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.

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.