Patent ID: 8037542

Claim:
An apparatus for controlling access to an item, comprising: a computer system that executes a data access system that comprises a plurality of computer instructions to implement the data access system; the data access system having a data store containing a plurality of data items and a team membership record associated with each data item, a team hierarchy assigned to each data item and a security module that comprises a plurality of computer instructions to implement security of the plurality of data items; and wherein the security module further comprising computer instructions that modify the team membership record, which includes at least a team identifier field and an explicit/implicit assignment field for a team member, to assign a member to the team hierarchy assigned to a particular data item wherein the team hierarchy includes one or more of an explicit team member for a member explicitly assigned to the team hierarchy for the particular data item and an implicit team member that identifies a second member that has an explicit team member who reports to the second member.