Implementing a Digital Signature

You can set up and sign your output PDF documents with a digital signature.

To implement a digital signature:

  1. Register the digital ID in the BI Publisher Administration page and specify the roles that are authorized to sign documents, as described in Registering Your Digital Signature ID and Assigning Authorized Roles.
  2. Specify the display field location, as described in Specifying the Signature Display Field or Location.
  3. Enable Digital Signature for the report using the report properties.
  4. Log in to BI Publisher as a user with an authorized role and submit the report through the BI Publisher scheduler, choosing PDF output. When the report completes, it is signed with your digital ID in the specified location of the document.

Registering Your Digital Signature ID and Assigning Authorized Roles

BI Publisher supports the identification of a single digital ID file.

To register a digital ID in the BI Publisher Administration page:

  1. On the Administration tab, under Security Center, click Digital Signature.
  2. On the Digital Signature subtab, enter the file path to the digital ID file and enter the password for the digital ID.
  3. Enable the Roles that must have the authority to sign documents with this digital ID. Use the shuttle buttons to move Available Roles to the Allowed Roles list.
  4. Click Apply. The figure below shows the Digital Signature subtab.

Specifying the Signature Display Field or Location

You must specify the location for the digital signature to appear in the completed document. The methods available depend on whether the template type is PDF or RTF.

If the template is PDF, use one of the following options:

If the template is RTF, use the following option:

Specifying a Template Field in a PDF Template for the Digital Signature

Include a field in the PDF template for digital signatures.

See Adding or Designating a Field for a Digital Signature in Report Designer's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher for instructions on including a field in the PDF template for the digital signature.

Specifying the Location for the Digital Signature in the Report Properties

When you specify a location in the document to place the digital signature, you can either specify a general location (Top Left, Top Center, or Top Right) or you can specify x and y coordinates in the document.

You can also specify the field height and width. This is done through properties on the Runtime Configuration page. Therefore you do not need to alter the template to include a digital signature.

To specify the location for the digital signature:

  1. In the catalog, navigate to the report.
  2. Click the Edit link for the report to open the report for editing.
  3. Click Properties and then click the Formatting tab.
  4. Scroll to the PDF Digital Signature group of properties.
  5. Set Enable Digital Signature to True.
  6. Specify the location in the document where you want the digital signature to appear by setting the appropriate properties as follows (note that the signature is inserted on the first page of the document only):

    • Existing signature field name — Does not apply to this method.

    • Signature field location — Provides a list containing the following values:

      Top Left, Top Center, Top Right

      Select one of these general locations and BI Publisher places the digital signature in the output document sized and positioned appropriately.

      If you set this property, then do not enter X and Y coordinates or width and height properties.

    • Signature field X coordinate — Using the left edge of the document as the zero point of the X axis, enter the position in points to place the digital signature from the left.

      For example, to place the digital signature horizontally in the middle of an 8.5 inch by 11 inch document (that is, 612 points in width and 792 points in height), enter 306.

    • Signature field Y coordinate — Using the bottom edge of the document as the zero point of the Y axis, enter the position in points to place digital signature from the bottom.

      For example, to place the digital signature vertically in the middle of an 8.5 inch by 11 inch document (that is, 612 points in width and 792 points in height), enter 396.

    • Signature field width — Enter in points the desired width of the inserted digital signature field. This applies only if you are setting the X and Y coordinates.

    • Signature field height — Enter in points the desired height of the inserted digital signature field. This applies only if you are setting the X and Y coordinates.

The figure below shows a report that is configured to place the digital signature at specific x and y coordinates in the document.


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