Comparison
SkySign vs paper: an honest comparison.
Paper sign-off sheets are cheap, familiar and work anywhere. They also turn every audit into a search through binders. Here is where each one is the right tool.
- SkySign is for
- Issuing documents to staff across shifts and stations, with a searchable record of every acknowledgement.
- paper is for
- Signing in the room: briefings where everyone is present, and places without devices or signal.
Side by side
SkySign and paper, capability by capability.
Judged on one job: getting a document to staff and proving each person acknowledged it.
| Capability | SkySign | paper |
|---|---|---|
| Works without a device or signal | No Staff need a phone, tablet or computer with an internet connection. | Yes A pen and the sheet. |
| Set-up | Partly Groups and staff accounts to set up; staff can be imported from a spreadsheet. | Yes Print the sheet. |
| Who signed | Yes A typed name tied to the person’s own signed-in account. | Partly A signature and a printed name, if both are legible. |
| When | Yes A timestamp from SkySign’s server. | Partly Whatever date the person wrote down. |
| Which document | Yes The SHA-256 fingerprint of the exact file issued. | Partly The title on the sheet; the copy it was attached to may have changed since. |
| Staff who weren’t in the room | Yes Everyone in the group receives the document, whatever their shift. | No Night shifts, rest days and leave are caught up later, if at all. |
| Several stations | Yes Completion for every station group, side by side. | No Each station keeps its own binder; head office sees scans, eventually. |
| Finding records later | Yes Filter and export by document, department and date. | No Find the right binder, then the right sheet. |
| Keeping records | Partly Records stay until you delete them, and deleting a document deletes its records. | Partly Records last as long as the paper and the storage room. |
Which should you use?
When paper is the better choice
- Briefings where everyone is present and there are no devices or signal.
- Visitors and one-off attendees who won’t have an account.
- A short-lived site with a handful of people, where a sheet is evidence enough.
When SkySign is the better choice
- Notices that must reach people across shifts, rest days and stations.
- Anything you may need to find and export for an audit or an investigation.
- Seeing who is outstanding without checking sheets against a roster.
Use both while you switch.
Keep paper for in-room briefings where there is no device, then issue the briefing material in SkySign so the people who weren’t there can acknowledge it too. Keep your old sheets for as long as your retention policy requires: SkySign doesn’t import paper records.
Where SkySign falls short today
- Needs a device and an internet connection at the moment of acknowledging.
- Each person needs their own account and email address.
- There is no handwritten or drawn signature.
- Paper records can’t be imported.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Is a typed name weaker than a handwritten signature?
It is a different kind of evidence. The typed name is tied to the person’s own signed-in account, with a server timestamp and the document’s fingerprint. Whether it meets a specific legal requirement is for your organisation and its advisers.
Can we scan our old sheets into SkySign?
No. Keep them as your retention policy requires. SkySign records acknowledgements from the first document you issue in it.
What if a station has no reliable signal?
Staff need a connection when they acknowledge. A crew-room computer on the station network works, with each person signing in to their own account.
Compare it with paper on your own documents.
Bring a current notice. We’ll issue it in SkySign and show you the record it produces.
See how SkySign distributes, tracks and proves operational briefings in 20 minutes.