SkillsEngine - Builder

Redesigning permissions and roles to support scalable growth

key outcomes

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Introduced 2 new tiered roles and granular permissions, replacing an outdated all-access model

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Laid the foundation for scalable permissions infrastructure supporting enterprise clients

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Improved content security by allowing organizations to restrict editing and publishing access

product context

Builder is an AI-powered data platform that leverages skills data to build, manage, validate, and analyze skill profiles across the workforce and education sectors.

By fostering a shared understanding of skills, Builder aims to bridge the gap between learning and labor market needs, empowering employers, job seekers, and educational institutions with valuable insights for credential validation, curriculum alignment, job analysis, and workforce planning.

THE PROBLEM

The initial permissions model had limitations that prevented users from achieving the desired level of collaboration and security within their organizations.

The current 'inclusive' framework only had two organization roles, you could either be an Owner or a Member. This setup was too simplistic and granted all organization members access to manipulate all content created within an organization and didn't account for the addition of new features on the platform. This posed a security risk for many of our users as they wanted more granular control over their content.

Initial organization roles model.

working within research constraints

Given the project's business-critical nature and time constraints, the initial research phase focused on gathering insights from key stakeholders, including the heads of Product and Engineering.

We conducted in-depth interviews with the heads of Product and Engineering to understand the desired functionality, security requirements, and long-term vision for the permissions framework. Our project manager, with their deep knowledge of user behaviors and pain points, provided invaluable input on user needs and helped shape the design direction. This led us to add two new roles: Manager and Guest. These roles would help fill the gaps in levels of permissions needed provide more granular control over user permissions on the platform.

While traditional user research was limited in the initial phase, we recognized the importance of user validation. Therefore, we planned to conduct extensive usability testing and user interviews after the new roles and permissions were defined.

Updated organization roles model.

identifying pain points in existing ui

Along with reviewing the new roles and permissions, we conducted usability testing to gather feedback on the current organization settings page and permission features.

Some major themes and paint points that we discovered were:
-The functionality for editing a user was too hidden in the side drawer
-The member list UI lacked user role details
-Using the content share modal to keep track of user permissions was cumbersome

Figure above shows user pain points on the current organization settings page.

exploring solutions

Building upon the foundational roles and permissions defined, we focused on translating these concepts into a user-friendly interface.

Recognizing the need for efficiency and seamless integration, we leveraged existing Tailwind UI components to accelerate the design process and minimize engineering lift.

Our design approach involved creating wireframes that directly reflected the new roles and permissions features, focusing on clarity and usability. Key design elements included:
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1) Enhanced Organization Settings
2) Granular Profile Permissions
3) Updated Sharing Modal
4) Updated User Invitation

Following the design phase, we conducted another round of user interviews to gather feedback on the new roles and permissions along with the updated UI.

Key findings included:
‍Navigation Challenges: Users experienced difficulty navigating to organizational settings, indicating a need for improved navigation.
‍Role and Permission Comprehension: Users were able to understand and modify roles and permissions.
‍Security Preferences: Users expressed a preference for an “exclusive” access model, emphasizing the importance of granular control.
‍Granular Permissions and Customization: Users desired more granular permissions and the ability to create custom roles.

To facilitate testing and gather targeted feedback, we created an ideal user workflow, which helped us simulate real-world scenarios and identify potential usability issues."

designing new pages and updating features

Using the gathered feedback, we streamlined the user experience for editing organization roles and restricting permissions for specific users and content.

In addition to addressing key user pain points, we also needed to create new UI to support the new organization roles and new functionality of editing user roles and content permissions.

Key changes included:

A New Page for Inviting Users

Developed a new page dedicated to inviting new users that explicitly stated what feature access each role gives.

A New Page for Managing Permissions on Profiles

Moving user editing drawer to a dedicated page with clear descriptions of feature access based on selected roles for easier access.

Added granular list of allowed access to features per role for better understanding and role selection.

Updated Manage Organization page

Added role-based labels to the existing members list UI for improved context and visibility

Updated Share Modal

We updated the Sharing modal to reflect the addition of the new Viewer and Collaborator permissions.

We also added a short description of each permission.

impact and outcomes

The culmination of our design process resulted in a refined roles and permissions framework that addressed user security and collaboration needs.

Key features of the final design included:

Expanded Organizational Roles:
We introduced two new organizational roles: Manager and Guest. These roles provided more granular control over user access and permissions, allowing organizations to tailor access based on team structures and responsibilities.

Enhanced Sharing Permissions:
We implemented two new sharing permissions: Collaborator and Viewer. These permissions allowed users to define the level of access granted to shared content, promoting secure and efficient collaboration.

This new framework and updated UI solved major pain points for two of our largest enterprise customers and the new roles gave everyone more granular control over permissions for their organization team members.

SkillsEngine - Builder

Redesigning permissions and roles to support scalable growth

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