# Configuring External Collaboration for Document Review & Approval QualityDocs includes a feature set to streamline temporary, short-term access to your Vault for external parties to review and approve documents on behalf of their company. You can give your organization's users the ability to send review and approve tasks to recognized external contacts, who can then complete those tasks in Vault with minimal or no need to manage user account provisioning for those external parties. When an authorized internal Vault user sends a document review or approval workflow task to an external contact, Vault utilizes an [external user license](/en/lr/5721/#license-types) and automates the provisioning of the _External User_ account. A specialized email message invites the external contact to login to Vault to complete the assigned task. Vault then automatically inactivates the user account when the task has been completed and when the document reaches its [_Steady State_](/en/lr/14560/).
## External Collaboration Access Control Vault uses a standard _Application Role_ (_QualityDocs External Collaborator_), permission set (_QDocs: External Collaborator_), and security profile (_Quality External Collaborator_) to grant limited [role-based Vault access](/en/lr/69197/) to a recognized contact outside your organization.
## External Collaboration Configuration Overview Complete the following steps to set up external collaboration automation for a document review and approval process: * Add the _External Collaborator_ and _Collaborate Externally?_ shared document fields to applicable document types and document field layouts. * [Create a Quality External User Template](/en/lr/64944/) to automatically create a User from a _Person_ record. * Add the [**Activate External Collaborators** entry action][1] and the [**Reassign External Collaborators** user action][4] to applicable document lifecycle states. * Configure document [workflows][2] for your process. It is strongly recommended to use external collaboration with single document workflows only. * Optional: Configure the _Organization_ object page layout to add an applicable _Recognized Contacts (Persons)_ section. * Optional: Configure a [tab](/en/lr/23516/) and [report type](/en/lr/21543/) for the _External Collaborator Assignment_ object. Data setup might also include setting up _Organization_ records for _External Organizations_ and _Person_ records for _External Collaborators_. ## External Collaboration Document Fields The following standard fields are used with this feature: * _Collaborate Externally?_: This field determines whether a document can be sent to an _External Collaborator_ by driving the workflows that are available for selection * _External Collaborator_: This field contains the name of the _External Person_ to whom the task is sent. We recommend using an _External Organization_ field, and to use a [reference constraint](/en/lr/75340/) to filter _External Collaborators_ based on _External Organizations_, especially if your Vault has numerous _Person_ records. Field dependencies can be configured so that the _External Organization_ and _External Collaborator_ fields are hidden if the _Collaborate Externally?_ field value is _No_. If the _Collaborate Externally?_ field value is _Yes_, then we suggest that the _External Organization_ field be configured as required and the _External Collaborator_ field be read only. The _External Collaborator_ can then be selected via a workflow prompt when the workflow is initiated. ## External Collaboration Notification Templates {#external-collab-notification-template} External users may have varying degrees of familiarity with your Vault, or with Vault in general. This feature set includes specific email templates that you can [configure](/en/lr/2157/), which Vault automatically sends to external recognized contacts based on how the contact is collaborating with your organization. Vault sends a _Welcome Collaborator_ email to any external recognized contact for whom a Vault _User_ account has been automatically created. A _Welcome Back Collaborator_ email is provided for external recognized contacts who have had _User_ accounts in the past, but are being activated again to complete a document review or approval task. Vault sends a _Goodbye Collaborator_ email to external recognized contacts when all of their assigned work is complete and when the document(s) that they are collaborating on reaches its [_Steady State_](/en/lr/14560/). ### Message Templates Each supported object has four associated message templates: * _QDocs External Collab Welcome_ * _QDocs External Collab Welcome Back_ * _QDocs External Collab Goodbye_ * _QDocs External Collab Document Link_ You can update the message templates to include any additional information about collaboration with your organization. ### External Collaboration Message Template Tokens While you can configure these messages as you would other [document notifications](/en/lr/2157/), these templates have some special additional token functionality. These templates can include tokens for fields on the collaborating document. Non-specialized Vault tokens resolving to the collaborating record's data are resolved via the external collaborator's security profile. The _QDocs External Collab Welcome_ message template can also include the special ${userName} and ${userPassword} tokens. Use of these tokens in the object message template functions similarly to a Vault automated [password reset email](/en/lr/7239/). Note that the external collaborator can still reset their password via the standard method. ### External Collaboration Message Public Access Links Vault can send emails with secure public access links to steady state documents, allowing external collaborators to view and download documents they reviewed. To allow Vault to send public access links, navigate to **Admin > Settings > Application Settings > QualityDocs** and select the **Automatically send steady state documents to external collaborators** checkbox. Public access links are unique to each steady state document and external collaborator, and expire after 30 days. To view the status, type, expiration date, and last accessed date for a public access link, navigate to **Business Admin > Objects > QDocs Ext Collab PAL Context**. To allow users to inactivate all public access links to a specific document version, you can configure the **Inactivate External Collaborator Links** [user action](/en/lr/12339/).
## Configuring Document Lifecycles for External Collaboration You must configure these components to enable external collaboration for document review and approval. ### Activate External Collaborators Entry Action {#activate-ext-collab-action} Add the **Activate External Collaborators** entry action to applicable document lifecycle states. This entry action attempts to activate a user account for the _Person_ record (external recognized contact) referenced in the _External Collaborator_ document field. If Vault finds that a user account already exists with the same details as the _Person_, the system assigns that user account to the _Person_, activates that user account and sends them a _QDocs External Collab Welcome Back_ message. If there is no existing _User_, the system will create a new one based on the [_Quality External User Template_](/en/lr/64944/) selected, activate it, and send the _QDocs External Collab Welcome_ message configured for the object upon which the _Person/User_ is being invited to collaborate. ### Reassign External Collaborators User Action {#reassign-ext-collab-action} Add the **Reassign External Collaborators** user action to applicable document lifecycle states. This action allows users to reassign tasks from one group of external collaborators to another. You must also select the **User Template** for Vault to use when creating new External Collaborator users. Users can reassign tasks to a maximum of five external collaborators per workflow. ### Document Lifecycle Role for External Collaborators Add a custom [document lifecycle role](/en/lr/2662/) to your document lifecycle with a label appropriate to your process. In **Application Role**, select **QualityDocs External Collaborator**. Only a single custom role should be configured for this purpose. In the **Security Settings** tab of your document lifecycle configuration, select the below settings. These are the only document lifecycle security settings Vault supports for the QualityDocs External Collaborator Application Role. * View Document * View Content * Annotate * Download Source
## Configuring Workflows for External Collaboration {#workflows} Workflows can be configured to be sent to an External Collaborator only, or to both internal and external participants. Only one External Collaborator participant is permitted per workflow.
## Organization Object Configuration Optionally, you can configure the _Organization_ object to simplify the management of a contact list of _Persons_. This configuration is not required, but is strongly recommended. _Person_ records have a field linking them to _Organizations_, and _Organization_ records can list the _Persons_ with whom your own organization interacts. This allows for easier identification of contacts to whom you can elect to assign document reviews. You can manage these contacts centrally, or you can enable internal users to manage these persons independently for the _Organizations_ for which they are responsible.. To configure the _Organization_ object to display contact lists, add a _Person_ related object section to the object page layout of the _Organization_ object. It may be helpful to define [section level help](/en/lr/26387/#related-object) for this contact list such that its purpose is clear. [1]: #activate-ext-collab-action [2]: #workflows [3]: #external-collab-notification-template [4]: #reassign-ext-collab-action