SaaS Role-Based Access Control. @saas-rbac

Access control grows badly by default: an is_admin flag becomes three flags, then if-statements in forty files, and then an enterprise prospect asks for custom roles and the honest answer is a rewrite. The SaaS Role-Based Access Control sprint does that rewrite deliberately — one permission model, one enforcement point, roles your customers can administer themselves.

The finish state is access decided by policy: every check flows through a central authorization layer, roles and permissions are data rather than code, admins manage them from the product, and the enterprise security questionnaire finally has good answers.

Role & Permission Model

Resources, actions, and roles mapped for your product — including custom roles and per-workspace scoping where your customers need them — as a model that extends without rework.

Policy Enforcement

A single authorization layer enforced across API, UI, and background jobs, replacing the scattered checks — with deny-by-default as the baseline stance.

Admin Experience

Role assignment, custom role editing, and permission visibility built into your product's admin surface, so access management is self-service for your customers.

Migration & Rollout

Existing users mapped onto the new model, verified against their current access, and rolled out with a comparison mode that catches regressions before users do.

1. Scope — Inventory current checks and roles, design the permission model, and agree the enforcement boundaries.
2. Build — Land the authorization layer, migrate checks onto it path by path, and build the admin experience.
3. Handover — Rollout with the old checks retired, the model documented, and an authorization test suite guarding the boundaries.

The SaaS Role-Based Access Control is a menu item on the Scrums.com delivery catalog, available at every plan tier. Add it to your plan backlog and your delivery team schedules it like any other item — scoped, tracked, and reported through the SEOP. See Delivery Plan Tiers.

Can we do this without breaking existing users' access?

Yes — the migration maps every user's current effective access into the new model and verifies it, and the rollout runs both systems in comparison mode until the diff is empty. Nobody loses access by surprise.

Do you support attribute- or relationship-based rules too?

Where the product needs them — ownership rules, team-scoped access, tenant boundaries — the policy layer expresses them alongside roles. The model is chosen for your access patterns, not a textbook acronym.

Does this cover audit requirements?

Access changes are logged as part of the admin experience. Full activity history across the product is the SaaS Audit Logs & Activity History item, which pairs naturally with this one for compliance-driven buyers.