How it plays out on a deal
Granularity is what turns shared storage into a deal room. The seller can let one bidder see a summary contract while another sees the full version, give the tax adviser only the tax folder, and keep HR files closed until late in the process.
The practical issue is effort. A room with fine control but a clumsy screen for setting it will be configured loosely in practice, because nobody has time to click through hundreds of folders. A permission matrix that shows groups against folders on one grid is the single most useful setup screen a room can offer.
What to check in a review or demo
- 1Whether permissions can be edited on a matrix of groups against folders, not only one folder at a time.
- 2Which levels exist, for example hidden, view, print, download and upload, and whether they can be combined.
- 3Whether the administrator can preview the room exactly as a given group sees it.
Read alongside
- Permission groupsNamed sets of users, usually one per bidder or per adviser firm, that share the same access rights, so permissions are managed once per group instead of per person.
- Role-based access control (RBAC)An access model in which rights come from a user's role, such as administrator, contributor or viewer, rather than being granted to each person one by one.
- View-only accessA permission that lets a user read a document in the room's viewer but not download, print or edit it.
- Principle of least privilegeThe security rule that each user should get only the access needed for their task, for only as long as they need it.
- Download and print controlsSettings that decide whether a user may save or print a document, often with options such as download as protected PDF, original format or not at all.