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Research by Ian Wyosnick
August 2025 | UX Researcher: Ian Wyosnick | UX Designer: Joanna Pham
As we build Platform, there is a need for a centralized, user-enrolled service that can support role and permission management across tenants and applications.
This UX research aims to understand customer needs and expectations for configuring Roles and Permissions in enterprise software, and evaluate a prototype experience for configuring Roles and Permissions within strongtie.io.
The goal is to understand users' mental model across access control, test usability, and ensure the system supports efficient and accurate role management. Insights from this research will help shape a robust foundation for the future customer-facing version.
Participants see strong value in a unified Simpson Platform to simplify access to tools and workflows, with the Admin Console generally viewed as intuitive. However, they highlighted the need for clearer guidance on roles, permissions, and how products and locations fit together. Predefined roles with plain-language descriptions, scalable governance through centralized management, and the ability to create user groups were seen as especially valuable.
Participants also expect flexibility, such as stacking roles, spanning products, and covering multiple locations, while wanting permissions to remain human-readable and easy to configure. These insights point to delivering a core set of opinionated roles, standardizing governance, enabling scalable role and group management, clarifying setup sequences, and balancing permission clarity with depth.
Participants said the concept of a Simpson Platform would provide value to their org They saw potential in having a unified space to access tools and workflows, reducing the current need to jump between multiple disconnected systems.
Overall, the layout and functionality of the Admin Console was intuitive to participants Most found navigation and setup flows straightforward, though some expected features in slightly different places. There also was some slight confusion with User Management split out from Roles & Permissions.
A limited set of predefined roles provides value Preset roles with clear descriptions (e.g., Admin, Manager, View Only) reduce setup burden and give admins confidence that they are following best practices. Participants also specifically mentioned how this can improve the onboarding experience.
Balance is needed between permission granularity and clarity Participants want enough control to tailor access but not at the cost of overwhelming checklists or unclear permission labels. Participants also mentioned that they do not always know what the features and functionality listed are and what they do, and the permissions affects users. Therefore they cannot easily make a decision on how to configure it for users.
Confusion exists about the relation of roles to products and locations Several struggled to understand sequencing, with some expecting product first, others location first, highlighting the need for clear hierarchy and guidance.
Participants expressed an expectation to create user groups Several participants assumed they could create groups of users (e.g., departments or teams) and assign roles to those groups rather than only individuals.
Roles may need to span more than one product Participants worried that product-specific roles would scale poorly as more tools were added, suggesting roles should cover more than one product when needed.
Role stacking is expected Participants expect to assign multiple roles to a user, with one participant saying the system should apply the highest-level access where permissions overlap.
Centralized roles that span locations are preferred by some participants Participants, especially admins, did not want local divisions creating their own roles, but instead assigning from a centrally managed set.
Provide a core library of predefined roles with clear intent Deliver 4–6 opinionated roles (e.g., Admin, Manager, Estimator, Viewer, Onboarding User), each with plain-language descriptions of what the role is for and what it allows.
Standardize role governance across the organization Centralize role creation at the company level while allowing local divisions to only assign roles. This avoids role sprawl and improves consistency and control.
Support user groups Introduce user groups so admins can scalably manage users, roles, and product permissions by team, department, location, or facility.
Define how permissions will work when stacking roles for a user Establish clear precedence rules (e.g., "highest-level access wins") so that when multiple roles are assigned, admins and users understand exactly what effective permissions result.
Allow roles that work across multiple products and locations Enable admins to configure roles that span more than one product or site, reducing duplication and ensuring scalability as organizations adopt more Simpson tools.
Improve the hierarchy of product vs. location selection Clarify the order of operations (e.g., select product first, then location availability) to reduce confusion and make role setup more intuitive.
Balance clarity and depth in permissions Default to high-level, easy-to-understand permissions, with tooltips or hover states that explain features in plain terms. Offer optional drill-down for advanced admins who want more granularity without overwhelming less experienced users.
Make permissions human-readable Use plain language and contextual examples ("This permission lets users edit bill of materials in Pipeline") so admins know the real-world impact of each toggle.
The study will be 45 minute, semi-structured interviews with a concept walkthrough, involving participants who identify as software System Administrators, or are familiar with managing roles and permissions in enterprise software tools.
Participants are sourced from three groups:
| Participant | Group | Session Date |
|---|---|---|
| Shawn Ahern - National Estimating Manager, Lennar | Group 1: Current customers | 8/14/2025 |
| Jayne Hoon - Manager, Business Operations, Simpson Strong-Tie | Group 2: Internal Employees | 8/15/2025 |
| Manoj Sonawane - Enterprise Cloud Application Manager, Simpson Strong-Tie | Group 2: Internal Employees | 8/15/2025 |
| Josh Bates - IT Director, Stark Truss | Group 1: Current customers | 8/18/2025 |
| Anthony Santorelli - Director of National Estimating, K. Hovnanian Homes | Group 1: Current customers | 8/19/2025 |
| Activity | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|
| Kickoff / Framing the Problem | 7/18/2025 | 8/13/2025 |
| Recruitment | 8/11/2025 | 8/15/2025 |
| Research Sessions | 8/14/2025 | 8/20/2025 |
| Data Analysis | 8/26/2025 | 8/29/2025 |
| Deliver Report | 9/1/2025 |
His needs as a System Administrator:
In the prototype - Home:
Accessing Admin Console:
Seeing the Admin Console:
Setting up a Role:
In User Management:
Roles:
Predefined Roles:
Prototype:
Admin Console:
Setting up a role:
Assigning products by location:
Permissions:
Adding a user to a role:
Dashboard:
Accessing Admin Console:
In Admin Console - User Management:
Looking at Roles & Permissions:
Wants users assigned to a location
Sets up role:
Duplicating a role:
Deleting a role:
In the prototype:
Finding Admin Console:
In Admin Console:
Setting up a role:
Setting permissions:
Managing Roles:
Deleting a role: