UT students are not normally allowed to have UT DocuSign accounts. One exception to this rule is the use case where the student needs to gather electronic signatures on consent or permission forms for their dissertation research. In such a case, the student’s dissertation chair or co-chair can must sponsor the student’s UT DocuSign account.

GETTING STARTED

Note: Allow 2 weeks for UT DocuSign account setup before you need to send your first consent/permission form.

1. Obtain your dissertation chair or co-chair agreement to sponsor your UT DocuSign account. They will be sent a policy acknowledgement to sign later in the process where they take responsibility for the proper use of your UT DocuSign student account.

2. Email a help request to help@education.utexas.edu. Mention that you want assistance setting up a student UT DocuSign account for dissertation research consent/permission forms. Include the following:

⁃ Your name and EID

⁃ Name and EID of your dissertation chair (or co-chair) (You can find faculty EIDs in the UT Directory, https://directory.utexas.edu)

The account setup process status will be communicated to you via email from the help request ticket. Make sure that you reply to emails from help@education.utexas.edu in a timely manner.

ADDITIONAL DETAILS

You will need to sign the CoE DocuSign User Policy Acknowledgement. This document will be sent to you via DocuSign after you submit the help request noted above. It lists the responsibilities and restrictions of your UT DocuSign account.

DocuSign Dos:

⁃ Use DocuSign only for official university business and approved UT-Austin academic & research projects. 

⁃ When working with documents containing confidential information, only use DocuSign for the types of confidential information for which the service has been approved for. Currently the service is approved for the following confidential data types: HIPAA, FERPA, SSNs, and IRB. DocuSign IS NOT approved for PCI or ITAR data. 

⁃ Ensure I properly retain documents in accordance with retention requirements specified in the University Handbook of Business Procedures. For example, completed documents must be placed in UTBox or a shared server. Discuss record storage options with your DUC if you have questions. 

⁃ Inform my DocuSign Unit Contact (DUC)* of any significant changes to the way I use DocuSign. 

⁃ Inform my DUC in advance of my decision to leave my unit or the University to ensure that my DocuSign documents are secured for retention and that my permissions and group settings are updated to reflect my new status.

DocuSign Don’ts:

⁃ Don’t share my user account/password with other employees. 

⁃ Don’t send documents to processing units that have not yet established processes for handling DocuSign documents. 

⁃ Don’t exchange documents or signatures between university healthcare providers and clients or patients.

In addition to the above, and specifically for the use case of dissertation research consent/permission forms, you will be asked to acknowledge your understanding of the following clarifying points from the user policy form:

⁃ Only for approved use case: consent/permission forms for dissertation research project. Other use cases related to official UT business, academic work, or research may be discussed. 

⁃ DocuSigned documents (including research consent/permission forms) are state records and must be kept on UT Box for a period of time to comply with records retention policy (time period to be determined). 

⁃ If you need to use DocuSign for another use-case other than dissertation research consent/permission forms, approval must be requested from CoE DocuSign Unit Contact (DUC)*, in part to help ensure plans are in place for the needed record retention period for the documents from the new use case. 

⁃ Your DocuSign account will be set up to be monitored by your DUC, faculty sponsor, and graduate coordinator to ensure compliance with terms of use.

*The DocuSign Unit Contact (DUC) for the College of Education is Julian Chapa.

Browser not supported