Getting Started as an External Collaborator

In the OWL Intelligence Platform, External Collaborators are approved users from outside an 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.

Approved external collaborators assigned to an agency can be added to Cases within OWL, but external collaboration requests first require approval by the appropriate organization administrators, admin teams, or supervisors. 

Steps to Get Started:

1. After your access request is approved, you will receive a User Activation Email. Use the provided username and temporary password to create your new password and set your security MFA.
2. Log in to OWL using your newly created credentials.
3. After logging in, you will automatically be redirected to:
   Case Management → Cases → View‑Edit page.
4. On the View‑Edit page, you will see all the cases that you have been added to as a collaborator.
   
5. Your permissions on each case depend on the access rights assigned to you (Read or Write).
6. To open a case, click the Action Menu for the desired case and select “View Case Dossier.”
7. The Case Dossier page allows you to view all case information along with any child records attached to the case.

External Collaborator Permissions

General Restrictions

• You cannot update or modify existing case details or template information.

If You Have READ Access

• You can only view the case information. No edits or additions are allowed.

If You Have WRITE Access

• You can create new child records and attach them to Cases, such as:
  • Subjects
  • Forms
  • Tips & Docs
    
     

Additional Permissions & Limitations

You can...

• download the Case Report from both the Case Dossier page and the Case View‑Edit action menu.
• launch the case if it includes any data query searches.
• open the search views, explore the search results, and perform analysis on the available data.
• download the case search report.

You cannot...

• detach or remove any child records added by other users.
• perform new searches within a Case.
• perform searches outside of your collaborated Cases.
• run Spyglass searches.
• re-run searches from the results screen.

External Collaborators Access and Restrictions in OWL

External collaborators in OWL can be assigned only two types of licenses:

• External Collaborator – Full
• External Collaborator – Read Only

Users with an External Collaborator – Full license can be added to a case with either Read or Write access.
Users with an External Collaborator – Read Only license can be added to a case with read-only access.

External Collaborator License Comparison