Signing the contract

Signing the Contract

This document explains the technical process of digitally signing a contract via Vlens portal and the VlensPdfSigner tool.

Overview

The contract signing process in Vlens is performed once a contract reaches the “Customer signed” state. At this stage, the service provider should be able to sign being the other party included in the contract.

A user with the BusinessRequestContractSigner role is authorized to complete the signing on behalf of the business entity.

This process involves a combination of actions performed through the Vlens Portal, interaction with a hardware token, and the use of the VlensPdfSigner desktop tool.

Signing Flow Summary

  1. Preconditions

    • The contract must have the status “Customer signed.”

    • The user must have the role BusinessRequestContractSigner and valid credentials to access the Vlens portal. In addition, the user must be assigned to the current request type as signer.

    For that you can go to "Manage request types" menu, edit the selected contract, and select the user from contract signers list.

    • A hardware token must be connected to the workstation.

    • The ePass software must be installed and capable of detecting the token.

    • You need to configure

    • The VlensPdfSigner tool must be running in the background.

    • Finally, you need to configure the Vlens portal to listen to the signer tool port.

      For that you can go to "Administration" - "Settings" menu, to "Signing Server" tab, and add the below url to the field named "Delta Web Signer URL".

      http://localhost:5000

  2. Signing Steps

    1. Log in to the Vlens Portal.

    2. Navigate to "Manage request traffic" menu, select your desired type, and the contract that needs to be signed.

    3. Click “Actions” → “Edit” → “Sign Contract.”

    4. Ensure that the VlensPdfSigner tool is running in the background. This tool handles the secure communication between the portal, the local token, and the Vlens API.

    5. Confirm the signing action in the portal. The system will communicate with the Vlens API endpoints to generate a signed PDF version of the contract using the certificate from the connected token.

    6. Once the signing is complete, the contract status will be updated to “Service provider signed.”

Note that all the selected users must sign the contract in order to update status to "Service provider signed". Otherwise, the contract status will be "Service provider partially signed"

You can sign more than one contract at a time by pressing "Bulk Customer Sign", selecting as many contract as you need and clickinng on "Sign X contract(s)"

Auto-signing flow summary

Preconditions

  • The contract must have the status “Customer signed.”

  • The signing user must have the role BusinessRequestContractSigner within the Vlens system.

  • The automated signing tool must be configured with the appropriate Vlens tenant and user credentials:

    • VLENS_USERNAME

    • VLENS_PASSWORD

    • VLENS_TENANCY

    • VLENS_APIKEY

    • VLENS_BASEURL

    • VLENS_HOST

  • The signing configuration must also specify:

    • RequestType – defines the type ID of signing requests to monitor.

    • SignEvery_X_Minutes – sets the frequency (in minutes) at which the tool checks for new eligible contracts to sign.

Signing Steps

  1. Configuration Setup

    • Populate all required Vlens connection and authentication parameters.

    • Define RequestType and SignEvery_X_Minutes values in the tool’s configuration, .env, file.

  2. Tool Initialization

    • Start the Vlens Auto-Signer tool.

    • The tool authenticates to the Vlens API using the provided credentials and tenant context.

  3. Contract Detection

    • At every interval defined by SignEvery_X_Minutes, the tool queries the Vlens API for contracts with the state “Customer signed.”

    • Only contracts matching the configured RequestType will be considered.

  4. Signing Execution

    • For each eligible contract, the tool sends a signing request through the Vlens API.

    • The API validates permissions, performs the digital signature process, and securely updates the contract record.

  5. Status Update

    • Once signing is complete, the system automatically updates the contract’s state to “Fully signed.”

    • The tool logs each signing action, including timestamps and contract identifiers, for audit purposes.

In order to sign all request types, you can just delete the RequestType parameter before initializing the tool.

Technical Components

  • Vlens Portal – Web interface for contract management and signing initiation.

  • VlensPdfSigner Tool – A local desktop application that bridges the communication between the Vlens API and the physical token for secure PDF signing.

  • serviceprovider_sign_api tool - auto-signing tool that runs in the background to check regularly and sign contacts of specific type.

  • Hardware Token & ePass – Provide the user’s digital certificate and perform cryptographic operations required for legally valid digital signatures.

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