Set up online payments

Feature description

The Online Payment service in Adobe Acrobat Sign integrates Braintree as a payment gateway tied to the signature process. The integration is enabled by adding a Payment field to your form.

Forms can be created with Payment fields based on the following:

• A static value, as in the case of a quote for service
• A dynamic value, derived from calculated fields on the form, as in an order form with multiple items, quantities, and shipping methods
• A recipient entered value, like a donation request

The Braintree integration inserts a payment window into the signer’s interface after they click the Pay and Sign button.  This window collects all the personal payment information, obviating the need for the signer to enter that personal information into an Acrobat Sign form, improving the general security of the signer’s information, and eliminating the need for the sender to capture and manually process the payment. 

How it's used

Creating a successful payment form only requires you to use a Payment form field in the agreement.

If you are new to form authoring in Acrobat Sign, you may want to take a moment to familiarize yourself with the in-app authoring tool.

Users familiar with the authoring process only need to learn about the new field type (Payment) and what is required to make it work properly.

Using Drag and Drop Authoring

The payment field can be found at the bottom of the list of field categories on the right side of the Authoring window.

Applying the payment field requires careful attention to the field options to ensure that your form functions properly.

Specifically:

Assigned to – Make sure you are assigning the field to the recipient that is expected to provide payment. This may seem counter-intuitive for a static payment value, but the assignment of the field is what logically relates the payer to the payment record.

Value Type – This is linked to the function of the form

• Entered value gives you a static value, whether it be a stated value like a quote, or an accepted value, like a donation.
• Calculated value gives you a derived value from a formula involving other fields. This is used for a dynamic order form.

Read Only – If checked, the sender must ensure that the field is populated either with a fixed value or through a calculated value.

If unchecked, the value is either the default set during authoring or the value entered by the recipient.

Default value – Used if your form has a set value for static payments or a suggested donation value.

Currency – Set the appropriate currency for your target audience. 1000 Yen is very different than 1000 Pounds.

Value Range – Useful if you want to establish a bounded range for donation values.

Static value (Quotes)

A form with a static value must have an Entered value established during authoring.

• The field should be defined as Read Only
• A  non-zero Default Value should be entered
• Select the correct Currency for the targeted recipient

The user experience shows the field and value but does not allow the payer to alter the value.

Dynamic value (Order form)

The dynamic value Payment field should be configured as a Calculated value.

• The option to make the field Read Only is required for calculated values, so the option is removed from the properties menu 
• The calculated value will be derived from other fields that the recipient can interact with (quantities, shipping methods, insurance options, etc.)
• During authoring, the formula is exposed in the field instead of a numerical value

Select an appropriate Currency

The user experience is to see the field, the values of the field adjust in real-time as options are selected, but the recipient is unable to directly interact with it. (Highlight added below)

Recipient defined values (Donations)

A signer-defined payment field allows the user to directly enter the value of the payment. It should be configured as an Entered value, and the Read Only feature should be disabled.

A default value is permitted but can be freely edited.

A value range is permitted and will be strictly enforced.  Meaning if you would like to restrict the lowest value acceptable, you may do so.

The user experience shows the field, and is fully editable, potentially with a default value if so designed.

If an upper or lower bound is defined and a value outside that bound is entered, an error will occur and the recipient will not be allowed to sign until the value is corrected.

Negative values are not permitted.

Transaction Records

Ensuring that data is stored securely is a fundamental driving force when dealing with personal information such as payment details. Acrobat Sign and Braintree only share the minimum necessary details to complete the transaction and ensure proper auditability of a payment as it is related to an agreement.

Braintree records

The Acrobat Sign system is the custodian of the agreement documents, and records regarding recipients and interactions. At no time is Braintree aware of the content of the transaction or the full list of recipients. (By necessity, Braintree must be aware of the payer.)

At the time the Pay and Sign button is clicked, an I-frame is opened to the Braintree service, and four data objects are passed:

1. The Currency type - Needed only to ensure that the correct merchant account is used in Braintree
2. The number value in the Payment field – Needed to understand the value of the collection
3. The email address of the Payer– Needed to identify the Payer
4. The participation code of the transaction – Needed to directly relate the payment record to the Agreement record 

Acrobat Sign records

Braintree is the custodian of the payment records, and no records related to the personal information of the payer is ever passed to Acrobat Sign.

When the payment is successfully completed, only the Braintree transaction number is passed back to Acrobat Sign. This transactionID can be found in the Activity log (on the Manage page) and the audit report:

How to enable or disable

Before you can start working with payment fields in Acrobat Sign, you must have a Braintree account.

A production account can be registered here:  https://www.braintreepayments.com/sales-apply

The Acrobat Sign Online Payments feature can be enabled at the account level by an account-level admin.

• Group-level settings are permitted and will over-ride the account-level values
  • Each group can have its own unique Braintree account enabled

Changing your Braintree credentials

If you need to change the Braintree credentials (eg: changing to a new merchant account):

Disable Braintree but retain the integration credentials

To disable the integration between Acrobat Sign and Braintree and retain the credentials for enablement later:

Disable Braintree and remove the integration credentials

You can disable the integration between Acrobat Sign and Braintree and remove the credentials form the account settings by:

Configuration options

The Braintree service offers a number of configuration options that can greatly improve your signer’s experience. Everybody has different needs from a payment service, and a thorough exploration of the Braintree features is well worth the effort.

With regards to the Acrobat Sign integration there are a few features that relate directly to the signer’s experience:

• Currency – What currency are you accepting?

Braintree accepts a wide range of currency types and allows you to make a “Merchant account” for each currency you will accept. This merchant account further allows you to define what types of payments you will accept (which discrete credit cards. Paypal is not currently supported).

Within Acrobat Sign, the Payment field must be configured for one type of currency. This configured value links to the Merchant Account of the same currency type. 

The values listed in the Acrobat Sign field properties are dictated by the currencies accepted in your Braintree merchant accounts.

Setting a default Merchant account will also define the default currency loaded in the Acrobat Sign Payment field.

• Duplicate Transaction Checking – Prevents a quick double-click from creating two transactions, and double-charging the signer.

Things to know

Known Issue: Payments are disabled after modifying a delegated agreement

There is a known issue that can cause the agreement to bypass the payment process and complete the agreement as successful without payment being secured. The problem manifests only when:

1. the first recipient delegates their signature authority
2. the sender modifies the agreement after that delegation

It is recommended to disable the Modify Agreement feature in any group using the payment integration.

PCI Content and Storage

During the payment process, all information is entered into the Braintree interface.

All payment information is stored solely within the Braintree account.

The Acrobat Sign environment only stores the API credentials to the Braintree account and the Transaction number that is passed back from Braintree (recorded in the Acrobat Sign Audit Trail).

No actual payment information ever touches the Acrobat Sign system, ensuring optimal PCI compliance and signer security.

Disrupted transaction between Payment and Signature

When using payments, the signature process happens in two parts:

• Complete the signature process on the e-sign page
  
• Capture the payment and finalize the signature

This ensures that the agreement can’t be completed without the payment being captured first.

If there is a disruption in the process for any reason, the signer can re-open the agreement from the original link (or a reminder link if reminders are configured) and resume the process.

Duplicate payment prevention

The Braintree service has a Duplicate Transaction Checking feature that prevents multiple transactions to the same transactionID within a set time span.  This prevents multiple payments from being logged due to multiple button clicks.

To configure the Duplicate Transaction Checking option:

1. Log in to your Braintree account.

2. Navigate to Settings > Processing > Duplicate Transaction Checking.

3. Turn the setting on.

Payment Disputes

Recipients that have a payment dispute for any reason should contact the party that sent the agreement by replying to the original "Review and sign" email.

Acrobat Sign provides the platform for the signature process, but hands off the payment process to Braintree.

No payment, or payment information, is collected by Acrobat Sign. Acrobat Sign only exposes the payment portal that the sender of the agreement has configured.