External Collaboration

In the OWL Intelligence Platform, External Collaborators are approved users from outside your organization who can be granted view-only access to specific records or case-related information.

They are typically partners, such as outside agencies, third-party investigators, or other authorized entities, who need limited, controlled visibility into certain data without full system access.
 

Adding an External Collaborator in OWL

An External Collaborator is a user who belongs to an agency outside your organization. If the external agency does not already exist in OWL, you must create it before adding collaborators. This addition will need to be approved by the appropriate administrators before the External Collaborator can be added to a Case.

Steps to Add/Request an External Collaborator:

1. Navigate to the Collaboration menu in the OWL header and hover over External Collaborator.
2. Select Manage External Collaborator.
   
3. You will be taken to the Manage External Collaboration page.
4. The page displays all active agencies that have been created under your account.
   
5. Choose the agency to which you want to add an external collaborator or click Add External Agency to create a new agency and add collaborators at the same time.
   
6. On the Add External Agency page, enter all required agency information—such as agency name, phone number, and address.
7. In the same form, provide the required collaborator details: first name, last name, phone, mobile, email, expiration date, department, language, time zone, and access rights.
   
8. To add more than one collaborator at once, use the + Add Collaborator(s) link above the Save button.
   

• The Collaborator Expiration Date determines how long the user will remain active in OWL. This date cannot exceed the expiration date of their external collaborator subscription.
• The Access Rights dropdown includes two options—Write or Read—which control whether the collaborator can create new records or only view case information. (See below for access and feature details.)
  
• The Department selection determines which department the collaborator will be associated with. Department supervisors for the selected department will be responsible for reviewing and approving the collaborator’s details. The dropdown displays departments based on those available to the logged-in user.
• Language and Time Zone can be set according to the collaborator’s preferred settings.

• The collaborator’s email and mobile number must be unique and must not match any existing OWL user information.

   

9. After completing all required fields, click Save.
10. You will return to the Manage External Collaboration page, where the newly created agency will appear.
11. Select the agency to view its details, including the collaborators you added. Newly added external collaborators will initially appear with a Pending Approval status.

External Collaborator Policy and Access Rights:

• View-Only Access: External collaborators can access the information shared with them but are not permitted to modify it.
• Approval Required: Their access is granted only after completing an approval workflow in which the request is reviewed and either accepted or declined.
• Time-Limited Access: Their permissions are controlled by an expiry date to ensure access does not extend beyond the intended duration.
• Secure External Sharing: OWL enables safe and controlled information exchange with outside agencies or partners while maintaining compliance and security standards.
• Integrated Collaboration Feature: The OWL collaboration system supports the sharing of records between internal users and authorized external collaborators.
• Ability to Create Records: External collaborators with WRITE permissions may create new records and link them to the case they are collaborating on. Those with READ permissions can only view the records associated with the shared case.

Editing Agencies and External Collaborator Requests

You can modify existing agency information as well as update pending external collaborator requests from the Edit & Manage External Collaborator section.

Steps:

1. Open the Collaboration menu from the OWL header and hover over External Collaborator.
2. Click Manage External Collaborator.
3. You will be directed to the Add & Manage External Collaborator page.
4. This page displays all agencies created under your organization.
5. Select the agency you want to update.
   
6. After selection, you will be taken to the Edit & Manage page for that specific agency.
7. At the top of this page, you will find the agency details, and below it, a table listing all related external collaborators.
   
8. To modify agency information, click the pencil icon in the top-right corner. This opens the agency details in editable mode. Update the required fields and click Save.
   
9. The table displays all external collaborator requests—including pending, approved, and rejected ones.
10. Pending requests can be edited using the Edit option under the action menu. Approved requests cannot be edited.
    
11. Selecting Edit opens a pop-up where you can update the collaborator’s details (except the department). Make the necessary changes and click Save.
    
12. Each time a pending request is updated, department administrators and supervisors are notified via email.
13. If you no longer want a request to proceed for approval, you may delete it using the Delete option in the action menu.
    
14. This page also lets you view reviewer comments for approved or rejected requests. Approved requests will display the assigned role, expiration date, and access rights.
    
15. If the list of collaborators is large, you can use filters to find specific requests:

• Collaborator Name: Search by partial or full name
• Collaborator Email: Filter by email
• Access Rights: Filter by READ or WRITE permissions
• Approval Status: Filter by APPROVED, PENDING, or REJECTED
• Request Created Date Range: Locate requests based on when they were created

Adding External Collaborators to Cases

Approved external collaborators assigned to an agency can be added to cases within OWL. Any user who has access to the External Collaborator module is permitted to initiate this process.

Note that adding an external collaborator to a case does not grant immediate access—the request must first be reviewed and approved by the appropriate organization administrators, admin teams, or supervisors.

Steps:

1. Open the Collaboration menu from the OWL header and hover over External Collaborator.
2. Click Add Collaborator to Case to navigate to the Add External Collaborator(s) to Case page.
   
3. This page provides a guided, step-by-step workflow for adding external collaborators to cases.
4. Begin by selecting the department that owns the case. Only departments accessible to the logged-in user will appear in the dropdown.
   
5. After selecting a department, Step 2 becomes active and displays all active cases you have created or own.
6. The Cases dropdown supports multi-select, allowing you to choose multiple cases before moving to Step 3.
   
7. In Step 3, choose the Access Rights (READ/WRITE) you want to assign. These permissions determine what the external collaborator will be able to do in the selected cases.
   
8. Next, set the expiration date for the case collaboration. Only external collaborators whose license expiration date extends beyond the chosen case collaboration end date will be eligible for selection.
   
9. Select the Agency, which filters the list of available external collaborators to those who meet the selected expiration date and access‑rights criteria.
10. In the Select Collaborators step, OWL displays eligible collaborators based on:
    • Access Rights:
      • If you select READ, collaborators with either READ or WRITE licenses will appear.
      • If you select WRITE, only collaborators with WRITE licenses will be shown.
    • Expiration Date:
      • Collaborators whose license expires before the selected case expiration date will not be available.
    • Agency:

      • Only collaborators from the selected agency will be listed.

        

11. In the final step, review the selected collaborators. You may adjust their access rights or expiration date and add or remove collaborators before submitting the case collaboration request.
    
12. Click on the Collaborate button to submit the request. You will be redirected to the View-Edit Case External Collaboration page.

View-Edit Case Collaboration

All external case‑collaboration requests can be managed from the View–Edit Case Collaboration page. From this page, requestors can update pending requests, submit new requests to extend a collaboration’s expiration date, or delete requests that no longer require approval.

Steps:

1. Open the Collaboration menu in the OWL header and hover over External Collaborator.
2. Click View–Edit Case Collaboration to navigate to the corresponding page.
   
3. The page displays all case collaboration requests, including those in Pending, Approved, or Rejected status.
4. Each request includes key details such as the collaborator’s information, associated case, department, assigned access rights, collaboration expiration date, approval status, and reviewer comments.
5. To modify a pending request, use the Edit option in the action menu. This allows you to update the access rights and expiration date fields.
   
   
6. To remove a pending request, select the Delete option.
7. Any edits or deletions will automatically trigger email notifications to the relevant administrators and supervisors.
8. You can do a bulk update of the access rights and collaboration expiration dates.
   
9. You can refine the list of requests using the available filters:
   • Collaborator Name: Search by partial or full name
   • Collaborator Email: Filter using email address
   • Access Rights: Filter by READ or WRITE permissions
   • Approval Status: Filter by APPROVED, PENDING, or REJECTED

   • Request Created Date Range: Filter based on when the request was submitted