Roles and Permissions in SaaS: Getting Access Control Right
How to design roles and permissions that are simple for customers, safe for their data, and flexible as your product grows.
As soon as customers use your product in teams, they need control over who can do what. Access control is one of those features that seems simple at first and becomes complex quickly if it is not designed well.
Start with clear roles
Most products begin with a few roles that match how customers think about their teams:
- Owner: manages billing and the account
- Admin: manages users and settings
- Member: does the everyday work
- Viewer: read-only access
Simple, well-named roles are easier for customers to understand than dozens of individual switches.
Check permissions, not roles, in code
Behind the scenes, roles should map to specific permissions such as "edit invoices" or "invite users". The application checks permissions. This makes it easy to add new roles or custom roles later without changing feature code.
Enforce on the server
Hiding buttons in the interface is not security. Every request must be checked on the server, so users cannot access data or actions they are not allowed to, even if they try.
Consider resource-level access
Some products need permissions on specific items, such as projects or folders, in addition to account-wide roles. Plan for this early if your customers organise work that way.
Make access visible
- Show admins who has access to what.
- Log changes to roles and permissions.
- Make removing access immediate.
Good access control is invisible to users who should have access and impossible to get around for those who should not.
Prepare for enterprise needs
Larger customers may ask for custom roles, single sign-on, and automated user provisioning. A permission-based design makes these additions straightforward.
MOKRIN designs access control that starts simple and grows with your customers, enforced on the server and tested thoroughly.
