Blog - TEAM IM

eSignature: Powering Construction Management

Written by TEAM IM | Sep 19, 2022 4:11:08 PM

Taking a construction project from initial concepts to a completed project is no small task. It takes time to get approvals, hire subcontractors, approve budgets, secure materials, and on and on and on. Even the smallest jobs require significant amounts of collaboration to successfully complete.

Something that has slowed people down in the construction industry in the past is waiting on signatures for approval to move forward— whether that means moving from one phase of a job to the next, changing budgets, or any number of other potential changes.

By embracing eConsent through Dropbox Sign, formally HelloSign, and Procore, you can significantly reduce the time you wait for approvals. The moment a necessary change arises, you can devise a plan to address it and get an eSignature approval that day to implement your plan.

And you can do it all without bouncing around to different apps outside of Procore.

Why Procore?

Procore is important when discussing an eConsent platform because it is so popular within the construction industry and has one thing that other platforms do not— the Procore Marketplace. Through the Marketplace, developers can create and make available applications designed to interface specifically with Procore.

Procore integrations take an already invaluable tool in the management of construction projects and add functionalities that improve the usability of the software. And when you improve your use of Procore, you improve your workflows and on-the-job efficiency.

One of the weaknesses of Procore in the past was that it was only integrated with one platform, DocuSign. Only having one integration locked clients into a single platform. Now that Procore customers have more than one eSignature vendor, clients will have a choice and this also opens up competitive pricing models and features sets.

Now, Dropbox Sign, an eSignature platform by Dropbox has been integrated with Procore is available to download from Procor's marketplace plus it is getting rave reviews. For example with it you can automatically populate relevant fields for signatories and get the signed approvals you need without leaving Procore. This saves a lot of time and back and forth between applications.

The Difference Between Digital and Electronic Signature

Before we go further into the Dropbox Sign for Procore and how that makes eConsent in the construction industry much simpler, it is essential to clarify a few terms. Digital signatures, eSignatures, and eConsent get thrown around interchangeably by some, but there are important differences in what each term means.

An eSignature, or electronic signature, is a person’s expression of consent to the terms of a document. That could be a contract or an approval for a course of action, among other things. The only difference between an eSignature and a signature made with pen and paper is that one is expressed electronically.

In no simple terms, a digital signature is a type of electronic signature which is an electronic, encrypted, stamp of authentication on digital information such as email messages or electronic documents.  Digital Signature refers to a more secure electronic signature that is generated using a digital certificate and cryptographically attached to the agreement using public key infrastructure (PKI).

An eSignature or electronic signature is a term for any electronic process that indicates acceptance of an agreement. It does have a certificate tagged to a document. Dropbox Sign is a eSignature company 

Together, eSignatures and digital signatures present the methods needed for legally recognized eConsent. With the expression of consent and the digital authentication in place, your document has the same legality as it would if you had signed with a pen.

Why Dropbox Sign?

Dropbox Sign is an easy to use eConsent platform that integrates seamlessly with Procore among other applications. It offers the ease of eSignatures with the authentication of digital signatures to ensure the right person is signing the correct document right away.

With Dropbox Sign, you can put your signature on a pdf or a doc file without leaving the application you are using. You can sign with your finger, mouse, or a stylus or build your own eSignature that you can use on relevant documents.

And because Dropbox Sign is an eSignature platform, you all but eliminate wait times for signatures. The relevant party will receive a notification when their signature is needed, and they can sign right away.

TEAM IM has made Dropbox Sign a perfect tool to use in the construction industry by creating an integration with Procore. That means everything from prime contracts to work orders to to change orders can be managed and signed without leaving Procore— it all gets handled in-app.

With Dropbox Sign electronic signature authentication, each of those signed documents will be legally recognized and court admissible. An auditable trail is created for any legal or verification needs, as well as offering a view into a document's signature path to look for efficiencies in workflows. 

Are There Other Options?

Dropbox Sign is not the only eSignature platform with Procore integrations. For instance, DocuSign is also available. Dropbox Sign is on par with DocuSign, but Dropbox Sign is a more easy to use solution and cost-effective. 

The developers at TEAM IM create a collective with decades of experience on the cutting edge of content management systems and used that expertise to craft Dropbox Sign Procore integration. They looked at the drawbacks of other integrated eSignature platforms and developed a better way to do business.

Sign On for More Efficient Operations

Procore was built for construction, and the Dropbox Sign integration was built for Procore. 

In the same way that Procore makes managing a construction job from start to finish easier to do, Dropbox Sign makes getting approvals in Procore easier to do. You don’t have to hop from one application to another anymore.

EConsent through eSignatures makes it so much more convenient for all parties to keep a project moving without getting bogged down in wait times for hard copies. And with the Dropbox Sign integration for Procore, you get the power of Procore with the ease of Dropbox Sign.

The future of construction management is here— all you have to do is sign up.