Access Control Options in SAP Build Work Zone, advanced Edition

[Julia_Iv]

As organisations grow and diversify, so does the need for flexible, secure, and tailored access control within collaboration platforms.

SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition addresses this need with its advanced workspace privacy and access options, tailored to meet a different range of business requirements. This post dives into how these features support unique access configurations, offering business leaders, employees, and external end users the control they need over collaborative workspaces.

Public vs. Private Workspaces: The Core Options

At the foundation of SAP Build Work Zone advanced edition are two main workspace types: Public and Private.

• Public Workspaces: Ideal for general information accessible by all employees, such as HR policies, product updates, or company news. These spaces are searchable across the SAP Build Work Zone site, and ensure employees can easily locate essential resources.
• Private Workspaces: Designed for limited access, these workspaces are only available to a selected group of members. Employees must be invited or added via a user list, with non-members unable to search or view the content, which helps ensure sensitive information stays within specified groups (e.g., finance teams, regional HR policies).

Worth mentioning, a user can also add private content in a public space, if he/she wants to share it with a smaller audience. This is done by selecting New Private Folder from the create content dropdown (as shown in the following screenshot)

External User Access

 In certain cases, companies may want to grant external users - such as suppliers, consultants, or partners - access to specific workspaces without exposing the entire SAP Build Work Zone site. By selecting an external access option (available for both Public and Private workspaces), workspace admins can securely share essential information or collaborate with users outside the organisation.

Workspaces with external access are marked as “External” to alert members to potential privacy considerations, helping them avoid sharing confidential information (see screenshot below).

Furthermore, as a workspace creator, you can also control whether other members can join the workspace and whether they can invite others without requiring your approval as the workspace admin. (See the screenshot below).

Customisable Collaboration Levels and Task Policy Management

Beyond access settings, SAP Build Work Zone provides collaboration level options tailored to the workspace's purpose and members’ needs:

• Read-Only: Members can view content without contributing.-
• Limited Collaboration: Members can interact with limited editing permissions.
• Full Collaboration: Offers the highest level of engagement, allowing members to actively participate in workspace activities.

For workspaces with Limited or Full collaboration, Task Policy editing options further define control over task updates. Workspace administrators can decide if tasks should be editable by all members, limited to assignees and admins, or strictly restricted to creators and admins. This setup helps creating transparency and define task accountability according to the Workspace’s requirements (see screenshot below).

Upload and Approval Policies

Content-sharing policies are critical for managing sensitive information. Workspace admins have options to enforce upload and approval policies, which determine whether content (like PDFs, videos, or posts) can be shared freely by members or if admin review is required (see screenshot). This ensures that only authorised information appears in the workspace, particularly in cases where compliance or quality control is essential.

 

Non-Member Participation and Access Policies

Non-member participation provide additional layers of security and flexibility:

Collaboration Level: Admins can allow non-members to view content or restrict all collaborative tools and member details. For cases requiring transparency across a department or broader audience, enabling non-member access can facilitate information sharing without compromising security.

Access Policies: Some workspaces may require restricted access for specific employee subgroups (e.g., HR or Sales), instead of granting access to the full organisation. These access policies allow granular control of visibility and participation, ensuring the workspace meets unique business requirements.

These flexible customisations are designed to meet diverse organisational needs, whether that’s ensuring company-wide access to HR updates or creating secure, department-specific workspaces for internal projects or partnerships with external collaborators.

By leveraging these options, your organisation can optimise SAP Build Work Zone advanced edition to match your unique operational needs, balancing open collaboration with tailored, role-based access, thus protecting sensitive information and at the same time promoting effective teamwork.

SUMMARY

Decision Table: 

What I want to achieve?	Which configurations I need:
A Workspace visible to all employees. Each employee could join and invite other members.	Create a Public Workspace + select checkbox: Allow all members to invite users, Allow users to join this workspace
A workspace visible to all employees, to but as a workspace admin I want to control who has access and I want to be the only one inviting members	Create a Public Workspace + leave unselected all other checkboxes.
A workspace which is visible to all employees AND external users (prior invitation)	Create a Public Workspace + select checkbox: External users can access this workspace and be invited as members
A workspace visible only to members and accessible via invitation. As a workspace admin, I want to be the only only one who can invite users (users cannot request to join).	Create a Private Workspace + leave unselected all other checkboxes.
A workspace visible only to members and accessible via invitation. Members can invite other users and users are able to request to join the workspace.	Create a Private Workspace + select checkbox: Allow all members to invite users, Allow users to request to join this workspace
A workspace which is visible to only to member BUT ALSO to some external users (prior invitation)	Create a Private Workspace + select checkbox: External users can access this workspace and be invited as members
A Workspace (private or public) to share information, in which members can only view and download resources.	After creating the Workspace, click next and Select collaboration Level Read Only.
A Workspace (private or public)  in which members can collaborate, and take some actions on existing content such as view, comment, download. They can also handle tasks but not create ones.	After creating the Workspace, click next and Select collaboration Level Limited. Remember to select task policy according to needs: Tasks are editable by creators and workspace admins. Status can be updated by task assignee. Tasks are editable by assignees, creators, and workspace admins. Status can be updated by all members. Task details and status can be updated by all members.
A Workspace (private or public)  in which members can collaborate, and take all actions on content such as view, comment, download, edit, rename and delete. They can also create and handle tasks. All members can upload content.	After creating the Workspace, click next and Select collaboration Level Full + select checkbox Upload Policy.
A Workspace (private or public)  in which members can collaborate, and take all actions on content such as view, comment, download, edit, rename and delete. They can also create and handle tasks. All members can upload content, but as an admin you want to approve content sharing.	After creating the Workspace, click next and Select collaboration Level Full + select checkbox Upload Policy and select checkbox Approval Policy.
In a public or Private space, you want to share some content visible only to a subset of specific users.	Click on the hamburger menu on your Workpage, select Content from the available options, click on the Create dropdown menu and select New Private Folder.