Documents & E-Signatures

Onboarding

Onboarding task lists driven by templates, signature-gated tasks, per-hire document copies, due dates anchored to the start date, and the Action Required tray.

Onboarding

Onboarding in BookYourPTO turns "get the new hire set up" into a tracked checklist of tasks — some of which require a document to be signed before they can be completed.

Onboarding is NOT auto-started on hire. Creating a user does not kick off onboarding. It's a deliberate operator action. The old standalone /onboarding page now simply redirects to the employee profile's Onboarding tab at /users/:id?tab=onboarding.

Templates → instances

An onboarding template holds a set of task definitions. When you create an instance for a specific new hire, those definitions are copied into per-employee tasks. Editing the template later doesn't disturb hires already in progress.

Anatomy of a task

Each copied task carries:

Property	Options / behavior
Assignee	An explicit person, or a resolved default so nothing is ever unowned
Assigned role	HR / IT / Manager / Employee
Category	Documents / Equipment / Access / Training / Other
Due date	None, on the hire date, or custom ±N days before/after the start date (timezone-aware)
Attached document	Optionally pins a document template + "requires signature"

Why every task has an owner. If a task can't be matched to an explicit assignee, a sensible default is resolved automatically — so a checklist never contains a task that nobody is responsible for.

Per-hire document copies

When a task pins a document template, creating the instance materializes a per-employee copy into the new hire's drawer:

Signing templates create a Document + Assignment + fields — a live signing copy addressed to the new hire.
Read-only templates file a reference copy in the drawer.

Why a fresh copy per hire. Each new hire gets their own copy, so a signed document never leaks to the next hire, and the signer is always the new employee — not whoever was onboarded before them.

Signature gating

Tasks that "require signature" are gated:

The task can't be marked complete until the employee has signed the attached document. (Administrators can override.)
Signing the document AUTO-COMPLETES the task and advances the instance — no separate "mark done" step.

Sending the same document by hand

You don't have to wait for the checklist to deliver the document. If you send the same template straight from Documents → Templates, signing that copy completes the matching task exactly as the checklist's own copy would — the employee is never asked to sign the same thing twice.

It works in both directions:

What you do	What happens
Send the template by hand, then start the checklist	The checklist reuses the copy already sent instead of issuing a second one
Start the checklist, then send the template by hand	Signing either copy completes the task

Only the employee's own signature closes their task. Where a document carries more than one signer — an agreement counter-signed by a manager, say — the counter-signature completes nothing for the manager. They still have their own copy to sign.

Who can complete a task

Who	Can complete the hire's tasks?
The subject employee (the new hire)	No — cannot complete their own tasks
Administrators / Executives	Yes
The hire's department head	Yes
The explicit task assignee	Yes

Why the new hire can't tick off their own tasks. Onboarding is a verification checklist. Letting the subject mark "laptop issued" or "policy acknowledged" complete would defeat the point — completion is confirmed by HR, their manager, or the assigned owner. (Signing a requires-signature task is the exception, since signing itself is the proof.)

The Action Required tray

The Action Required view aggregates everything waiting on a person — pending signatures + expiring documents + pending acknowledgments — and shows a sidebar badge so nothing slips through.

Notifications

Onboarding sends: onboarding-started, task-assigned, task-completed, instance-completed, plus reminders.

Roles & permissions

Role	Start an instance	Complete tasks	Override signature gate
EMPLOYEE	No	Only tasks explicitly assigned to them (not their own onboarding)	No
DEPARTMENT_HEAD	For their department	Their hires' tasks	No
ADMINISTRATOR	Yes	Yes	Yes
EXECUTIVE	Yes	Yes	Yes

Troubleshooting

Error / symptom	Cause	Fix
`/onboarding` page just redirects	By design — it now points to the profile Onboarding tab	Go to `/users/:id?tab=onboarding`
New hire onboarding never started	Onboarding isn't automatic	Start an instance deliberately from the Onboarding tab
Can't mark a task complete	It "requires signature" and isn't signed yet	The employee must sign the attached document first; an admin can override
New hire can't complete their own task	Subjects can't complete their own tasks	HR, their dept head, or the assignee completes it (signing auto-completes signature tasks)
Document task didn't auto-complete	The attached document wasn't fully signed	Signing the document advances the task automatically — confirm the signature went through

Templates & Bulk Send

Reusable signing templates with signer roles, CSV-driven bulk send to up to 500 recipients, plan template limits, and how per-recipient signing copies are materialized.

Offboarding

The deliberate offboarding flow — the Offboard form, the one-transaction cleanup it performs across leaves, approvals, time, expenses, documents, projects and access, the guardrails, and offboarding checklists.