User Rights
In Wise Owl Legal, there are no "levels" of access for users and logins. Instead, each user has a list of Rights which determine what they can see and do in the system. This allows administrators a much finer degree of control over user access.
Rights are assigned by administrators on the Edit User page. They are determined by adding any Roles a user has together, applying any specific per-user overrides and then subtracting any license restrictions. Usually, assigning a user to one or more Roles will be sufficient.
Administrators and Power Users can see exactly how Wise Owl assigns rights to a user by viewing a user's Rights Detail either from the Appliance Settings page or the user's page. User's themselves can see a list of rights on their My Settings page.
List of Rights
The following table lists all rights in Wise Owl Legal, with a description of what that right entitles a user to.
| Right | Description |
|---|---|
| Security and User Rights | |
| Log Into Wise Owl Legal | The user is permitted to log into the Wise Owl Appliance. By revoking this right, you can prevent a user from logging in while they remain active. This can be useful for fee earners with a permanent assistant doing data entry. |
| Log Into Wise Owl Legal when in Single User Mode | The user is permitted to log into the Wise Owl Appliance when it is in single user mode. Without this right, a user will be denied access if the Appliance is in single user mode. |
| Edit My Settings | The user may view and edit their own settings. |
| Can See Page Creation Time (Profiling) | The user sees the time it takes the Appliance to create each web page in the top right corner. This is an important performance metric. Important: this may expose sensitive information to users such as SQL queries and implementation details. It should not be enabled except for administrative users. |
| Change My Password | The user may change their own password. |
| Reset My Forgotten Password | The user may reset their password if they forget it via an email with a reset link or a code given to them by an administrator. Note that the email link / code can always be entered, but it will never be valid for a user without this right. An administrator must manually set their password. |
| Support / Feedback Requests | All users may report bugs or request help with their login. But certain support and feedback categories are restricted. Important: the restricted categories may result in additional fees, depending on your subscription level. |
| Can Request Assistance | The user can create a support request with category "I need help with a task". This category may result in additional fees. |
| Can Lodge Sale Request | The user can create a support request with category "I have a sales or billing question". |
| Can Post Feedback / Improvement | The user can create a support request with cateogies "I have an idea to improve Wise Owl Legal", "I have some negative feedback", "I have general positive feedback". |
Special User Rights | |
| Is Senior Partner | The user is listed as a Senior Partner in Practise / Firm page and documents. |
| Is Fee Earner | The user is a fee earner and may be selected on Matters. |
| Enters Data for Other Users | The user may enter data on another user's behalf. |
| Sees Early License Expiry Message | The user sees notifications 90 days in advance of Appliance license expiry. All users see a notification 30 days before expiry, regardless of their rights. |
| Sees USB Key Encryption Notification | The user gets warning notifications to remove the USB encryption key for the Appliance if it is still plugged in. |
| Tools | |
| View Browser Diagnostics | The user may see general diagnostics about their connection and web browser. This is helpful for the Wise Owl Helpdesk when troubleshooting errors. |
| View Appliance Diagnostics | The user may see detailed Appliance diagnostics and health status, in addition to the basic browser diagnostics. Important: this may reveal sensitive information about the Appliance configuration. It should only be granted to trusted administrative users. |
| Auditing | |
| Search Audit Logs | The user may search the Appliance audit log. They may see audit log timestamp, event, summary line and the person who was audited. |
| View Audit Records | The user may see the entire detail of audit log records including the user's IP address and complete detail of each audit entry. |
| Send Message To Any User | The user may send short messages to any other user in the system. This is useful to notify remote users of important events such as restarts or updates. |
| Data Import / Export | The user may do system wide data imports and exports. Important: this right should only be granted to trusted administrative users as they will be able to access and modify all data in your Appliance. |
| Automated Imports From External Systems | The user may manually initiate imports from external systems. Generally, these imports occur on scheduled tasks. |
| Dump Appliance System Logs | The user may get dump files of low level Appliance logs. These logs may contain sensitive information. These logs are of a technical nature. Important: this right should only be granted to trusted administrative users. |
| List Active Users | The user may see the list of logged on users. |
| Kick Any Active User | The user may kick any other logged in user from Wise Owl Legal. |
| Kick Self | The user may kick another browser session owned by themselves if the Appliance has exceeded maximum licensed simultaneous login limit. |
| Appliance And System Settings | |
| Appliance Settings | |
| View Appliance Settings | The user may view the Appliance Settings page. They may not save any settings. |
| Edit Appliance Settings | The user may save most Appliance Settings (some sections are granted based on more specific rights, as listed below). |
| Edit Bank Accounts | The user may edit Bank Accounts for the Practise / Firm. |
| Check For New License | The user may manually check for a new Appliance License. This generally happens on a scheduled task. |
| Install Updates | The user may install new Wise Owl Legal updates on the Appliance. Important: installing updates will result in system down time. Only trained administrative users should install updates. |
| Edit Lists | The user may view and edit definition lists in Wise Owl Legal. This includes country list, types of contacts and address names. |
| Users | |
| List And Search Users | The user may view and search the full list of users in this Wise Owl Legal Appliance via the Manage Users page and the Appliance Settings page. |
| Edit User | The user may edit details of any other user. This includes general contact information, account / security configuration and role membership. Resetting a user's password and overriding specific rights requires additional rights. |
| Create New user | The user may create a new user in Wise Owl Legal. |
| Reset Any User's Password | The user may send a password reset email or generate a reset token for any other user. The user may not manually set another user's password. This requires the Edit User right to access. |
| Set Any User's password | The user may manually set the password for any other user. This requires the Edit User right to access. |
| Access Levels | |
| View Roles | The user may view and search the list of roles in Wise Owl Legal. They may not create or edit roles. |
| Create and Edit Roles | The user may create new roles and edit the rights assigned for existing roles. |
| Set Per-User Rights | The user may override specific rights on a per-user basis. This requires the Edit User right to access. |
| View User's Rights | The user may view the details of any other user's rights. That is, they see exactly how Wise Owl Legal has granted or revoked rights to users. Note that this right is not required to see a simple list of a user's rights, just to see the details behind them. |
| View User's With Right | The user may view a list of users with a particular right. TODO: this function is not implemented yet. |
| Time Billing | |
| Edit User Charge Out Rates | |
| Site Settings | |
| View System Settings | The user can view the System Settings page. They may not edit any details without additional rights. Important: the details in System Settings are of a sensitive and technical nature, you should only grant access to trusted administrative users. |
| Edit Folders and App Names | The user can edit fields in the Folders and App Names tab. |
| Edit System Accounts | The user can edit fields in the System Accounts tab. |
| Edit Report Settings | The user can edit fields in the Report Settings tab. |
| Edit Task Scheduler Settings | The user can edit fields in the Task Scheduler Settings tab. |
| Edit Email Settings | The user can edit fields in the Email Settings tab. |
| Edit Licensing Settings | The user can edit fields in the Licensing Settings tab. Note that the license content is controlled by the Wise Owl Legal License Server; unauthorised changes to the license can be detected and are reporting to the License Server. |
| Edit Logging / Metrics Settings | The user can edit fields in the Logging / Metrics Settings tab. |
| Edit Backup Settings | The user can edit fields in the Backup Settings tab. Note that this only affects backups made during Appliance upgrades; normal scheduled backups are unaffected. |
| Edit Security Policies | The user can edit fields in the Security Policies tab. |
| Edit External Directories | The user can edit fields in the External Directories tab. This includes the right to create new and edit individual directory settings. |
| Initial Appliance Setup | The user can perform the initial Appliance setup. This right is only relevant for a brand new Appliance. Your Appliance has already had its initial setup done when you receive it. |
| Contacts | |
| Search Contacts | The user can access the contacts module and search for contacts by name. This right is required to access any contacts related functionality. |
| Create New Contact | The user can create a new contact. |
| Edit Contacts | The user can view and edit existing contacts. |
| Overwrite Contact Number | The user can manually overwrite a contact's contact number. |
| List All Contacts | The user can list all contacts on the Search Contacts page. That is, they do not have to enter a name to find contacts. This allows a user to see a summary of every contact in Wise Owl Legal. |
| Matters | |
| Search Matters | The user can access the matters module and search for matters by name, re-lines and contact. This right is required to access any matters related functionality. |
| Create New Matter | The user can create a new matter. |
| Edit My Matters | The user can edit their own matters. That is, any matter where they are listed as a fee earner. |
| View Other User's Matters | The user can view, but not edit, matters where they are not listed as a fee earner. |
| Edit Other User's Matters | The user can edit matters where they are not listed as a fee earner. |
| Overwrite Matter Number | The user can manually edit and overwrite matter numbers. |
| Change Matter Jurisdiction | The user can manually change a matter's jurisdiction. |
| Perform Conflict Check | The user is allowed to perform conflict checks. This allows them to enter the details of a conflict check for themselves or another fee earner. |
| Send Trust Authority | The user is allowed to mark trust authority as sent against a matter. |
| List All Matters | The user can list all matters on the Search Matters page. That is, they do not have to enter a matter name, number or client name to find matters. This allows a user to see a summary of every matter in Wise Owl Legal. |
| Archive Matters | The user can change the status of any matter to Archived. (Note: any user with rights to edit a matter can mark it as Closed). |
| Edit Matter Types | The user can edit Matter Type details. That is, the user can edit the custom fields and other details associated with each Matter Type. This right has nothing to do with editing matters themselves. |
| Documents Module | |
| Documents | |
| Access Documents | |
| View Documents | |
| Create and Edit Documents | |
| Search Documents | |
| Templates | |
| Access Document Templates | |
| View Document Templates | |
| Create and Edit Document Templates | |
| Configure Custom Fields | |
| Trust Accounting | TODO |
| Access Trust Accounting | |
| Write Trust Receipt | |
| Write Trust Payment | |
| Deposit Trust Money at Bank | |
| Transfer Money Between Trust Bank Accounts | |
| Transfer Money Between Matters | |
| Reverse Trust Transaction | |
| Release Protected Trust Funds | |
| Reconcile Trust Bank Account | |
| Enter Overdrawing Transaction | |
| Edit Trust Chart of Accounts | |
| Write Adjustment | |
| Finance Module | TODO |
| Time Billing | |
| Access Time Billing | |
| Enter Timesheets | |
| Edit Submitted Timesheets | |
| Enter Fixed Fees | |
| Edit Submitted Fixed Fees | |
| Bill Time Against Matters (Fee Earner) | |
| Amend Time and Fees | |
| Disbursements | |
| Access Disbursements | |
| Create and Edit Disbursements | |
| Approve Disbursements | |
| Post Disbursements to Accounting System | |
| Delete and Void Disbursements | |
| Recoveries | |
| Access Recoveries | |
| Enter Recoveries | |
| Edit Submitted Recoveries | |
| Invoicing | |
| Access Invoices | |
| Create and Edit Invoices | |
| Approve Invoices | |
| Post Invoice to Accounting System | |
| Bulk Trust to General Payments | |
| Delete Invoices | |
| Configuration And Lists | |
| Access Invoice Items | |
| Manage Invoice Items | |
| Access Charge Rate Table | |
| Manage Charge Rate Table | |
| Access Disbursements And Recovery Items | |
| Manage Disbursements And Recovery Items | |
| Access Accounts List | |
| Manage Accounts List | |
| External Accounting Management | |
| Access External Accounts | |
| Configure Accounting Integration | |
| Post Data to External Accounts | |
| View Pending External Data | |
| View External Activity | |
| Performance / Productivity Reports | |
| View my Performance | |
| View Practice Wide Performance | |
| Printable Reports | |
| View and Save Printable Reports | |
| View and Save Sensitive Reports | |
| Manage Printable Reports | |
| Create and Edit Printable Reports | |
| Update Standard Printable Reports | |
| Metrics / Productivity Reports | |
| View My Metrics | The user can see productivity metrics for themselves. |
| View Practice Wide Metrics | The user can see metrics across the entire practice / firm including details of specific users. |