides a State field to approve or reject a record. When someone selects either the Approved or Rejected state, the system displays the Approver Authentication confirmation dialog.
User credential sources
- A set of local User [sys_user] records.
- A remote identity provider service accessed by the Multi-Provider Single Sign-On (SSO) integration.
User credentials must be set up before enabling Approvals with e-signature. See Creating users to create local User records.
See Multi-Provider single sign-on (SSO) to create an integration to a Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) 2.0 identity provider.