Skip to navigation

Account opening use case

View as Markdown

This use case illustrates how you can build a Workflow Builder workflow that streamlines the end-to-end account opening process—for instance, embedding a web form to collect customer data and orchestrating subsequent steps such as identity validation, document signing, and final account setup—all automatically within your application. Workflow Builder enables these workflows to be reusable, programmable, and easily integrated using the Workflow Builder API.

Check out the Github repo here!

Account opening almost always involves a formal agreement between the customer and the organization. This agreement must be signed before the account can be activated. The documents forming this agreement are generated based on the information provided by the customer, which must be verified and validated before being processed by the system.

In the financial industry, one of the most important activities is the process of opening a new account. In many cases, this is the first interaction a customer has with an institution, and it forms their initial impression of the organization. Although seemingly simple, this brief interaction plays a critical role in shaping customer perception.

Consumers today expect this process to be quick, intuitive, and fully digital. Ideally, they should be able to complete the entire interaction from any device—whether a phone or a computer—without the need for human assistance or physical paperwork. Moreover, customers expect the process to conclude when the account is fully opened and ready for use.

The complexity increases due to variations in processing requirements, which may depend on the customer’s data, regulatory compliance, and organizational policies. This introduces several key challenges:

  • Ensuring that the customer-provided data is accurate and complete when submitted through the account opening form.
  • Verifying the customer’s identity, which is essential for both compliance and fraud prevention.
  • Routing the agreement to the appropriate individuals or departments within the organization.
  • Extracting and transferring the necessary data to the organization’s existing back-end systems for account management.
  • Complying with all relevant regulations and legal requirements across different jurisdictions (such as countries and states).

Traditionally, financial institutions relied on dedicated development teams to build custom web applications to handle these processes and integrate with internal systems. However, such applications are often complex, resource-intensive, and costly to build and maintain.

With Docusign for Developers, you can rapidly create high-quality applications that offer the same level of functionality while reducing development effort and operational overhead.

Docusign for Developers includes a number of technologies that directly address the needs of developers building account opening processes for financial institutions. Let’s review these technologies and how each of them can be used for this purpose:

  • Workflows: Docusign Workflow Builder is a tool that enables customers to create reusable workflows that orchestrate and automate business process centers around agreements. You can create a Workflow Builder workflow that automates the account opening process by adding steps such as using a web form to gather data from customers, using IDV to validate the customer’s identity, and using your own extension app with the data IO extension to update the account records in your back-end systems for the newly created account. In addition, the workflow may also include an eSignature step whereby the customer can sign the agreement to create a new account.

    Maestro add step panel

  • Workflow Builder API: The workflow can be triggered from your own application and be integrated into your own application using the Workflow Builder REST API. That allows you to make the experience seamless for the customer. They never have to leave your financial institution application when they open a new account, and you handle the work using our own APIs.

  • Web Forms: Web Forms are a common means of collecting information from customers to be fed into your own systems. Docusign provides the technology to do this, either as part of a workflow that includes other steps, or separately. You can also use the Web Forms API to manage this process from your own application.

Web Forms
  • Identity Verification (IDV): Docusign Identity Verification is a suite of tools designed to securely and efficiently confirm the identities of individuals signing documents electronically. It integrates advanced technologies to ensure that the person signing is indeed who they claim to be, thereby enhancing trust and compliance in digital transactions.
  • Connected fields extension: The connected fields extension is a technology that enables developers to write custom code that is used to validate any custom data that is part of an agreement against their systems. In the context of account opening, you can use this extension to do custom validation of the data provided by the consumer who is applying to open a bank account. This goes beyond validating their address or phone number. You can, for example, check whether you already have an account for them in the system or ensure they are not in the list of blocked users. You can check their address to confirm that their geographical location is serviced by your bank, or check for any other specific status that makes them eligible (or not) to open an account with your institution.
  • Data IO extension: Data IO is used to send data back and forth from your systems to agreements being signed using Docusign eSignature which are part of a workflow. You can build a private extension app that uses data IO to send account information to your own proprietary system as part of the account opening transaction. You will then have to use this extension app in a custom workflow that you build that takes the user through the process of opening a new account.
  • Connected Fields API: This API enables developers to obtain information about data verification and connected fields extension apps installed on the eSignature account. You can use this API in conjunction with the eSignature REST API to programmatically send documents for signature that include your own data validation fields in the agreement. This can be used as an alternative method of building the functionality of account opening from inside your application instead of using a workflow.

To get you started on building your own account opening solution using Docusign for Developers, here are a few useful resources.