Electronic Approvals

Hi would anyone be able to explain the difference between Electronic Approvals and Electronic signatures and if approvals are acceptable over the actual signature or, if there are occasions when these are used rather than e-sigs. Also, how would you know which are required by FDA?

Hi Kathleen,

Depends very much upon context. If you are talking in terms of system design, then the term ‘electronic approval’ is sometimes used to demonstrate a handshake between two computers which is a check step during authentication. e.g. client logging on to server, the server checks and ‘approves’ (usually called authentication) that the client attempting log-in is allowed access.
If you are talking about the physical signing of documents, then no, there is no difference between e-sig and e-approval (they are the same thing). Sometimes e-approval is used to describe the entire process within an EDMS from Author to Approve to Release.