There are certain documents that must pass through quality checks before they can be released. That is because the recipient of the document requires a high level of assurance before he or she can execute its content. The 4-eyes principle is recommended to ensure the required quality process is applied before a document is released. But how can organizations apply this principle on digital document-based workflows?
The four eyes principle, also known as the two-person rule, requires two different individuals to approve any action before it can be taken. Applying this principle to a digital document management workflow means that two digital signatures from two different eligible persons/entities are needed before a document can be distributed. One person/entity is responsible for document review & approval and the second person/entity is responsible for document release. The aim of document release is to evaluate the correctness, existence and completeness of the review process. In other words: the moment a document is released, one has permission to move on to the next stage.
Applying the four eyes-principle without loss of productivity
Using Indorse’s Document Endorsement Feature, organizations will be able to implement the above mentioned two pairs of eyes using the power of PKI. Indorse allows an organization to define a group of users that can digitally sign internal documents. Those users will function as the first two eyes. Then, the organization can define a group of different users that can digitally endorse the document– the second pair of eyes, making a total of four. Each group will create a unique digital signature that is embedded within the document. The recipient of the document can check its validity simply by using a standard free PDF-reader, or through the Indorse web application.
This way, a document passes through two ‘quality gates’ before it is released, which drastically decreases the chance of risk, fraud and errors. At the same time, it does not disturb workflows or processes, because there is no separate system involved: the four-eyes principle is directly integrated into the solution. With Indorse Solution, organizations can easily move their document-based workflows to a digital format with more control and security.
