Users and responsibilities: maintaining accountable access

A user account identifies the person acting in the system. Its value is accountability: work and permissions should be associated with the right individual. A role describes what that person may do; a company-access assignment describes where they may do it.

These distinctions matter when someone changes jobs, joins a project or leaves the business. Copying an old account's access without reviewing the new responsibility can leave unnecessary privileges in place.

User management in DNA

DNA's user form includes the person's name, email, role, phone, status and optional email settings. Creation requires a password and checks its strength. Editing only includes a replacement password when one is supplied.

The save flow checks add or edit permission and sends the appropriate create or update request. User company access has separate grant, revoke and role-update operations. These controls should be reviewed together because an account's role and company reach both affect its practical access.

Personal mailbox configuration

DNA can store email settings with the user. The reviewed form requires relevant SMTP information when email is enabled, and its save flow associates the mailbox with the user's saved email address.

Configuration does not prove successful mail delivery. The account, service connection and actual send result need to agree. A correct-looking address in a form is not evidence that an external mailbox is connected or usable.

A change in responsibility

If Oliver moves from purchasing to finance, his new role should reflect the work he now owns. The review should include company access and any exceptional permissions, not only the visible role name.

Keep user details current and validate access from the perspective of the intended responsibility. Administrator access is useful for configuration but is a poor substitute for checking what an ordinary operational user can actually do.