Efficient access marking approach for efficient retrieval of document access data

Abstract

A computer-implemented method comprises creating a plurality of access group identifiers each associated with one or more user account identifiers, and a plurality of classification markings each representing a different level of security classification of an electronic document; associating each account identifier with at least one classification marking; indexing, for each particular electronic document, one or more access group identifiers and one or more classification markings; receiving a search query specifying one or more document properties; obtaining a first set of classification markings associated with the search query; executing a search of the indices using a covering query that requires a specified minimum number of matches between the first set of classification markings and a second set of classification markings associated with a particular document satisfying the one or more document properties to obtain a result set of electronic documents; providing the result set in response to the search query.