In addition to the single-sign feature described in Sign A Page, LabArchives also has a Witness Signature feature. Witnessing allows a user to sign a page and indicate another user, like a supervisor or lab manager, to witness the page. The witness can reject the user’s signature to unlock the page or witness the page to permanently freeze the page. Once a page is signed and witnessed, data can not be added, changed, or removed from the page.
How to turn on Witnessing
To begin, you can only execute witness-signatures in a notebook if the “Page signing with witness” option is selected under the “Page Signing Section” of the Notebook Settings. See below.
Once you have witnessing turned on, you must assign witness privileges to each person you want to have the ability to witness. Witnesses must have full access rights to the notebook and Guests can not be given witness rights. To do this, the Owner or Administrator (Account or Notebook) can check the box for each user under the Can Witness column in the User Management tab of the Notebook Settings.
Note: If a user has a pending witness they can not be removed from a notebook and they cannot be removed from the Full Access group.
How to Sign a Page and Specify a Witness
When “Page Signing with witness” is turned on, you must select a witness any time you sign a page. After clicking on the Page Sign icon, you will see the “Confirm Sign Page” dialog.
After you select a witness and click the “Sign and Notify Witness” button, the page becomes signed. This means that the page is totally frozen, just as it was with the single sign feature. When a page is signed pending witness, it appears like the image below:
The signature will continue to read “Pending Witness Review” until the Witness has personally seen and confirmed their own signature on the page.
The pencil icon next to the Witness Name allows you to change the witness and re-notify the new one at any time before the witness confirms your signature.
How to Witness a Page
When a page is signed, the witness receives a notification in their LabArchives account. They can access this in their activity feed. Additionally, a witness can receive see an email notification of a witness request. For more information about Notification Email Alerts, Click Here.
When the witness views the page, it will look like this:
The witness can select “Witness” to permanently freeze the page or “Reject” to remove the signature and unlock the page.
Reject a Witness Request
The Witness can Reject the signature by clicking “Reject”. When this happens, the witness is given the option to add a comment in the menu below. After the witness selects Reject, the signature is removed and the page immediately unlocks.
If the signer has email notifications turned on, they will receive this comment in an email. The Witness comment will also appear in a yellow banner at the top of the page as seen below. This comment includes a timestamp corresponding to the time the witness submitted the comment, and the banner can be closed at any time by clicking the X on its far right side.
Confirm a Witness Request
After the witness reviews the page, they can select “Witness” to witness the page. Witnessing permanently fixes the page so that data can not be added, changed or removed. After the user selects “Witness”, the menu below will appear:
Now the signature witness process is complete and the page is preserved in its current state indefinitely. The page will appear with a timestamp for the signature and for the witness as seen below.