Give access that fits the work
Let colleagues carry out specific responsibilities without giving them access to areas they do not need.
Published by Zizzy · Updated
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The challenge
A colleague needs to review payroll changes and help with IT, but broad access could expose records they have no reason to see.
What good looks like
Each person can do their assigned work with access limited to the responsibilities they hold.
View how to
Review current access
As an admin, go to Settings and Access, then User Management. Review who currently has access and what each access level can do.
Select a person, then choose Access to see their workspace role.
Assign the work they need to do
Update their role and add any extra permissions they need, such as an existing recruiter role or permission to update the learning portal. Select the relevant roles, then choose Save Workspace.
For someone supporting finance or IT, choose the specific responsibilities they need. Finance access can include checking whether payroll changes were made that month; IT provisioning access can be limited to selected people. Where appropriate, set an end date for oversight privileges, then choose Save Responsibilities.
Read and search transcript
Managing user access levels in Zizzy is quick and straightforward. As an admin, head to Settings and Access, then select User Management.
You'll instantly see everyone in your organization who currently has access. You'll also get a clear overview of what every access level can do.
Select a person, then choose Access to view their workspace role. From there, you can update their role and add any extra permissions they need.
For instance, you can assign an existing recruiter role or give someone permission to make updates in the learning portal. Simply select the relevant roles, then click Save Workspace.
They'll be ready to access and update those specific areas. Let's say someone supports both finance and IT.
You can choose exactly which finance responsibilities they can access. For example, someone reviewing payroll may need to check whether changes were made that month.
You can choose if there's a date you want these oversight privileges to end. The same flexible approach applies to IT provisioning.
Choose the access you want to give, or assign it only to selected people. Once you click Save Responsibilities, they can confidently monitor and manage their assigned areas without access to anything they don't need.
Simple, clear, and tailored to every role.
The awkward question behind access
A colleague is asked to check whether payroll changed this month. They also help with IT provisioning. Both tasks are legitimate, but neither means they should see every finance record or manage access for everyone. The difficult question is not whether this person is trusted. It is what they need to do, and for whom.
That distinction can get lost when access is treated as a choice between a broad role and no access at all. People take on additional work, cover a colleague or support more than one team. Their permissions can grow with each request, while the reason for each addition becomes harder to remember. Someone may then keep access after the work ends simply because nobody agreed when to review it.
This costs more than a tidy permissions list. A colleague may hesitate to take on a task because they cannot reach the information they need. An administrator may grant more access than intended to avoid holding them up. People whose records are involved need to trust that those records are available for a reason, not merely because broad access was convenient.
Decide from the work, not the job title
A calmer approach starts with the specific responsibility. What must this person read, change or oversee? Does the task apply across the organisation or only to selected people? Is it part of their ongoing role, or will it end when a piece of cover or project work finishes? These questions make an access decision easier to explain to the person receiving it and to anyone reviewing it later.
They also help separate two things that often get bundled together: a person's main role and an additional duty. A recruiter, for example, may need their usual workspace role plus permission to update a particular area. Someone supporting finance and IT may need carefully chosen responsibilities in each, rather than a blanket right to work across both.
The aim is not to make every request difficult. It is to make a clear decision once, with enough detail that colleagues can get on with their work. Where access is temporary, agreeing an end date avoids leaving someone to remember an informal promise months later.
Make the boundary visible
Zizzy supports that approach by showing admins who currently has access and what each access level allows. An admin can review a person's workspace role, change it and add extra permissions for the work they need to do. Finance responsibilities can be chosen specifically, including oversight of payroll changes; IT provisioning access can be given for the work required or limited to selected people. An end date can be set for oversight privileges.
The practical change is that a mixed role does not have to become an all-purpose role. A colleague can monitor or manage their assigned areas while other areas remain outside their access. The decision is clearer for the admin making it and less ambiguous for the person doing the work.
Access will still need human judgement. Responsibilities change, and a permission that was right for one assignment may not remain right indefinitely. But when each decision is tied to an actual task, a sensible scope and, where appropriate, an end date, people can do useful work without making unnecessary access the price of helping.
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