The customer (NDA) is a manufacturer of farming equipment. A proprietary application helps monitor and manage the equipment in the field.

The application is used by multiple organizations across the value chain, including distributors, subdistributors, and end users.

Over time, user access control and role management became increasingly complex. When the product team wanted to experiment with different user permissions, they wrote change requirements and passed them to backend developers. Changes were then implemented directly in the backend.

This workflow was time-consuming and error-prone, especially since multiple product and development teams were involved.

The customer wanted to validate a new approach to updating permission management rules without changing the core application or admin panel.

The goals were to:

✅ Visualize the full permission matrix
✅ Automate the workflow for permission change requests
✅ Reduce errors in permission configuration

Duklas suggested to build a standalone, web-based utility that operates independently of the main application.

AI was used to develop the prototype, while a senior developer validated logic and quality.

The prototype visualizes the existing permission model ‘as is’, providing a clear matrix view across:

✅ Organization type: manufacturer, distributor, subdistributor
✅ User role: admin, service technician, operator, data manager, viewer
✅ Permissions level: top level, child level, all levels

With the utility in place, the new workflow works like this:

1️⃣ Product managers modify permissions directly in the visual matrix.

2️⃣ Changes are automatically saved in local storage, with 'View Diff' and 'Reset to Reference' functionality.

3️⃣ 'Copy Diff' generates a technical assignment describing backend changes for fast handoff.

The utility was intentionally kept separate from production systems, making experimentation fast, safe, and reversible.

The prototype delivered immediate value to both product and development teams.

Key outcomes:

✅ Significant time savings on routine permission management tests.

✅ Instant visualization of complex user role hierarchies and permissions.

✅ Fewer errors when updating the permission management rules.

✅ Faster, more confident backend updates with less test cycles.

Permission changes that previously required extensive coordination and validation could now be prepared, reviewed, and integrated in a fraction of the time. The new process was quickly adopted by the distributed teams.