Formatta's Remote Signing technology allows End Users to sign forms with an ID and password issued by a Formatta E-Forms Manager Forms Administrator. This feature eliminates the need for issuing digital certificates to every user. Instead, only a single digital certificate is required on your server, eliminating the cost and complexity of a public key infrastructure. When a user selects to digitally sign a form, Formatta E-Forms Manager authenticates the ID and password credentials and then permanently notarizes these credentials with the server-based digital certificate.
Select Remote Signing from the Administration tab to specify a single, server-based digital certificate to enable Remote Signing. This feature allows forms to be signed by end users using account information managed in the End Users screen, or using credentials passed to an Active Directory or LDAP repository.
Formatta’s Remote Sign feature requires a single digital certificate to be installed on the same physical machine as Formatta E-Forms Manager. If you do not have a digital certificate installed, you can purchase one through a third-party certificate authority, such as VeriSign/Symantec or Entrust. You can also contact Formatta to obtain a test certificate.
To locate your digital certificate, you must open the Microsoft Management Console and view your certificate stores. To view your certificate store:
From the Windows start menu choose “Run”. In the Run dialog, type “mmc” and click OK.
In the Console window, click the “File” menu option and choose “Add/Remove Snap-in”.
At the bottom of the Add/Remove Snap-in window that appears, click the “Add” button.
In the Add Standalone Snap-in window that appears, choose the “Certificates” option and click the “Add” button.
In the Certificates Snap-in window that appears, click the “Computer Account” option and click “Next”.
Choose the “Local Computer” option and click "Finish”.
Close the Add Standalone Snap-in window.
Click OK on the Add/Remove Snap-in window to close it.
Now in the Console window, you should have a tree-view on the left side that begins with Certificates. Expand this tree to the Personal Certificates folder. The list on the right will contain any digital certificates on the server that you may use for signing. Within this list, the “Issued To” column contains the exact name that Formatta E-Forms Manager uses to locate a certificate for signing.
If you have a digital certificate to use for signing, but it is not installed on your Formatta E-Forms Manager server, follow the steps below to install it.
Follow steps 1-9, above, in order to get to your certificate management console.
Right-click on the Personal | Certificates folder and choose All Tasks | Import. This will open the Microsoft certificate import wizard. Click the Next button on the first screen of the wizard.
On the File to Import screen, browse to the file containing your digital signing certificate. Note that this certificate must contain a private key. Click the Next button.
On the Password screen, enter the password for the private key of your certificate and click Next.
On the Certificate Store screen, choose the “Place all certificates in the following store” option, and make sure “Personal” shows up as the certificate store below. Click the Next button.
Click the Finish button. You should see a dialog indicating that the import was successful, and you will see the certificate you imported in the personal certificates list.
If the certificate is in a “Personal Certificate” folder or was added as a “User Account,” it is a personal certificate.
After locating a certificate on your server, enter the "Issued To" value of the digital certificate. The name must exactly match what is listed on the certificate. See "Locating Certificates on Your Server," above, for instructions on determining the "Issued To" value.
Press Save Changes to complete Remote Signing setup.
If your certificate was found, you should see a message indicating that the certificate is ready for signing. Otherwise you will see an error message indicating that the certificate cannot be found or that it may not be used for signing.
If you see an error message:
Double-check the name you specified for the certificate - it must exactly match the "Issued To" value associated with the certificate in the certificate store.
Make sure that the certificate was imported into the "Personal Certificates" area of the certificate store, using the Computer Account's store.
Make sure that the certificate you are trying to use contains a private key that may be used for signing.