Role-Based Access Planning: Permissions and Approval

Describe the work behind each role.

List the actions each role needs to perform, such as viewing a record, changing a value or approving a request. Separate business responsibility from job title. Two people with similar titles may need different access, and a broad administrator role should not become the default answer to every requirement.

Check exceptional situations.

Discuss temporary cover, role changes and tasks requiring approval from another person. Include how access is requested and removed. Test whether sensitive actions remain restricted when a user follows an unusual route through the interface, rather than checking only the visible navigation options.

Keep permission changes traceable.

Agree who owns the role definitions and how future changes are reviewed. Describe the information administrators need to investigate an unexpected access result. Revisit the design when workflows change so that permissions continue to match the responsibilities they were intended to support.

Review permissions across a person’s lifecycle

Begin with business actions rather than existing user groups. List who can view, create, change, approve, export and delete each important record. Confirm which actions require a second person or additional approval. Include access through APIs and background processes, not only visible menu items.

Walk through joining, changing roles, taking temporary responsibility and leaving. Agree who authorizes access and how it is reviewed. Test permitted actions and attempts that should be refused using representative accounts in a safe environment. Check restrictions on individual records as well as pages. Record exceptions with their reason, owner and expiry rather than letting temporary access become an undocumented permanent arrangement.

A permission matrix with approval context

Build one row per role and resource, and have the relevant process owner review it before implementation.

• Role and purpose: the responsibility requiring access, not simply a department name.
• Resource scope: which records, locations, projects or customers the role may access.
• Allowed actions: read, create, edit, approve, export and other relevant operations.
• Approval boundary: who grants access and which actions require separate authorization.
• Lifecycle: start date, review date, role-change process and removal responsibility.
• Exception record: temporary permissions, reason, approver and agreed end condition.

Hiding a button is not authorization

A restricted action needs enforcement in the application’s authorization logic. Removing a menu option does not establish that another route to the same operation is blocked. Include direct requests and record-level access in verification.

Avoid copying every permission from an existing employee without checking the new role. Review accumulated access when responsibilities change. Also distinguish the ability to prepare work from the ability to approve it, where the business process requires that separation.

Can permissions be simplified into a few roles?

Yes, if those roles accurately represent shared responsibilities. Keep meaningful differences in record scope and approval rights visible. Where exceptions become frequent, review the role design instead of accumulating individual permissions that nobody can explain or maintain.

ILLUSTRATIVE PLANNING EXAMPLE

Example: separating finance responsibilities

A staff member may prepare an invoice while a manager approves it. List which records each role can view, create, edit and approve. Include a colleague changing teams and a temporary absence. Review whether someone can approve their own work or retain access after their responsibilities change.

Produce a permission matrix with an owner for approvals and periodic reviews. Validate it with representative users before applying permissions to production accounts.

FURTHER READING

Official resources to explore

Explore the related official guidance below. The templates and examples are practical starting points to adapt to your own project.

• OWASP: access control