Product: Inspections (HappyCo Manage, HappyCo mobile app, Resident Portal)

Overview

HappyCo inspection templates can require a signature before an inspection is submitted. This article explains how signature requirements are enforced, how to control which of your team members can complete an inspection without a signature, what happens to signatures when a report is regenerated, and how to add your own disclaimer text above the signature on the inspection report.

It's written for administrators who configure templates and roles, and for site teams who complete inspections day to day.

Getting Started

Before you begin, confirm with your HappyCo contact that the signature disclaimer release flag is enabled for your business. Without it, the disclaimer and the mobile enforcement described below will not appear.

To turn on signature requirements for a template:

1. Go to Templates and select the template you want to change.
2. Open the Report Workflow section.
3. Set Require Signature (Mobile App Only) to on. This requires a signature before an inspection can be submitted in the mobile app.
4. Save the template.

To decide who can complete an inspection without a signature:

1. Go to Admin Centre → Roles.
2. Select a role.
3. Turn Bypass required signatures on inspections on or off for that role.
4. Save.

This permission is off by default. Users in roles without it cannot complete a signature-required inspection without a signature.

To turn signature requirements off, set Require Signature (Mobile App Only) back to off on the template. To remove someone's ability to bypass, turn the role permission off.

Mobile app version: your team needs HappyCo mobile app v2.20.0 or later for the app to honour the bypass permission.

Completing an Inspection That Requires a Signature

When you complete an inspection whose template requires a signature:

• If a signature has been captured, the inspection completes as normal.
• If no signature has been captured and your role cannot bypass, you are stopped at completion and prompted to collect the signature.
• If no signature has been captured and your role can bypass, you are asked to confirm that you want to complete without one. HappyCo records that you made this choice.

The confirmation is deliberate. It exists so a missing signature is always a decision someone made, not something that happened quietly.

Reopening an Inspection with a Signature

When an inspection with a signature was previously completed and a user attempts to reopen:

• If the user has the permission to bypass signatures they will see a modal warning them prior to reopening and all signatures will be removed from the inspection.
• If the user does not have the permission to bypass signatures the system will prevent them from reopening.

Regenerating a Report That Has a Signature

A signature is tied to the specific version of the report it was collected against. When you regenerate a report, the original signature is not carried forward to the new report. This is intentional: if the inspection content changed, carrying the signature forward would attach a signature to content the signer never reviewed.

What you'll see:

• Before you regenerate a report that carries a signature, HappyCo warns you that the signature will not be included on the new report.
• Before you unlock and edit a completed inspection that has a signature, you get the same warning.
• On the regenerated report, a note indicates that the original signature was not carried forward.

The original signed report remains available. If you need a signature on the new version, collect a new one.

Adding a Disclaimer Above the Signature

You can print your own acknowledgement or disclaimer text on the inspection report, directly above the signature.

1. Go to Templates and select your template.
2. Open Report Workflow.
3. Turn on Show Signature Disclaimer.
4. Enter your text in Signature Disclaimer Content.
5. Save the template.

On any report generated from this template that has a signature, your text appears in a Disclaimer sub-section inside the Signature block, immediately above the signatures.

Note: the disclaimer only appears when the report has a signature. Reports without a signature show no disclaimer section.

Understanding the Signature Settings

There are two separate signature settings, and they govern different places:

Resident Portal signature requirements are configured separately. If you use portal links to collect signatures, confirm with your HappyCo contact that portal and mobile settings are aligned — setting one does not set the other.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this apply to inspections we completed before these changes?

No. Reports generated previously are unchanged. The warnings, the confirmation and the disclaimer apply to inspections completed and reports generated from now on.

Can I see who bypassed a required signature?

Yes. HappyCo records the user who completed the inspection without a signature.

Why can't the signature carry over when I regenerate?

Because the signature belongs to the report content that was signed. Carrying it onto a regenerated report would risk attaching a signature to content the signer never saw.

My disclaimer isn't showing on the report. Why?

Check all three: the release flag is enabled for your business, Show Signature Disclaimer is on for that template, and the report has a signature on it. The disclaimer does not print on unsigned reports.

Our mobile users can still skip the signature. What's wrong?

Confirm they're on mobile app v2.20.0 or later, and confirm the signature disclaimer release flag is enabled for your business. With the flag off, the app will still offer skip options.

We require signatures but have report generation turned off. Is that supported?

This combination can result in a signature being collected but never appearing on a report. Contact your HappyCo representative before using it.

Who should have the bypass permission?

That's your call. A common approach is to grant it to lead or regional roles and leave it off for site-level staff, so skipping a signature stays an exception with a named decision-maker behind it.