ampEducator - Contracts Guide

Disclaimer: We provide this tool to assist our clients with producing and optionally electronically signing "Contract" or PDF Document files in a more efficient and secure way. ampEducator Inc. is not a professional law firm and as such we do not warrant the data results from this tool are compliant/correct to digital signature laws in your region and as such simply using the tool is not a substitute for legal advice. It is entirely the Client responsibility to consult a licensed attorney to ensure proper compliance/legal requirements are being met. By using the tool you agree to the Terms of Service available at www.ampeducator.com

Getting Started Checklist - ampEducator Contracts Guide

1. How do Contracts work in ampEducator?

2. Instructions for using ampEducator as your Digital Signature Provider.

3. Instructions for using Docusign as your Digital Signature Provider.

4. Adding a new Contract

5. Edit the Contract Details

6. Add / Edit the Contact Design - Sections

6.1 General Section(s)

6.2 Fees Section

6.3 Payment Plans Section

6.4 PDF Document Section(s)

6.5 Signature Section(s)

7. Add Contract to Student

8. Edit Contract for Student

9. Generate Contract(s)

9.1 Generate Single Student Contract

9.2 Generate Multiple Student Contracts

9.3 Generate and Send Multiple Student Contracts with Digital Signature.

10. Email Contract to Student

11. Upload Signed Contract (Wet Signature or E-signed outside of ampEducator)

12. Sign Contract with Student

13. Example of Sign Contract with Student using ampEducator as Signature Provider

14. Example of Sign Contract with Student using Docusign as Signature Provider

1. How do Contracts work in ampEducator?

The Contract generator in ampEducator allows you to create (multiple) customized digital versions of your paper based contracts (agreements, authorization forms and any other documents that require student signatures) that can be generated, printed and signed and/or sent via email to be signed electronically (e-signature) to students and optionally be then returned to staff to sign as well. You can have as many signature lines in the Contract as you like, but the number of user signatures is limited to 2 users; a staff signer and/or a student signer. The signatures can be either (1) traditionally wet or 'ink' signature and/or (2) e-signature(s). You can also have as many student "Initials" as you like inserted for Students to acknowledge sections within a Contract as long as your selected Signature Provider supports them.

In both options, wet signature or e-signature, the steps to generate are similar:

i. Create / Add Contract under Home > Contracts.

ii. Set Contract Details & Design.

iii. Add Contract to Student Profile.

iv. Edit Contract fields (if required) specifically for the Student.

v. Generate (PDF) Contract for the Student.

vi. (Option 1) Email or Download (to print) to wet sign the Contract to the Student. The Student can then wet sign and then scan/fax/photo and return to you. Or you can take the PDF and use third party software outside (not integrated) of ampEducator to e-sign the PDF. Then you can upload the digital file of the wet signed / e-signed Contract to store it as the signed version.

-OR-

vii. (Option 2) Email for e-signature the Contract to the Student. If there is Student only signature, the Student will sign and return the Contract and ampEducator will notify via email once done. If there is also a Staff signature then once the Student has e-signed, the Contract will then be emailed to the assigned Staff Signer to e-sign and complete the process.

For Option 2, all stages of the process are tracked within the Student > Contracts section and email notifications are sent as well to confirm. Once all parties have "Completed" the Contract it will then be signed by the Digital Signature Provider you have configured and a Certificate will be generated and store with the relevant details. 

There are 2 types of signatures used in Contracts; "Electronic" and "Digital". The contents of the Contract are "electronically" signed and agreed to by the Staff and/or Student signers. They consent to using "electronic" representations of their signature during the process steps of signing and completing the Contract. The Digital Signature Provider then "digitally" validates that the PDF has not been modified since the signature(s) were applied using a security certificate that is a Source of Trust obtained from Adobe Approved Trust List (AATL).  This means that once the Staff and/or Student signers have completed the signature process and both have clicked 'Complete' any attempt to modify the PDF Contract file in any way will be shown by the Digital Signature Provider and the Contract is not the original and should be considered illegitimate in terms of the way the Contract electronic signatures were applied.

For example, in the case of using ampEducator as the Signature Provider when you view the final "Completed" PDF Contract Document as long as no attempt has been made to modify the PDF after the process has been successfully "Completed" the green checkmark will appear validating the PDF:

If anyone attempts to modify the PDF document after the signature is applied, the green checkmark will no longer appear and a warning will be issued stating that "At least one signature is invalid" and the reason for this is that "Document has been altered or corrupted since it was signed". An example of this would be opening up the PDF in editing software and changing text and re-saving it:

The obvious intended use of Contracts is to create a digital version of the Contract (that can also be printed) and emailed to Students to review and sign electronically. Before you can do this you must configure the Signature provider in ampEducator.

2. Instructions for using ampEducator 'ampSign' as your Digital Signature Provider.

In order to electronically sign Contracts in ampEducator with ampSign, you must configure a Signature provider. You do not need to do this if you only wish to generate Contracts for physical signatures. This is done under Institution Config > General > Signatures. Enable the Digital Signatures checkbox and follow the instructions listed on screen for each provider.

If you are using ampEducator ampSign as your Signature Provider there is no need to do anything other than to agree to the Terms of Service. Note: There is a $0.99 per 'Envelope' ie. not per Signature in the Document (An 'Envelope' includes Multiple Digital Signatures or Initials of Staff / Students / Third Party within a single PDF document) Fee that will be charged each time you use ampEducator ampSign Digital Signature as your provider with your Contracts. If you wish to try the Digital Signature with Contracts with no fees you can click "Sandbox" and a watermark will be added to each Contact "For Demonstration Purposes". Once you are ready to use the Contracts, you can uncheck "Sandbox" to remove the watermark from your Contracts. You can at any time monitor your Contract Digital Signature Fees per month under Username (top right) > Institution Account > Other Usage. You can also review a log and Generate a report of all Contracts generated.

3. Instructions for using Docusign (or other third party) as Digital Signature Provider.

Currently, the only third-party Digital Signature provider alternative to using ampEducator as your Digital Signature provider is Docusign (if you would like to add another provider please contact support@ampeducator.com). For most third party signature providers, you must use their API plans. These are technically different than most standard plans offered and typically cost more as well. Contact your provider representative to determine your API plan fees. You can switch an existing Contract Digital Signature provider at any time as long as the provider supports the features of your existing Contracts

In the case of Docusign API, we recommend you sign up for free trial first to test the functionality before you commit to a paid plan at https://developers.docusign.com. Once you have completed your Contract you will need to submit several test Contracts to a sample student in order to "Go Live" with your 'App'.

Once you have created your account, Enable the Digital Signatures checkbox and follow the instructions listed on screen as follows

a.  Add App under Admin / Integration / API & Keys

b. Update App Name = Use 'ampEducator'

c. Copy Integrator Key to the field in the ampEducator Configuration.

d. Update Privacy URL to be http://www.ampeducator.com/privacy.php

e. Update Terms URL to be http://www.ampeducator.com/terms.php

f. Add Redirect https://yourPURL.ampeducator.com/web/public/digitalSignatures/configure

Note: if you are using a .ca subdomain use https://yourPURL.ampeducator.ca/web/public/digitalSignatures/configure

g. Copy Secret Key to the field in the ampEducator Configuration

h. Save, Test & Configure, you will then be redirected to Docusign to confirm.

Note: If you don't use digital signatures for more than 30 days you may need to reconfigure/refresh your account.

4. Adding a new Contract

To add a new Contract, go to Home > Contract and Click New Contract. A modal window appears allowing you to select a Name, Description and set the Role Access to the Contract (Read Only or Read/Update) as well as Location Access (if you are using multiple Locations). Clicking Add will the add the Contract to the List of available Contracts. 

5. Edit the Contract Details

To edit your Contract Details, go to Home > Contracts and click the name of the Contract or the Pencil Icon to the left to open and view Contract Details:

Select the Details you wish for your Contract:

a. Contact Name: This is for reference purposes only in the Contract List.

b. Owner: This is the User that created the Contract.

c. Description: This is for reference purposes only in the Contract List.

d. Read Only Access, Read/Update Access and Location Access: Assign who can see the Contract by Role or Location.

e. Page size: Legal, Letter or A4 sizes are available.

f. PDF Template: Select PDF Background Artwork file uploaded to Institution Config / PDF Templates.

g. Title: This is the Title of the Contract that will display at the top right.

h. Font: This is the base font size for the Contract. Note: for General Sections, you can select Rich Text Field Type and select the Font Size Styles.

i. Logo: Shows the Logo which is fixed at the top left of the first page of the Contract and uses the Logo you have uploaded to Institution Account > Branding > Logo.

j. Page Numbers: Shows page numbers on the bottom right of all pages.

k. Revision: Shows the last revision date of the Contract as "Revised + mm/dd/yy" at the bottom left of all pages.

l. Generated Date: Shows the Date when Contract for the Student is generated.

m. Generated By:  Shows the User (based on login) when Contract for the Student is generated.

n. Margin Top, Right, Bottom and Left: Set in inches.

o. Programs Available For: When adding a Contract to a Student, you can filter on Contracts that are only available for certain Programs assigned rather than sorting through a longer list.

p. Courses Available For: When adding a Contract to a Student, you can filter on Contracts that are only available for certain Courses assigned rather than sorting through a longer list.

q. Locations Available For: When adding a Contract to a Student, you can filter on Contracts that are only available for certain Locations assigned rather than sorting through a longer list.

r. Third Party: Check if you wish to "Auto-Fill" the Third Party Name and Email option (if you use the Third Party Signature option in a Signature Section) using Custom Fields designated for the Parent or Guardian Name and Email from the Student Custom Fields. Otherwise, this will can be done by typing in this information when generating the Contract in the Student Profile.

Once you have selected the Details for your Contact you can 'Preview' on screen or Download it as PDF using the green buttons at the top right:

Note: The 'Preview' onscreen and the PDF Download will appear differently. The Fonts and the overall Preview are limited in scope because the ampEducator Contract generator is converting HTML on screen preview to PDF and in the process there must be corresponding code developed for each style element in order for the conversion to work properly. As well, you may notice spacing that is different in the Preview, PDF download and actual Contract generated for the Student. This is because the Preview function needs to make some assumptions about how much content may be added later for certain editable fields for specific Contracts / Student combinations. If you are unsure why your Contract is not appearing as you would like or would like to add additional fonts or styles please contact - support@ampeducator.com for more assistance.

6. Add / Edit the Contract Design - Sections

To design your Contract, click Design or scroll down to the Design area. Each Contract is composed of 5 possible Sections and each Section has Details and various Field Types/Options. Depending on the Section the options may vary and the only requirement for Sections is that you must have at least one Signature Section per Contract.

The 5 possible Contract Sections are as follows:

7.1 General Section(s). You can have as many of these as you like and these contain various display and input options.

7.2 Fees Section. You can only have one of these and they are fixed but the use/display is optional.

7.3 Payment Plans Section. You can only have one of these and they are fixed but use/display is optional.

7.4 PDF Document Section(s). You can have as many as you like and these allow you to insert a PDF document to the contract to be reviewed. This allows you to reference existing PDF documents in the Contract.

7.5 Signature Section(s). You can have as many as you like and these allow you to set Staff and/or Student Signatures.

Q. What about if I want to use Initials in my Contract?

A. For Initials, these are found as Field Types in the General Section, and insert a New Field type = Initials Type for the Statement you wish a Student to Initial rather than using a Signature Section.

By default, when adding a new Contract you will notice that ampEducator creates 4 Sections for you; (1) Student Info Section - this is actually a General Section named as 'Student Info' for example purposes, (2) Fees Section, (3) Payment Plan Section, these are optional and can be disabled by clicking the X to the right or the checkbox to enable again, and (4) Signature section. To create new sections use the 'New Section' button in the Design area of the Contract.

Each Contract Sections also have Details and that you can edit by clicking the Pencil icon to the right of the Section. The details for each Contract Section are slightly different and are described below:

6.1 General Section(s)

A. General Section Details

For General Section(s) you can select the following Details:

i. Sections Columns: 1, 2 or 3 Columns for Fields to be added afterwards and assigned to columns.

ii. Section Title: This is the custom title you give to the General Section you are adding ie. 'Student Info'.

iii. New Page: Inserts a page break at the start of this Section.

iv. Display Title: If you don't want to display the Title of the Section ie. 'Student Info' on the actual Contract then don't check 'Yes' here. The Section title will still appear in the Design Area, but not when you Preview or PDF download it.

v. Add Separator: Adds a separator line.

vi. With Save: Adds a Save button that allows your Staff to Save a section of a Contract they are working on if you define any editable fields in this section. See 

B. General Sections Fields

Note: To edit any Section Fields, you must first click the Pencil to the right of the Section to expand it and make it active - if you don't want to Edit the Contract Details then just click Save. This will make the Section you clicked on active and you can continue on to Fields you have added to it to add or edit them. Other Section fields that are not active will collapse to save space.

Once you made the Section Fields active and visible you can click 'New Field' to add (or edit existing fields already there). There are several General Section field types to select from the Pulldown menu:

i. Display Student Info: Displays the information in the Student Profile automatically on the Contract.

ii. Display Plain Text: Displays any text added in Plain Text Format.

iii. Display Rich Text: Displays any text added based on Rich Text Format applied. Rich Text Format Sections also have Merge Fields that can be inserted using the Pin icon which will display the Student fields within the Rich Text Area:

iv. Input Text: When generating the Contract Staff can edit this text field to customize the Contract per Student.

v. Input Text Area: When generating the Contract Staff can edit this larger text area field to customize the Contract per Student.

vi. Input Select List: When generating the Contract Staff can select from a pulldown list to customize the Contract per Student.

vii. Input Select Picker: When generating the Contract Staff can multi select items (check off) from a pulldown to customize the Contract per Student.

viii. Input Checkbox: When generating the Contract Staff can check a box to customize the Contract per Student.

ix. Input Radio: When generating the Contract Staff can edit the radio button to customize the Contract per Student.

x. Input Date: When generating the Contract Staff can edit this date field to customize the Contract per Student.

xi. Input Time: When generating the Contract Staff can edit this time field to customize the Contract per Student.

xii. Student Initials: When generating the Contract Students can Initial this area.

xiii. Student Text: When generating the Contract Students can insert text into this area. The field can be made required or optional.

xiv. Student Checkbox: When generating the Contract Students can check a box. The field can be made required or optional.

xv. Student Date: When generating the Contract Students can insert date into this area. The field can be made required or optional.

xvi. Student List: When generating the Contract Students can select from a pulldown list. The field can be made required or optional.

As you select each field type you will notice the options change, for example Display Student Info will ask you which student field you wish to display - if you want the Contract to populate Student information like First Name automatically you would select (1) display Student Info, Column = 1 and Student Fields (you can select multiple):

This will add the Student Info field placeholders that will display the Student information from their Profile when you add the Contract to their file. If you wish to edit the fields, change their column location, remove them or move them up or down in position in the Section, you can use the icons to the right of the fields:

6.2 Fees Section.

Insert Pre-defined Fees.

6.3 Payment Plans Section.

Here you can insert payments plans

6.4 PDF Document Section(s).

Insert a Static PDF document into the contract.

6.5 Signature Section(s)

Signature Section: Capture signatures. Required when using digital signatures.

7. Add Contract to Student

To add a Contract to a Student click 'New Contract'. A modal window will appear asking you to select the Contract you wish to add. If you have associated the Contract with any Program, Course or Session you can filter on these to reduce the number of Contracts to choose from or simply select the Contract Name from the Pulldown list. To add the selected Contract select the date you wish for the Contract to be added and click 'Add':

Below we see an example of 3 different Contracts in various phases that have been Added to a Student. Contracts that are not Generated yet will appear as Status 'Pending' with no PDF under Document Column. You will notice depending on the Status of the Contract and actions taken by users with access to the Student Profile that different icon options appear to the right:

a. Contract Added but not Generated (Status = Pending) has options that include Edit (Pencil), View (Magnifying Glass), Generate (gear icon) and Delete (x):

b. Contract Added and Generated (Status = Pending) has options that include Edit (Pencil), View (Magnifying Glass), Generate (gear icon), Delete (x) but also Email Contract (Envelope) and Sign Contract (Handshake). 

c. A Contract Added, Generated and also Emailed (not for e-signature, but wet signature) appears the same as (b) with (Pending Status).

d. Contract Added and Generated (Status = Digital Pending). This has only 2 options and appears once you use the Sign Contract (Handshake). This indicates that the Contract had been sent out to be Signed and is awaiting responses; you can View (Magnifying Glass) or Email a reminder to the Student that you are waiting for signature. Email Contract is purposely different step than Sign Contract to avoid confusion.

e. Contract Added and Generated (Status = Signed Digital). Once a Contract is completed it is considered Signed Digital status and cannot be edited or deleted. You can View details of the Contract and Email a copy to the Student if required:

f. Contract Added and Generated (Status = Signed Uploaded). This is when you have a Signed version of the Contract and you wish to upload it manually. The difference with Signed Uploaded is that you have the option to Delete (x).

8. Edit Contract for Student

You may need to edit the Contract based on your design specifically for the Student before you Generate it or to change options after generating it. To do this you click on the Edit (Pencil) Icon. The Contract will open and present any editable fields in the Contract Design you created earlier if you scroll down, but also has fields that are always present on all Contracts including; Date,  Name, Staff Signer (if required) and Notes:

If you modify any of these editable fields (such as changing the date from June 15 to June 14 as shown in the example below) and clicking 'Save' you will notice that if a Contract PDF was Generated it will be removed and need to be generated again to reflect the changes you made:

9. Generate Contract(s).

9.1 Generate Single Student Contract

To Generate the Contract for the Student click the Gear Icon located to the right of the Contract Name:

9.2 Generate Multiple Student Contracts.

To Generate the Contract for Multiple Students Filter on the Student List to view the Students that you wish to sent Contracts to and then Select All > More Actions > Generate Contract. Only Contracts that require no additional edits by Staff Input are available to generate for multiple students (because each Contract would be unique and be sent individually). Contracts with Third party signers can be used if they are configured to map Third Party names and emails from Student Custom Fields. 

9.3 Generate and Send Multiple Student Contracts with Digital Signature.

If Digital Signature is selected students will automatically get an email requesting their digital signature on the generated contract. This option requires you to configure a Digital Signature Provider. You can review the progress or any errors/problems when sent under Home > User Jobs. 

10. Email Contract to Student

Note: This is intended for the Student to review or download and wet sign. This is different than (13) Sign Contract with Student, which emails instructions to e-sign the Contract.

To email the student the Contract as an attached PDF, click the Email Contract (Envelope) to the right of the Contract. This will launch a modal widow with the following options:

You can customize the subject line and message body or use the default. Clicking 'Send' will email the Student with PDF attached of the Contract:

11. Upload Signed Contract (Wet Signature or E-signed outside of ampEducator)

12. Sign Contract with Student

Depending on the Signature provider you use the process for Students and Staff to e-sign is different. Below in we outline the process for the 2 current options; using ampEducator or Docusign as Signature Provider.

To initiate the process for any provider you will see Sign Contract (Handshake) to the right of the Contract you wish to email to the Student to e-sign.  Clicking the Sign Contract (Handshake):

This will launch a modal window. Select Signature Type = Digital Signature and then 'Sign'. This will send an email to the Student with instructions depending on the Signature Provider you use:

13. Example of Sign Contract with Student using ampEducator as Signature Provider.

a. Click the Handshake Icon to the right of the Generated Contract:

b. Select Signature Type = Digital Signature

c. Click Sign.

The Contract will be emailed to the Student and updated in the Contract list as Digital Pending:

d. Student receives email from the Staff member and clicks "Review Document" or copy and paste the URL into the browser:

e. This launches the URL contained in the email to the default browser on the student device and displays the document details and instructions to review and sign the document below. There are Green boxes to indicate where to "Initial Here" or "Sign Here" based on your document design. There are also options to Complete, Download, More > Decline to Sign, More > View History and Refresh at the top. To the right the student will see a picture of themselves (if uploaded by you to their Student Profile) with their name and email along with Document Status and a guide to show them how many initials or signatures are pending on the document - once all are completed the checkmarks will go green:

f. Clicking on "Initial Here" will launch a modal window where the Student can Draw with Mouse or Finger (if device is touchscreen enabled) or use Auto to generate Initials based on their first and last Name:

g. Clicking on "Sign Here" will launch a modal window similar to "Initial Here" where the Student can Draw or use Auto to Sign the document:

h. Once all the required areas have been "initialled" or "signed" by the Student a prompt will appear to instruct them to Complete the document:

i. Upon clicking "Complete" a modal window will launch to confirm consent for electronic signature:

j. Once "Completed" the Student can has the options to Download the Completed Contract or if required they can Void the Signature under More > Void Signature:

k. Both the Student and the Staff will receive an email notifying them that the Contract has been signed by the Student:

If the document has a Staff signer the Staff signer will receive and email to review and sign the Contract in the same steps as the Student above. Once both parties have completed the process the document will be emailed and digitally signed by ampEducator Inc. as not modified at the time of the signature process. Any attempt to modify the PDF further will result in the digital signature being not valid.

l. At any time you can download an review the Certificate for the Contract by clicking the magnifying glass to the right of the completed Contract:

14. Example of Sign Contract with Student using Docusign as Signature Provider.

a. Student receives email from primary Docusign Account holder 'Name' via Docusign and clicks 'Review Document':

b. This launches the Docusign viewer in the browser which the Student must then read the Electronic Record and Signature Disclosure and click 'I agree to use electronic records and signatures':

c. The Student then will click Start and have to agree to Adopt and Sign using Docusign electronic representation of their signature (and initials if used):

d. Once all signatures have been completed, the Student will be notified on screen by Docusign to click Finish:

e. If the Student wishes to dispute and Decline to Sign, Finish Later or review/access support documentation from Docusign they can do so under the Other Actions at the top right of the Docusign viewer:

f. If the Student clicks Finish they will be presented with an option to Create and Save with Docusign account or Click 'No Thanks' :

Note: ampEducator will email them a completed copy of the Contract once the Staff member has signed or if there is no staff member a completed copy will be emailed to the Student as well as the Staff Advisor associated with the student accounts.

g. If there is a Staff Signer assigned to the Contract that Staff member will receive and email to sign as well. This is the email associated with their ampEducator account. Staff have the option of selecting which signature they wish to sign with and can Add / Remove them as required to their Docusign account. If this is the first time using Docusign, the Staff member will need to agree to Docusign terms and Adopt and Sign as shown for the Student above:

h. Once the Staff and/or the Student have both signed a completed copy of the Contract will be emailed to both parties:

i. There is a link to View Completed Document in the email, however the Completed Contract will also be updated and available in the Student Contracts in ampEducator. There is no need to upload a copy of the signed Contract it is automatically updated for you:

j. If required, you can View the Contract in Docusign and access under Other Actions some key documentation (a) View History and (b) View Certificate. You can also View Certificate in ampEducator. For legal proceedings you may or may not need to present these documents from Docusign. However, it is important to note that they exist:

a. Example of Docusign Envelope - View History:

b. Example of Docusign - View Certificate: