Setting Up Collaborative Authoring

Collaborative Authoring connects Vault to Office 365 to allow multiple users to edit a document at the same time using the Office desktop software, Office Online, the Office mobile apps, or in a browser. Only users with edit and download permissions can edit a document with Collaborative Authoring. Collaborative Authoring can be used with Microsoft Word (*.docx), Excel (*.xlsx), and PowerPoint (*.pptx) documents.

Collaborative Authoring is not enabled in your Vault by default. Follow the steps below to make this feature available to users.

Prerequisites

The following prerequisites must be met before you can use Collaborative Authoring with Microsoft Office:

• Have an Office 365 tenant.
• Request Technical Setup User role from Veeva Support for the Vault user doing the set up.
• Register your Vault in Azure AD.
• Create a Vault Collaboration user in Azure AD with a license that includes SharePoint Online.
• Create a dedicated shared document library for collaboration.
• Authorize your Vault to connect to your Office 365 tenant.
• Set up automatic invitations for external users.
• Enable external collaboration in SharePoint.

Confirming Technical Setup User Role

Confirm that the Vault user performing the Collaborative Authoring setup has the Technical Setup User role in your Vault.

Complete the following steps to confirm that a user has the Techinical Setup user role:

1. Log in to your Vault.
2. Navigate to Admin > Settings.
3. If you don’t have the Settings section, reach out to Veeva Support to request a Technical Setup User role for the user performing the setup in Vault.

Registering Your Vault in Azure AD

Your Office 365 business subscription includes Azure Active Directory (Azure AD). To use Collaborative Authoring, you must register your Vault as an application in Azure AD. Vault needs certain permissions to access your Office 365 account.

Complete the following steps to register your Vault in Azure AD:

1. Navigate to Home > App Registrations.
2. Click New Registration.
3. In the Name field, enter Veeva Vault Collaborative Authoring.
4. For the Supported account types field, select Accounts in this organization directory only - ( Single Tenant).
5. In the Redirect URIs section, select Web from the Select a platform drop-down.
6. Enter your Vault’s Redirect URI as follows: https://{Your Vault DNS}/ui/clientTiles/office365/oauth2 For example, enter https://sb-yourdomain-clinical.veevavault.com/ui/clientTiles/office365/oauth2
7. Click Register.
8. In the Essentials section of the Overview Page, copy and store the values for Application (client) ID and Directory (tenant) ID, as they will be used later in the setup process and in provisioning additional Vaults.
9. In the Manage section of the left navigation menu, click on API Permissions.
10. In the Configured permissions section, click + Add a permission.
11. Click Microsoft Graph > Delegated permissions.
12. Navigate to Permission > Openid permissions, and add the following delegated permissions:
    • email
    • offline_access
    • openid
    • Profile

1. In the search bar, search for and add Files.ReadWrite.All.
2. Optional: For external user access, add a Microsoft Graph permission with the following delegated permissions:
   • User.Invite.All
   • User.ReadWrite.All
   • Directory.ReadWrite.All
3. Click Add permissions.
4. In the Manage section of the left navigation menu, click on Certificates & secrets.
5. Click + New client secret.
   • In the Description field, enter Veeva Vault Collaboration.
   • In the Expires field, select 730 days (24 months) from the drop-down.
6. Click Add.

Creating a Vault Collaboration User

The Vault Collaboration user is the Office 365 user that is authorized to access your Vault.

Complete the following steps to create a Vault Collaboration user:

1. Using the search bar at the top, search for Microsoft Entra ID.
2. In the Manage section of the left menu, click on Users.
3. Click + New user > Create new user and enter the information below. Make note of the Username and Password, as these will be used later in the setup process and when provisioning additional Vaults.
   • User Principal Name: vaultcollaboration@{yourdomain.com}
   • Display Name: Vault Collaboration
   • Password: Enter a secure password
4. Click Review + create, then click Create on the following screen.
5. In the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, assign an Office 365 license with SharePoint online access to the Vault Collaboration User you created.

Creating a SharePoint Document Library for Collaboration

The shared document library is a SharePoint team site where your Vault documents are temporarily stored while they’re being edited. SharePoint permissions should not allow users to access or share Vault documents directly through Office 365.

Complete the following steps to create a SharePoint document library for collaboration:

1. Create a new team site in the SharePoint Admin Center. Review details about site naming restrictions.
2. In the left menu, navigate to Sites > Active Sites > + Create > Team site.
3. In the From Microsoft tab, use the Standard Team template.
4. Click Use Template.
5. On the Give your site a name page, enter the following information:
   • Site name: Veeva Vault
   • Group email address: VeevaVault
   • Site address: will be automatically populated
   • Group Owner: vaultcollaboration@{yourdomain.com}
6. Click Next.
7. On Set language and other options page, enter the following information:
   • Set the privacy settings for the team site to Private.
   • Leave the defaults as-is for Select a language and Time zone.
8. Click Create site.
9. On the Add site owners and members page, leave the field blank, or add members as needed.
10. Log in to the vaultcollaboration SharePoint site in an incognito window in your browser; this will ensure you can log in via vaultcollaboration as the owner of the site. Increase the security of the site using the following options:
    • URL: Typically {clientdomain}.sharepoint.com/site/VeevaVault but may be another URL depending on your configuration.
    • MFA: Enable MFA for Collaboration User, which is used when authenticating the Collaboration User in your Vault during initial setup only. Alternatively, consider using exception configuration in Azure AD if you do not want to use MFA for this user.
11. After you log in, click the gear icon in the top right. The icon may take a few moments to show up if you are logging into the site for the first time.
12. Click the Site permissions > Change how members can share link, and share the following options:
    • Sharing Permissions: Only the site owner can share files, folders, and site.
    • Allow access requests: Toggle this setting to Off.
13. Click Save.
14. Click Advanced permission settings.
15. In the PERMISSIONS tab, click Permission Levels.
16. Click Contribute.
17. In the List Permissions section, clear the Delete Items - Delete items from a list and documents from a document library checkbox.
18. Click Submit.
19. In the left navigation pane, click Documents.
20. Click the gear icon in the top right.
21. In Permissions and Management, navigate to Library settings > More library settings > Permissions for this document library.
22. In the PERMISSIONS tab, click Stop Inheriting Permissions, then click OK in the dialog box.
23. Select the checkboxes for {Site Name} Members and {Site Name} Visitors.
24. In the PERMISSIONS tab, click Remove User Permissions, then click OK in the dialog box.
25. In the left navigation pane, click Documents.
26. Copy and store the SharePoint URL from the browser address bar, as it will be used later in the setup process and when provisioning additional vaults.

Connecting Your Vault to Your Office 365 Account

After you configure Office 365 to work with Vault, you need to connect your Vault to your Office 365 account.

Complete the following steps to connect your Vault to your Office 365 account:

1. Log in to your Vault.
2. Navigate to Admin > Settings > Checkout Settings and click Edit in the Collaborative Authoring with Microsoft Office section.
3. Populate the Collaborative Authoring with Microsoft Office fields using the table in the Connecting Your Vault to Your Microsoft Office 365 Account section.
4. In your web browser, sign out of anything related to Microsoft Azure, such as Microsoft Office.
5. Click Authorize.
6. When prompted, log in with the Vault Collaboration username and password. If you are not prompted to log in, you may still be logged into Office 365 as yourself. Log out and try to authorize again, or retry in a private browser session.
7. When the Permissions requested prompt is displayed, click Accept.
8. Navigate back to the window where you are logged into Vault.
9. When the settings are correctly authorized, the Integration Status is displayed as Verified. Click Save.

Enabling Additional Vaults

Complete the following steps to enable Collaborative Authoring in additional Vaults:

1. Log in to Azure Active Directory as an Admin.
2. Navigate to Home > App Registrations.
3. In the App Registration section, select Veeva Vault Collaborative Authoring.
4. On the Veeva Vault Collaborative Authoring page, click Authentication.
5. Click Add a platform.
6. Select Web as the Application Type.
7. Enter your Vault’s Redirect URI as follows: https://{Your Vault DNS}/ui/clientTiles/office365/oauth2 For example, enter https://yourdomain-clinical.veevavault.com/ui/clientTiles/office365/oauth2.
8. Click Configure to save the changes.
9. Follow the instructions in the Connecting Your Vault to Your Microsoft Office 365 Account section to complete additional Vault setup tasks.

Removing Collaborative Authoring with Microsoft Office Settings

If you want to turn off Collaborative Authoring, you can remove the Checkout Settings. This option is only available if there are no documents currently being edited in Microsoft Office.

Complete the following steps to remove Collaborative Authoring settings:

1. Log in to your Vault.
2. Navigate to Admin > Settings > Checkout Settings and click Edit.
3. Click Remove Settings.
4. Click OK to confirm that you want to remove these settings.
5. Click Save.