Patent ID: 7562215

Claim:
A method for providing document-level security for electronic documents, comprising: identifying a plurality of roles for an electronic document, the plurality of roles comprising at least one role associated with a first participant ID of a first client, the electronic document comprising a compound document, the compound document comprising at least a first stage and a second stage, each stage comprising at least one contribution, the at least one contribution for at least one stage comprising a component document of the compound document, the first and second stages tracking a business process associated with the electronic document; storing the roles in the electronic document; associating a first subset of the plurality of roles with the first stage; associating a second subset of the plurality of roles with the second stage; storing one or more participant IDs in the electronic document, including at least the first participant ID, wherein each participant ID is associated with at least one role; determining a second participant ID of a second client, the first subset of the plurality of roles comprising the first and second participant IDs; determining the second client's ability to access the electronic document based, at least in part, on the second participant ID and the stored roles and participant IDs; receiving a first contribution for the first stage, the first contribution provided by the first client; and receiving a second contribution for the first stage, the second contribution provided by the second client.