Top 8 Salesforce Permission Set Tips for Efficient Management

1. Release Notes Are Your Ally:
Like any other Salesforce functionality, changes to permission sets, permission set groups, and associated features are documented in the release notes. Although it might seem like a lot to go through given the numerous updates across various clouds, staying informed about these changes is crucial to keeping abreast of future developments and understanding their potential impact on your or your users’ daily tasks once the release is deployed in production environments.

The Winter ’24 Salesforce Release Notes, as demonstrated below, are brimming with updates related to permissions – each designed to enhance your efficiency when working with them. You can review all of these updates in detail here.


2. View Summary (Beta):
Until now, the time required to analyze permissions within a permission set could vary based on the set’s complexity. However, with the Winter ’24 release, this analysis has become significantly more straightforward. The new View Summary button, currently in beta, allows users to obtain a comprehensive overview of the selected permission set with just a click. This summary includes details such as permission set group associations, app and system permissions, and individual field permissions categorized by the associated object.

3. Permissions Don’t Have To Be Forever:
Prior to the introduction of this functionality, there were instances where setting a reminder was necessary to revoke specific permission sets from a user. Since this feature entered beta a couple of years back, I’ve consistently taken advantage of it when required.

By default, permission sets lacked an expiration date. However, navigating to the Manage Assignment page from a permission set now enables you to specify an expiry date during the assignment process. This can include choosing from predefined options or setting a custom date for one or multiple users. Notably, the expiry date can be highly precise, allowing you to even select the user’s timezone.


4. Enable Permissions Upon Field or User Creation:
In recent updates, the User Management Settings page in Setup has introduced additional options related to permission sets. It’s worth exploring these options if you haven’t already.

The days of creating new fields directly in production are likely behind us. With field-level security for permission sets, whether during field creation in a sandbox or a field-level security update, the process of navigating to multiple permission sets and adding new or existing fields becomes significantly more efficient. This is particularly valuable when dealing with the creation and deployment of multiple fields across various objects. The need to manually go back to every permission set and each object’s settings to check a box, and then repeat the process, is no longer necessary.

User access policies, found in both Enterprise and Unlimited editions, enable admins to swiftly establish criteria-based automation. This ensures that users promptly receive precise permissions tailored to their needs. This functionality facilitates the granting or revoking of permission sets, permission set licenses, permission set groups, and queue or group memberships during user creation, updates, or both, making it easily configurable by any administrator.


5. Select All… Or Don’t:
In the Winter ’24 updates, there are numerous features to explore, and it’s expected that some will become favorites among users. One particularly overdue enhancement is the built-in capability to easily select and deselect all fields when editing field-level security in a permission set.

Previously, users might have relied on Chrome extensions to achieve this functionality. However, with the latest update, that workaround is no longer necessary. This improvement is especially valuable during cleanup tasks, as it eliminates the need to manually uncheck every individual field, ultimately saving a significant amount of time.


6. Why Duplicate Permissions Sets Just for a Field?
As previously mentioned, permission set groups are designed to consolidate permission sets, typically those required by specific roles or personas. However, there are instances where multiple personas necessitate similar access to an object, with minor distinctions.

In such scenarios, it is feasible to selectively modify permissions within the group without resorting to duplicating the permission set solely for those adjustments. This implies that you can reuse permission sets with more extensive access and tailor them within a particular group by employing a muting permission set.


7. Don’t Forget the Audit Trail:
In an organization with several administrators implementing changes, keeping a record of permission modifications is crucial. This record becomes particularly useful when monitoring which permissions were activated, deactivated, or assigned. Moreover, in instances where users report a loss of permissions, the Setup Audit Trail Setup page serves as a primary resource for investigation.

Within this page, changes made in the past six months can be downloaded for review. Specifically, for permission sets and permission set groups, administrators can track the addition or removal of these sets from users. Additionally, detailed information is available on when individual permissions were enabled or disabled, offering a comprehensive overview of user access changes and facilitating efficient troubleshooting.


8. Make Your Navigation Easier:
When making edits to permission sets or permission set groups, you may have come across a handy search bar located in the top left corner of the page. If you haven’t used it yet, get ready for a game-changing feature.

This search bar allows you to quickly find specific items by entering keywords or object names. However, it’s worth noting that if your organization has more than 500 custom objects, you might need to navigate manually to the object settings, whether it’s a standard or custom object, in order to modify permissions for it.

While not an inherent Salesforce feature, it’s crucial to highlight the Salesforce Inspector reloaded browser extension when considering permission assignment and navigation. The extension is noteworthy for its versatile functionalities, and among them, the spotlight is on the two buttons visible during user searches for names, emails, usernames, or aliases in the side panel. Clicking either of these buttons seamlessly redirects users to the corresponding permission set or permission set group assignment page.