CRM Record Associations Permissions Update

Per the panel, the Edit associations permission now controls who can add, remove, and edit associations and association labels, and it works the same in the association table and the object associations card. To change associations from inside a record, the user also needs Edit access for records. It is live for all hubs and tiers.

I was hoping this would be slightly different. I wish more people had the ability to manage associations. My experience is that there are two kinds of portals: the one where everybody is a super admin, and the one where people are scared to give anyone permission to do anything, so no one can do anything. I almost wanted people to be able to manage associations without being able to edit the record. And after reading it twice: “I'm worried this actually adds more friction. I was hoping this would remove friction.” I'm wondering if the way it is written adds potential friction.

The show did not settle it, and I'm not going to pretend it did. Chris's read was that it is about data between records: you would need Edit access for both record types, and the people who own the account relationship are the best ones to fix those associations. He said there is a third kind of portal where sales cannot spend time managing associations, and he asked why not, since they are the best ones to do it. He read from the page that users without Edit associations can still add associations when they create a record with the create form, and can view associations but not change them, and used our own host label on the Another Orange Morning record as the example. Oaks read it differently, as the labels in the data model builder rather than between two records. He said it is confusing since he does not have it in any of his portals, and that it looks as much like permission changes to allow scoping for Breeze, agents, and API tooling. I pointed out it does look like you need the Edit associations permission to add, remove, or edit a label. The honest summary from the show was that we were once again super clear.

What to do: this is live, so look this week at who holds Edit associations in your portal, and who has Edit access for records but not Edit associations. Test one real change from a record and one from the association table, and see if the results match. If your team is all super admins or you never touch association labels, you can skip it. Then tell me which way it adds friction, if it does.