Chapter 2
2. User guide
This chapter deals with the practical use of DOCTAG.
Subsections of 2. User guide
1. Initial login and creation of the participant certificate
Every Doctag instance needs at minimum one participant certificate to work properly.
Log in with the access data provided during setup. Go to the settings and create the first participant certificate for a location. In order for your Doctag server to work, you need at least one participant certificate. A free certificate is included with DOCTAG/cloud. If you install DOCTAG/own on your own server, you will later have to pay for the certificates.
You will receive a registration letter by post, which serves to validate your address. As soon as you have carried out the steps mentioned in the letter, the certificate will be shown as valid in the portal and your Doctag server is ready for use. The next logical steps would be to create users and configure a workflow.
2. Creating users
Under the menu item Settings, you will find the menu item Users. Here, you create a user for all individuals who are to use Doctag. After storing the user, additional advanced settings are available to you via the Edit function, such as changing a password or deleting users. In the coming version, you will also be able to specify at this point whether a user is allowed to make changes to the settings of the Doctag server – i.e. has an admin role.
Furthermore, you can generate a QR code via the menu item Doctag App, with which the user can connect to your Doctag server via DOCTAG App. You can also easily share this QR code with the user via e-mail.
For more information on the DOCTAG App, please watch the corresponding video.
3. Creating a workflow
Workflows represent the system’s core. Here, each company creates the required roles within the document, as well as additional fields. The workflows are located under Settings > System > Workflows.
First, we create a new workflow and give it a name. Now we add the roles needed for the document – for example, sender, carrier and consignee. In the last step, we now consider which fields the respective contractual partner needs, in order to fulfil its rights and obligations as per the document.
Workflow data types / fields
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Text input | Free text field for entering remarks, numbers or indicators |
| Checkbox | A box to check off, allowing a question to be answered with yes or no |
| Attach file | Creates a field that can be used to upload additional, subordinate documents |
| Signing | A field in which a person can sign or draw a sketch, for example |
| A field in which a person can enter an e-mail address to get a copy of the document after having signed it |
In most cases, it makes sense to create a separate role for document upload. By doing so, a document can be uploaded by one of the participants at any time, and independently of a specific role.
The workflow structure shown serves as an example. There are no limits to your creativity, and any special requirement should be able to be mapped.
4. Start with first document
Take any sample document in PDF format. Make sure you have defined a workflow beforehand, as shown in the corresponding section.
Click on “Add Document” in the document list. Select the sample document and click Upload. Place the QR code in a free space in the document by dragging it with the mouse and select the workflow that applies to the document.
Now the document is available in the document list and the signature process can be initiated.
Each document has a detail page that provides additional information. You can access this page by clicking on the Folder open symbol.
The document upload can also be automated. To do this, watch the video on Configuring Mailimport.
5. Configure Mailimport
In addition to the manual upload of PDFs, the Doctag server also has a mail import function. This makes it very easy to import the documents by e-mail. The import function can also be automated to permanently retrieve new documents in a future release.
Mailimport checks whether the e-mail contains a PDF file. Then a check is made if the PDF document contains a valid Doctag in the form of a QR code. Only if this check is also successful the document will be imported. This lends the mail import function a certain level of spam protection.
If there are several QR codes in the document (e.g. one on each page of the PDF), the document is separated before each QR code and created as a separate document in the Doctag server.
Just how you can create a Doctag in the form of a QR code can be found in the corresponding section.
You can reach the menu item Mailimport via Settings > System > E-mail. The access data for a mailbox are required here. The mailbox should only be used by the Doctag server.
The mail import function always uses the standard workflow of the Doctag server. This is the workflow marked with an asterisk in the settings.