AskFRED now supports the creation of online waivers and the collection of e-signatures against those waivers! Waivers in this context includes paperwork that requires a one-sided signature - usually waivers of liability associated with participating in an event.

Now, when you create a waiver and attach it to a tournament, AskFRED will ask for an e-signature for that waiver for each registration a User creates. The BC will be given the information associated with that signature, and the User will be able to view the agreement they signed in perpetuity. Once a waiver has signatures, the text of the waver can not be changed. We also give the BC user tools to manage who has and hasn't signed waivers for an event.

To get started with Waivers and start requesting the e-signature of those waivers of your fencers, visit the "BC Waivers" area inside your Bout Committee area. Here, you will be able to create a text-based waiver that can be added to Tournaments, after which AskFRED will require fencers to sign the waiver to move forward in their registration.

Waivers are fairly easy to create - provide a short name and the full non-formatted text of the waiver, and then click save. The short name will be visible to users, so please make sure it is named appropriately. We currently only support non-formatted text for waivers, but there is no length maximum. The exact text provided here will be made visible to the Users for e-signature.

You can modify a waiver's name or text until it has been signed by any user. Once signatures exist, we don't allow the underlying agreement to be modified in order to protect the integrity of the e-signature process. We don't want people to show as having agreed to a waiver that has been edited and the text of it changed. You can always create a duplicate and use it separately if changes are required.

Currently, in order to attach a waiver to a tournament, that tournament must have payments enabled (only enabled, not necessarily required). This is because we insert the waiver before the payment process, making it so that the waiver must be completed before the registration can be finalized. Once payments are enabled, you can view/modify the Waiver in the "Tools" area of your BC Tournament management page.

Simply visit the "View Waiver Information" link in your BC Tournament management page, pick a waiver from the dropdown and click save to attach the waiver to a tournament. You can remove this Waiver by clicking the "Remove This Waiver" button.

Once signatures start to be collected, you will be able to view them on this page as well. We expose a few pieces of information with each signature here, but collect more behind the scenes. Additionally, once signatures come in, you can visit your "Manage Registrations" page to view what registrations have and have not completed the waiver. Clicking into the registration will show you similar information found on the "Waiver Information" list.

The answer to this question is up to you. AskFRED does not do anything automatically to any un-signed waivers (at this point in time). We do not allow them to pay without signing a waiver, but depending on how you configure your event, payment might be optional, so they might have a "complete" registration with an un-signed waiver. Again, who has and has not signed the waiver is available in your "Manage Registrations" area. At least for now, if you require a waiver to be signed, you can move the registrations to pending, send the user a message, or just fully delete them. This is up to you and your circumstances and needs.

It is possible for someone to select their events, save their registration, and move forward to the waiver signature, but simply never sign it. They could close their browser window and not return. Perhaps they don't feel ready to sign at that moment and intend on returning.

Our waivers comply with the ESign Act, and collect several other data points that are not surfaced to users in AskFRED that we can use to help tie a signature to a specific person who did the signing in situations where arbitration is required. They can be official as you want them to treat them.

Currently, our new Waivers functionality is in Beta, meaning it is still a work in progress. This requirement will likely change over time. However, for now, waivers fit best into the user registration workflow right before payments, both from a technical and a user experience point of view. Particularly, if payments are marked as required, having the user first agree to the waiver creates a less confusing situation, while also requiring them to complete their waiver before completing their payment.