A virtual data room (VDR) is a work item that you add to a case to share selected documents with selected people, such as a client. Each data room has its own list of documents and its own roles. You can add several data rooms to one case, so that different people see different documents.
Why use a virtual data room
- Controlled sharing. Clients do not need access to the case's document repository. They see only the documents in the data rooms that they have a role on.
- Simple set-up for case owners. After a configurator adds the Virtual data room files widget, a case owner with the Sharedo - Create - VDR permission can create data rooms. The case owner does not need administrator rights.
- An audit trail. Clio Operate records who opens the data room and who uploads, links, removes, previews and downloads documents.
How access works
Access to a data room comes from its roles. You can add people or teams to each role. A team role applies to every member of the team.
| Role | Default access |
|---|---|
| Primary Owner | Manages the data room. Can read, add, upload and remove documents, change who has access, view the audit trail, and close or delete the data room. The role is mandatory and defaults to the person who creates the data room. |
| Contributors | Can read, add, upload and remove documents. Normally used for internal staff. |
| Client access | Can read, add and upload documents. Suitable for clients who need to send you documents. |
| Read only access | Can read documents only. |
These roles and their permissions are the out-of-the-box defaults. A configurator can change them in Modeller.
Three rules apply to access:
- People who have no role on a data room, directly or through a team, cannot see it. This rule applies to administrators too.
- By default, Clio Operate does not copy the case's participants into a new data room. You must add each person or team that needs access.
- The Manage button on a data room displays only to people who can update the data room. By default, these people are the Primary Owner and Contributors. By default, only the Primary Owner can change who has access.
Work with documents in a data room
Each data room displays its documents in the Virtual data room files widget, with Preview and Download links. The actions that a person can take depend on their role.
-
Upload a document. Select Upload, or drag a file onto the data room. Clio Operate saves the document in the matter's location in your document management system (DMS). By default, the document goes into a folder named
DataRoom-Uploadfollowed by the data room reference. To choose a different folder, see Choose where uploaded documents are filed. - Add an existing document. Drag the document from the case's document explorer onto the data room. Clio Operate links the document to the data room. The document stays in its current DMS folder.
- Remove a document. Removing a document from a data room removes the link only. The document stays in the DMS.
From Clio Operate 7.12, uploads follow the File Extension Whitelist feature. If your administrator has configured the allowlist, the data room rejects files whose extension is not on the list.
Review the audit trail
To open the audit trail, select Open on the data room, then select Audit. The audit trail records these events:
- A person opens the data room. Clio Operate records at most one of these events every five minutes for each person.
- A person uploads, links or removes a document.
- A person previews or downloads a document.
By default, only the Primary Owner can view the audit trail.
Close a data room
When a data room is no longer needed, the Primary Owner can close it. By default, other roles cannot close a data room. A closed data room no longer displays in the Virtual data room files widget. If your configurator has enabled it, the widget has a Show closed option that displays closed data rooms. The Primary Owner can re-open a closed data room.
What clients see
Client users see the data rooms that they have a role on, in the Virtual data room files widget on their portal. Client users do not see the Manage button. A client user with Client access also sees Upload. A client user with Read only access can only preview and download documents.
The example below shows a client portal where the client user has access to two data rooms on the case. The layout of your client portal depends on how your firm has configured it.
