User Rights

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

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.Â