Forwarding <alt.architecture> message by tommy@Fateepee.CAM.ORG -------------------- From: tommy@Fateepee.CAM.ORG (Tommy Petrogiannis) Subject: Re: electronic signatures Date: Mon, 21 Nov 94 17:08:06 -0500 Organization: SILANIS TECHNOLOGY
On 5 Nov 1994 18:44:14 GMT, Aaron Rumple, AIA <rcet035.slvaxa.umsl.edu> wrote:
Electronic signatures will not make for a paperless environment. They will add to the lawyers generation of paper when you have to defend yourself because your file became the basis of another project in which you were not involved. Once you send a electronic/magnetic form of a document you lose all control over who has access and what they do to your files. You can protect yourself in your contract with your client and by making hardcopy (more paper) the drawing of record. However, anybody can and will sue if your title block, signature, etc. is found when something goes wrong. It has happened.
In short, an electonic signature is nice to protect what you sent electronically, but I would not want it to replace my seal on a paper copy that could be kept as a record. Forensics can detect changes on paper but not on electronic files that have been transmitted around.
I have to voice the comments that our customers are saying about our electronic approval software for AutoCAD. Many of our customers are still archiving a paper copy of the electronically signed original, however because ERA allows them to sign in the same environment as where the drawing was created (i.e. the electronic environment) it becomes a very simple matter to know if the drawing that you are looking at on your computer screen is the latest electronic approved original. Most companies today create their drawing on a CAD system, plot those drawings for visual verification and sign those drawings in the paper world. The minute those drawings are signed in the paper world they become "originals" that must now be archived and stored in some form of filing cabinet. If we did not need to refer to those archived drawings life would be fine, but unfortunately we do. Today you pull up a drawing on your computer and hope that everyone followed proper procedures and you are looking at the latest copy of the paper signed "original" - you can never be sure because the drawing was approved in a different domain than where it was created, and the only thing linking the two domains (paper and electronic) is procedures. Our ERA system was first designed to be used by a large nuclear generating facility and is now available to the public. What we did was mimick the paper world as much as possible when it came to approving a drawing. With ERA you now approve and sign a document from right inside AutoCAD using a ball point pen and a pressure sensitive digitizer. The key thing here is to allow the approval of the drawing to take place in the same domain as where the drawing was created (i.e. the electronic domain) but still offer all the security expected in the paper world (if not more), and still maintain the ability to generate a signed drawing that can be used in the field or be archived. This is achieved by doing the following: The persons' signatures are not AutoCAD entities and therefore cannot be cut and pasted. The signatures are DES encrypted along with time stamp info and information that uniquely describes the current state of the drawing being approved. The signatures will not be printed on a drawing that has been altered after the drawing was signed. All of the above plus a whole lot more are meant to facilitate the creation of paper, but eliminate the need to go find that paper afterwards - sort of producing a photocopy. The original is in the electronic domain, while the paper becomes a redundant copy. The benefits are HUGE. A drawing can now be sent electronically from desk to desk to be approved. A drawing can be retrieved electronically and by simply clicking on VERIFY our customers can check to see if they are looking at the drawing that was approved or if someone has accidentally or maliciously altered an original rev. We have had such great response to ERA product for AutoCAD that we just announced at COMDEX our ERA product for MS Word so that any wordprocessor type document can be approved in the same fashion. I apologize for rambling on, but I believe that we have really solved the last issue required to achieve the ability of creating, revising, and approving in an electronic domain. One customer went from a 7 week typical approval cycle down to 8 days using this technology - how much is that worth don't really know, but it makes a lot of sense. People don't realize that they are performing electronic approvals every day. When you walk up to an ATM machine and withdraw $100, by entering your PIN you are authorizing the withdrawl to take place. The question every company must ask, is how secure do I feel with the technology. Can someone take my bank card and figure out my PIN to forge my electronic authorization? Yes but it is difficult - not impossible. Can someone forge my handwritten signature? Yes but it is difficult - not impossible. What I tell our customers is to use the electronic approval for the projects where they feel comfortable - for many of them it is the internal based procedures and projects that requires 80% of the time and money and still use traditional methods for high-risk projects. It seems to work for them quite well. -- Tommy Petrogiannis tommy@Fateepee.CAM.ORG _ __o ______ `\<, Going slow just hurts too much. -- O/ O Going fast gets me there sooner - so I can... recover from the pain quicker ------------------- End Forward