Permission Sets: managing roles and permissions in Salesforce

Managing permissions in Salesforce ensures that users have access only to the information and functionalities that are relevant to them. If you do this properly, you will make using Salesforce easier and maintain greater control over the platform. Permission Sets play an important role in setting the right permissions. In this article, we discuss what Permission Sets are and how to use them.

What are Salesforce Permission Sets?

Salesforce Permission Sets are predefined sets of permissions that you assign to users. They allow you to assign specific permissions and access rights based on roles and responsibilities within the organization. In other words, they determine what functions and data a user can see and edit in Salesforce.

The benefits

• Efficient management - Permission Sets make user rights management easier and more efficient. Instead of adjusting individual access settings for each user, you can create Permission Sets and assign them to groups of users with similar needs. This saves time and you minimize the risk of errors.

• Custom authorization - Permission Sets make it easier to use the Least Privileged principle to follow. This means that users are given only the minimum required rights and permissions to perform their tasks, strengthening security. By granting access only to relevant data and functionalities, you minimize the risk of unauthorized access and data loss.

• Easily update changing roles - As users' roles and responsibilities change, Permission Sets can be updated to give them the necessary new permissions. This makes it easier to update user access rights without requiring major administrative effort

How do Salesforce Permission Sets work?

To use Salesforce Permission Sets effectively, you must first define user access rights. So which user should have which permissions? Then you create a Permission Set and choose the desired settings. Finally, you assign the Permission Set to the relevant users.

It is important to regularly check and evaluate which Permission Sets have been assigned to users. This way you can ensure that access rights are up-to-date and that users have access only to what they need.

Advice from our consultants

1. Take the time to define user roles and the relevant user permissions and draw this out. Visualizing the roles and permissions will give you a complete picture of the necessary Permission Sets faster.
   
2. Set up Permission Sets by task and keep them small. Permission Sets can in fact be bundled into a 'permission set group' to match a user role. This way you can easily reuse Permission Sets instead of continuously creating new ones.
   
3. Include in your security policy to review Permission Sets every 6 months. This way you avoid major changes that could cause issues and keep the platform relevant and secure.