System and method for electronic document security

1. 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.

2. The method of claim 1 , the electronic document comprising an XML document.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the second client's ability to access the electronic document comprises:

comparing the second participant ID to the participant IDs stored in the electronic document; and

in response to one of the participant IDs and the second participant ID being identical, allowing the second client to access the electronic document.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising occluding the first contribution from the second client based, at least in part, on the second participant.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

modifying the first contribution; and

automatically invalidating the second contribution, wherein content of the second contribution is based in part on the first contribution.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising associating an electronic signature with the first contribution, the electronic signature identifying a unique client associated with a role identical to the first role of the first participant ID.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second subset of roles comprises the second participant ID and the method further comprises:

receiving a request to access the electronic document from the first client; and

denying the first client access to the second stage based, at least in part, on the first participant ID.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising communicating the electronic document to the second client prior to determining the second participant ID.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing the electronic document in an electronic document repository.

10. Software for providing document-level security for electronic documents, the software stored on a computer-readable medium and when executed operable to:

identify 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;

store the roles in the electronic document; associate a first subset of the plurality of roles with the first stage; associate a second subset of the plurality of roles with the second stage;

store 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;

determine a second participant ID of a second client, the first subset of the plurality of roles comprising the first and second participant IDs;

determine 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;

receive a first contribution to the first stage, the first contribution provided by the first client; and

receive a second contribution to the first stage, the second contribution provided by the second client.

11. The software of claim 10 , the electronic document comprising an XML document.

12. The software of claim 10 , wherein the software operable to automatically determine the second client's ability to access the electronic document comprises the software operable to:

compare the second participant ID to the participant IDs stored in the electronic document; and

in response to one of the participant IDs and the second participant ID being identical, allow the second client to access at least a portion of the electronic document.

13. The software of claim 10 , further operable to occlude the first contribution from the second client based, at least in part, on the second participant ID.

14. The software of claim 10 , further operable to: modify the first contribution; and automatically invalidate the second contribution.

15. The software of claim 10 , further operable to associate an electronic signature with the first contribution, the electronic signature identifying a unique client associated with a participant ID identical to the first participant ID.

16. The software of claim 10 , wherein the second subset of roles comprises the second participant ID and the software is further operable to:

receive a request to access the electronic document from the first client; and

deny the first client access to the second stage based, at least in part, on the first participant ID and the associated roles.

17. The software of claim 10 , further operable to communicate the electronic document to the second client prior to determining the second participant ID.

18. The software of claim 10 , further operable to store the electronic document in an electronic document repository.

19. A system for providing document-level security for electronic documents comprising:

at least one memory operable to store a plurality of electronic documents, each electronic document including at least one stored role, a particular electronic document including a plurality of stored roles and comprising a compound document, the plurality of roles comprising at least one role associated with a first participant ID of a first client, 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 particular electronic document, a first subset of the plurality of roles being associated with the first stage and a second subset of the plurality of roles being associated with the second stage; and

one or more processors, in response to receiving a request to access one of the electronic documents from a requesting client, collectively operable to:

determine a second participant ID of the requesting client, the first subset of the plurality of stored roles comprising the first and second participant IDs;

automatically determine the requesting client's ability to access the electronic document based, at least in part, on the second participant ID of the requesting client and the stored roles;

receive a first contribution to the first stage, the first contribution provided by the first client; and

receive a second contribution to the first stage, the second contribution provided by the requesting client.