An important part of any work process is controlling who has access to create, view and edit data. SmartSuite provides you all the tools that you need to ensure that your data is secure, while making it easy to give the appropriate people access when they need it.

SmartSuite offers two levels of permissions - role based access, which determines the maximum permission level that can be assigned to a profile, and Solution permissions, which provides Solution Owners granular control over data visibility, creation, modification and deletion.

Roles represent user "types" and capabilities they have within SmartSuite. Roles determine whether the user has general end-user capabilities, the permission to create and modify Solutions, or permission to administer the entire SmartSuite workspace. There are four Roles that define a user's level of system access and capability:

The Guest user role is a free user type who has limited access to the system's features and functions. They are able to only view and comment on records they've been assigned through our Assigned To field, and through our "My Work" feature are able to change the associated status of what they've been assigned. Guests can also modify checklist items assigned to them.

The General access role is assigned to most Members, providing them access to Solutions, Tables and their data as assigned to them or one of their Teams. General users cannot modify SmartSuite Solution configuration or change permissions but can take advantage of communications functions, @mentions, starred items, and much more.

General Access users can do that if they get assigned Solution Manager permissions in a given solution.
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Also, note Solution Creators can lose access to solutions they’ve created if an other Solution Manager kicks them out.

Here are examples of what General access Members can do in SmartSuite:

The only difference between Solution Creator and General Access roles is that Solution Creators can create new solutions, while General Access uses – cannot.

Solution Creators do get Solution Manager permissions by default in a Solution they’ve created, but that’s not a lifetime privilege. For example, they can be downgraded to Viewers.

Users with the Solution Creator role have all the capabilities of General users, and additionally can create new Solutions.

Examples of what Solution Creators can do include:

The Administrator role gives a user the highest level of access to your SmartSuite workspace, allowing them to perform EVERY system function, view and edit any information in SmartSuite, and configure administrative settings such as subscription plan and payment method.

For example, Admins can:

Learn all about setting and managing user roles in the article Changing a Member's Role.

The "Solution Manager" permission was mentioned previously in this article. Solution Manager is a permission, not a role, and must be assigned on a per-Solution basis. Solution managers assume limited administrative capabilities for their assigned Solutions(s), giving them control over public views, Tables and their fields, field placement on the edit record page, and all of the Solution's data.

SmartSuite user interfaces and functions are focused on making work easier, information more transparent and easily accessed, and every user experience intuitive. For the majority of the collaborative work teams do, the default All Access permission level works great. Individual users can make the updates they need to without complex approval processes that slow you down, while still having accountability through the changes tracked in history log, notifications that alert other users and real-time visibility to user edits.

Of course when the work you're doing becomes more sensitive or privileged, it's easy to restrict access to just the people who need it.

If you're part of a larger team, SmartSuite encourages you to manage Solution Permissions at the Team level instead of at the individual Member level. Creating Teams by function allows you to manage Team membership instead of modifying each Solution's permission configuration. For example, if someone moved from the Sales Team to the Marketing Team you can simply update their Team membership instead of modifying the permissions in several Solutions. Easy!

SmartSuite Administrators have a LOT of power, with the ability to modify any customer-facing configuration setting, all Solutions - and all of your data. Make sure that users with Administrator-level profiles are well educated about SmartSuite and the system's configuration and take care when making updates.

For larger organizations it is a best practice to have Administrators use a second account with a lower level of permissions to make updates that do not require Administrator-level access.