Glossary
What a participant is
Who takes part in a file, and why their name stays there even after they stop working with you.
A file is almost never one person's business. There is whoever opens it, whoever contributes a document, whoever reviews it and whoever closes it — and often someone on the outside who does not work with you and has no reason to hold an account.
Participant
Anyone who takes part in a file: contributing something, reviewing, approving or simply receiving what is asked of them.
The three types worth telling apart
| Type | Who they are | What they need to take part |
|---|---|---|
| Internal | Someone on your team | Their user and the permissions you granted |
| External | A supplier, a client, a technician | Nothing beyond the link sent to them |
| Automatic | A task that runs on its own: a reminder, a check | Someone to have set it up |
Watch out
What surprises people most about the second type: **an external participant needs no account to leave a trace**. When they upload a document through the link you sent, who they were, when they did it and what they contributed is recorded, just as for someone in-house. You do not have to give them access to your account to have evidence of what they did — and you are better off not doing so.
What happens when someone stops taking part
- 1
They are removed from whatever is open
They stop receiving notices and can no longer contribute.
- 2
What they already did stays
Their name remains on every step they took, with its date.
- 3
And someone else takes their place
The file carries on; what changes is who answers from now on.
Important
That second point is deliberate and sometimes uncomfortable: **removing someone from a process does not erase what they did**. If it did, the file would stop telling what actually happened, which is precisely what it is for. A history rewritten whenever someone leaves proves nothing.
The practical consequence is simple: each person should take part under their own name, not through a shared department account. A history full of «admin» says nothing about who did what on the day you need to find out.
Worth knowing
A person's rights over their own personal data are a different matter, and they are honoured. Traceability of who did what inside a file is one thing; that person's personal data is another. **How the two are reconciled in your case is for your adviser to settle**.
›Does an external participant see the whole file?
No: they see what is asked of them and what is shared with them, not the rest.
›Can I add someone halfway through a process?
Yes, and the date they joined is recorded.
›What if the same person takes part for two different companies?
They are told apart by the role they hold in each file.
A real case
The situation
An external technician has to add a certificate to an ongoing file.
What you do
- Gets a specific link instead of an account user
What you get
They contribute their part, who and when is recorded, and they get into nothing else.
The situation
A participant leaves the company and there is a wish to remove their name from the file.
What you do
- Keeps the record of what they did
What you get
The history stays true.
The situation
Someone who only had to provide one paper is invited as a user.
What you do
- Sends them a participant link instead
What you get
No licence is consumed for a one-off contribution.
The situation
Two people from the same company provide different documents.
What you do
- Records each as a participant
What you get
It is on record who provided what.
The situation
A participant asks to see the whole file.
What you do
- Checks what they are entitled to see
What you get
They see their part without reaching everyone else's.
The situation
Months later it must be established who provided a certificate.
What you do
- Checks the participant record
What you get
The question is answered without phoning anyone.
This article answers
- what is a participant in a file
- who takes part in a process
- can someone take part without an account
- remove someone from a file