Failed Electronic Signature Examples

Electronic signatures are configured with failure limits for added security. Failure limits prevent an unauthorized user from signing a form, or prevent an authorized user to enter incorrect credentials beyond the configured limit.

The role limit is the number of permitted attempts to provide a valid Performer or Verifier signature. Therefore, failures are on a per role basis.

The person (user) limit is the number of times a user can attempt to sign a form in the capacity of the specified role.

Note: All signing attempts are based on a form instance.

The following examples describe the different ways that an electronic signature can fail, based on the configuration of your failure limits for roles and users.

Example A: Electronic signature fails when person limit is reached

Role Limit = 4
Person Limit = 2

Scenario	Result
User1 enters incorrect signature credentials on the first attempt.	Signing fails.
User1 enters incorrect signature credentials on the second attempt.	Signing fails and the user is locked out from signing this form instance.
User1 enters correct signature credentials on the third attempt.	Signing fails due to the user being locked out from signing this form instance.

Example B: Electronic signature fails when role limit is reached

Role Limit = 3
Person Limit = 2

Note: Validation errors do not count against the configured failure limits. For example, if the user name is initially entered incorrectly, it can be corrected before signing the form. This error does not count against the failure limit because the form was not signed.

Invalid signing attempts by a user count towards the role limit until that user is locked out. When a user is locked out, no entry for that user (valid or invalid) is counted towards the role limit.

Scenario	Result
User1 enters an incorrect password.	Signing fails.
User2 is not a member of the assigned group (Valid Performers or Valid Verifiers).	Signing fails.
User3 enters an incorrect user name.	Signing fails and the electronic signature fails because the role limit has been reached.

Example C: Electronic signature fails when role limit is reached

Role Limit = 3
User Limit = 6

Electronic signature failures are tracked in the SQL Server database in both the ElectronicSignature and AuditRecord tables. For more information on electronic signature audit records, see Electronic Signature Tracking.

Scenario	Result
User1 enters incorrect signature credentials three times. On the fourth attempt (with valid or invalid credentials) a message appears stating that the user is locked out.	Signing fails; however, User1 can continue to attempt to log in with either valid or invalid credentials and those attempts do not count towards the role limit.
User2 enters incorrect signature credentials three times. On the fourth attempt (with valid or invalid credentials), a message appears stating that the electronic signature has failed.	Signing fails and the electronic signature fails because the role limit has been reached.