Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) Template

Most B2B SaaS products need 4-7 roles. Start with Owner, Admin, Member, and Viewer. Add specialized roles (Billing, Auditor, API) only when a real user need arises. Over-engineering roles early creates confusion and maintenance burden.

Start with RBAC. It is simpler to implement, easier to audit, and sufficient for 90% of SaaS products. Move to ABAC only when you need fine-grained, context-dependent permissions (e.g., "users can edit documents only during business hours in their time zone"). ABAC adds significant complexity.

Implement time-bound role assignments. Allow Admins to grant temporary role upgrades with an automatic expiration date (e.g., "Grant Admin access for 7 days for this migration project"). Log the temporary elevation with the business justification.

SSO handles authentication (proving who you are). RBAC handles authorization (what you can do). SCIM automates the provisioning bridge: when your IdP says "this person is in the Engineering group," SCIM maps that to the Member role in your product. The three systems work together but serve different purposes.

Quarterly reviews for elevated roles (Admin, Owner, Auditor) and annual reviews for all roles. Additionally, trigger an immediate review after any security incident, organizational restructuring, or major feature launch that adds new permission scopes.