Certificate of Completion for Electronic Signatures

What is a certificate of completion?

In electronic signing, a certificate of completion is a report documenting information about a completed signing process. It helps connect the document to recorded participants, events and timing.

Certificate of completion versus audit trail

An audit trail is the history of recorded events associated with a request. A completion certificate presents information from that process in a retainable report. The exact events and metadata depend on the service and workflow; a report should not be assumed to capture every off-platform interaction.

Sign.Plus’s Certificate of Completion FAQ describes downloading the report for a completed document. Its certificate-of-completion feature overview covers the product’s reporting capabilities. Keep the report associated with the corresponding signed file.

Is it a digital certificate?

No. A signing-process report and a cryptographic certificate serve different purposes. A digital certificate can associate a public key with an identified subject. A completion report records workflow information; its title does not establish that the signing certificate was qualified or that the signature was QES.

What can the report establish?

It contributes to the evidence surrounding a signature. An email address, timestamp or IP address needs context: none alone conclusively establishes identity, representative authority or legal enforceability.

Assess what the recorded events actually mean, distinguish delivery and access from signing, and preserve the signed file’s integrity. The report supports review; it does not make contradictory evidence or challenges impossible.