Using Forms as 'Read & Sign' documents is a very useful way to make sure your team acknowledges important information and updates.
If you are not sure what Forms are, you can start by having a quick look at this article. In short, Forms are 'digital forms' that employees can fill out from their mobiles.
This article focuses on the best practice for creating a "read and sign" Form.
A Read and Sign Form is usually comprised of 2 core sections:
A description object - the description object which may include text and sometimes images, provides details or a declaration for the user to acknowledge.
Acknowledgment - the acknowledgment section can be implemented in various ways, and will usually include "your name", "date of signing", and a "signature" element.
Here's an example of an Employee Handbook Acknowledgment Form of type 'Read and Sign':
This form includes four fields in the Form (As seen in the image below):
Description field: containing all the text content.
Open text field: for users to type their names. While this field is not 'necessary' as every Form entry will include the user name, adding a user field creates more commitment on the user side and hence it is recommended.
Date field: for users to enter the date of acknowledgment. Once again, this field is not 'necessary' as data and time stamps are automatically included with each entry, however, this creates more commitment on the user side.
Signature: to allow the employee to include their signature on file.
Every entry is automatically documented, and a PDF copy is automatically generated and sent to a pre-defined email address. (Read more about auto-distribution of PDF copies here)
Here's how the to autogenerate PDF would look in our example:
Two more pro tips:
Limit the entries per user to a single entry: By default Forms can be submitted multiple times. However when creating a read & sign Form, you only need a single entry from each user. You can limit the number of entries under the Form settings page:
Keep track of acknowledgment progress: use the table at the bottom of the Form page to keep track of who already read and signed your Form, and more importantly who didn't. You can even send follow-up push notifications just to the team members that are yet to confirm your Form. Learn how to here.
