Firm Administrator Guide

Overview

This guide covers everything you need to manage your firm's workspace in Cadenora. As a Firm Administrator, you have full access to create and manage projects, upload and organize documents, invite team members and external clients, configure branding and terminology, and review audit trails for compliance.

Cadenora is a secure document management and collaboration platform built for professional services firms. It lets you organize documents, control who can see them, and share them with external parties through a self-service portal -- all with full audit trails and fine-grained access controls.

Terminology Note: This guide uses generic terms. In your workspace, terms may appear differently based on your firm's industry configuration. For example, "Project" may appear as "Development", "Property", or "Matter." Likewise, "Client" may appear as "Investor" or "Resident," and your portal may be called "Investor Portal," "Resident Portal," or "Client Portal." See Understanding Your Industry Template for details.

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Table of Contents

1. Getting Started
2. Dashboard Overview
3. Project Management
4. Document Management
5. User Management
6. Client Management
7. Document Sharing
8. Settings and Configuration
9. AI-Powered Features
10. Governance and Compliance
11. Troubleshooting

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1. Getting Started

First Login

When your workspace is first set up by the Cadenora platform team, you will receive a welcome email with a one-time setup link. Here is what to expect:

1. Open the setup email. Look for an email from Cadenora with the subject line containing your firm's name. The email contains a secure, one-time setup link.
2. Set your password. Click the link in the email. You will be taken to the password setup page where you create your initial password. This link can only be used once and expires after a set period.
3. Sign in. After setting your password, you will be redirected to the login page. Enter your email address and the password you just created.
4. You are in. After successful authentication, you land on your workspace dashboard.

If you lose the setup email or the link has expired, contact your Cadenora platform administrator to issue a new setup link.

Workspace URL Structure

Your workspace lives at a dedicated URL based on your firm's unique identifier (called a "slug"):

https://app.cadenora.com/t/your-firm-slug/dashboard

For example, if your firm's slug is acme-capital, your workspace URL would be:

https://app.cadenora.com/t/acme-capital/dashboard

All workspace pages follow this pattern:

Page	URL Pattern
Dashboard	/t/your-firm-slug/dashboard
Projects	/t/your-firm-slug/projects
Documents	/t/your-firm-slug/documents
Search	/t/your-firm-slug/search
Users	/t/your-firm-slug/users
Settings	/t/your-firm-slug/settings
Audit Logs	/t/your-firm-slug/audit-logs

You can bookmark any of these URLs for quick access.

Profile and Account Settings

To manage your own account:

1. Navigate to Settings in the sidebar.
2. From there you can update your profile information including your name and contact details.
3. Password changes are handled through the authentication system -- use the "Forgot Password" link on the login page if you need to reset your password.

Understanding Your Industry Template and Terminology

When your workspace was created, your platform administrator selected an industry template that matches your firm's business. This template determines three things about your workspace:

1. Terminology -- the labels used throughout the interface
2. Default document categories -- the initial categories created for each new project
3. Visual theme -- the color scheme and visual styling

Here is how terminology varies by industry:

Your Industry	"Project" Appears As	"Client" Appears As	Portal Name
Financial Services	Project	Investor	Investor Portal
Real Estate Development	Development	Investor	Investor Portal
Property Management	Property	Resident	Resident Portal
Legal Services	Matter	Client	Client Portal
General	Project	Client	Client Portal

The industry template cannot be changed after initial setup. However, you can customize the terminology and visual theme through the Branding settings (covered in Section 8).

Throughout this guide, we use the generic terms "Project" and "Client" -- substitute your industry-specific terms as needed.

Client-facing portal guides: When sharing portal documentation with your external users, direct them to the guide that matches your industry:

• Client Portal Guide (Investor) -- for Financial Services and Real Estate Development firms
• Client Portal Guide -- for Legal Services and General firms
• Resident Portal Guide -- for Property Management firms

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2. Dashboard Overview

What the Dashboard Shows

When you log in, you land on the Portfolio Overview dashboard. This page provides a high-level summary of your workspace activity:

• Project summary -- the number of active projects and their current status
• Recent activity -- a feed of recent actions across your workspace (uploads, invitations, access changes)
• Document statistics -- counts of documents by status and visibility
• Quick actions -- shortcuts to common tasks like creating a project or uploading documents

Navigation Structure

The sidebar on the left side of every page provides access to all major sections of your workspace:

Sidebar Item	What It Does
Dashboard	Returns you to the portfolio overview
Projects	Lists all projects with status and activity indicators
Documents	Shows all documents across all projects
Search	Full-text search across all document content
Clients	Lists all client users and their access
Client Library	Manage documents shared with all clients
Users	Manage team members and roles (Firm Admin only)
Audit Logs	Review security and compliance audit trail (Firm Admin only)
Settings	Workspace configuration, branding, and categories

Items marked "Firm Admin only" are visible only to users with the Firm Administrator role. Team members with the Project Manager role see a reduced set of navigation items.

Quick Actions

From the dashboard, you can quickly:

• Create a new project -- click the "New Project" button
• Upload documents -- navigate to the upload page
• Invite a client -- start the invitation flow
• Search -- use the search bar to find documents by content or metadata

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3. Project Management

Projects (or "Developments," "Properties," "Matters" depending on your industry) are the primary organizing unit in Cadenora. Every document belongs to a project, and client access is granted at the project level.

Viewing Your Projects

1. Click Projects in the sidebar.
2. You will see a list of all projects in your workspace, showing each project's name, status, document count, and recent activity.
3. Click any project to open its detail page.

Creating a New Project

1. Navigate to Projects in the sidebar.
2. Click the New Project button (or use the terminology equivalent like "New Development" or "New Matter").
3. Fill in the project details:
   • Name (required) -- a descriptive name for the project
   • Description (optional) -- additional context about the project
4. Click Create.

When a project is created, the system automatically sets up default document categories based on your industry template. For example:

Financial Services	Real Estate Development	Property Management	Legal Services	General
Account Opening	Offering Documents	Lease Documents	Engagement Letters	General
Statements & Reports	Land & Permits	Building Rules & Policies	Pleadings & Filings	Contracts & Agreements
Tax Documents	Construction & Progress	Maintenance Records	Discovery	Reports
Legal & Compliance	Financial Reports	Financial Statements	Correspondence	Financial
Research & Analysis	Legal & Compliance	Move-In / Move-Out	Billing & Invoices	Correspondence
Correspondence	Correspondence	Correspondence	Research & Memos

An "Uncategorized" system category is also created automatically. This category cannot be deleted and serves as a fallback when other categories are removed.

Project Detail Page

Each project has several sub-pages accessible from tabs or links on the project detail page:

• Overview -- project name, description, status, and summary statistics
• Documents -- all documents belonging to this project, organized by category
• Clients -- clients who have access to this project and their permission levels
• Settings -- project-level configuration options

Editing a Project

1. Open the project detail page.
2. Click the Edit button (or navigate to the project's edit page).
3. Update the project name, description, or other metadata.
4. Click Save.

Project Settings

From the project's Settings tab, you can configure project-level options including:

• Retention policies -- how long documents are retained (default is 7 years plus 1 year after project close, per NI 31-103 compliance requirements)
• Legal holds -- prevent document deletion when under legal hold
• Status -- mark a project as active or closed

Project Access Control

As a Firm Admin, you have access to all projects in the workspace. Project Managers only have access to projects they have been explicitly assigned to.

To assign a Project Manager to a project:

1. Open the project detail page.
2. Navigate to the Settings or team management section.
3. Add the Project Manager by selecting them from your team member list.

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4. Document Management

Uploading Documents

Cadenora uses a two-step upload wizard that guides you through selecting files and configuring their metadata.

Starting an Upload:

There are two ways to start uploading documents:

• From the Documents page: Click Upload Document on the main Documents page. You will be asked to select a project first, then proceed to the upload wizard.
• From a project: Navigate to a specific project's Documents tab and click Upload. The project will be pre-selected for you.

Step 1: Select and Configure

1. Select a project (if not already pre-selected). Choose the project where the documents will be stored.
2. Add files. You can either:
   • Drag and drop files onto the upload area
   • Click "Select Files" to open a file browser
3. Set bulk defaults. Use the "Apply to all" bar to set a default category and visibility level for all files at once.
4. Customize individual files. For each file in the list, you can override the category and visibility by using the dropdown menus next to each file.
5. Select clients for restricted documents. If you choose "Principal Only" visibility for any files, you will be prompted to select which specific clients should have access.
6. Click Continue to Review.

Supported file types and size limits:

File Type	Maximum Size
PDF	50 MB
Word (DOCX)	25 MB
Excel (XLSX)	10 MB
Text (TXT)	5 MB
Images (PNG, JPG)	50 MB

Step 2: Review and Confirm

1. Review the upload summary showing the project, total files, and total size.
2. Check the file list -- each file shows its assigned category and visibility level.
3. Review any privacy warnings (for sensitive categories like tax or legal documents, or for restricted-access files).
4. Click Upload to begin the upload process.

Files upload directly to secure storage -- they do not pass through the application server. After upload, you will be redirected to the Documents page.

What Happens After Upload

After you upload a document, the system automatically processes it in the background:

1. Text extraction -- the system extracts searchable text from your documents (PDF, Word, and Excel files).
2. Indexing -- the extracted text is indexed in the search engine so you can find documents by their content.
3. Status tracking -- documents progress through these states:
   • Pending -- upload received, waiting for processing
   • Processing -- text extraction and indexing in progress
   • Completed -- document is fully processed and searchable

You can upload additional documents while processing is ongoing. Processing typically completes within a few seconds to a minute depending on file size and type.

Document Categorization

Every document belongs to a category within its project. Categories help organize documents logically.

Assigning a category during upload:

• Use the category dropdown next to each file in the upload wizard.
• Use "Apply to all" to set the same category for all files at once.

Changing a document's category after upload:

• Open the document detail page.
• Change the category using the category selector.

About the "Uncategorized" category:

• This is a system category that exists in every project.
• It cannot be deleted or renamed.
• When you delete a category, all its documents are automatically moved to "Uncategorized."

For information on creating and managing custom categories, see Section 8: Settings and Configuration.

Document Visibility Levels

Every document has a visibility level that controls who can see it. You set this during upload and can change it later. There are four levels:

1. Internal Only (Project Staff Only)

• Visible to: Your firm's team members only
• Use for: Draft documents, internal memos, work-in-progress items, notes
• This is the default visibility for new uploads.

2. All Clients (Shared Library)

• Visible to: All clients across all projects in your workspace
• Use for: General policies, company-wide announcements, shared reference materials
• Documents with this visibility appear in the Client Library and are accessible to every client in your workspace, regardless of which project they are associated with.

3. Project Clients

• Visible to: All clients who have access to the project where the document is stored
• Use for: Standard project documents that all project participants should see (quarterly reports, project updates, correspondence)
• This is the most common visibility level for shared documents.

4. Principal Only (Restricted)

• Visible to: Only the specific client(s) you designate
• Use for: Sensitive documents meant for specific individuals or organizations, such as personalized tax forms, confidential statements, or tiered investor materials
• When you select this visibility, you must choose which clients will have access.

Choosing the right visibility level:

Scenario	Recommended Visibility
Internal draft or working document	Internal Only
Policy document all clients need	All Clients
Quarterly report for a project's clients	Project Clients
Individual tax statement for one client	Principal Only
Sensitive KYC or compliance document	Principal Only

Document Library

The Documents page shows all documents across all projects in your workspace. You can:

• Filter by project -- narrow the list to a specific project
• Filter by category -- show only documents in a particular category
• Filter by visibility -- show only internal, shared, or restricted documents
• Sort by upload date, name, or status

Global Documents

The Global Documents section (accessible from the Documents page) shows documents that are not tied to a specific project. These are typically shared library items visible to all clients.

Document Detail Page

Click any document to view its detail page, which shows:

• File name and metadata -- size, type, upload date, uploader
• Category -- the document's current category (editable)
• Visibility -- the current visibility level (editable)
• Project -- which project the document belongs to
• Processing status -- whether text extraction and indexing are complete
• Download -- download the original file

Document Search

The Search page provides full-text search across all document content in your workspace.

1. Navigate to Search in the sidebar.
2. Enter your search terms in the search box.
3. Results show matching documents with highlighted excerpts showing where your search terms appear.

Search works on the text content extracted from your documents (PDF, Word, Excel, and text files). Image files are not currently searchable by content.

Search tips:

• Use specific terms for more precise results.
• Search finds matches within document content, not just titles.
• Results respect visibility permissions -- you see all documents as a Firm Admin, but clients only see documents they have access to.

Bulk Operations

When uploading documents, you can work with multiple files at once:

• Upload multiple files in a single session (select multiple files or drag and drop several at once).
• Use the "Apply to all" bar to set category and visibility for the entire batch.
• Override individual files as needed without affecting the rest of the batch.

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5. User Management

As a Firm Admin, you manage the team members who work in your firm's workspace. The Users page is accessible only to Firm Admins.

Viewing Your Team

1. Click Users in the sidebar.
2. You will see a list of all team members in your workspace, including their name, email, role, and status.

Roles Within Your Workspace

There are two roles for firm staff:

Firm Admin

• Full access to everything in the workspace
• Can manage all projects, documents, users, clients, and settings
• Can view audit logs
• Can configure branding and categories
• Can invite new team members and clients

Project Manager (label varies by industry: "Development Manager," "Property Manager," "Associate," or "Team Member")

• Access limited to assigned projects only
• Can upload documents to their assigned projects
• Can manage client access within their assigned projects
• Cannot access workspace settings, user management, or audit logs
• Cannot create new projects

Inviting Team Members

To add a new team member to your workspace:

1. Navigate to Users in the sidebar.
2. Click Invite User (or equivalent button).
3. Enter the team member's email address.
4. Select their role: Firm Admin or Project Manager.
5. Click Send Invitation.

The invited person will receive an email with a one-time setup link. They will use this link to create their password and access the workspace. The setup link expires after a set period.

Managing User Roles

To change a team member's role:

1. Navigate to Users in the sidebar.
2. Find the team member in the list.
3. Update their role as needed.

Important: Changing a user from Firm Admin to Project Manager restricts their access to only assigned projects. Make sure they have been explicitly assigned to the projects they need before downgrading their role.

Deactivating Users

When a team member leaves your firm or no longer needs access:

1. Navigate to Users in the sidebar.
2. Find the user in the list.
3. Use the deactivate or remove action.

Deactivating a user immediately revokes their access to the workspace. Their past actions remain in the audit log for compliance purposes.

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6. Client Management

Clients (or "Investors" or "Residents" depending on your industry) are external users who access your workspace through a separate portal to view documents you have shared with them.

Understanding the Client Hierarchy

Client access in Cadenora follows a layered structure:

Client Organization (e.g., "Acme Capital LLC")
  |
  +-- Client Member (individual person, e.g., "Jane Smith")
        |
        +-- Project Access (access to a specific project)
              |
              +-- Document Grants (optional: per-document access overrides)

• Client Organizations represent legal entities (companies, funds, partnerships).
• Client Members are individual people within those organizations.
• Project Access (called "Project Client Membership") grants a client access to view documents in a specific project.
• Document Grants (optional) provide fine-grained per-document access overrides for special cases.

Viewing Clients

1. Click Clients in the sidebar.
2. You will see a list of all client users in your workspace, showing their name, email, the number of projects they have access to, and when they were added.
3. Use the search bar to find specific clients by name or email.

Creating Client Organizations

Before inviting individual clients, you may want to create a client organization to group them:

1. Navigate to the client organizations area of the workspace.
2. Click Create Organization.
3. Enter the organization's name and details.
4. Click Create.

Organizations help you manage access for groups of people from the same entity. When you grant access to an organization, all members of that organization receive access.

Inviting Clients

To invite a new client to your workspace:

1. Navigate to the project where you want to give the client access.
2. Go to the project's Clients tab.
3. Click Invite (the button label will use your industry terminology, such as "Invite Investor" or "Invite Client").
4. Enter the recipient's email address.
5. Select the appropriate permission settings.
6. Click Send Invitation.

What happens next:

The invitation follows a defined lifecycle:

State	Meaning
Invited	Invitation created, email being sent
Delivered	Email successfully delivered
Opened	Recipient clicked the invitation link
Accepted	Recipient created their account
Activated	Onboarding complete, client has full access
Expired	Invitation expired before acceptance
Revoked	You manually revoked the invitation
Bounced	Email delivery failed

Invitation Timeframes

• Project invitations expire after 14 days by default.
• Organization invitations expire after 7 days.
• Reminders are sent automatically:
  • A reminder to the recipient after 24 hours if they have not responded.
  • A notification to you (the inviter) after 72 hours if the invitation is still pending.
• Automatic expiry: The system automatically marks invitations as expired when their deadline passes.

Managing Client Access to Projects

To grant an existing client access to a project:

1. Open the project's detail page.
2. Navigate to the Clients tab.
3. Add the client or client organization to the project.

To remove a client's access:

1. Open the project's Clients tab.
2. Find the client in the list.
3. Use the revoke action to remove their access.

Access changes take effect immediately. When access is revoked, the client can no longer see documents in that project through their portal.

Managing Client Access to Documents

By default, when a client has access to a project, they can see all documents in that project that have a visibility level of "Project Clients" or higher. For finer control:

• Use visibility levels on individual documents to control what clients can see (see Document Visibility Levels).
• Use "Principal Only" visibility to restrict a document to specific clients.
• Use Document Client Grants for per-document access overrides that go beyond the standard visibility rules.

Client Invitation Rules and Limits

• Duplicate prevention: You cannot send an active invitation to the same email address for the same project.
• Domain guard: For organization colleague invitations, the invited person's email domain must match the organization's domain.
• Daily cap: Organization admin colleague invitations are limited to 10 per day to prevent abuse.

Revoking Invitations

To revoke a pending invitation:

1. Navigate to the project's Clients tab.
2. Find the pending invitation.
3. Use the revoke action to cancel it.

The recipient will no longer be able to use the invitation link. A revocation event is recorded in the audit log.

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7. Document Sharing

Visibility Levels Explained

Document visibility is the primary mechanism for controlling who can see your documents. Here is a detailed breakdown of each level:

Internal Only

• Documents are visible only to firm staff (Firm Admins and Project Managers with access to the project).
• Clients cannot see these documents through the portal.
• Use this for drafts, internal communications, and work in progress.

All Clients (Shared Library)

• Documents appear in the Client Library, which is accessible to every client in your entire workspace.
• This visibility crosses project boundaries -- all clients see these documents regardless of which project they are associated with.
• Use this for policies, compliance documents, general announcements, and reference materials that apply to everyone.
• To manage shared library documents, use the Client Library page in the sidebar.

Project Clients

• Documents are visible to all clients who have been granted access to the project containing the document.
• This is the standard level for sharing project-specific documents.
• Use this for quarterly reports, project updates, meeting minutes, and other standard project materials.

Principal Only

• Documents are restricted to specific individuals or organizations that you designate.
• During upload, you select which clients can see each restricted document.
• Use this for personalized statements, confidential correspondence, tiered investor materials, and any document that should not be visible to all project participants.

Changing Visibility After Upload

To change a document's visibility after it has been uploaded:

1. Open the document's detail page.
2. Locate the visibility setting.
3. Select the new visibility level.
4. If changing to "Principal Only," select the specific clients who should have access.
5. Save the change.

Visibility changes take effect immediately. If you change a document from "Project Clients" to "Internal Only," clients will immediately lose access to it.

Client Library (Shared Documents)

The Client Library page lets you manage documents that are shared with all clients across your workspace:

1. Navigate to Client Library in the sidebar.
2. You will see all documents currently published to the library (those with "All Clients" visibility).
3. To add a document to the library, upload a document with "All Clients" visibility, or change an existing document's visibility to "All Clients."
4. To remove a document from the library, change its visibility back to "Internal Only."

Share Tokens (Encrypted Links)

For situations where you need to share a document with someone who does not have a portal account, you can create a share token -- an encrypted, time-limited link:

• Encryption: Share links are encrypted with AES-256-GCM. The document content is never exposed in the URL.
• Time-limited: Each share link has a configurable expiration period. After the link expires, it can no longer be used.
• Permissions: You can set whether the link allows viewing only or both viewing and downloading.
• Access tracking: Every time someone accesses a share link, the system records the IP address, user agent, and timestamp.
• Revocable: You can revoke a share link at any time before it expires.

To create a share link:

1. Open the document's detail page.
2. Use the share action to generate a link.
3. Configure the expiration period and permissions (view or download).
4. Copy and share the generated link.

Revoking Access

You have several options for revoking access:

What to Revoke	How to Do It
A client's access to a project	Remove them from the project's Clients tab
A pending invitation	Revoke it from the project's Clients tab
A share link	Revoke the token from the document detail page
A document's visibility to all clients	Change visibility to "Internal Only"

All access revocations take effect immediately and are recorded in the audit log.

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8. Settings and Configuration

Accessing Settings

Click Settings in the sidebar to access workspace configuration. The settings area includes:

• General settings -- workspace name and basic configuration
• Branding -- theme, terminology, and visual appearance
• Categories -- document category management (available per project)

Client Notification Preferences

Your clients (investors, residents, or other portal users) can manage their own notification preferences directly from the client portal. They do not need to contact you to change notification settings.

Each client can:

• Set global notification defaults (Immediate, Daily Digest, Weekly Digest, or None)
• Override notifications per project and per category
• Unsubscribe from specific project notifications via one-click email links

What this means for you: You no longer need to manage notification preferences on behalf of clients. If a client asks about notification frequency, direct them to the Settings page (Bell icon) in their portal.

Security notifications (password resets, account security, MFA) are always delivered immediately and cannot be disabled by clients.

Branding

The Branding page (Settings > Branding) lets you customize your workspace's visual identity and terminology. Only Firm Admins can access this page.

Theme Selection

You can choose from five professional themes:

Theme	Colors	Feel
Executive	Deep green and gold	Trust, wealth, established
Ember	Terracotta and orange	Earth, building, substantial
Horizon	Ocean blue and warm sand	Openness, living spaces
Corporate	Navy and cool gray	Authority, precision
Minimal	Neutral grays	Clean, universal

Your industry template assigns a default theme, but you can switch to any theme at any time. The theme affects the color scheme throughout your workspace and the client portal.

Terminology Customization

You can customize the labels used throughout your workspace. The following fields are editable:

Field	What It Controls	Example
Container (singular)	The label for a single project	"Project," "Development," "Matter"
Container (plural)	The label for multiple projects	"Projects," "Developments," "Matters"
Client (singular)	The label for a single client	"Investor," "Resident," "Client"
Client (plural)	The label for multiple clients	"Investors," "Residents," "Clients"
Portal name	The name of the client-facing portal	"Investor Portal," "Client Portal"
Portal welcome message	The greeting clients see when they log in	Custom welcome text
Team member (singular)	The label for a Project Manager	"Project Manager," "Associate"
Team member (plural)	The label for multiple Project Managers	"Project Managers," "Associates"

Terminology changes affect all parts of the workspace, including navigation labels, button text, email notifications, and the client portal. Changes require users to log out and back in to see the updated labels.

What Cannot Be Changed

Your industry template is permanent. It was selected when your workspace was created and determines the default categories, terminology, and theme. While you can customize the terminology and theme, the underlying template (which controls the set of default categories created for new projects) cannot be changed. This is by design -- changing the template after projects and documents have been created would cause data integrity issues.

Category Management

Categories are managed at the project level and help organize documents within each project.

Viewing categories: Categories are visible on a project's Documents tab, where documents are grouped by category.

Creating a custom category:

1. Navigate to a project's settings or category configuration area.
2. Click Add Category.
3. Enter a name for the new category.
4. The category is added and available for document assignment.

Reordering categories: You can change the display order of categories to match your preferred organization. The new order is reflected on the project's Documents tab.

Deleting a category:

1. Find the category you want to remove.
2. Use the delete action.
3. All documents in the deleted category are automatically moved to "Uncategorized."
4. The deletion is recorded in the audit log.

Rules for categories:

Category Type	Can Delete?	Can Rename?	Created By
System ("Uncategorized")	No	No	System (automatic)
Default (from template)	Yes (soft delete)	Yes	Industry template
Custom	Yes (soft delete)	Yes	Firm Admin

Restoring a deleted category:

Category deletion is a soft delete -- the category is marked as deleted but all data is preserved. Documents from the deleted category are moved to Uncategorized. If you need to restore a deleted category, contact your platform administrator, who can restore it via a support session.

Best practices:

• Do not delete default categories unless they are truly unnecessary for your workflow.
• Create custom categories for document types specific to your firm that are not covered by the defaults.
• Use the "Uncategorized" category as a temporary holding area for documents that need to be sorted later.
• Review how many documents a category contains before deleting it.
• Maintain consistent naming across projects for easier navigation.

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9. AI-Powered Features

Cadenora includes AI-powered features that help you work more efficiently with your documents. These features use artificial intelligence to automatically categorize documents, understand natural language search queries, provide an AI-powered workspace assistant, and generate project summaries.

All AI features are optional and can be enabled or disabled independently. Your platform administrator configures a default AI provider, and you can customize the AI settings for your workspace. If AI is disabled or not configured, all features continue to work normally -- you categorize documents manually and use keyword search instead.

Note: AI features process document content through the configured AI provider (such as Anthropic Claude, OpenAI GPT, or a self-hosted model). If your firm has data residency or confidentiality requirements, discuss the AI provider configuration with your platform administrator. Self-hosted options are available for firms that require on-premises AI processing.

Document Classification

When you upload a document, Cadenora's AI can automatically analyze the filename and document content to suggest or assign a category.

How it works:

1. You upload a document through the upload wizard.
2. During background processing, the AI examines the filename and extracted text content.
3. The AI compares the document against your project's available categories and returns a confidence score.
4. Based on the confidence score, one of three things happens:

Confidence Level	What Happens	Your Action
High (>= 85%)	Category is automatically assigned	Review if needed; the AI is confident
Medium (50-84%)	Category is suggested but not assigned	Review the suggestion and confirm or change it
Low (< 50%)	No suggestion made	Assign a category manually

Reviewing AI classifications:

• Documents that were auto-classified show the assigned category on the document detail page. You can change the category at any time if the AI chose incorrectly.
• Documents with a pending suggestion display the AI's recommendation. Accept the suggestion or select a different category.
• Your corrections are recorded and help inform future accuracy.

What happens when AI is disabled:

If document classification is turned off in your AI settings, documents are uploaded without automatic categorization. You assign categories manually during upload or afterward.

Natural Language Search

Natural language search lets you type questions or descriptions in plain language instead of using specific keywords. The AI interprets your intent and translates it into structured search filters.

Example queries:

What You Type	What the AI Does
"show me tax documents from Q4 2025"	Searches the Tax category with dates in Oct-Dec 2025
"find all lease agreements for Parkview Tower"	Filters by the Lease category within the Parkview Tower project
"recent correspondence"	Searches the Correspondence category, sorted by recent date
"financial reports uploaded last month"	Filters by the Financial category with last month's date range

How it differs from keyword search:

• Keyword search matches exact words in document content. Searching for "tax" finds documents containing the word "tax."
• Natural language search understands intent. Searching for "show me last quarter's financials" translates into a category filter plus a date range, even if no document contains that exact phrase.

When to use each:

Situation	Recommended Search
You know the exact term or phrase in the document	Keyword search
You know what kind of document you want but not the exact words	Natural language search
You want to filter by category, date, or project using conversational language	Natural language search
You want to search within a specific document's content	Keyword search

What happens when AI is disabled:

If natural language search is turned off, the search page uses keyword search only. You can still filter by category, project, and date using the filter controls on the search page.

Workspace Assistant

The workspace assistant is an AI-powered chat interface that can answer questions about your documents. It works by searching your actual document content and providing answers grounded in what it finds.

How to use it:

1. Open the workspace assistant from the sidebar or from a project page.
2. Type your question in the chat input.
3. The assistant searches your documents, finds relevant content, and provides an answer.
4. Every response includes citations -- references to the specific documents the assistant used to form its answer.

What the assistant can do:

• Answer questions about the content of your documents (e.g., "What are the key terms in the Acme partnership agreement?")
• Summarize information across multiple documents
• Find specific information within your workspace (e.g., "What is the total investment amount mentioned in the offering documents?")
• Provide answers scoped to a specific project when accessed from a project page

What the assistant cannot do:

• Access documents outside your workspace -- it only sees your tenant's data
• Create, modify, or delete documents -- it is read-only
• Access data from other tenants or workspaces
• Browse the internet or access external information
• Guarantee 100% accuracy -- always verify important information against the source documents

Document visibility within the assistant:

The workspace assistant accesses all documents within the tenant or project scope, including documents marked as Internal Only. This is consistent with existing access permissions -- the assistant is only available to firm staff (Firm Admins and Project Managers), not to clients through the portal. Since firm staff can already view Internal Only documents in the regular interface, the assistant simply has the same level of access.

Citations:

Every assistant response references the source documents it used. Citations appear as document references (e.g., "[Document: Q4-2025-Financial-Report.pdf]"). Always verify the assistant's answers against the cited source documents, especially for critical business decisions.

Rate limits:

The workspace assistant is subject to rate limits configured by your administrator. If you reach the rate limit, wait a moment before sending additional messages.

What happens when AI is disabled:

If the chat feature is turned off in your AI settings, the workspace assistant is not available. All other workspace features continue to work normally.

Project Insights

When you view a project's detail page, the system can generate an AI-powered summary that provides a quick overview of the project's documents.

What the summary includes:

• A brief narrative overview of the project's document collection
• Key points highlighting important themes or document types present
• The summary is based on actual document content in the project

How summaries work:

• Summaries are generated on demand when you view the project page.
• Once generated, summaries are cached for 24 hours to avoid unnecessary processing.
• Summaries refresh automatically after the cache expires.
• If no documents are available in the project, no summary is generated.

What happens when AI is disabled:

If the summary feature is turned off, the project page displays without the AI-generated summary section. All other project information (document list, categories, client access) remains available.

AI Settings (Firm Admin Configuration)

As a Firm Admin, you can configure how AI features work in your workspace. Navigate to Settings in the sidebar, then click the AI Configuration link to access the AI settings page.

Note: Only Firm Admins can access AI settings. Project Managers and clients do not see this page.

Provider and Model

Choose which AI provider powers your workspace features:

Provider	Description	When to Use
Platform Default	Uses the provider configured by your platform administrator	Most firms -- no setup required
Anthropic (Claude)	Anthropic's Claude models	Firms that want to use Claude specifically
OpenAI (GPT)	OpenAI's GPT models	Firms that want to use GPT specifically
OpenAI-Compatible	Any provider with an OpenAI-compatible API (e.g., DeepSeek, Groq)	Advanced: firms with specific provider preferences
Self-Hosted (Ollama)	A self-hosted model running on your own infrastructure	Enterprise: firms requiring on-premises AI processing

For most firms, the Platform Default is the best choice. It requires no configuration and uses the provider selected by the Cadenora platform team.

API Key (Bring Your Own Key)

If you choose a provider other than Platform Default, you need to supply an API key:

• Enter your API key in the API Key field. The key is encrypted at rest using AES-256-GCM encryption and is never displayed after saving.
• The settings page shows whether a key has been set and when it was last updated.
• If you are using the Platform Default provider, no API key is needed -- the platform's key is used.

Feature Toggles

You can enable or disable each AI feature independently:

Feature	What It Controls	Default
Document Classification	Automatic category suggestions during upload	Enabled
Natural Language Search	AI-powered search query translation	Enabled
Workspace Assistant	AI chat interface for document questions	Enabled
Project Summaries	AI-generated project overview on project pages	Enabled

Disabling a feature does not delete any data or affect existing classifications. It simply turns off the AI component -- the underlying feature continues to work in manual mode.

Confidence Thresholds

Adjust how aggressively the AI auto-assigns document categories:

Threshold	Default	What It Controls
Auto-assign threshold	0.85 (85%)	Confidence required to automatically assign a category without user confirmation
Suggestion threshold	0.50 (50%)	Confidence required to show a suggestion (user must confirm)

• Raising the auto-assign threshold (e.g., to 0.95) means fewer documents are auto-categorized, but those that are will be more accurate.
• Lowering the suggestion threshold (e.g., to 0.30) means more documents receive suggestions, but some suggestions may be less relevant.

Rate Limits

Control how frequently AI features can be used:

Setting	Default	What It Controls
Workspace rate limit	100 per minute	Maximum AI requests across all users in your workspace
Per-user rate limit	20 per minute	Maximum AI requests per individual user

Rate limits use a dual-tier check: every AI request is checked against both the workspace limit and the per-user limit. Whichever limit is reached first applies. If a user reaches either limit, they see a brief message asking them to wait a few seconds before trying again. Rate limit counters reset on a rolling window basis.

Monthly Budget

Set a spending cap for AI usage:

• Enter a monthly budget amount in dollars.
• The settings page shows a progress bar with current month spending versus the budget.
• When the budget is reached, AI features are temporarily disabled until the next billing cycle.
• If no budget is set, AI usage is unlimited (subject to rate limits).

Actions

The AI settings page provides two administrative actions:

• Test Connection: Sends a small test request to the configured AI provider to verify that the connection is working. The test reports success or failure along with the response time.
• Reset to Platform Default: Removes your custom AI configuration and reverts to the platform administrator's default settings. This deletes your custom provider, API key, and all customized settings.

Impact of Configuration Changes

Change	Effect
Switching provider	Future AI requests use the new provider; existing classifications are unchanged
Disabling a feature	Feature becomes unavailable immediately; no data is lost
Changing thresholds	Only affects future document uploads; previously classified documents are unchanged
Changing rate limits	Takes effect immediately for all users
Setting a budget	Takes effect immediately; resets on the first of each month
Resetting to default	All custom settings removed; platform default applies immediately

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10. Governance and Compliance

Audit Logs

The Audit Logs page provides a comprehensive record of every significant action taken in your workspace. Only Firm Admins can access this page.

Accessing audit logs:

1. Click Audit Logs in the sidebar.
2. You will see a chronological list of events with the most recent first.

What is tracked:

Every mutation (create, update, delete) in your workspace generates an audit log entry. Key events include:

Category	Events Tracked
Documents	Upload, visibility change, category change, deletion
Projects	Creation, editing, status changes
Users	Invitation sent, role changes, deactivation
Client access	Invitation created, accepted, revoked, expired
Categories	Creation, deletion, reordering
Settings	Branding changes, terminology updates
Library	Document published, unpublished
Security	Login attempts, step-up authentication, share link access

Each audit log entry includes:

• Timestamp -- when the action occurred
• Actor -- who performed the action (user name and email)
• Action -- what was done (e.g., DOCUMENT_UPLOADED, INVITE_CREATED)
• Resource -- what was affected (document, project, user, etc.)
• Details -- before/after snapshots where applicable
• Support context -- if the action was performed during a support session, this is clearly marked

Using audit logs for compliance:

• Filter by date range to review activity during a specific period.
• Filter by action type to review specific categories of events.
• Export audit log data for external compliance reporting.
• Verify that access changes were authorized by reviewing the actor and timestamp.

Retention Policies

Cadenora supports configurable document retention policies at the project level:

• Default retention period: 7 years plus 1 year after project close (aligned with NI 31-103 requirements for financial services firms).
• Legal holds: When a project or specific documents are placed under legal hold, automatic retention enforcement is suspended. Documents under legal hold cannot be automatically deleted regardless of their retention period.
• Enforcement: The system automatically enforces retention policies through background workflows. Documents past their retention period and not under legal hold are flagged and can be removed according to your firm's policy.

To configure retention policies for a project:

1. Open the project's Settings page.
2. Locate the retention policy settings.
3. Set the retention period and any legal hold requirements.

Step-Up Authentication

For certain sensitive operations, the system may require step-up authentication -- an additional verification step beyond your normal login. This is designed to prevent unauthorized actions even if someone gains access to an active session.

When step-up authentication is triggered:

1. The system prompts you to verify your identity.
2. You complete the additional verification (such as entering a one-time code).
3. The verification is valid for a limited time, after which you may be prompted again.

Step-up authentication may be required for:

• Downloading sensitive documents through the client portal
• Performing high-risk administrative actions
• Accessing certain security-sensitive settings

Security Best Practices

As a Firm Admin, follow these practices to maintain workspace security:

1. Review audit logs regularly. Check for unexpected access patterns, failed login attempts, or unauthorized changes.
2. Use appropriate visibility levels. Default to "Internal Only" and only promote visibility when needed. It is easier to share more later than to restrict access after the fact.
3. Promptly deactivate departed users. When team members or clients leave, revoke their access immediately.
4. Review client access periodically. Ensure clients only have access to the projects and documents they currently need.
5. Use strong passwords. Ensure all team members use strong, unique passwords.
6. Be careful with "All Clients" visibility. Documents published to the shared library are visible to every client in your workspace. Double-check before publishing.
7. Revoke unused share links. If you created share links that are no longer needed, revoke them before they expire.
8. Verify client information before sending invitations. Ensure you have the correct email address before sending an invitation -- invitations are email-locked, meaning only the invited email address can accept them.

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11. Troubleshooting

Document Upload Failures

Problem: File upload fails with an error message.

Possible causes and solutions:

Cause	Solution
File too large	Check the size limits: PDF (50 MB), Word (25 MB), Excel (10 MB), Text (5 MB), Images (50 MB). Reduce file size or split into smaller files.
Unsupported file type	Only PDF, DOCX, XLSX, TXT, PNG, and JPG files are supported. Convert your file to a supported format.
Network interruption	Files upload directly to storage. If your connection drops during upload, try again. The system handles partial uploads gracefully.
No project selected	You must select a project before uploading. If the project dropdown is empty, check that you have access to at least one active project.
Permission denied	Only Firm Admins and Project Managers can upload documents. If you are a Project Manager, verify you have been assigned to the target project.

Problem: Upload succeeds but the document shows "Processing" status for a long time.

Solution: Document processing (text extraction and indexing) usually completes within a minute. If a document stays in "Processing" for more than 5 minutes:

1. Check if the document is very large (processing time scales with file size).
2. The document is still accessible even while processing -- only full-text search results may be delayed.
3. If processing appears stuck, contact your platform administrator.

Client Access Issues

Problem: A client says they cannot see a document.

Check these in order:

1. Is the client's invitation activated? Go to the project's Clients tab and verify the client's status is "Activated" (not "Pending" or "Expired").
2. Does the client have project access? Verify the client is listed as a member of the project containing the document.
3. What is the document's visibility? Check the document's visibility level:
   • "Internal Only" -- clients cannot see this. Change to "Project Clients" or higher.
   • "Principal Only" -- only the designated client(s) can see this. Verify the correct client is selected.
   • "Project Clients" -- all clients with project access should see this. If they cannot, the issue may be with their project membership.
4. Did the client complete onboarding? The client must have fully completed their account setup (set password, completed profile) to access documents.

Problem: A client received an invitation but cannot accept it.

Possible causes:

Cause	Solution
Link expired	Project invitations expire after 14 days, organization invitations after 7 days. Send a new invitation.
Email mismatch	Invitations are email-locked. The client must use the exact email address the invitation was sent to.
Link already used	Each invitation link can only be used once. If the client partially completed setup, contact support.
Link revoked	Check if the invitation was revoked. Send a new one if needed.

Search Not Returning Expected Results

Problem: You uploaded a document but it does not appear in search results.

Check these:

1. Is processing complete? Search only works on processed documents. Check the document's status -- if it shows "Processing" or "Pending," wait for it to complete.
2. Is the file type searchable? Text extraction works for PDF, DOCX, XLSX, and TXT files. Image files (PNG, JPG) are not currently searchable by content.
3. Are you searching the right terms? Search matches the actual text content extracted from documents, not file names. Try different search terms.
4. Is the document in your workspace? Search only returns results from your own workspace (tenant). Documents in other workspaces are never visible.

Common Settings Issues

Problem: Terminology changes are not showing up.

Solution: After changing terminology in Settings > Branding, users need to log out and back in for the changes to take effect everywhere. The new terminology is stored in the session, which refreshes on login.

Problem: Cannot change the industry template.

This is by design. The industry template is set permanently when your workspace is created. You can customize terminology and the visual theme, but the underlying template cannot be changed. If you need a different template, contact your platform administrator to discuss options.

Problem: Deleted a category by mistake.

Solution: Category deletion is a soft delete -- the category is marked as deleted but the data is preserved. Documents from the deleted category are moved to "Uncategorized." Contact your platform administrator if you need to restore a deleted category.

Getting Help

If you encounter an issue not covered in this guide:

1. Check the audit log for related events that might explain the issue.
2. Verify permissions -- many issues stem from incorrect role assignments or missing project access.
3. Contact your platform administrator for issues related to workspace configuration, account setup, or system-level problems.

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This guide reflects Cadenora v8.6.0 as of March 5, 2026. Features and interface details may change in future versions.