RBAC
Redesigning a binary permission system into a granular, multidimensional framework to balance data security with daily workflow visibility.
Role
Product Designer
Company
Zendesk
Timeline
8 weeks
Starting point
Zendesk's Workforce Management (WFM) is a product focused on optimizing support teams' efficiency by forecasting demand, scheduling agents, and managing resources to improve response times and service quality.
The existing Roles and Permissions feature within the WFM system was too binary, offering only full or no access level. This lack of granularity frustrated enterprise customers who needed permissions to mirror complex organizational structures. Specifically, they required a way to grant visibility for daily workflows without compromising sensitive data security.
Journey
The journey began with an extensive discovery phase. Building a thorough understanding of user needs involved reviewing existing research data, conducting customer and stakeholder interviews, and identifying similar use cases across Zendesk.
The end goal was to align our customers' needs with Zendesk’s product strategy and design patterns to ensure the proposed solution was scalable and coherent.
A primary design challenge was to balance technical complexity with a user-friendly interface. To address this, I designed a multidimensional permissions system, based on three levels of granularity: no-access, view-only, and view-and-manage, with improved data-scope settings.
I have based the UI architecture on functional groups that aligned with navigation patterns. That allowed users to effortlessly manage permissions by either setting a “uniform” level for an entire group (the more common use case for smaller organizations) or specifying individual permissions for each feature, enabling enterprise-level customers to customize the granularity to their needs.
Outcome
The newly designed Roles and Permissions system proved scalable and adaptable. Over time, customer feedback highlighted a significant improvement in managing complex workflows without exposing sensitive data.
Design changes led to a measurable increase in user satisfaction and provided the Product team with a framework that supports Zendesk WFM strategic growth and accommodates an increasing number of features rolled out annually.
The solution demonstrates my commitment to delivering a secure, user-friendly, and efficient experience while working with highly complex product challenges.
