Patent ID: 7996677

Claim:
A system at least partially implemented by one or more computing devices, each of the one or more computing devices comprising: a processor; a memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising computer-program instructions executable by the processor for performing respective ones of operations comprising: receiving a request from a user to generate a certificate template from which to create an official document, the request including a document type indication for the certificate template being requested; determining whether the user is authorized for the certificate template of the requested document; and in response to determining that the user is authorized for the requested document: generating the certificate template and credentialing information from information provided in the request including the document type indication, at least a portion of the credentialing information being a part of the certificate template for presentation as part of the official document to an end user to verify authenticity of the official document, wherein generating comprises calculating a digital signature based on at least the portion of the credentialing information; storing the digital signature for subsequent validity verification of the official document to a recipient; and communicating the certificate template to the user, wherein the certificate template is for modification by the user to create the official document, the official document being for distribution and presentation to one or more end-users.