Restrict Access to Closed Cases
You can prevent internal users from editing cases after they are closed by removing permissions from their user role. Case IQ has three “Edit a Closed Case” permission options: (1) for cases in general, (2) when the user role is the case owner, and (3) when the user role is an investigative team member. To make sure the user role cannot edit any closed cases, uncheck all three “Edit a Closed Case” permissions. See Manage a User Role for details on adding and editing user roles.
If you grant a user role "Edit a Closed Case" permissions, internal users with that role will have the same permissions for closed cases as they do for open cases. For example, if a user role can cancel open cases and you grant them "Edit a Closed Case" permissions for cases in general, they will be able to cancel closed cases as well.
Likewise, if you grant a user role permissions to "Assign a Case" and "Edit a Closed Case" for cases where they are an investigative team member, the user role will be able to assign closed cases of which they are an investigative team member.
Internal users without “Edit a Closed Case” permissions cannot change a closed case in any way. This means that they cannot:
- Edit fields on a closed case form.
- Assign or reassign the case owner of a closed case.
- Add or delete users from a closed case’s investigative team or denied access list.
- Add, edit, or delete a closed case’s child forms. This includes:
- Adding comments to notes and to-dos.
- Marking to-dos as complete.
- Cancelling and saving drafts of appointments.
- Mark or unmark a closed case as confidential.
- Set or unset a closed case as “Do Not Purge”.
- Set or unset a flag for a closed case.
- Cancel a closed case.
- Link a profile to a closed case’s party.
- Share a closed case’s file.
- Select "Deny Reporter Access" on a closed case’s child form that is available to external users.
- Approve or dismiss suggested case links on a closed case's page.
However, internal users without “Edit a Closed Case” permissions can still complete the following actions related to closed cases if they have the permissions:
- Reopen a closed case’s workflows.
- Add, edit, and delete manual and suggested links to a closed case with an open case.
- Preview and download a closed case’s file attachments.
- Reply to an email originally sent from a closed case.
- Add a link between a profile and a closed case.
- Edit or delete a profile linked to a closed case.
- Bookmark a closed case or remove a closed case from bookmarks.
- Receive notifications from a closed case.
- Print a closed case.
- Restore a cancelled closed case.
- Purge and schedule purge for a closed case.
FAQ
Can anyone update cases after they are closed?
Internal users (e.g. investigators, case managers, team managers, etc.) will only be able to update closed cases if their user role has "Edit a Closed Case" permissions. You can learn how "Edit a Closed Case" permissions work and how to configure them in the Restrict Access to Closed Cases article.
External users (i.e. reporters and external parties granted access) cannot update case details, regardless of the case's status. However, external users can:
- View closed cases.
- Add records to closed cases.
- View records shared by internal users on closed cases.
While you can revoke an external party's access to a case when it is closed (see Manage External Access to a Case for instructions), you cannot restrict a single reporter's access to a case they submitted. If absolutely necessary, you can deactivate your external portal or switch it from two-way to one-way, which would affect all external reporters (see details on external portal settings in Configure Your Application's External Portal).
If you need to confirm when changes were made to a case, check the case's History tab to see a full audit log. See the case's History tab in View a Case's History.
Can I lock cases after they are closed?
To preserve cases after closure, we recommend against providing "Edit a Closed Case" permissions to user roles. Granting "Edit a Closed Case" permissions allows a user role the same permissions for closed cases as they have for open cases. For example, if a user role can assign and add parties to open cases and you grant them "Edit a Closed Case" permissions, they will also be able to assign or add parties to closed cases. Learn how remove "Edit a Closed Case" permissions in the Restrict Access to Closed Cases article.
Are changes to the case form's settings reflected on closed cases?
Configuration updates to the case form will impact all cases, even closed cases. This includes adding, removing, and editing case fields and their properties, such as field names, captions, and display rules, via the Form Builder. For example, if an administrator adds fields to the case form using the Form Builder, those new fields will appear on closed cases.
Does restricting access to closed cases revoke a reporter's access to a case?
The “Edit a Closed Case” permission does not impact external users, including external portal users (reporters) and any external parties granted access to cases. This means that the case's reporter will be able to access and add records to their case after it is closed. For external parties, you can revoke their access to a case when it is closed (see Manage External Access to a Case for instructions).