What a signing order is
A signing order is the sequence in which the parties to a document are asked to add their signatures. On many documents the order does not matter and everyone can sign at once. On others it does: an internal approver may need to sign before the document goes to a counterparty, or a witness may need to sign after the person they are witnessing. A signing order makes the sequence explicit, so each party is asked to sign only when it is their turn.
Getting the order right is part of getting a document executed correctly. A document signed out of sequence may need to be reissued, which costs time and goodwill. Defining the order up front, and routing the document to each party in turn, removes that risk and gives everyone a clear view of where the document is in the process. Alongside the order, an audit trail records who signed, in what sequence and when, which is what makes the executed document defensible later.
Signing order in the Cohiva platform
Cohiva Sign provides legally binding electronic signatures embedded across every Cohiva product. It handles agreements, contracts and franchise disclosure documents, it is eIDAS compliant, and it keeps a full audit trail. Because signing is embedded in the product workflow rather than a separate tool, the signing order is part of the same process that produced the document.
For operators sending agreements that need a defined sequence, that keeps signing inside the workflow with the record attached. To see how it works, explore Sign.