Terminology

Trade Secret

A trade secret is any confidential business information that provides a competitive advantage and is protected by keeping it secret. Examples include processes, formulas, algorithms, customer lists, and internal know how. To qualify as a trade secret, the information must be valuable, not publicly known, and protected through reasonable measures.

Asset

An asset is any item, file, system, document, or piece of information that may contain or relate to a trade secret. In Tangibly, assets can be registered, labeled, tracked, and assigned to users so you always know who has access to sensitive information.

Asset ID

A unique six digit identifier assigned to each asset to support tracking, audit logs, and platform organization.

Acknowledgment

An acknowledgment is a record that confirms an employee, contractor, or partner has reviewed and understood specific information. In Tangibly, acknowledgments help document that individuals have received policies, training, or asset notifications. These records support your company’s reasonable measures.

Contributor

A contributor is a person involved in creating, modifying, or accessing an asset or trade secret. Contributors may include employees, contractors, or partners. Tracking contributors helps establish ownership, usage history, and accountability.

Training

Training refers to the educational materials and sessions that help employees and partners understand how to handle confidential information. Tangibly provides internal training modules that guide users on best practices, policies, and the correct use of trade secret workflows.

Projects

An optional field that links assets to specific internal projects, making it easier for teams to track related work.

Departments

A classification field that associates assets with the relevant department, improving structure and access control.

Notify

The action of sharing an asset with employees, contractors, or partners who need access. Notify triggers an acknowledgment request and creates a record for compliance.

Locked Asset

An asset that cannot be viewed until the user completes an acknowledgment. Locked assets help ensure confidential information is not accessed prematurely.

Reasonable Measures

Reasonable measures are the actions a company takes to protect its confidential information. These include policies, contract terms, security controls, training, access tracking, and system governance. Demonstrating reasonable measures is required to enforce trade secret rights in court and shows that the company takes its protection responsibilities seriously.

User Roles

The permission levels that define what each person can see and do inside Tangibly. Roles include Admin, Manager, HR, Employee, and Contractor. Each role has specific access rights to assets, people records, training, and settings.

Batch Upload

A method for adding multiple employees, contractors, or assets at once using an Excel template. Batch upload streamlines onboarding for larger teams.

​​AI Modules

Automated features that help identify, analyze, and track potential trade secrets. Current modules include Email Finder, Email Tracker, and Patent X Ray.

Large Language Model (LLM)

A large language model is an artificial intelligence system trained on massive amounts of text to generate human like responses, answer questions, and perform language based tasks. Tools such as ChatGPT use large language models. Because these models learn from the information users provide, companies must set clear rules to prevent confidential information from being shared with them.

Finder

An AI tool that scans email content to identify potential trade secrets already shared within the company. This helps teams create assets for items that may have been overlooked.

Tracker

An AI tool that monitors who has received trade secret information via email. Tracker ensures that all recipients complete acknowledgments and are added to the platform for compliance tracking.

Patent X Ray

An AI analysis tool that identifies potential trade secrets connected to patents, including underlying algorithms, formulations, processes, and manufacturing techniques.