Patent ID: 8661503

Claim:
A computer implemented method for implementing document security for procurement agents, the method comprising: establishing user authentication credentials for at least two procurement agents, first user authentication credentials having at least a first business unit association for a first procurement agent, and second user authentication credentials for a second business unit having a business unit association for a second procurement agent; initially granting limited access to a first set of documents, the first set of documents being initially under control of the first procurement agent and initially inaccessible by the second procurement agent; initially granting limited access to a second set of documents, the second set of documents being initially under control of the second procurement agent and initially inaccessible by the first procurement agent; storing a document access rule for the first procurement agent, the document access rule to describe access to at least one selected document of the second set of documents, wherein the document access rule describes what actions the first procurement agent is allowed to perform on the least one selected document; executing a procurement application, the procurement application comprising instructions to: receive an access request from a first user to access at least one document from among the second set of documents; confirm the first user authentication credentials; retrieve the document access rule for the first procurement agent; allow access by the first user to the document from among the second set of documents in accordance with the document access rule when the retrieved document access rule covers the access request; and deny access by the first user to the document from among the second set of documents when the retrieved document access rule does not cover the access request.