Routing Order
Sequential stages, parallel signing, mixed orders. And what happens to the queue when someone acts or declines.
Routing decides who can act, and when. Docshark envelopes route by stage. Recipients in the same stage act in parallel; the next stage only opens when the current one finishes.
The two shapes
- Everyone at once. One stage, all recipients get the email immediately. Fastest; order does not matter.
- In order. Sequential stages: legal signs first, then finance, then the client. Each stage's recipients are notified only when the previous stage completes.
Building the order
On the recipients step, drag people between stages or assign stage numbers. The order is visible as a numbered list, 1. Legal team, 2. Finance, 3. Client, and the envelope detail shows the pipeline as it runs.
What the pipeline looks like live
The envelope detail shows each stage as a column and each recipient's state inside it:
- Waiting. A later stage; not notified yet.
- Sent / Delivered. The email went out / landed.
- Viewed. They opened the document.
- Signed / Approved. Their part is done.
- Declined. They refused (see below).
When someone acts
- A signer finishing frees the stage; the next stage's emails go out automatically.
- All recipients in a stage must finish before the next stage opens. One straggler holds the stage.
- Approvers count too: an approve decision releases the stage; a reject stops it.
When someone declines or rejects
A decline (signer) or rejection (approver) halts the envelope. Later stages never fire. You choose: negotiate the changes, correct and resend, or void the envelope. The decline reason is recorded in the audit trail and shown on the recipient's card.
Order and roles together
Roles and stages combine: an early stage of approvers, a middle stage of signers, a final witness, the envelope walks the structure in order. CC recipients are not staged, they receive the sealed copy at completion regardless of order.