Designing Workspaces with Role Based Access

What am I building?

I was responsible for building and scaling new account sharing tools.

Landlords often hesitate to delegate tasks, worried about sensitive data and control slipping through the cracks. At Azibo, we set out to change that by creating a role-based access control system that made delegation not only secure but also effortless. Over several months, I partnered with Product and Engineering to design tools that gave landlords the power to assign roles like Assistants, Property Managers, and Real Estate Agents, each with tailored permissions. The goal? Empower landlords to say, "You’ve got this," without a second thought.

What is Azibo?

Azibo is a platform that handles it all—accounting, rent collection, money movement, and property management—so this wasn’t just about permissions. It was about creating an intuitive, scalable experience that balanced usability and security, all while making landlords’ lives easier.

introducing specific roles for Assistants, Property Managers, and Real Estate Agents. Each role would have unique permissions aligned with their responsibilities, creating a streamlined experience


What did I launch?

  • Launched 4 roles

  • Created design patterns, a permissions system, invoice and billing with subscriptions, and seat management tools

  • Onboarding experience for collaborators

I designed tables to organize and add users and to show actions for each user.

Adding a seat is simple, intuitive, and hides the complexity of the actions and roles

Objective

Understanding the People and the Problem

The People

We started with conversations. I interviewed landlords, property managers, assistants, and real estate agents to dig into their frustrations and needs. What did I hear?

  • Landlords said, “I want help, but I don’t want to lose control.”

  • Property Managers needed access to tenants and maintenance but didn’t want financial responsibilities.

  • Agents only cared about listings and tenant leads—leave the rest.

  • Assistants just wanted to organize and schedule without feeling overwhelmed by irrelevant data.

These insights set the stage for creating roles that made sense for everyone while keeping things secure.

Mapping the Roles

To map these roles, we built an access matrix—a visual cheat sheet linking user roles to permissions. It became my north star, guiding designs and keeping every conversation with Product and Engineering aligned.

Asking owners

What roles are needed?

What levels of access do these roles need?

Key Features of the Solution

The scope of this project included defining a subscription model with invoice and billing features. Users needed flexibility to purchase seats and add users

The designs included payment processing for our first monetized product with annual fees.

  • Seat subscriptions are annual, so once you purchase a seat you then add a user to that seat

  • Users have customized actions to remove users and add a new user to the seat

The redesigned system included several core features to enhance landlord control and usability:

  • Role Templates and Customization provided landlords with predefined options for each role and the flexibility to adjust permissions, offering a blend of simplicity and control.

  • Permission Previews allowed landlords to see the platform from the perspective of any role, verifying that team members had appropriate access before assigning.

  • User-Friendly Role Management Dashboard offered landlords a concise summary of all roles, the number of users assigned, and options to edit, assign, or delete roles quickly.

  • Clear Permission Indicators helped team members understand their scope of access, minimizing confusion around what tasks could be completed.

Core Users and Access Matrix


I conducted interviews with landlords, property managers, assistants, and real estate agents to understand their unique needs and pain points. Landlords expressed frustration with limited access control, often hesitating to add team members due to privacy concerns. Property Managers wanted full access to tenant and property maintenance information but limited control over financials. Real Estate Agents, in contrast, needed access only to listings and potential tenant contacts, while Assistants were expected to help with admin tasks like scheduling and communication but had limited need for sensitive data.

The insights gained from research led to defining distinct roles with specific permissions:

Defining User Roles and Permissions and 3 core roles

1. Assistants

Assistants could help with communications, scheduling, and document organization but would be restricted from viewing financials and tenant applications.

2. Property Managers

Property Managers were granted access to tenant information, maintenance requests, and reporting features but were limited in accessing the platform’s financial management tools.

3. Agents

Real Estate Agents needed access to property listings, application tracking, and tenant communication but no visibility into tenant data outside these interactions.

Results and Impact

The role-based access system for the landlord app was well-received. Landlords appreciated the streamlined role assignment and customization. The simplified interface also made it easier for Property Managers, Assistants, and Real Estate Agents to navigate the platform, improving engagement and task efficiency.

4 roles launched, with 75 collaborate seats sold within first 90 days

Customer Survey

“ I finally feel comfortable delegating. My team has exactly what they need—and nothing they don’t.”

Adding access that can scale to hundreds or thousands of properties

Creating a scalable UX and UI system for adding access across hundreds or thousands of properties requires a well-structured, intuitive approach that ensures efficiency, security, and ease of use. This system should be designed to accommodate a wide range of property management needs, allowing users to assign, modify, and track access rights across large portfolios seamlessly.

  • A portfolio management interface that minimizes repetitive tasks through bulk actions and automation.

  • Users have customized actions to remove users and add a new user to the seat

  • Scalability, user-friendly navigation, and security protocols are essential to ensure this access management tool remains adaptable and efficient

  • Empathize and Research

    Learn about traditional and secured credit cards. Why can’t we pay off balances?

  • Analyze Market

    What possible solutions exist, and where do we fit within those markets and boundaries?

  • Design and IDeation

    What does good look like for us? How do we deliver a best in class experience to our customers. Blue Sky iterations.

  • Deliver MVP

    Work together with Product Management and Engineering to define solutions and paths to a slimmed down end to end launch version of credit card UI.

Conclusion

The redesigned role-based access system for the landlord management app achieved its objective of improving delegation and team management for landlords. By enhancing access control and optimizing task flows, the solution met the diverse needs of landlords, Property Managers, Assistants, and Real Estate Agents, delivering a secure, efficient, and user-centered experience.

Future Phases and Features

Custom roles

Subscription upgrades and bundles

Just like our customers, you’re wondering “What’s next?”. Up next are creating custom roles with permissions the user can specify with extreme granularity and detail. Also saving on multiple collaborator seats with subscriptions, bundled products and upgrades. This project underscored the importance of clarity in permission descriptions to reduce cognitive load and ensure accuracy.

Flexibility within a structured role framework empowered landlords to confidently assign roles without compromising security. Finally, iterative testing provided essential feedback that improved the system’s usability and allowed us to adapt to landlord and team member needs as they evolved.