Handling electronic signatures in collaboration systems

1 . A computer-implemented method for handling changes during electronic signature processing in a networked computing environment, the method comprising:

executing, in the networked computing environment, a content management system (CMS) on which an e-signing process is implemented by executing code that is integrated into the CMS, wherein

the CMS is in communication with a plurality of user computing devices through respective networks and an electronic interface and exposes content objects stored thereon for collaboration by the plurality of user computing devices through the electronic interface, and

the code, when executed, associates e-signing metadata to one or more content objects of the content objects;

identifying, by the CMS, at least one content object of the one or more content objects to be electronically signed in the e-signing process by an e-signatory;

determining, by the CMS during execution of the e-signing process, whether a conflict exists between a change and one or more other changes, determining whether the conflict exists comprising:

detecting the change during the execution of the e-signing process, and

determining a handling process for the change that has been detected,

wherein detecting the change during the execution of the e-signing process comprises:

determining whether the change occurs after an envelope data structure generated for the e-signing process has been sent to at least the e-signatory or whether the e-signatory has already viewed at least a portion of the envelope data structure,

upon determining that the change occurs after the envelope data structure has been sent to at least the e-signatory or the e-signatory has already viewed at least a portion of the envelope data structure, generating and transmitting, via the electronic interface, a notification to a first user computing device that generated the envelope data structure, and

determining, based at least in part upon a response received via the electronic interface from the first user computing device, whether to continue the e-signing process with the at least one content object or to continue the e-signing process with the at least one content object to which the change has been made; and

upon determining that the conflict exists during execution of the e-signing process, performing, by the CMS, a remediating action for the change.

2 . The method of claim 1 , the handling process for the change comprising:

determining an impact of the change on the e-signing process or on one or more other changes, wherein the remediating action is based at least in part upon the impact or nature of the change.

3 . The method of claim 2 , the handling process for the change comprising at least one of:

determining how the change is to be presented to the e-signatory or one or more other e-signatories for the e-signing process;

determining whether the change affects the one or more content objects or an envelope data structure generated for the e-signing process;

preparing an abstract for the change; or

adding one or more ephemeral annotations corresponding to the change or the one or more changes.

4 . The method of claim 2 , the handling process for the change comprising:

executing a comparison process between the at least one content object and modified version of the at least one content object.

5 . The method of claim 4 , the handling process for the change further comprising:

generating a redlined version of the at least one content object; and

transmitting, via the electronic interface of the CMS, the redlined version of the at least one content object to the e-signatory or to one or more other e-signatories.

6 . The method of claim 1 , detecting the change further comprising:

identifying a plurality of types of changes that can be made to the at least one content object, wherein

the plurality of types of changes includes

a first type which, when made to the at least one content object, does not require the CMS or the e-signing process be restarted and

a second type which, when made to the at least one content object, requires the CMS or the e-signing process be restarted; and

in response to the change that has been detected, determining whether the change belong to the first type or the second type.

7 . The method of claim 6 , detecting the change further comprising:

upon determining that the change belongs to the second type, advising the e-signatory of a potential conflict due to the change being detected; and

upon determining that the change belongs to the second type, determining whether the e-signatory has already signed the at least one content object; and

sending, via the electronic interface, an electronic notification to the e-signatory to re-sign the at least one content object to which the change has been made.

8 . The method of claim 6 , detecting the change further comprising:

upon detecting the change, determining whether the e-signatory initiates an e-signature event for the e-signing process; and

upon determining that the e-signatory has initiated the e-signature event, notifying the e-signatory of the change that has been detected.

9 . The method of claim 6 , detecting the change further comprising:

upon detecting the change, determining whether the e-signatory has already electronically signed the at least one content object; and

upon determining that the e-signatory has already electronically signed the at least one content object, sending, via the electronic interface of the CMS, an electronic notification of the change to the e-signatory; and

determining and presenting an option from a plurality of options to the e-signatory, wherein the option includes re-signing the at least one content object, reviewing the at least one content object, or declining to electronically sign the at least one content object.

10 . The method of claim 9 , detecting the change further comprising: upon determining that the option is to decline to electronically sign the at least one content object or the e-signatory has declined to electronically sign the at least one content object, and implementing a first additional change to transform the at least one content object into an updated content object or a second additional change to the envelope data structure to transform the envelope data structure into an updated envelope data structure.

11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

generating and transmitting, via the electronic interface, the envelope data structure to the e-signatory, based at least in part upon an envelope generation policy, wherein

the envelope data structure includes an instruction and a constituent document, and

the instruction is referenced by a subsequent event or processing action during execution of the e-signing process.

12 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising monitoring and determining a state of the e-signing process, wherein the state of the e-signing process comprises a waiting state, an editing state, a remediating state, an e-signing state, or a transition between two states.

13 . A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein a sequence of instructions which, when stored in memory and executed by a processor or a processor core, cause the processor or the processor core to perform a set of acts, the set of acts comprising:

executing, in a networked computing environment, a content management system (CMS) on which an e-signing process is implemented by executing code that is integrated into the CMS, wherein

the CMS is in communication with a plurality of user computing devices through respective networks and an electronic interface and exposes content objects stored thereon for collaboration by the plurality of user computing devices through the electronic interface, and

the code, when executed, associates e-signing metadata to one or more content objects of the content objects;

identifying, by the CMS, at least one content object of the one or more content objects to be electronically signed in the e-signing process by an e-signatory;

determining, by the CMS during execution of the e-signing process, whether a conflict exists between a change and one or more other changes, based at least in part on determining whether the change occurs after an envelope data structure generated for the e-signing process has been sent to at least the e-signatory or whether the e-signatory has already viewed at least a portion of the envelope data structure;

upon determining that the change occurs after the envelope data structure has been sent to at least the e-signatory or the e-signatory has already viewed at least a portion of the envelope data structure, generating and transmitting, via the electronic interface, a notification to a first user computing device that generated the envelope data structure'

determining, based at least in part upon a response received via the electronic interface from the first user computing device, whether to continue the e-signing process with the at least one content object or to continue the e-signing process with the at least one content object to which the change has been made;

identifying a plurality of types of changes that can be made to the at least one content object, wherein the plurality of types of changes includes a first type which, when made to the at least one content object, does not require the CMS or the e-signing process be restarted and a second type which, when made to the at least one content object, requires the CMS or the e-signing process be restarted, and in response to the change that has been detected, determining whether the change belong to the first type or the second type; and

upon determining that the conflict exists during execution of the e-signing process, performing, by the CMS, a remediating action for the change.

14 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13 having stored thereupon the sequence of instructions which, when stored in the memory and executed by the processor, further causes the processor to perform the set of acts, the set of acts further comprising:

detecting the change during the execution of the e-signing process; and

determining a handling process for the change that has been detected, the handling process for the change comprising:

determining an impact of the change on the e-signing process or on one or more other changes;

determining that the conflict exists between the change and the one or more other changes; and

performing the remediating action based at least in part upon the impact or nature of the change.

15 . A system, comprising:

a processor or a processor core; and

a memory having stored therein a sequence of instructions which, when executed by the processor or the processor core, causes the processor or the processor core to perform a set of acts, the set of acts comprising:

executing, in a networked computing environment, a content management system (CMS) on which an e-signing process is implemented by executing code that is integrated into the CMS, wherein the CMS is in communication with a plurality of user computing devices through respective networks and an electronic interface and exposes content objects stored thereon for collaboration by the plurality of user computing devices through the electronic interface, and the code, when executed, associates e-signing metadata to one or more content objects of the content objects;

identifying, by the CMS, at least one content object of the one or more content objects to be electronically signed in the e-signing process by an e-signatory;

determining, by the CMS, during execution of the e-signing process, whether a conflict exists between a change and one or more other changes, determining whether the conflict exists comprising:

detecting the change during execution of the e-signing process, and

determining a handling process for the change that has been detected,

wherein detecting the change during execution of the e-signing process comprises determining whether the change occurs after an envelope data structure generated for the e-signing process has been sent to at least the e-signatory or whether the e-signatory has already viewed at least a portion of the envelope data structure,

upon determining that the change occurs after the envelope data structure has been sent to at least the e-signatory or the e-signatory has already viewed at least a portion of the envelope data structure, generating and transmitting, via the electronic interface, a notification to a first user computing device that generated the envelope data structure,

determining, based at least in part upon a response received via the electronic interface from the first user computing device, whether to continue the e-signing process with the at least one content object or to continue the e-signing process with the at least one content object to which the change has been made, and

identifying a plurality of types of changes that can be made to the at least one content object, wherein the plurality of types of changes includes a first type which, when made to the at least one content object, does not require the CMS or the e-signing process be restarted and a second type which, when made to the at least one content object, requires the CMS or the e-signing process be restarted, and in response to the change that has been detected, determining whether the change belong to the first type or the second type; and

upon determining that the conflict exists during execution of the e-signing process, performing a remediating action for the change.

16 . The system of claim 15 , the memory further having stored therein the sequence of instructions which, when executed by the processor or the processor core, causes the processor or the processor core to perform a set of acts, the set of acts further comprising:

determining whether the e-signatory has already electronically signed the at least one content object;

upon determining that the e-signatory has already electronically signed the at least one content object,

sending, via the electronic interface of the CMS, an electronic notification of the change to the e-signatory; and

determining and presenting an option from a plurality of options to the e-signatory, wherein the option includes re-signing the at least one content object, reviewing the at least one content object, or declining to electronically sign the at least one content object; and

upon determining that the option is to decline to electronically sign the at least one content object or the e-signatory has declined to electronically sign the at least one content object,

implementing a first additional change to transform the at least one content object into an updated content object or a second additional change to the envelope data structure to transform the envelope data structure into an updated envelope data structure.

17 . A computer-implemented method for handling changes during electronic signature processing in a networked computing environment, the method comprising:

executing, in the networked computing environment, a computerized content management system (CMS) on which an e-signing process is implemented by executing code that is integrated into the CMS, wherein

the CMS is in communication with a plurality of user computing devices through respective networks and an electronic interface and exposes content objects stored thereon for collaboration by the plurality of user computing devices through the electronic interface, and

the code, when executed, associates e-signing metadata to one or more content objects of the content objects;

identifying, by the CMS, at least one content object of the one or more content objects to be electronically signed in the e-signing process by an e-signatory; and

determining, by the CMS during execution of the e-signing process, whether a conflict exists between a change and one or more other changes, determining whether the conflict exists comprising:

detecting the change during the execution of the e-signing process, and

determining a handling process for the change that has been detected,

the handling process for the change comprising:

determining an impact of the change on the e-signing process or on one or more other changes,

determining that the conflict exists between the change and the one or more other changes,

executing a comparison process between the at least one content object and modified version of the at least one content object,

generating a redlined version of the at least one content object, and

transmitting, via the electronic interface of the CMS, the redlined version of the at least one content object to the e-signatory or to one or more other e-signatories; and

upon determining that the conflict exists during execution of the e-signing process, performing, by the CMS, the remediating action based at least in part upon the impact or nature of the change.

18 . A computer-implemented method for handling changes during electronic signature processing in a networked computing environment, the method comprising:

executing, in the networked computing environment, a computerized content management system (CMS) on which an e-signing process is implemented by executing code that is integrated into the CMS, wherein

the CMS is in communication with a plurality of user computing devices through respective networks and an electronic interface and exposes content objects stored thereon for collaboration by the plurality of user computing devices through the electronic interface, and

the code, when executed, associates e-signing metadata to one or more content objects of the content objects;

identifying, by the CMS, at least one content object of the one or more content objects to be electronically signed in the e-signing process by an e-signatory; and

determining, by the CMS during execution of the e-signing process, whether a conflict exists between a change and one or more other changes;

upon determining that the conflict exists during execution of the e-signing process, performing, by the CMS, a remediating action for the change; and

generating and transmitting, via the electronic interface of the CMS, an envelope data structure to the e-signatory, based at least in part upon an envelope generation policy, wherein

the envelope data structure includes an instruction and a constituent document, and

the instruction is referenced by a subsequent event or processing action during execution of the e-signing process.

19 . A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein a sequence of instructions which, when stored in memory and executed by a processor or a processor core, cause the processor or the processor core to perform a set of acts, the set of acts comprising:

executing, in a networked computing environment, a content management system (CMS) on which an e-signing process is implemented by executing code that is integrated into the CMS, wherein

the CMS is in communication with a plurality of user computing devices through respective networks and an electronic interface and exposes content objects stored thereon for collaboration by the plurality of user computing devices through the electronic interface, and

the code, when executed, associates e-signing metadata to one or more content objects of the content objects;

identifying, by the CMS, at least one content object of the one or more content objects to be electronically signed in the e-signing process by an e-signatory;

determining, by the CMS during execution of the e-signing process, whether a conflict exists between a change and one or more other changes, determining whether the conflict exists comprising:

detecting the change during the execution of the e-signing process, and

determining a handling process for the change that has been detected, the handling process for the change comprising:

determining an impact of the change on the e-signing process or on one or more other changes,

determining that the conflict exists between the change and the one or more other changes, and

executing the remediating action based at least in part upon the impact or nature of the change, and

upon determining that the conflict exists during execution of the e-signing process, performing a remediating action for the change.