Digital contracts, real commitment: the FSJ and the path to paperless administration

When I took over as Managing Director three years ago, the association, which had been in existence for over 50 years, was still in its infancy in terms of digitalization. Until then, all contracts with the social institutions and FSJ participants were created using form letters, printed out, signed, stamped, put in an envelope and sent to the post office. And signed and returned by post. If a change was necessary, everything started all over again. This was still feasible with a smaller number of participants, but the more young adults doing an FSJ, the more impossible the undertaking became. Not to mention the likelihood of errors in the various Excel lists. This meant that digitalized solutions had to be found for the 21st century.

The first step was to find an IT company that could digitize all of our processes. This meant that we could no longer receive applications as an attachment in an email (whose information then had to be inserted into Excel lists), as was previously usual and necessary, but via a registration tool. The data could then be used directly to automatically create the necessary contracts once an FSJ placement had been confirmed. This meant that the contract creation was complete, but the digital signing option was still missing. After some research and, above all, thanks to a recommendation from a friend, I finally came across sproof.

The importance of the digital transformation for the FSJ cannot be overestimated. An FSJ year always starts in the fall. This means that summer is the peak period for placements and also the peak period for contracts. Two contracts with our association are required for each person placed: With the social institution and with the FSJ participant. We have to sign these contracts and, of course, so does the other party. sproof offered and continues to offer us the ideal solution! This year we expect around 700 FSJ assignments, and therefore around 1400 contracts that need to be signed.

It was important for us to find a solution that was practical and affordable. Data protection had to be fulfilled. The tool used to process the signature had to be competent, trustworthy, professional and, above all, "listen" to what we needed. We found all of this with sproof.

For the signatures of our FSJ agreements with the social institutions and with the FSJ participants and also for contracts with funding bodies, service contracts, etc. Simply for all documents that require an officially valid signature. And so sproof not only helps us with contracts relating to FSJ assignments, but also with documents that need to be signed by the association's chairperson and managing director, as we don't see each other that often - which makes it difficult to sign by hand - but are mainly in contact via email and telephone.

Since we have sproof, which allows us to sign via ID-Austria, there is no longer any need for meetings, which used to be mainly about getting a signature for an important document. We are also celebrating the paperless solution. This allows us to save valuable resources. Today, we print almost nothing at all.

The IT company that did the digitalization for us and sproof took care of this directly. From specialist to specialist, so to speak. That was ideal for us as a customer.

Of course, we have extremely high standards. The question of data protection and security was one of the first we asked when we came across sproof.

All of sproof's employees are incredibly competent, friendly, professional and always strive to find the best solution for us. They are there and available for questions and problems and do everything they can to ensure that we, as a customer, get the result we need and want. sproof is the best thing that could have happened to us, alongside the great IT company with which we approached digitization.

Yes, especially when I digitally sign documents with our chairwoman, the signature workflow is used. But also for contracts with volunteer positions and FSJ participants. By switching from manual signatures on agreements sent by post to digital signatures by email, we have also ensured digitization in the more than 700 social institutions, because the management of the social institutions then also had to deal with the digital signature.

We are now in our third year of use and it is working wonderfully everywhere. sproof is seen as a trustworthy and uncomplicated partner. Incidentally, digital drawing was never a challenge for the FSJ participants. The young adults did it in no time at all with their cell phones, as if they had never done it any other way. This also speaks for the easy and understandable usability of sproof. We would like to say a big THANK YOU for the great cooperation!!!