In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to configure access roles in, understand the permissions available, and how to configure them further to meet your organization’s needs.
Overview
Access roles allow you to create custom roles or use predefined ones to ensure the security of your platform's information. By assigning the appropriate permissions to each user, you can control their access level and what actions they can perform with the data they have access to.
Navigate to your access roles section
- Log into your account and go to the 'Account' section.
- Select the 'Settings' tab, then click on the 'Security' folder.
- Scroll down to the 'Access Role' section to view the four predefined access roles.
Permissions for pre-defined roles
Formalize includes four predefined roles: Admin, Advanced User, Simple User, and Auditor. Each role comes with a default set of permissions that determine what a user can do within the platform.
Types of Permissions
| Permission | Description |
| View | Allows the user to see content in a module |
| Add | Lets the user create new items |
|
Edit |
Enables editing of existing items |
| Delete | Allows the user to remove items |
| Export | Gives access to download/export data |
| Show module in sidebar | Controls whether the module appears in the user’s main navigation |
| View external respondents | Grants access to external questionnaire responses |
| Conditional permissions | Restrict view, edit, or delete actions to only the items a user is marked as the Responsible User for (e.g., only edit assets assigned to them) |
⚙️ Conditional permissions are available for: Assets, Business Functions, Contracts, Controls, Employees, Customers, Incidents, Questionnaires, Policies, Processes, Processing Activities, Risks, Suppliers, Systems, and Tasks.
Roles permission overview
|
Roles |
Permissions |
|
Admin |
Full access to all modules and permissions. |
| Advanced user | Full access to all modules except managing users and accessing security settings. |
| Simple user | Limited access. Cannot access Approval Flows, Automations, Settings, Data Reports, Integrations, or the Public API. |
| Auditor | Limited access. No access to Activity Logs, Approval Flows, Business Functions, Content Libraries, My Guides, Contracts, Controls, Settings, Data Reports, Public API, or Views. Ideal for external or internal auditors. |
How to configure your own access roles
You can tailor user access by editing our predefined roles or creating your own from scratch. Here's how:
Edit an existing access role
- You can customize one of the predefined access roles (like Admin, Advanced User, etc.):
-
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Click Edit on the role you want to update.
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Select or deselect the permissions you want to change.
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Click Save to apply your changes.
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This is useful if you want to only change slightly an existing role rather than build one from scratch.
Create a new access role from scratch
- If you need something entirely custom:
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Click the + Create button.
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Give your new role a clear name.
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Choose the permissions this role should have by checking the appropriate boxes.
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Click Save when you're done.
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Note that when you click "Edit" on a role, you can easily view all users associated with it under the "Users" tab.
When creating a user, you can assign them to one of the existing access roles. If you’d like to see the full process, check out our User Management article, here.
We hope this article was helpful! Go ahead and set up your access roles now to gain better control over who can access what—keeping your workspace more secure!
by Carolina Gonçalves, Product Communication Specialist
We hope this article was helpful!
If you need additional support, please feel free to schedule a meeting with Giulia, from our Customer Success team, here.
For a platform overview and commercial details, you can book a meeting with Kristoffer, from our Sales team, here.
Otherwise you are of course always welcome to reach out by email contact@formalize.com .
