External User Account Access Control for Shared Document Spaces
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional content collaboration platforms face challenges in managing access for external users, leading to administrative overhead and potential exposure of sensitive information, as well as difficulties in tracking and revoking access for external users, especially in large enterprises.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system that creates and manages external user accounts with restricted access, using different authentication protocols and graphical user interfaces to control and monitor access, allowing tenant users to easily invite, manage, and revoke access for external users through decentralized controls.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional user accounts are added and affiliated with existing tenant or enterprise, then access to system content is provided, but administrative overhead and computing resources become burdensome
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments user accounts into two distinct types: traditional tenant-affiliated accounts and new external user accounts. This segmentation allows the system to provide different access management mechanisms for different user categories, reducing the administrative burden on external users while maintaining security for internal users.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the tenant affiliation requirement from the user account creation process. External users can now access system content without being affiliated with an existing tenant or enterprise, separating the access control mechanism from the traditional tenant model and reducing administrative overhead.
2Reliability
If traditional user accounts are added and affiliated with existing tenant or enterprise, then access to system content is provided, but computing resources required to manage accounts become burdensome
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the tenant affiliation requirement from the user account creation process. External users can now access system content without being affiliated with an existing tenant or enterprise, separating the access control mechanism from the traditional tenant model and reducing administrative overhead.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal access mechanism that serves both internal tenant users and external users through a single system. The external user account type provides a multi-functional solution that handles both security requirements and resource efficiency in one unified approach.
3Adaptability or versatility
If external users are granted access to document space, then collaboration is enabled, but tracking and revoking access becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms that notify tenant users when external users are added to or removed from document spaces. This feedback loop enables tenant users to track external user access in real-time and makes it easy to revoke access when needed, addressing the difficulty of managing external user permissions.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of managing external user accounts and tenant user accounts in a content collaboration platform may include: In response to a user request to access a document space, authorization credentials for the user may be obtained and a user account associated with the user may be identified. In accordance with the user account being an internal user account associated with a tenant user, a first graphical user interface (GUI) for the document space of the content collaboration platform may be displayed which includes: a content panel and a navigational panel. In accordance with the user account being an external user account associated with a non-tenant user, a permissions profile for the external user account may be obtained and from the permissions profile. A second GUI may suppress display of restricted pages. A first GUI may update the user-selectable banner to notify users of non-tenant user access.